yahooLots of people are already Yahoo Group members, but they don’t know that these groups can be used for more than just Email.

Others have never even heard of Yahoo Groups.

If you fall into the second group, you may be thrilled to discover this totally free way to communicate with a large group, and receive support from new friends who share your interests.

And, if you’ve heard of Yahoo Groups, but have only used it as an Email tool, you may be surprised to discover that you can also use Yahoo Groups to share photos, files, links, and much more with a group that can be as public or private as you like. 

Create a Yahoo Group - It’s free!

1. Go to Yahoo Groups and create a Yahoo ID, if you don’t have one already. Then, click on Start your group today.

2. Select a category for your group.  Mine are all in Schools & Education/Student Organizations.

3. Describe your group (Ex. On Living By Learning Group) and fill in  the Email address for your group (Ex. onlivingbylearning@yahoogroups.com.)

4. Verify that you’re human and you’re done. 

5. Actually, you’re not done because you can play with the Group Settings (in the Management section) to select open or restricted membership; member access to web tools; and the group’s description and appearance.

Join a Yahoo Group - It’s free too!

Joining a Yahoo Group is easy.  You can browse through thousands of groups sorted by categories on Yahoo Groups.

Or, you can go directly to the On Living By Learning Group where you can click on the big blue button labeled “Join This Group.”

You will be asked to sign in with a Yahoo ID.  If you don’t have one, it’s still possible to become a group member, but this requires linking your Email address to a Yahoo profile.

What can you do with a Yahoo Group?

Some Yahoo Group members - not you! - never visit the home page of their group.  They receive and reply to messages from their personal Email account, and never discover the many available options.

Take a look at the sidebar on the left side of The On Living By Learning Home Page  (or your own Yahoo Group home page) to find a list of Web Tools including: Messages, Files, Photos, Links, Database, Polls, Members, Calendar.

Keep in mind that the Yahoo Group Moderator decides if these tools will be available, and if members can modify these, or not.

Messages

On the home page of your Yahoo Group, you’ll find a tiny hyperlink at the top labeled “Edit Membership.”  Here you can choose between: Individual Email where you’ll get an Email anytime anyone posts a message; Daily Digest where you’ll get all the messages of the day in one Email; and Web Only where you have to visit the Yahoo Group web site to see the messages.

If you choose to view the messages online, you’ll notice that when you select a message, all the related replies or preceding messages are listed below.  This allows you to follow the complete discussion on a topic.

Files

Many school groups use a binder to store all the documents necessary for running a volunteer committee, but now there is a much better way.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rewrite letters and forms because I crashed a computer, or because I received a binder with only paper documents.

Instead, you can create a virtual volunteer committee binder.

In this Book Fair Sample found in the Files section of the On Living By Learning Yahoo Group, you’ll find that I used the “Create Folder” link to create a Book Fair Folder.  Then, I used the “Add File” link to upload documents from my computer.

Now, anyone can open those files, and save and edit them to suit their needs.

Photos

Share your photos in a Yahoo Group album, where only group members can view the pictures.

Photo albums can be used to remind volunteers of an event layout or to share the memories.  Group members can copy and save photos to their own computers.

Links

In this Book Fair example, I’ve added a couple of links to companies that provide resources for book fairs. 

On other Yahoo Groups, I’ve added links as project resources or as reference material for a topic.

Database

The Database section can be a simple way to record information.  Yahoo Groups provides templates for creating Contact Lists, Phone Books, an Inventory, FAQ, Recipes, etc. 

However, you can modify the tables to record whatever you need.

For example, on our Girl Scout Troop Yahoo Group, we created a database table to log in TV viewing hours for a Couch Potato Interest Project.

Polls

Polls can be a good way to access interest between different options.  I’ve included one poll sample, but you can imagine many more.

I’ve seen polls asking whether homeschool educators should be certified and another, created by my daughter, that sought to discover the most popular candies.

Calendar

The group calendar is arguably the most useful Web Tool for many Yahoo Groups.  You can record all the events of the year, including detailed notes for program planning.  And, you can set reminders to alert group members of any upcoming events.

My Yahoo Groups

I’ve joined many Yahoo Groups.  Here are some of my favorites:

Local Homeschool Groups -

  • CDHE - Capital District Home Educators in NY’s Capital Region.
  • capitaldistricthomeschool - Another Yahoo Group for homeschool families in NY’s Capital Region.
  • FERNetwork · Family Educators Resource Network in the areas of Columbia, Rensselaer, and Albany counties in New York and in Berkshire county in Massachusetts.
  • SaratogoHomeschoolers - Homeschoolers in the Saratoga, NY area.
  • NYHEN-Support - This list is hosted by the New York Home Educators’ Network (www.nyhen.org) and provides resources for anyone homeschooling in New York.

    Homeschool -
  • A Homeschool Review - Reviews of homeschooling curriculums.
  • Clickschooling - Daily links to homeschool resources.
  • homeschool_form_share - Facilitates sharing homeschool forms.
  • secular_homeschoolers -  This very active homeschool group promotes interesting and informative discussions, and provides lots of resource files and links.
  • unschoolingbasics - Support and resources for unschoolers.
  • WellTrainedMindDscn - Discussion group for homeschoolers implementing a classical education.

    • Gifted Education -

  • HSGiftedChildren - Support group for parents who homeschool gifted children.
  • gifted_EGCSD - East Greenbush Schools Enrichment was set up as an advocacy group and discussion forum for families in this district.
  • GTAletters - Gifted & Talented Ass’n of Montgomery County, MD.

    • Girl Scouts

  • AllGirlScouts - Facilitates resource sharing between Girl Scouts around the world.
  • Cad-Senleaders - A list for Girl Scout 11-17’s Advisors.
  • Greenbloodnews - The latest Girl Scout news.
  • SwapMakers - Sharing ideas about making Girl Scout crafts and swaps.

    • Education -

  • Education News - I have this Membership set for Daily Digest so that I receive the world’s education news in my inbox every day.
  • Singapore Math - A U.S. based forum for anyone using Singapore math.

    • Writing and Homeschool -

  • BraveWriterMoms - Supporting Homeschooling Moms who implement the Brave Writer philosophy of language arts and writing.
  • HEWG - Home Educators Writers Group is a super supportive group of individuals who juggle a passion for writing and homeschooling.

    • Do you have a favorite Yahoo Group?  Please share in a comment.

    If you would like to receive free articles from On Living By Learning by email, click this link.  You can also click here to receive updates on a RSS Feed Reader.