Mississippi Daily Journal

LONG-DISTANCE LEARNERS

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

1/6/2008

Ginny Miller
Daily Journal

FULTON - Homeschooled brothers Matt and Mikey Thorn would like to be physicians one day, but a Junior Medical School course they take has turned them into science journalists.

While researching medical information about Antarctica, the boys recently questioned explorer Doug Stoup, who's walking across the South Pole. The interview, conducted Dec. 18 from the boys' kitchen on a brand-new speaker phone purchased for the occasion, was broadcast live on Kid's Talk Radio and PNN.com.

"I thought it was amazing that he was able to get a connection," Matt said, noting that Stoup was speaking to the brothers via a solar-powered satellite phone.

"We learned that he was taking Shackleford's route," said Mikey, explaining that Stoup is guiding a two-man team 660 miles along Ernest Shackleton's planned 1915 "Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition" route to the South Pole. Shackleton's trip was never completed because his ship, the Endurance, was destroyed.

Ninth-grader Matt, 14, also said he and 11-year-old Mikey, a sixth-grader, listen to Stoup's daily podcasts about his adventure, which began in December in Cape Town, South Africa.

Their interview with Stoup, which lasted about nine minutes, was arranged by Bob Barboza of Long Beach, Calif., founder and CEO of Kids Talk Radio and Junior Medical School's creator.

"Through this distance learning program, they have been creating a Web site (http://drmatt.pnn.com and http://drmikey.pnn.com), learning about the body and medicine," said Pat Thorn, who began homeschooling her sons four years ago. "It is a very intense program designed to give them a glimpse into what med school would be like and to ignite their love of learning."

According to the Kid's Talk Radio Web site, the Junior Medical School curriculum includes reading three books, completing 10 medical projects, building science vocabulary skills, writing science reports and producing Kid's Talk Radio science reports.

"We've definitely improved our writing skills," said Matt, who breeds fish, such as guppies and Endler's livebearers in his free time.

Mikey likes skateboarding. The brothers are members of Boy Scout Troop 85 at Harrisburg Baptist Church in Tupelo and enjoy watching history programs on television.

The virtual medical explorers have no plans to visit the South Pole in person, but they'll never forget the experience.

Said their mother, "It isn't very often two boys from a small town in Mississippi get to talk to an explorer in Antarctica."

Contact Daily Journal education writer Ginny Miller at 678-1582 or ginny.miller@djournal.com. 

Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 1/6/2008, section z , page 8