HomeCool Kids is the brainchild of my brother and I, two very curious and adventurous siblings. In May, 2020, during the first UK Lockdown, our parents suggested we create a memory box of our experiences (I think they just wanted to see us busy as homeschooling was proving to be quite a stressful experience for everyone). But my brother and I wanted to do something different. We considered and rejected a number of ideas and finally decided to produce a magazine as a fun way to record and share our Lockdown experiences and those of the children around us. I remember writing “Children may be in Lockdown but their talent isn’t” in the notes that I wrote to get our parents on board with the project. My brother’s reasoning was that he was “fed-up” of all the negative news around and wanted to “spread some smiles” through positive and fun stories written by children.
What followed was a transformation of our living room into an editorial meeting room where my brother and I pretended to be young budding journalists as we brainstormed our ideas about the magazine. Noticing our passion, our mother enthusiastically agreed to help us with it. For her, it was a way to transfer her skills as a former magazine editor to the next generation. She contacted a former colleague of hers who agreed to help us with the layout designing. They both are the only two grown-ups involved with the magazine.
For the first issue, my brother and I wrote the content. For the cover, I painted the props and we shot the cover photo in our back garden with my brother and I posing for it. At that time, we had thought it would be a one-off thing that we were doing for fun but once the magazine released, our friends got interested and told us that they wanted to contribute. And so it began! We thank all of them for their enthusiasm and motivation. It is their stories and artwork and jokes and puzzles that helped make HomeCool Kids exciting and inspirational.
We have so far published six issues. The editorial team now consists of seven more members besides my brother and myself and we are very proud to have them on board! We have regular online meetings to plan the editions and discuss the website. Unlike the magazine that has some grown-up input, the website has been created completely by the young editorial team. Once again, I would like to thank all my team members and all our young contributors. You make HomeCool Kids a fantastic read!