Question: I don't always have the time or the knowledge to help my sixth-grader with her homework. What kind of help can she find online using our computer? - For Computers
Answer: The Internet has an abundance of sites designed to help children with their homework. The major problem is finding the site or sites that will give your child the exact assistance she requires. Help with nightly homework varies from sites that just offer the same material as your children's textbooks to those that give innovative guidance about completing assignments.
Most sites will give your child access to reference tools, including encyclopedias, almanacs and maps, as well as some homework help by age group, subject or both. Other help features include: information on researching and writing reports; links to resources, from museums to zoos; free tutorials; practice drills; study-skills advice; and online answers to specific questions within 24 hours to two days. Additional help is available from instructional videos, learning games and contests, and interactive chat rooms.
When you have some spare time, sit down with your daughter and do some Net surfing to discover which sites will work best for her. The easiest way to do this is to type in "homework help" at a search engine like Google (www.google.com). Then start visiting the sites.
You will get a much better picture of what a site offers if your daughter has a list of the things she would like to receive help for and then looks for these items. There is quite a difference in the amount of information on different sites and how it is presented. For example, in math, one site might just give formulas to solve problems, while another has very helpful examples that will lead to a true understanding of a challenging problem.
The Net provides the best homework help when parents and children surf for quality sites and bookmark them instead of expecting to find last-minute help online. One of the best reasons for schoolchildren to go online is to learn more about many topics, from pandas to Italy to planes.