Your home computer is a powerful tool for enriching your child's elementary education. We use the Web to help with homework and to remediate my children's weak areas.
Surfing through the wealth of educational sites on the Web is a lot of fun, but it can be overwhelming. When I need to help my child with a homework project or solve a problem, I want to find something useful without spending hours searching. I have learned that we use certain tools regularly. These are the reference links that I keep on my Internet start page.
Add a School Help folder to your Favorites, then organize these links by subject or child. It's an easy way to make your computer a quick learning and reference tool.
Elementary Writing Tools:
Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus
I learned of this online thesaurus while reading the Webby Award winners in Education, and it immediately became an often used Favorite of mine. Using this cool tool is easy and really quite amazing. Just type a word in the box after it loads and watch the quiet explosion of related words. Perfect for kids to use when they are stuck in their creative writing assignments.
Merriam-Webster Online Student Dictionary
This links to MW's Word Central for kids. Type the word in the Dictionary box at the top of the page. Or, use the main Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary for more advanced definitions and an audio pronunciation of the word.
Guide to Grammar and Writing
A little advanced, but very complete help with difficult grammar issues.
Elementary Math Tools:
WebMath
If your child (and you!) are stumped by a math homework problem, enter it here to see the step-by-step solution.
Elementary Science Tools:
BrainPop
Put the power of multimedia to use with these "movies" that explain a world of scientific principles in an engaging way for kids. Not just science, but that's a great place to start.
Science Fair Central
The place to start for a great Science Fair project is definitely this awesome resource at DiscoverySchool.com.
Exploratorium
Consistent excellence in online science enrichment and deep resources for great Science web sites make this a great starting point for finding kid-friendly science information.
Elementary Research Tools:
Fact Monster
Quick and easy research tool for younger elementary ages.
Online Encylopedias
Sad to say, it's hard to find a good, free encyclopedia online these days. The few remaining are listed here, along with links to familiar encyclopedias that offer fee-based access. The prices are reasonable for a good reference tool on your computer.
Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition Online
The one remaining completely free online encyclopedia.
Current Events Search at Google
Search Google News for the latest news articles on current events around the world.
Kid-Friendly Search Tools
How do you find age-appropriate information for elementary school research projects? We start with these search tools to filter out adult-level material.