Homework Help for Kids

By Tara Swords

These days when your kids need to research a school report or finish their homework, chances are they hit the Internet instead of digging through the stacks at the local library.

After all, kids are perhaps the most tech-savvy members of your household. Whether they're writing reports on American history, trying to understand today's algebra lesson, or looking for science fair project ideas, they probably already know how to use an Internet search engine like Google to find what they need. But the question is: Are they finding good information or getting caught in a worldwide web of confusion?

There's no doubt the Internet can make learning easier and more fun than it was when you were a kid. The problem is that the Internet is also full of incorrect and incomplete information. Plus, when your kids are researching online, they can easily find "cheater" web sites that sell essays and book reports or solve math problems for free.

Still, by doing a little homework yourself, you can point your kids toward legitimate online help that doesn't break the rules. Here's how:

Check out reference sites
Remember names like Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster? The companies behind those time-tested reference collections have web sites that are chock-full of the same info you can find in the printed editions. Webster and Britannica offer some free information and a Student Center, but to access most of the content, you need a subscription, which costs about $85 a year for both. Or, you can try a free trial period to see whether these sites are a good investment for your family.

A great free alternative is Yahoo Reference, which has numerous free resources: dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, world factbook, Spanish dictionary, quotations, anatomy, and calculators.

Visit your local library -- virtually
Many public libraries are keeping up with the times by making their collections available online to local library-card carrying citizens. Some even have their librarians standing by online to answer questions. For instance, through AskColorado, kids and teens can chat online with a librarian 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

"It helps kids save time because we can find information more quickly than they can," says Sharon Morris, AskColorado coordinator. "We can't do their homework for them -- they wouldn't learn -- but we do try to help them find information. We talk through the process of how to find information and why we're choosing the web sites we're choosing."

Morris says within 15 minutes or less, librarians can find appropriate web sites or point kids to other sources -- archived magazine articles and research journals, for example. And librarians can even walk kids through a live tutorial to show them firsthand how to explore a specific web site to find what they need.

Although AskColorado is intended for that state's residents, it maintains a list of similar programs in other states. Some libraries around the country, such as those in Texas and Massachusetts, even offer free online tutoring.

Get help from private tutoring and homework sites
When looking for homework help, show your kids how to visit sites they can trust. For example, they can try America Online's homework site, which presents a wealth of information by subject and grade level. It also offers tons of general homework how-tos, like how to study for a test and how to take great notes.

There are literally thousands of homework help sites online, run by for-profit companies, groups of educators, and some by kids themselves. A few popular examples are HomeworkSpot, The Discovery School, Ask for Kids, HowStuffWorks, and National Geographic's homework help site.

Check credentials
Because information on the Internet can be posted anonymously, it's sometimes hard to tell what's legitimate and what's not. And if it's hard for you to know, it's probably even harder for your kids. Teach your children to ask a few important questions when evaluating whether they've found credible online information:

• Who's the source? For starters, show them how to click on a web site's "about us" link, if it has one, so they can find out who publishes the information. Government-sponsored sites and university sites are generally trustworthy sources. Sites that have received awards or rave reviews from national educational organizations or publications also are a good bet.

To help junior high and high school kids understand why credible sources are important, ask them: Would you write a report based on a rumor you heard during lunch? An obscure online source is no better. And if they can't identify who created the web site, they should move on.

• How old is this information? The more out of date information is, the less reliable it is. So if your kid is doing a report on the environment and finds an online government study about pollution, for example, advise him to check the date on the report to make sure it's recent.
• Can I double-check this information? No matter the source, teach your kids to verify information they find online before accepting it as fact. For instance, if your teen finds the population of the United States on HomeworkSpot, she should double check the statistic on another site like the CIA World Factbook.
• Is this a cheater site? Unfortunately, there are a lot of so-called cheater sites lurking on the web that sell information or give away test answers for free. Make sure you have a clear discussion with your kids about cheater sites. Just because these sites are easily accessible on the Internet doesn't make it OK to use them. Explain that it's no different than looking over someone else's shoulder during a test. You can also warn them that schools are catching on to these sites, too, and kids have been caught using term papers they bought online.

To prevent exposure to cheater sites -- or other such temptations -- guide your kids toward a kid-safe search engine like Yahooligans when they want to search for homework help. Every site listed on Yahooligans! is approved by an educator.

In the end, kids who are skilled at researching online will always know how to find what they need to make the grade, Morris says: "I think the online environment is a great way for kids to learn."