The best online homework help

Using the Internet for homework assistance requires both awareness and participation from parents. It is important to view the Internet as a supplementary tool for learning, not as a wishing well of copy-and-paste information. Here are some useful sites that will help you enhance your child's learning experiences at home.

Parental involvement and awareness
To learn more about how media and the Internet affects Canadian families, visit The Media Awareness Network (www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/index.cfm).

Respecting the work of others
Copyright issues have never been more important with the free flow of information from the Internet. Learn more about Canadian copyright from this Telus Learning Connection site (www.2learn.ca/copyright/questions.html).

The Columbia Guide to Online Style (www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html) will give some guidance on how to cite materials found on the Internet and through other electronic resources. An overview of each citation can be viewed on their site.

Research and reference
There are hundreds of search engines in use today. One particularly useful one is Google (www.google.ca). Students can find websites, news and images using Boolean search terms on the Canadian edition. (Be sure to take advantage of the adult-content filter settings.)

Another great search engine for students is Ask Jeeves for Kids (www.ajkids.com). Students type in a query and based on keywords, a list of relevant results is presented.

Built-in spell checking functions only do so much for young writers. Dictionary publisher, Merriam Webster, offers dictionary and thesaurus tools (www.m-w.com) to augment student writing.

The Humanities
Enchanted Learning (www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html) is perfect for younger students who are looking for dozens of resources ranging from outline drawings and picture dictionaries to animal and planetary information.

Writer's block? Try The Story Starter (www.thestorystarter.com/) for more than 248,000 ideas to get that pencil going.

The Online Rhyming Dictionary (www.writeexpress.com/online2.html) accepts a word from the user and returns a list of ways in which it may rhyme with other words.

Looking for a particular text? Try searching the archives at Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.net) for public-domain publications.

Students can brush up on their English skills by taking these online English Grammar Quizzes (http://a4esl.org/q/j/).

National Geographic Xpedtions Atlas (www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/) is a fantastic resource for all sorts of maps made for printing. Both detailed and blank outlines of every country on Earth are found here.

The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com) is the quintessential resource for all things Canadian. Learn about the people, places and events that shaped our country.

Math & Science
The Ultimate Science Fair Resource (www.scifair.org) site offers step-by-step instruction on how to participate in a science fair.

High school students will find The Basic Physics and Equations Formulas Sheet (www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/physics/info_equation_tables_2002.pdf) a useful summary. This version is a .pdf download.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory's Periodic Table of Elements (http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/default.htm) contains hyperlinked information about each element and downloadable, printable versions.

A Maths Dictionary for Kids (www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com) is a visual, interactive collection of mathematical terms for younger students.

How do numbers affect everyday decisions? Find out by visiting Math in Daily Life (www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/).

This Math Worksheet Generator (http://cornvalley.peak.org/math/) provides students with arithmetic practice that can be printed out or completed online.