Should Your Children Take Advantage of Online Schooling?

With school back in session for many students, I started thinking about some of the online options that are now available for students. It’s not just supplemental tools for kids; in some places they can take online classes.

My daughter loves Starfall.com. We were introduced to it at her preschool class. It’s a free website with educational games for younger children, up to around 1st grade for the most part. It has a lot of really great games.

There’s online tutoring too. Sites such as Class of 1 offer tutoring and homework help for K-12 students, as well as college students. That’s probably pretty handy when you can’t figure out how to handle the work yourself or your child just needs more help than you know how to give. Tutor.com is a similar kind of site.

But for those wanting a program to go through for homeschooling, there are all kinds of online resources, from a full on high school program to individual courses. The Internet has made it possible for advanced courses to be offered to those who are interested, no matter the distance.

And then there are products you can learn at home. My niece is using Rosetta Stone software to study German on her own. I’ve been debating getting something along those lines for my kids, since they say the earlier kids start on a foreign language, the better. I know that my niece is very happy with the program she’s using, but I’m wondering if the Muzzy program would be better as it’s geared to younger children.

My daughter’s kindergarten teacher has said that she will be sending home a list of programs the kids will be using in school when they use computers, and I’m definitely looking forward to having that. It should help me to keep up with what is really useful for her age.

Do your kids do any online educational activities? What resources do you recommend?

[tags]online schooling,online learning,homework help[/tags]