Use the Web to Help Your Kids with Homework
Posted 10 Sep, 2007
Not close enough to help your kids with homework? New free online software could make it easier—whether you’re in the next town or six states away.
Companies like Google now offer online word-processing and spreadsheet programs, that allow you to save documents online instead of on your hard drive—so you can access them from any computer. If your student uses a program like Google’s Docs & Spreadsheets, he or she can start an assignment at school, work on it at a friend’s house, and finish it at home, all without having to carry around a laptop or a USB drive. If you want to save a copy of the document to your hard drive, you can do so directly from the website. Zoho.com, a “majority free” site, offers similar services that are for the most part free.
These online programs also let you share the documents with others. You decide whether someone can only read a document, or edit it as well. That means that students can share a Spanish essay with Mom or Dad who can then look it over from any computer with internet access, and suggest corrections. It’s not quite the same as sitting together at the kitchen table, but it could turn out to be the next best thing.
A cautionary point about using these types of tools for helping your children with homework: remember only to help. In edit mode, it is very easy to simply make changes right on the page, so make a point to only make suggestions and let your kids actually make the necessary changes. These online tools are a great way to help kids with trouble spots. You may want to use the program to read their work, add your suggestions or tips at the bottom of the page, and then let your student decide what to do from there.
Your family can also use shared online calendars to keep track of due dates, activities, birthdays, and events. Google Calendar and Yahoo! Calendar both offer free online calendars that individual users can use alone or share with other users. Calendars like these can be a very useful tool for busy families, especially if you have kids in high school or college who do tend to not be home a lot!
All the best,
Deborah Fox
Deborah Fox is the founder of Fox College Funding, a nationwide company that helps families find creative ways to reduce their college costs.
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Not close enough to help your kids with homework? New free online software could make it easier—whether you’re in the next town or six states away.
Companies like Google now offer online word-processing and spreadsheet programs, that allow you to save documents online instead of on your hard drive—so you can access them from any computer. If your student uses a program like Google’s Docs & Spreadsheets, he or she can start an assignment at school, work on it at a friend’s house, and finish it at home, all without having to carry around a laptop or a USB drive. If you want to save a copy of the document to your hard drive, you can do so directly from the website. Zoho.com, a “majority free” site, offers similar services that are for the most part free.
These online programs also let you share the documents with others. You decide whether someone can only read a document, or edit it as well. That means that students can share a Spanish essay with Mom or Dad who can then look it over from any computer with internet access, and suggest corrections. It’s not quite the same as sitting together at the kitchen table, but it could turn out to be the next best thing.
A cautionary point about using these types of tools for helping your children with homework: remember only to help. In edit mode, it is very easy to simply make changes right on the page, so make a point to only make suggestions and let your kids actually make the necessary changes. These online tools are a great way to help kids with trouble spots. You may want to use the program to read their work, add your suggestions or tips at the bottom of the page, and then let your student decide what to do from there.
Your family can also use shared online calendars to keep track of due dates, activities, birthdays, and events. Google Calendar and Yahoo! Calendar both offer free online calendars that individual users can use alone or share with other users. Calendars like these can be a very useful tool for busy families, especially if you have kids in high school or college who do tend to not be home a lot!
All the best,
Deborah Fox
Deborah Fox is the founder of Fox College Funding, a nationwide company that helps families find creative ways to reduce their college costs.
Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe by Email
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