Online Homework Help

It sounded amazing: No school for an entire year! No more teachers! No more early morning starts!

When I told the boys that they would have a year off from school their smiles were from ear to ear. The only thing they thought they’d miss on our trip around the world? Recess.

But what they didn’t  understand was that no school didn’t mean no work. And so as we’ve gone from city to city the one thing from home that is constantly nipping at their heels? Their homework.

They do it in airplanes,airports, hotel rooms and poolside.

Homework time…anywhere

I’m lucky that both boys enjoy school and when threatened with the alternative – returning home early or going back and being behind their classmates – they always choose to pick up a pencil and get to work.

And while I was, and remain, gung ho about their on-the-road education and all of the learning they do just by experiencing the world, we’ve also had to figure out the best ways to keep them up to speed on some of the fundamentals they’ll need when they return to a structured curriculum in the fall.

We can’t afford to carry all the books they might have access to at home along with us from stop to stop. As it is their small backpacks are filled with a few notebooks, a sack of pencils and a book or two.

Matching sacks with books, notebook and pencils to make homework easy.

Instead, we’ve turned to online resources. We’ve got two laptops, an iphone and a Motorola Xoom along with us so there’s always a device we can point them to, and  best of all… they like it. The sites/apps all share the common features of being available, engaging and entertaining – exactly what they need to keep going.

Below you’ll find links to a few of our favourites as well as links to a few bloggers who are using other sites for homework help as well.

Hope it helps in your house as much as it has in our traveling one.

Reading

www.starfall.com – primary reading with a focus on phonetics

www.storyonline.net – Love this site where hollywood icons like Betty White and James Earl Jones read stories aloud

Math

www.khanacademy.org  – The kids actually ask to do math on this site. Videos provide simple and engaging instruction and then follow up with practice questions so you can see if your child has grasped the content.

www.ixl.com – This is another fave in our house. Plenty of practice questions arranged by grade.

Writing

http://www.tlsbooks.com/handwritingworksheets.htm – a great source for worksheets your child can use to perfect their penmanship

Television Affiliated sites

www.tfo.org/jeux – French games that help in the practice of French comprehension
www.tvokids.com – popular tv hosts guide your kids through educational games
www.pbskids.com

Other  Recommended sites:

Writing in their Journals keep the memories close and helps to improve writing skills

www.historica.ca – Canadian History

www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

www.factmonster.com/index.html    – great site to help with school projects. It offers facts about everything from countries to natural disasters in a kid-friendly format

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/ – We’ve just begun exploring this one but organized by grade level it offers information in a host of subjects

Geography4kids.com – one of a series of related sites that would help older kids understand concepts their learning in school geography classes – and  chemistry, biology and physics as well

Looking for more? Check out these blogs:

Brandon has compiled a great list of resources on his site: http://brandonpearce.com/2011/10/free-online-homeschool-resources/

Homeschooler Amy Page shares some insights into homeschooling her kids here:

This one about her 6 year old: http://www.livinontheroad.com.au/blog/starting-homeschool.html and this one in regards to her 9 and 10 year olds http://www.livinontheroad.com.au/blog/roadschooling.html

Have a site or app to share? Tell me about it in the comments below. Lets help each other