homework help – Media! Tech! Parenting!

Grammar is Fun? Grammar Girl Sure Is – Bookmark It!

Posted on November 30, 2010February 27, 2015 by Marti Weston

Does someone in your house need an occasional grammar review? Do occasional questions about word use or punctuation come up as a family member writes important essays and reports? If so, check out Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. It’s amusing for kids and adults, too, but there’s a lot to learn along the way. We listen to these podcasts just for fun, and I know a family that downloads the “casts” to listen to on family car trips (okay, it’s my family).

Grammar Girl posts regular podcasts — free and never more than a couple of minutes long — and they are chock-full of interesting information about usage, punctuation rules, and accepted practices. She uses humorous examples, not unlike the understated but clever examples found in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, a revered but unpretentious reference first published in 1918 and still widely used today.

Continue reading “Grammar is Fun? Grammar Girl Sure Is – Bookmark It!” →

digital parenting, online databases, parents and technology, research on the web

Do You Know What Makes a Good Website? Does Your Child Know?

Posted on October 19, 2010March 1, 2015 by Marti Weston

If the information in this post is helpful, you may also want to read my post Staying Ahead With Digital Research.

How can one determine whether or not a website is reliable?

Obviously if the website is part of library resources, students and parents can usually be assured of its quality. However, when a child sits down at a personal home computer, makes a general search on a topic for a school assignment, and begins clicking through results, understanding the characteristics that make a website reliable is critical.

Questions to Help Parents and Children Determine if a Website is Reliable …

Is the site visually interesting with an organized layout?
Does it balance writing with helpful illustrations?
Is the writer qualified to be writing on the subject? How do you know?
Can you identify facts and information about your topic that you already know are accurate
Are the fonts simple, easy to read, and uncluttered?
Is the site updated on a regular basis? How do you know?
Are there irritating pop-ups and/or other distractions. (However be aware that newspapers do have these pop-up windows.)

Internet Public Library — Bookmark It!

Posted on October 9, 2010February 28, 2015 by Marti Weston

Parents and teachers are always on the hunt for a reliable Internet site that children can visit time after time and be certain of the quality and reliability of the content. The Internet Public Library (ipl2) fits the bill, a resource that is just as good for adults as it is for children. With a motto of “Information You Can Trust” the IPL2 is a searchable, subject-categorized directory of authoritative websites with links to online texts, newspapers, and other resources. Librarians review everything in the collection.

What to Check Out at the Internet Public Library Continue reading “Internet Public Library — Bookmark It!” →

digital parenting, great sites for students, homework, parents and technology

Quick and Easy Graphing Site – Bookmark It!

Posted on September 16, 2010October 9, 2010 by Marti Weston

Have you ever wished you would make a quick graph as you help a child with homework or explain a complex concept by depicting it with a graph?

The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) offers a “Create-a-Graph” site, and more than 20,000,000 users have made graphs since 2005. The site provides a quick getting-started tutorial to help get started, but the graph making is simple enough that a user can get started almost immediately. Graphs can be saved, printed, and e-mailed.