Can you recommend any good education sites for children

Asks mollyprixe

A. The Internet is the biggest education resource ever, and it can potentially help your children do all their homework until they leave university. But they have to know how to access all the information out there, which can take time, patience and a bit of computer know how. And although you probably think they have more computer savvy than you do, which is usually true, they probably don't have the same research skills and it is these that will help children get the right information they need.

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Simply going to an encyclopaedia�such as Encarta when researching a subject isn't always going to help them, if they don''t know how to assimilate the information. Some good sites to get you started include the following:

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www.digitalbrain.com - is geared towards younger children�- primary and secondary school age, and is fun and easy to use.
www.learn.co.uk - is an off-shoot of The Guardian newspaper and has been designed to be used by children, so they won't find it difficult to navigate. www.educationunlimited.co.uk is another Guardian site geared more towards parents, with tips on parental input into homework etc.
www.bbc.co.uk/education - is a great resource for children and has a fantastic section for GCSE students at www.bbc.co.uk/gcsebitesize.
www.homeworkhigh.com - is linked with Channel 4 and provides online help from qualified teachers with homework and research projects.
www.topmarks.co.uk - is a great exam resource, covering lots of topics.
www.s-cool.co.uk - provides revision material for GCSE and A Level students.
www.schoolnet.com - is an excellent site for students, parents and teaches and is definitely one to bookmark.
www.revisiontime.com - helps at exam time, and provides lots of links to other education-oriented sites.

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Encyclopaedia sites can also be helpful, and include:
www.childrensencyclopedia.com and www.infoplease.com - are both aimed at younger children and are easy to use.
www.britannica.com - the whole Encyclopaedia Britannica is now online and free to use, its close rival is Microsoft's www.encarta.msn.com.
www.pcwebopedia.com - specialises in IT topics.

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Q. Is it possible to learn a language or get help with a language course online
A. Yes there are lots of language sites. It depends what language you'd like to perfect, and you usually have to pay for a full course to take you beyond beginner level, but some good sites include:

French�- library.thinkquest.org/112447 and www.helio.org/education/french
Italian�- www.cyberitalian.com
Spanish�-- www.studyspanish.com
Japanese�- www.japanese.online.com

Some good distance learning sites also cover languages. You can try the Open University at www.open.ac.uk and the NEC at www.nec.ac.uk and at the Tele-School Online at www.tele-school.org.

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Q. What about actual schools, can you get any help online with choosing schools
A. There are a few sites out there that help you choose a school in the UK. The At School site�- http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk gives you lots of information on state schools covering primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education. It offers information from the schools themselves, rather than independent reviews.

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The BBC, as usual on top with all education issues can also help you chose a state school in your area
www.bbc.co.uk/education/schools. If you're up for ploughing through league tables then check out www.dfee.gov.uk/perform.shtml - it's the official
government site on all current league tables. If you want to go one further and include Ofsted reports in your research then have a look at www.ukschoolsearch.co.uk - this is the site to bookmark as it gives independent reviews of schools, league tables and Ofsted reports, it is
excellent.

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If you have any other Internet related questions, please click here

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By Karen Anderson

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