What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that although this homework hub is
managed by a 17-year-old boy (and his dad), it's wise beyond
its years. The
Discovery
Channel teamed up with BJ Pinchbeck to offer only
kid-appropriate organized links to educational resources
("English" takes you to authors, grammar lessons, and
quotations, for example), so parents don't need to worry when
their kid is taken off the site. There's an ad slot for other
Discovery Channel sites and their store, and one for a
subscription-based homework aid ($9.95/month).
Families can talk about using the Internet for homework help. What makes up a good resource for school kids? Is it better to have a site for a specific age group or for a specific topic, or does it matter? Can you think of a site that's not a reliable hub of information? Why is it not reliable?
Common Sense Media Review
BJ Pinchbeck's homework help is on the way! Finding
information about any subject -- from algebra to the history of
DNA -- is easy. Where content is clearly organized by subject
areas (including recess, reference, and search engines),
subcategories give you more direction and link to the best
resources on the Web. Most importantly, if you can't find
information on the subject you're looking for, it'll be clear
in minutes and you can move on. Or, you can e-mail BJ with
suggestions of missing resources. There were a few broken links
and pop-ups will, well, pop up, as kids browse through many
different sites, but overall this is a no-hassle library of
links helpful for quick questions and homework assignments.
Fans looking for another site that has endless information may also enjoy Wikipedia.org.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
3 |
