This is one of my favorite Beatles songs and is actually the ring tone for my cell phone. Most of the time it is very appropriate- people call with a question or a need (often one of my sons or grandchildren). At one time or another, we all need help and one of the things we need help with is our children's school work. We all want our children to become independent learners, but we also know that they need help getting there. I used to worry about this- am I helping too much, not enough, or is my help confusing my sons even more?
One solution I have found (now that I am sometimes helping one or more of my grandchildren) is Khan Academy. This is a free web site with help for students in just about every area. I discovered this a few years ago and am more impressed every time I use it to help a student. It's free and can be used by teachers, parents, students and anyone else who wants to learn and/or sharpen new skills. Once you register (all free), you are able to search the site for help in many topics or use it to practice skills. Does your student have trouble converting fractions to decimals? There is a quick video to demonstrate this skill. Still don't get it? There are more videos and a question/answer section. If you want some practice using the skill, there are practice sets for everything from addition to calculus.
Math isn't the only topic covered: There are help topics on history, art, computer programming, physics, chemistry and more. All with easy to understand videos or demonstrations. Some teachers even use it as a homework site. Khan Academy won't answer all your questions (why did two of my sons do homework without me asking, while the third was a struggle), but it will make those explanations for everyday academic problems a little easier. Did I mention this is free? If you are interested, check out www.khanacademy.org You can even sign in with a Facebook account!
