Joyful Momma's Top Picks

Ok, by popular demand (again), I am doing the next few top picks based upon questions and requests that were sent to me. This week: top picks for websites for kids.

Though this "top pick" edition came about from a few questions regarding my children's favorite websites, really they don't just go and surf the net! They do enjoy doing things on the computer, but they are supervised when they are online, and most of the sites they like are ones I've found or that other's have recommended to me.

I think it goes without saying that just turning your kids loose on the internet is a really bad idea. There are predators out there, and there are bad sites out there. There are even bad sites that use names that are similar to popular children's sites, in the hopes of getting hits based on poor typing. I wish it were not so, but it is. So, first off, filtering software. There are some good ones out there such as Net Nanny and even McCaffey's Parental Controls. We have used both of those. I especially like the fact that our computers are all locked from the internet with a specific password--In other words, I have to sign anyone on who wants to go on, and will therefore know they are online. I am also able to block specific sites, and sites containing specific keywords. While this is not perfect, thus far, for our set up, it's worked.

Just a few weeks ago I was reminded why it is a good idea to have this sort of thing in place. My thirteen year old daughter was using the computer, and I was sitting in a nearby chair reading to her sister, when she said, "Huh! This won't let me on this site I'm looking for!"

"Oh, what site is that?"

"Myspace.com."

(I had to pull myself up off the floor at that point. My kid knows about Myspace?)

"I'm trying to look at my friend's Myspace page."

At this point, I explained why I specifically locked out that site by name...and my own concerns about it. We had a good conversation. BUT...it made me really happy I blocked it. I am sure there was nothing bad on her friends' myspace page, but at the same time, I don't want her just poking around that site--there are a lot of places there that are REALLY bad.

Enough said. Onto my top picks.

We live in one of those weird areas where we don't get clear radio signals, so we really love www.oneplace.com, which has all of the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, and Adventures in Odysessy Radio Shows on it (as well as other Focus radio broadcasts)

www.starfall.com is an awesome interactive site with amazing Flash graphics for teaching children basic phonics and reading skills. This is a great idea for begining reading readiness, or for a new phonics student, or even for those who are beginning to read on their own. If a child gets tripped up on a word, they can just click on it, and it will play an audio of that word or phrase. This website does have some Halloween stuff on it (We'd rather eat pumpkins than decorate with them), but apart from that, it's really a favorite.

http://www.richkidsmartkid.com/ is a fun website by Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, but for children. It's goal is to teach financial literacy to children. Though I will say that I don't agree with absolutely everythign promoted in Rich Dad, Poor Dad ,I have found the book to be incredibly helpful in my own life, and in giving my children a good headstart in an area where my husband and I received zero proper training. My children really have enjoyed playing the games on this website that you can play for free.

Kids4Truth's website is flat out awesome. It's full of neat multimedia presentations about Bible themes, with tests and quizzes at the end, as well as resources you can order. I especially like the tracts they have there. These Dynamations are fabulous.

Home Science Tools is another great website, though more for parents :-) and older children. It has everything you ever wanted in the way of science equiptment, and some really awesome articles about topics such as "Selecting a Telescope" and more. My husband calls it "Kim's Toy Store" because I am a total science geek, and it is full of everything I wanted as a child but my parents refused to buy me. Seriously, you can find some awesome gifts here for any budding scientist...or me...

Continuing on with our family's love for science, especially Astronomy, the US Government has some very neat things on the websites for NASA and for the Hubble Telescope. At NASA you can watch videos of the astronauts in the shuttles, interactive presentations about different missions, articles, images, and more. There's always something new there. Of course, as with Hubble, you have to occasionally give them the raspberries when they say "bilions and billions of years". We all do a "thbbbbbt" at the computer when that comes up in any presentation.

Hubble's Site is really neat. It is just an amazing collection of the photographs that Hubble has taken since being in orbit. There are some neat interactive presentations, including one all about Black Holes, and there downloadable images you can download. There is also a presenation called "Tonight's Sky" which is new each month. This presentation will give you and your children a guide as to what to look for in the night sky during the current month. Again, every now and then they have to say Billions of years so as to remind us that we can't think that a superior Being created all of these totally cool astronomical features we are looking at. All I can think of when at Hubblesite is "the heavens declare the glory of God!"

Speaking of Creation, Ken Ham's site www.answersingenesis.com has lots of great information for older children, and parents. There is also some free video downloads available by clicking on "media" and selecting "video downloads".

Labels: computers, internet