Thankfully, they have something which most of us didn’t have when we were growing up ““ the World Wide Web.

Kids develop an early IQ for technology these days and computers aren’t any different. Take computer games for example; a kid’s inner chip seems to know its way around the levels that games throw up.

Putting online games and education together is an idea that’s coming up. Call it edutainment or plain fun, it takes the labor out and puts in the play.

Thankfully, there’s a growing legion of such web services with educational games which are helping to turn the concept of education on its head.

One among this legion is Games Classroom.

Games Classroom is about educational games alone. Games Classroom aggregates games from around the web. It is also specifically designed keeping the basic learning needs of K-6 students (i.e. from Kindergarten to Grade 6). This is the age where kids need to get their basics in order and the site games help them to brush it up.

According to the website, all content has been designed by professional and experienced educators. Care has been taken to understand the needs of both parents and their wards while designing the educational games.

Learning & Kids Play ““ A Bit Of Both

Here’s how I took my little niece through the first courses. The un-cramped layout made it easy to get a hang of all that’s there on Game Classroom. The site is centered on math’s games and language arts games. There are lots of ways to approach the learning you want to impart, but the easiest way is to select the grade level at the top first. The levels of the games are obviously designed keeping the grades in mind.

All educational games are neatly arranged in two sections (Math and Language Arts) and then on by skills (lessons) which have the games listed under them. Click on any of the icons to advance to the page where you can play the game.

The page gives a short description and a click on Play Game starts off the Flash games on the host website. If you like the game, you can also check out the related games given at the bottom.

Each game has been collected and placed on the site to teach one specific skill. Cartoon animals are used to teach uppercase and lowercase letters to kindergarteners, in the next grade ““ kids can use chicken stacks to learn words by sound. The games are gradually progressed upwards and one can easily follow it to master the basics.

Serious Parenting With Homework Help

You can leave the kid alone to work out the games on their own. But to reinforce the concepts, try out the Homework Help section. This section gives a lot of pointers to parents on how to carry on the teaching with interesting assignments and learning tips. A link to an external resource is also added.

The site’s appeal lies in its simplicity. The games don’t overwhelm the parent or the kid. Also, the content seems to pretty much cover the basics that need the buttress. Yes, there are a lot of educational games out there.

Take a look at some we have covered before ““

Top Educational Websites For Children That Are Fun
Sporcle ““ Cool Games That Make Learning Fun Again
5 Cool Free Internet Games for Kids That’ll Make them Love Math

Game Classroom has a place there for sure. Let us know if you think that it has a place in your curriculum too.

However, algebra concepts insert “unknowns” into equations and formulas that can really throw many students for a loop. Solving an equation for a factor that appears to be on the “wrong side” of the equal sign can feel like a very strange and impossible premise for those students.

As usual, help is available on the Internet, and the following list are some of the best free algebra homework help websites that can make the process of learning algebra a whole lot easier.

MyAlgebra – A Free Algebra Problem Solver

A very simple and useful resource is the MyAlgebra online problem solver application.  While this isn’t the first place a student should go for help, because it simply provides the answer to the equation, it is an excellent website for students to check their work.

Students can work through their algebra problems, and when they’ve come up with a solution that they feel is correct, they can simply enter in the equation and click “Answer.” Of course, solving for equations isn’t the only thing the application can do – there is a long list of funcions in the drop-down list to choose from.

Obviously, the most common choice will be to “solve the equation,” and the nice thing about this online application is that it converts both the problem and the solution into the same sort of format that it would appear in the textbook.

Unfortunately, “show steps” isn’t really a legitimate option, as it takes you to a website for Bagatrix, where you can purchase Algebra solving software that provides step-by-step solutions. Regardless, as an answer-checker the free online app proves very useful.

Illuminations – Cool Algebra Activities and Lessons

Nothing is quite as frustrating for many students as trying to understand abstract concepts, and learning to do so by reading drab and boring textbooks that make you want to go to sleep. Luckily, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the U.S. understands this problem and created a website called Illuminations that brings the subject (including algebra) to life for students.

The site includes high quality activities and lessons that cover all aspects of both math and algebra. Of all available free algebra homework help websites, this is definitely the one that’s the most fun and interesting. For lessons, you select grade levels and topics (one area is devoted to just algebra), and you get access to dozens of valuable lessons that teach important algebra concepts. However, my favorite part of the site is the “activities” area that offers some really high quality and valuable online applications that graphically show algebraic principles, such as this “pan balance” app that graphically displays what happens when you change different elements of equations.

Tutorvista – Free Lessons

While Tutorvista isn’t technically a free site, because the primary aim is to get parents to sign up their children for an online tutor, the website does offer an entire algebra help section with well formatted lessons that teach students about the many elements of algebra, from foundation principles all the way to the more advanced topics.

Of course, if you do need tutoring for your child, you can actually submit an assignment and for an average fee of $5, a tutor will actually send back the answer in a fully worked-out step-by-step solution. However, before you start dishing out your cash for any paid tutoring, make sure to check out the next free Algebra homework help website that actually does offer many tutoring services for free.

Algebra.com – Math Tutors Who Just Can’t Get Enough

Of course, the best place to get some free algebra tutoring is Algebra.com, an online community of mathematicians who are obsessed with the topic. You can turn their obsession into your child’s advantage by posting problems for the tutor community to answer. The website itself offers more lessons and information than probably any other algebra help website out there.

Just the algebra section includes pre-algebra, algebra I and algebra II – and of course there’s a quick and easy “Universal Simplifier and Solver” at the top that will either simplify or solve your algebra equations. At the top of the site, there’s a “Free Tutors” menu option that’ll take you to a section where you can either sign up to be a free tutor (a public service which gives you exposure for your tutoring business), or you can submit your own algebra questions to the tutors. There are almost a thousand active tutors – and the question/answer area is a huge community of fantastic tutors who are eager to help kids with their algebra problems.

Math.com – Interactive Algebra Help

Another valuable site filled with step-by-step instructions and lessons for students to learn the most important algebra concepts is Math.com. This site covers both the basics as well as advanced concepts under categories like “The Language of Algebra”, “Equations and Inequalities” and “Graphing Equations and Inequalities.”

The lessons at Math.com take students through an easy step-by-step “wizard,” and on each step there’s often a “show me” option students can click where the application offers examples or additional information that better explains a specific topic. It’s just like having a teacher available with instant answers to the typical questions that students often ask.

Drexel University  – The Math Forum

The Math Forum is a valuable public service offered by Drexel University that offers both students and teachers dozens of resources. Many of the resources are buried within internal links, but the Algebra Section alone offers classroom materials for teachers, Internet projects, public forums and even links to algebra software throughout the net.

The Math Forum is one of the largest math & algebra resources on the net, and if you can afford to donate it would be a valuable and worthy cause to contribute. Mathematics, and algebra in particular are critical skills for students to learn early on that can tremendously simplify their lives later on. Any free algebra homework help websites that exist on the Internet are very positive resources that should be promoted and applauded by everyone.

Do you know of any additional algebra resources for teachers, parents or students on the Internet? Share them in the comments section below.

Image credit: aussiegall