Kelly's Blog

SchoolFinder users can now find local resources from our partner, Care.com, while learning more about their child’s school.

Care.com is the leading online provider of trusted child caregivers and tutors.  The site makes the usually intimidating process of finding child care easy for parents by including extensive information on both babysitters and nannies, such as experience, availability, reviews from other parents, and personal introductions.  Also, Care.com’s extensive tutor profiles include tutor’s education, experience, and subject specialties.  Parents can browse all of the options in their area and find the best match for their family as a Care.com member.

Many parents come to SchoolFinder to learn about their child’s school or schools in their neighborhood or city. We hope that by providing local Care.com babysitters, nannies, tutors, and special needs providers within SchoolFinder will provide a valuable resource to our users.  We are thrilled to recommend the high quality of Care.com members to our Education.com community!

Get started today by finding your local school.

The Local Schools widget has become a popular free tool for real estate sites and blogs to showcase local school information. We’ve received positive feedback on how easy the widget is to customize and install. The recent enhancements were made in order to further meet our user’s needs around free school data.

So what’s new and improved on the widget?

Now, you can showcase schools near an exact address. Simply input the street address and city or zip and the closest schools to the address will be shown in the widget, both in the map and list view. Now real estate sites can implement the widget to showcase nearby schools for specific properties.

Another great new feature is the ability to browse the widget map past the default location. For example, if a widget is created for the zip code 94603, the user can browse past the schools that lie within the zip code to see schools in surrounding zip codes or cities.

Lastly, our widget has an updated look and feel- we’ve updated the look but kept all of the customization options available, such as color choice, size options, and custom title so it can be visually integrated onto other sites.

Don’t worry, we’ve kept our other key features, such as the ability to create a widget for a zip, city, entire county, or a specific school district. That way you can create a widget for the exact area you serve.

Our local school data tools are free and popular with sites and blogs in a variety of industries, including real estate, local media, and school districts.  We hope to continue to see the popularity of the widget grow and are really excited to showcase the new and improved widget at the Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco this week! Feel free to contact us with any questions on widget use at api-support@education.com.

Education.com is excited to announce a new partnership with PrepSportswear.com, a leading provider of custom school and team apparel.  School apparel and gear is now easy to find, customize, and afford.  SchoolFinder school profiles include individual school gear stores, where you can customize your school’s t-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, or any other spirit gear.  Put your name on the item, include your school mascot, and make it your own! I can’t wait to get a new Stevenson Patriots sweatshirt from my old high school… or get my niece excited about her new school with some school gear of her own.

Head back to school with spirit! Just in time for back to school savings, find your school and get your gear today!

Learn all about green schools- find ways to help your school go green and browse LEED certified schools in your state.

Green Schools

Students, parents and teachers are working together to promote green schools.  Recycling programs, bus transportation, and water efficiency are just a few of the many ways schools save energy and reduce waste.  Also, environmental education programs raise students’ awareness on how they can impact their environment. Learn about five easy ways to green your school. 

Although many schools promote green programs and activities, some schools are actually ceritified as green schools.  This means they have been certified by the U.S. Green Builing Council as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.  Find LEED certified green schools near you.  The LEED for Schools Rating System is specific to the design and construction of K-12 schools and buildings, addressing such things as energy efficiency, water conservation and mold prevention.  

Green School Review Prize

How green is your school?  Find your school with our SchoolFinder tool and tell others about your green school!  Writing a ”green” review gives you a chance to win a beautiful hard cover copy of Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World.  Learn more.

Does your child love playing games online? Are you concerned that the games don’t have educational value or aren’t kid-friendly?  With children spending more and more time online, parents often wonder what games are best suited for their child.

JumpStart World is the perfect way to allow your child to immerse themselves in a highly creative and fun learning environment.  JumpStart World is the leader in adventure action games based on virtual and interactive 3D worlds developed specifically for your three to ten year old child.

With JumpStart World, academic fundamentals are incorporated into a vibrant world where kids can control their learning environment. These adventure action games are tailored to your child’s personal skill level and learning style. Your child’s preferences and abilities customize the 3D challenge-based games, allowing your child to both succeed and learn new skills.

With lovable characters and a curriculum based on national and state standards, JumpStart World’s adventure action games stimulate creativity, build confidence, and reward achievements.  See how JumpStart World works and get started today!

Teaching a child to read can be daunting for many parents. Early readers need to practice a variety of skills and continue to review and challenge themselves in order to grow into fluent readers.  Although reading with your child is invaluable, many parents are looking for supplemental help for their early readers.  Education.com recommends Headsprout’s premier reading software program to grow your young reader.

Headsprout reading software guides young readers through a series of Web-based, animated lessons. Learning to read is a fun adventure with Headsprout’s cast of animated characters that helps capture kids’ imaginations. At the core of this reading software program are the proven skills all children must master while learning to read.

Headsprout reading software is developmentally appropriate, organized into 80 Web-based interactive episodes, each between 15 and 30 minutes long.

The earliest episodes begin with the fundamentals, but the lessons gradually increase in difficulty, building upon the skills developed in previous sessions.  The reading software program includes detailed progress reports and a variety of printed books to practice independent reading off-line as well.

Check out these sample lessons and get started today!

Are you looking for support with math homework?  Does your child struggle with completing math homework independently? Does math homework overwhelm your child?  These are all common concerns for parents, so we decided to let our community know about a great, affordable resource for math homework help.

The NutshellMath program from Discovery Education offers interactive explanations and demonstrations to the actual math homework problems in your textbook. Elementary school math homework, middle school math homework, and high school math homework are all covered, including Pre-Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Trigonometry, and Calculus subjects.

Over one hundred middle school, high school, and college math teachers created these interactive math homework explanations for students. Explanations are easy to follow and adapted for every type of learner, with visual and audio components. Simply by watching and listening to a video explaining the math problem, students learn how to independently solve the problem.

There are just three simple steps to using NutshellMath for online math homework help:

1. Choose your textbook
2. Type in the page number
3. Choose the problem you need help with and view the explanation

Not only can you watch and listen to explanations to math homework problems, but also use NutshellMath practice quizzes to prepare for upcoming tests.

Browse sample math homework explanations and solve your child’s math homework difficulties today.

SuperCamp camps for kids and teens build homework and study skills while also focusing on the importance of confidence and motivation in the learning process. The camps for kids and teens are designed to provide critical learning and life skills to help students succeed both academically and as individuals.

Many parents of middle school and high school students worry that their child lacks confidence in school.  Peer pressure and social anxities play a large role in academic success and can also be affecting academic success and confidence.

Education.com is pleased to promote SuperCamp’s camps for kids and teens as a way to give your child the extra boost they need this summer. SuperCamps are a great alternative to traditional academic camps or summer school because they build life skills alongside learning skills.

SuperCamp’s 10-day sleepaway camps for kids and teens are held at eight colleges across the U.S., including Stanford and Cornell.  Your child will love the dynamic, high energy, and fun environment on SuperCamp campuses and return home ready for new challenges!

Education.com supports SuperCamp’s camps for kids and teens because of the camps proven track-records and glowing testimonials from former campers and parents. Also, independent research shows that most of the 6,000 SuperCamp graduates report increases in grades, self-esteem, motivation, and confidence.

Learn more about these unique camps for kids and teens today!

Looking for a fun and easy way to help your child enjoy reading and build early literacy skills? Children’s audio books are a great way to introduce your child to the joys of reading and to discover great books.

Most parents and educators agree that children’s audio books help develop literacy skills and improve listening comprehension.  For example, the National Endowment for the Arts suggests that “children learn the nuances of narrative simply by listening to stories.”

AudibleKids children’s audio books offer thousands of audio books for all ages and interests. Simply download any children’s audio book onto your Apple® iPod®, MP3 player or computer and listen to stories anywhere or anytime.

AudibleKids has it all with the largest selection of digital children’s audio books, offering books on everything from classic fairy tales, mysteries, biographies, or novels. These downloadable books turn your iPod or computer into a learning tool for your child and allow for a fun, affordable way to share the joys of reading together. 

Browse children’s audio books to start sharing the joys of reading today!

On Friday, the Associated Press released a story, “Web sites help do the math to find a good school.” The article walked through a handful of sites, including Education.com, that allow parents to research and learn about local schools.

The article explains the variety of resources on our site, “Education.com hosts stories on everything from child development to bullying, but also features a detailed catalog of public and private schools across the U.S.”

The article also highlights the school information available in SchoolFinder, “Like the other sites, parents can find a trove of testing data, teacher information and a demographic overview of the school’s student population. Look here for other details, such as the percentage of students who were absent more than 21 days, classified as gifted, or speak limited English.”

We also thought it was great that one our school information partners using our free school data web service, Zillow.com, was commended for allowing their users access to this valuable information was researching a home. The article explains that Zillow nicely places “the school results in the context of a home buying decision.”

We hope parents check out SchoolFinder and let us know what they think!