How to know if an educational site will be a lemon

I frequently have people ask me what I think about different websites. I LOVE it!!!! Please keep the site you  find coming. I don't know about all the educational websites and love hearing about more. I thought I would list how I judge a website and determine if it's a site I would like my kids to play on or not to help others know what to look for in an educational website.

1. Educational value - This is my number one because I feel it is so important. Anything can be educational. I'm a teacher and I can spin any activity and make it look educational. Coloring - They are using their small motor skills, working on staying in the lines, and of course being creative. That doesn't mean I want to pay for a website where that's a majority of what my kids do. I look at the State Core Curriculum (What the state expects your child to know at each age). I recommend looking at this and becoming familiar with it, just be prepared to read between the legal jargon. If you don't want to use your state's guidelines I also LOVE  the Core Knowledge Curriculum. Most people know it  as the "What your (insert grade here)  should know" Book series.  "Educational" is a selling word, so make sure you are getting the education you want.

2. Fun/age appropriate - One site I looked at today was very educational but it would entertain my kids for 5 minutes. I'm not going to purchase a subscription to something I will have to fight to get my child to use. That's why they do chores :) The activities needs to be fun. I have noticed that many of the sites I look at use cute characters and colorful backgrounds which is great for my 5 year old but a 10 year old wouldn't enjoy it too much. If the site is too babyish you will have fights getting them to work on it.

3. Assessments/tests- Can you see how your child is doing? I am a VERY involved parent when it comes to my children's education and I like to know how they are doing every step of the way. If they don't understand something I feel it is my responsibility to make sure they do or to tell the teacher so they can help. A teacher has a classroom full of kids and it's easy for someone to slip through the cracks for even the best teacher. I want a site that allows me to see how well they are doing and where they need help. I also want a site to provide extra practice and learning if they aren't understanding, not just the same activity over and over until they memorize the right answers to move on.

4. Difficulty level - I always look to see how difficult the site will become. Will it challenge my child for through the year subscription or will they be bored with it in 3 months? Will it push my child? I look at what my children know and what I believe they could accomplish in a year. My son, he learns quickly and wants more. When I'm looking for sites for him I look for at least a two year grade span so he won't go through it all. My daughter needs a little more time for everything to sink in. She is smart she just doesn't have the drive to learn as quickly as my son just yet. So when looking for a site for her I look for a minimum of a 1 grade level spans worth of activities and information.

5. Music/sounds - It is so hard for an adult to concentrate on learning while there is wild music and sounds going off in the background, it's the same way for kids too. I would say it's even harder for them to focus if there is too much happening on the site in the background. When there is music on the site I want the option to turn it off when my kids are working. If I can't I frequently turn my speakers off and just read the problems to them. I don't want jumping icons behind their problems or blinking signs. It needs to be simple!!! I want them to be able to focus on the problem at hand and not have be tempted to wonder why the icons keep moving or what's going to happen next behind the problem. Too much movement is not great on a children's educational website. The kids may be upset (my son gets mad when I switch the speakers off) but they really do better when everything is quiet and still.  Besides most of the music and sounds I have heard can become annoying to monitoring adults quickly.

6.  Ads - I know that many sites have ads and that is how they keep their site free. If I'm paying to use a site I don't want to see ad's. If I'm not and there are ad's I expect them to be kid friendly and to not lead my kids to dangerous sites. I do have a strict no clicking on ad's policy with my kids but I know they  will click on ad's no matter how many times you tell them not to. The ads will lead them to places that could become unsafe quickly. Make sure you check the ads on the site carefully. Click on them and know where they can lead your children. Even with our strict rule my kids still do it. As soon as I see it they lose computer time. It's just to dangerous for them and for the computer they are using.