A New Home For Homework Resources

Learning Ascent has an exciting announcement. We have launched a brand-new “Homework Help” page!  It is chock full of online homework resources and reviews for elementary and high school students.  Parent resources, too!

This project has been in the works for a few months, and we will continue to improve it.. But we are ready to share it with our online community. You may be wondering, “What is this page all about?”  Well, let me break it down for you.

Why We Created the Page

Technology has been a part of my education and teaching since the beginning. My school offered computer classes in grade school; I vividly remember learning how to type without looking at the keyboard.  And I remember learning the basics of Microsoft Office. My school supply lists went from requiring floppy disks to CDs to flash drives. Creating PowerPoint presentations for class projects became second nature to me.

I have literally grown up alongside technology, which means I’m pretty used to it by now. But when I made the transition from student to instructor, I was almost shocked by how much more digital students are nowadays. My oldest students are in high school, just five years younger than me, yet their classroom experience is even more digital than mine was. And the trend is only going to continue.

To this point, we at Learning Ascent have done a  good job of keeping up with this trend. We have updated technology in our office, and we have adjusted to checking students’ grades online (with their permission) and helping them submit assignments on Google classroom.

Throughout the years, our tutors have also gathered a toolbox of online homework resources to help our students when they’re not with us. Usually, we give out links as needed, tailored to the individual who seems to require help outside of our one-on-one sessions.

But never before had we created a place to have all of these homework resources in one place. Until now, of course!

How to Navigate the Page

The page is super easy to follow. But here is a quick tutorial.

Each section (elementary, high school, and parent) has different subject areas you can check out. Simply click the sidebar and you will reveal different sources within that subject, paired with descriptions of each and a rating out of five stars. If one particular source seems to fit your needs, simply click on it and you’ll be led directly to that source!

How the Homework Resources were Selected

As I mentioned earlier, most of our tutors have certain sites that they pass along to students for extra practice. That’s where I began. I asked each tutor to give me suggestions for homework resources in their areas of expertise, and I got a lot of useful feedback.

However, I started to notice that a lot of the resources I was getting were geared toward math. This might be because we have an abundance of math tutors on staff. (By the way, do you need some math tutoring? Make sure to sign up for help from our math experts.)

Math sites are great, but I wanted to give those who visited the page a variety of resources. I scoured the Internet for the best web pages I could find on a myriad of subjects: science, English, social studies, you name it! It was also important to provide different kinds of resources, especially for different kinds of learners. Some people can follow a written tutorial, but many people prefer visual or auditory stimulation. I turned, then, to YouTube, which is a popular place for students in their downtime. Why not show them how they could use it for schoolwork, as well?

I made sure I only cataloged the sources that seemed most helpful. I even rated each one. Subjective, I know, but I tried to be practical about it. Web pages that were hard to navigate or had an unappealing color scheme; video tutorials that were badly lit or hard to follow; articles that had out-of-date information did not make the cut. I even made sure the page only featured sources I deemed to be three stars or above. Only the highest quality for our online community!

In-Person Help Vs. Online Tutoring

So you’ve read about our inspiration. You’ve read the tutorial on the page. You should be all ready to go, right? Now you or your child can just do homework at home. No need for tutoring!

Well, not so fast.

Nothing can replace the benefits of a live instructor to guide your child through their work. I’m not just saying that as someone who works in a tutoring center — I genuinely believe that individualized attention from an expert is the best way for a student who is struggling to get the help they need.

That being said, I know my students are busy. I know that, in between soccer practice and gymnastics and all the rest of their activities, it can be really hard to make it in for an hour-long session before the next test. So, in a pinch, a good web page or a handy video tutorial can be incredibly beneficial.

So don’t think of it as an either-or situation. You can browse homework resources online and you can sign up for tutoring. Just like a good workout, right? They always say you shouldn’t skip leg day. Well, for a student, every day is brain day, and they need as much help as possible to succeed!

Okay, that’s enough chit-chat for now. Go ahead: explore our new page. Get to know our homework resources. And if you have any suggestions for new ones, please let us know! E-mail us at service@learningascent.com or give us a call at 630-587-2795.

And here’s a final reminder to seek our tutoring services. We offer help for every student at every grade and ability level, from test prep for high schoolers to reading help for elementary students. We hope to see you in our space soon!