Best Free Educational Sites for Middle Schoolers
Yahooligans! On first glance Yahooligans! may look like a kids’ version of the Yahoo web guide. Look deeper. Yahooligans!contains a lot of embedded content for your middle schooler. This means that the student won’t be leaving this web site for the information, since it’s all right here. Like its parent Yahoo! site there are many links, but these have been carefully selected for both elementary school students and middle school students.
Yahooligans! is both educational and fun, combining factual information with one-question polls about breakfast, or with tasteful riddles. This free educational site for kids is colorful and incredibly organized. School subjects from language arts to science are covered. A great part of this educational site is the Yahooligans Reference section. Complete with a dictionary, thesaurus and a World Factbook.
First Gov for Kidsis a gateway to free educational web sites for middle schoolers, mostly operated by the U.S. Government. Categories include Arts, Computers, Government, Health, History, Math and Science, and Plants and Animals.
Ben’s Guide to [U.S.] Government for Kids is a great free educational site for middle schoolers, as well as other age groups. The web site is broken down into specific age groups. Topics that middle schoolers will find on this free educational web site include Branches of Government, Election Process, Citizenship, a glossary, Historical Documents, Our Nation, and How Laws are Made.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian is an incredible free educational web site for middle schoolers and others which covers “Art to Zoology,” all with links to and information from the Smithsonian Institution. This site is basically a kid-friendly index with topics such as Dinosaurs, First Ladies, Egyptian Mummies and Mollusks. Some of the sites within the Smithsonian may provide challenges to the younger student, but they are well-designed and worth visiting, perhaps accompanied by a parent, older sibling or a teacher.
IPL Kidspace is the Internet Public Library for Kids. Prominently featured on this free educational web site are: Culture Quest, Learning HTML, Science Fair, Stately Knowledge, and U.S. Presidents. Other subjects parallel school subjects for middle school students and other students.
InfoPlease Homework Center is dense, informative free educational site for the more mature middle school student. The web site has fewer graphical elements than Yahooligans! and covers more serious topics. InfoPlease is a great free educational site where students will find Almanacs, an Atlas, Encyclopedia, Dictionary and Thesaurus. Subjects include a Daily Almanac, The Fifty States, History & Government, World & News, and Society and Culture. Your middle school student and older students will find what they need on this free educational web site.
Enchanted Learning is on the other end of the age spectrum. For younger middle school students and elementary students, this free educational web site is very colorful, fun and easy to navigate. With pictures of a panda, a butterfly and a dinosaur even your youngest student will be able to click in the right place.
With any web sites, parents should visit them first, and check in on kids’ while on line. These free educational web sites are a great starting place for middle schoolers looking for facts for their assignments.