If the thought of your child bringing home a new group project brings about images of coordinating carpools, rambunctious groups of kids and not getting any sleep the night before a big project is due, you are not alone. So, to help make the school year a little more smooth, we wanted to introduce you to some helpful online tools.  

For years, Google has been the search engine of choice when it comes to digging up information online but Google also provides a great selection of tools and applications that can help take the stress out of homework and group projects. Best of all, it's free!

Google Docs
No More Carpooling for School Projects

Parent's groan when they hear the teacher has assigned another group project but Google Docs makes getting those projects done a snap. Carpooling and coordinating schedules can be kept to a minimum because Google Docs allows students to work on their project, at the same time, while in different locations. Add video chat (try Skype or Google Talk) and it's just like they are working in person!

Google Docs allows users to create full-featured text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms and drawings. Try the demo from Google.

Google Calendar
Coordinate School Projects and Schedules Easily

Growing up, Mom had a giant bulletin board covered in papers and everyone's schedules in order to keep track of everyone in the family. With the Google Calendar, all that information can be stored in a neat and easy to organize calendar that each family member can access from anywhere with an internet connection.

Extra Tip: In charge of coordinating carpools or the class snack? It's easy! Just create a calendar and share it with the other busy parents so everybody can sign up and keep track of the schedule.

Assign each family member a color or even their own personal calendar to share with the family so everyone makes it to the practice, game or concert on time. Start your own Google Calendar.

Google Scholar
Find Reliable Information for Projects Online

Using the Internet to research information for projects is a great place to start, however you can't always believe everything you read. For instance, NJ does not produce 85% of the world's eggplants, but there are websites out there that will state otherwise. Funny example aside, sites, like Wikipedia, hold a huge amount of information but can be edited or created by anyone to say anything.

When your child is doing research for their project, you can help them find reliable sources of information. One of those sources is Google Scholar. Google Scholar provides a free database of research and published articles across a wide range of topics.

Other reliable research methods include hitting the library to use those old fashioned books or visiting your library or school's websites for access to various research databases that include full text journal, newspaper and magazine articles. Here is a link to the Howard County Library's electronic database.

If you would like for one of our Geeks to help you set up a Google account or provide you with a tutorial or walkthrough of the different Google tools, please call 410-715-3657.