More and more, students, including homeschoolers, are using the internet for research. However, just because something is on a website does not mean it’s credible, reliable, or even true. For a few dollars, anyone can put up a website up, saying anything they want about any subject.

Netcraft, an internet research firm, reported in January 2009, that there are nearly 188 million websites, with almost 75 million of them active! Let’s look at these big numbers from a different angle: if you were to spend one minute, 365 days, 24/7 on each active website, it would take you nearly 143 years to visit all of them! Whoa!!!

Okay… we have nearly 75 million active websites, who is responsible for evaluating the reliabilty and accuracy of online content? Simply put, you are. There are no “Internet Police” monitoring websites and their content.  It’s up to you, the internet user.

The question is, how do we teach our home educated kids to whether or not a website is a reliable and trustworthy internet resource?

Helpful tips to determine if a website is a reliable resource: Read the rest of this entry »