Last spring a required course for our daughter’s graduation was U.S. Government. Political discussion is standard fare at our house and we didn’t want a typical course that would be a dull review of what she already knew. At the time the Alaska Legislature was discussing a constitutional amendment that would require the Attorney General to be elected rather than governor-appointed. Dinner table discussion of the pros and cons turned into Jen’s U.S. Government course. She would research the 50 states’ government structures and in a final paper/project she would present her supported opinion on the AG issue.

My part was to make a general form of questions to be filled out for each state. As I was planning the course I was having visions of pages of paper for each state or my inbox being filled with 50 messages with attachments. My eyes glazed over, my mind went numb. There had to be a better way. Enter Google Docs. I created the documents, shared them with Jen who then completed the work. No printing, no email. One other tool was necessary, Zoho Projects at Zoho.com. In Zoho, we created a timeline and checklist for Government and all the details for graduation. These two free applications were the perfect solution.

They were such a success that this project was included in a Wall Street Journal article last week on how parents use the internet to help with school work. So, if you’re teaching an older child at home make the most of what’s available online not just for direct instruction but also to make things a lot easier as a teacher.

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