As a homeschooling father, education is important to me. Finding good sites and resources is always a challenge. I look at many different aspects of the information that is on the site. What underscores the importance of good education websites is that the current generation of young people are the first generation that will effectively be educating themselves with the information they have access to on the internet. This aspect brings with it some opportunities and challenges. Among the challenges, the new generation is not dependent on the previous generation for their knowledge. Such an occurrence may bring with it an independent attitude.

Among the benefits, is that they have access to information from libraries and museums that previous generations were never exposed to. With this greater access to information, obtaining trusted information is made even more important.

Before heading into what I consider the best education site, it helps to know what ideas are shaping my views on education. I see a need for synthesis. Rather than breaking all the subjects down and studying them separately, I believe the more you can combine them, the more the child understands them. For instance, when a child understands the links between the art, historic events, religion and culture of a particular people during a particular time period, the more they understand each of those particulars better. The child learns to see the interdependence of knowledge and how the ideas behind the knowledge do have impact.

Another influencing idea is from Charlotte Mason. That is the idea of the child needing to be exposed to the works of great thinkers in their own words. Charlotte Mason used the term “living books’. For example, rather than read about David Crockett, read his autobiography. Rather than read about the contributions of Julius Caesar, which are many, it is vital to read what he said. With this approach, children learn to look at the world through the eyes of those who shaped it.

I also see a need for children to know the history of their heritage and family. History and culture come alive when you know where you fit into the flow of things. Knowing how ideas and events were shaped and occurred, helps you define it and put greater meaning with those events. Children are born at a unique time in history. When they understand their unique time and unique place in the world, they have a better understanding of their own purpose and what they can accomplish.

Along with this approach, when a child can re-enact historic events at the places and locations where they occurred, they have a greater grasp of what happened. When my sons were younger, we reenacted the surrender of Santa Anna to Sam Houston at the San Jacinto battlefield on the site where it occurred. In doing such exercises, the child develops a fuller understanding of what occurred and why it happened the way it did. Recently we went to some Mayan ruins. In going through the ruins they better understood the Mayan culture than any book could have described.

So with these influences in mind, my vote for the best education site is KnowSouthernHistory.net. The site has articles and information from a variety of sources. What started as a project by the maker of the site has seen phenomenal growth as people have began utilizing its services and information. The founder has been amazed at how his website has been used as references in school papers and has now become an authoritative site for such papers.