Harper — Unique portal a resource for helping children learn

COLUMN — “Is my child doing everything they need to graduate?”

“I’m not sure how to help my 12-year-old with his homework.”

I know the frustration of seeing your child holding their head at the table, saying they can’t do their homework, and the feeling of not being able to help them.

It’s why I’m so excited to share a way to help you and your children.

Whether they are in Grade 1 or Grade 11, LearnNowBC has resources to help them, and you, succeed.

This unique and learner-focused online portal was created by B.C. educators and follows the provincial curriculum.

It offers more than 2,500 free courses and programs online, including free one-on-one tutoring five nights per week for secondary students.

They can call in between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and talk to a tutor.

The young learning centre is an interactive learning experience, with games and activities designed for young learners.

These games can help them develop the fundamental skills they need for math, science, social studies and English.

A daily physical activity (DPA) tracker can also be found on the website.

Students in grades 10 through 12 must participate in a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day to meet graduation requirements.

Through the DPA tracker, students can log in to the website and track their activity each day to keep on track.

For people over 18 who are B.C. residents and have not yet graduated from high school, information and resources are available to help achieve a diploma on LearnNowBC.

Is your high school student interested in getting a trade?

There is a “Trades Program Finder” on the site that allows you to search and find the training you want, where you want it.

There is even a section with video tutorials about using and taking advantage of online tools such as Facebook, Google and Remind 101, the latter of which is an app teachers can use to text students reminders without actually obtaining their phone numbers.

All you need to do to access these free resources is log in to LearnNowBC (learnnowbc.com) using your student’s identification number.

If you have any problems doing this at home, you can call your child’s school and they will walk you through it.

Parents with young children can set their kids up with a fun game or activity in the evenings to build skills.

High school students can go online themselves and find a tutor to get help.

Whatever you need it can be found on LearnNowBC.

This is a quality, vetted website that is made in B.C. for B.C. students and parents.

Denise Harper is chair of the Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education.