

Ask HN: Recommend an Online Encyclopedia for Home-Schooling - shawndumas

My kids are a bit to young for unfettered access to Wikipedia. ("Daddy what's 'fisting'[1]?")<p>Does anyone have any experience with any online Encyclopedias? Please and thanks.<p>-----<p>[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisting/  &#60;-- NSFW
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drallison
Why not allow unfettered access to Wikipedia? What are you afraid will happen?
That your kids will grow up with a positive attitude about sex and some
knowledge about what it entails? Or are you worried that your kids will want
to talk with you about a topic you find difficult or embarrassing to discuss?
Or what? Kid's interests are normally age appropriate although they may mimic
or mirror parental interests and behavior to gain your approval.

Many kids are sexually active at a fairly early age. The average age of
menarche in the US is 13.5 years; the average age of first intercourse is 15
years. Breast development, which usually indicates the beginning of puberty,
starts in about 10% of US white females at age seven. Kids are beginning
sexual development earlier and earlier. Seems to me that an informed sex
positive kid is better equipped to deal with life than one who is kept in the
dark.

~~~
shawndumas
Even _if_ I agreed it's still an issue of timing. Would you agree that
somethings are age appropriate and other things are not?

~~~
drallison
I think that kids should be allowed, even encouraged, to explore _anything_
that captures their interest, particularly when the thing being explored
exists in the world of ideas. It's really hard to break your arm or get a
concussion from reading a book, stumbling on an idea, or surfing the web. I'd
even go so far as to extend that permission to their parents (and other older
people).

In the more physical realm, I also think exploration should be encouraged, but
there some adult supervision makes sense, but only to mitigate the possibility
of significant injuries. You want to teach your kids how to explore the
physical world safely and cautiously, and do it without restricting their
imagination and actions. Most scientists and engineers will tell you about the
many things they did as a kid that were dangerous and educational. We owe it
to our kids to let them learn about things on their own.

Kids interests change over time; "age appropriate" means, for me, that the
materials are things which most kids of a particular age are known to be
interested in and that the content is of such a level that the target audience
can understand it. For example, it's age appropriate to talk about
mathematical concepts such as counting, sequences, and sets to a preschool
child, but it's probably not appropriate to do it with a formal set of axioms,
theorems, and proofs. Kids are pretty good at self-selecting their own
materials.

~~~
shawndumas
"I think that kids should be allowed, even encouraged, to explore _anything_
that captures their interest..." anything?! Really?

Ok, rhetorically speaking; What about race-hate propaganda? How about a book
that praises the joys of religious intolerance? Might we want to see books on
these topics held in reserve for an older more discerning audience?

Now a real question: So fisting is ok at what age-range then? Don't miss the
direct question. I am asking for an age-range so that you won't say something
like, "well.. that er... depends on the child". Pick a range when fisting is,
in your opinion, a healthy endeavor for _male children_.

~~~
drallison
Your "real question" is a change of topic. The age a particular sexual
practice becomes a healthy endeavor depends upon many factors, including, for
example, the attitude parents have about their own and their child's
sexuality. But this thread is about knowledge and not about doing.

We are talking about whether access to information about fisting on Wikipedia
should be blocked or not. I argue that if the child is interested, male or
female, they should be able to learn what the term means. I also think that
kids should be able to see for themselves race-hate propaganda, religious
intolerance, naked people, and pornography if they are interested. It's our
responsibility, as parents, to help them to look critically at the information
they find on the web, on TV, and elsewhere. And we need to be open and willing
to answer their questions in a clear, non-judgmental fashion.

It is also our responsibility to teach kids about their bodies and their
sexuality and what kinds of endeavors are healthy and what are dangerous. I
believe that an informed person, regardless of age, is better off than one who
has no information or misinformation.

~~~
shawndumas
So you're not gonna answer my question?

~~~
drallison
No. I am not going to answer the question and escalate a debate over whether
certain information should be kept from children into a debate on what is an
appropriate age for children (or adults) to engage in particular sexual
practices.

~~~
shawndumas
And information _never_ informs action in your opinion?

~~~
drallison
Not in this case. Would you block access to entries about murder? robbery?
guns? knives? Halloween (the work of the devil to some people)? Santa Claus
(who might be discovered not to exist)? or any of the myriad of topics where
some might feel information informs action.

~~~
shawndumas
So if information does not inform action -- if you where to be consistent --
then you would be against spending money for sex education in the public
schools, correct?

'Cause no matter how much information on sex you gave the kids it wouldn't
inform their actions.

------
hga
Well, most home schoolers start with the landmark 1911 11th edition of the
Encyclopædia Britannica because it's very good and now public domain:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_El...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)

If the above doesn't provide adequate versions I know of one that's available
on CDs for installing on your computer(s).

This one does however I gather violate the "no access to 'learning how to blow
up the world'" or at least yourself requirement. And of course it doesn't
cover anything since then.

~~~
shawndumas
Sent it on to the wife. Thanks! (Though it not having anything since 1911 is a
severe limitation.)

------
Mithrandir
Unfortunately, the only way right now [1] (at least, that I know of) is to use
a blocker like Dan's Guradian [2] or similar, to block sexual term filled
sites.

You could also use search engines like DuckDuckGo and Google to search
articles, as those engines block sexually related terms.

__________

1: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CENSOR> Obvious link. ;)

2: <http://dansguardian.org/> Unsure if it can block Wikipedia

~~~
shawndumas
I use a white list so blocking is not the issue. I need to find a first class
encyclopedia to complement our curriculum.

And thanks for the wiki link. Illuminating...

------
Mz
Off the top of my head, I don't know of something like that. I went to my own
website to see if I had something like that listed and I don't seem to. I do
have some links to educational resources (though I really don't maintain the
site these days so there are probably a lot of dead links). I imagine a good
homeschool list would be able to give you a lot more links to kid-safe
websites than HN can. Though a quick google turns up this list:
<http://ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html>

(FWIW, I basically did give my homeschooled sons unfettered access to the web
with two rules: 1) no porn and 2) no learning how to blow up the world.)

FYI: I copied and pasted the wikipedia URL you posted and it tells me
something totally safe for work:

"Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for
Fisting/ in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings. Start the
Fisting/ article, using the Article Wizard if you wish, or add a request for
it. Search for "Fisting/" in existing articles...."

~~~
shawndumas
thank you very much. you are correct in the home schooling sites giving
recommendations but I wanted something first class and HN is the place I thing
of when thinking first class websites.

oh and as to NSFW: leave off the final '/'

