Welcome! Before accessing any of yourhomework.com's powerful tools, you must login to your Personal Page.

Here's how:

• Go to the Teacher - Login page using the drop-down menus.
  
  
• Login with the user ID and password you created during registration. Your user ID and password are case-sensitive, so use capital and lower case letters accordingly. If you forget your password, use the link below the Login button to have your password Emailed to the Email account entered at the time of registration.
  Your Personal Page provides secure access to the following features:

Create new courses by:

• Click on Add A New Course to create a course.
• Enter new course information, including name, grade level, and general information.
• Click on Update this course when you are done.

For existing courses, choose one of the following:

• My Course Info to change the general course information
• Delete This Course to remove the course and all assignments associated with it
• My Assignments to add, modify, or delete any assignments for that course
• View This Course As Student to view the course as a student or parent would through Students/Parents, View Homework

Update Course Info

You may edit any of the course information. The General Information section may contain HTML to insert bold, color, links, images, sound, or download files. See Adding Links for more information.

My Assignments

You may modify or delete any existing assignments by clicking on Modify or Delete after the corresponding assignment.

Click Add One Assignment or Add Multiple Assignments to input a new assignment. Add Multiple Assignments allows you to enter five assignments at once.

To add a new assignment:

• Select the date assigned and the due date for this assignment
• Enter as much homework information as you wish in the space provided.
• Send a Library Alert: A check box is available if you want to send your local public library a copy of this assignment. Click My Libraries on your Personal Page to select specific libraries to receive your alerts.
• Show this assignment: The SHOW THIS ASSIGNMENT box is always checked when you add an assignment. To hide an assignment, simply remove the check to hide if from student view. You can modify the assignment at any time to check the box and SHOW it to the students.
• Click Update this assignment when you are done.

You may Copy + Paste text from your word-processor to save time, but format will not be retained.

There is no need to delete assignments since students can display either the 7 most recent assignments or all assignments.

Click Major Maintenance to perform year-end tasks or modify a batch of assignments. In Major Maintenance, you can:

• Delete assignments within a date range
• Delete all your assignments without removing the course
• Roll forward the year on your assignments, and opt to HIDE them from view
• Roll Back the year on your assignments and opt to HIDE them from view
  

To HIDE assignments from student view, leave the check OFF the Show Assignments box. Always refresh your browser after using Major Maintenance to view your assignments with the new changes.

Enhancing your Assignments

Assignments can contain bold text, color, italics, superscript, and more. If you are familiar with HTML tags you may use them to enhance the display format. Any HTML tags you type into your assignments will be applied for the students to see. There are many references for teachers who wish to learn HTML on the Internet. For example, add emphasis:

<B> This will print in bold text </B>. Use our HTML tag list to get started and experiment.

Adding Links

You can put web links into assignments for guided Internet activity! Your students will love it, and you can be very creative!

Insert the following HTML tag into your course information section or assignments to list a favorite link.

<a href="http://www.yourhomework.com"> yourhomework.com </a>

Simply change the yourhomework.com to whatever site you want.

The first part inside the tag is the actual web site address you are linking to:

"http://www.yourhomework.com"

The second yourhomework.com between the tags is what will appear on your course page for your students to click on. You can put whatever you want between the tags to click on, for example:

<a href="http://www.yourhomework.com"> Do YourHomework! </a>

When done, it looks and works like this: Do YourHomework!

Try it and experiment!

Linking to Files

It's very easy to put your important files on yourhomework.com for students and parents to view and print. Save time and empower parents! Stop reprinting lost worksheets and put the responsibility on the students for replacing lost papers!

There are two ways to link to files:

• All of our web templates offer an automatic link to your uploaded files from the My Files link on your web page. Your students view or download your files at any time by simply visiting your web page. When you request a web page, we create a sub-folder called "public". All files you upload into the "public" folder are instantly accessible from your web page, no linking required! Or…
  
  
• You can link to an uploaded file from an assignment, which is useful when the assignment requires access to a worksheet, quiz, or list you've created.

Before you begin:

Set up a web page and we create a personal folder for your account. If you see a My Site Builder button on your Personal Page, it's already done! If not, click Setup My Home Page to create your web page and personal folder.

Your personal folder and web page address is http://teachers.yourhomework.com/login, where login is your user ID (or the name you selected to replace your user ID). You will see your personal folder name and web page address in My Site Builder. We automatically create a sub-folder called "public" when you set up a web page. All files uploaded into the "public" folder are accessible through the "My Files" link on your template web page.

Notes:

• Remember to change "login" to your own login (or created web page name), and change "filename" to the name of the file. For example BookList.doc, Project.pdf, or map.gif …Include the file extension .doc, .jpg, etc.
  
  
• *File names are CASE SENSITIVE, so use the correct capital and lower case letters in your link. For example:
  <a href="http://teachers.yourhomework.com/jane/Project.doc"> filename </a>
  
  
• *If you wish to display your files in a NEW WINDOW, put the following into your tag:
  target="_blank" like this:
  <a href="http://teachers.yourhomework.com/login/public/filename " target="_blank"> filename </a>

Images

Use images files to illustrate a concept, enhance learning, and to awaken curiosity. Upload any image files to your folder on yourhomework.com. Click on My Files on your Personal Page to upload your image file.

TO DISPLAY AN IMAGE WITHIN AN ASSIGNMENT (or your course information section) put an image tag <img> into your assignment. It looks like this:

<img src=" http://teachers.yourhomework.com/login/filename">

where filename is the name of your image or sound file. Change login to your own login.

For example, If Laura uploads an image file called apollo7.jpg to her folder on yourhomework.com, teachers.yourhomework.com/laura, she can display it from an assignment, like this:

<img src="http://teachers.yourhomework.com/Laura/apollo7.jpg">

TO LINK TO THE IMAGE FOR VIEWING IN ANOTHER WINDOW see Linking to Files.

Sound and Video

Use sound and video files to enhance your assignments. Historical events, pronunciation, and music are just a few examples of how you can make assignments come alive!

Include sounds in your assignments by uploading the sound file (.wav, .mpg, etc) to your folder on yourhomework.com. Then create a link to that file from your assignment. Be creative!

Guide students on the Internet with a custom set of online resources that enhance your curriculum. Use My Favorite Sites to enter your favorite web sites that students can access from both your assignment pages and your template web page. Also, every site you add becomes a part of our Homework Help database of quality Internet sites recommended by our own registered teachers. Each site is categorized, described, rated, and recommended for suitable grade levels.

Searching Homework Help

To search the Homework Help database,

• Click on Homework Help from the Student/Parent drop-down menu on any page within yourhomework.com.
• Select a subject area, grade level, and/or enter a key word.
• Select a sort option for your display preference.
• Click on the name of the site to view it in a new browser window.

Adding a Favorite Site

Please enter only quality web sites that are suitable for your students. You can add to your Favorite Sites list by 1) selecting a site from our Homework Help database or 2) adding a new site that is not yet in the database. New sites you add will be included in the Homework Help database for all subject and grade level searches.

1. Adding a new Favorite Site

• Click Add a new Favorite Site to add a web site that is not already in the Homework Help database. If you don't know if the site is in the database, it is OK to click this button. We'll let you know if it is, and you can select it for your own Favorite Sites list.
• Give the site a subject, rating, grade levels, and enter the web site address. Include a brief description of the site as well.
• You may include your email address so other teachers can contact you about how you use this site with your students.
• Click Add this site, and you're done.

2. Search and add from our Homework Help database

• Click Search and Add from our Homework Help so that you can view sites that teachers have already contributed as quality educational web sites.
• Search for sites that correspond to your subject and grade level. Using keywords is optional, but can result in a more focused search.
• Click the Add check-box for every site you want to add to your own Favorite Sites list for your students.
• Click Add These at the bottom of the screen to add the sites to your list.

Modifying and Removing Favorite Sites

To modify a web site in your Favorite Sties list, clicking the corresponding Modify button.

To remove Favorite Sites from your list, select the desired sites and click Remove selected at the bottom of your list.

To report errors with any of your Favorite Sites, select them and click Report errors for selected sites. We will correct the link if the site still exists.

About our pre-designed templates

To use our web page templates, you must use a PC with Windows and Internet Explorer (version 5.5+). If you have a Mac, edit your web page from a Windows PC at home or school. The template feature is the ONLY area on yourhomework.com that requires IE 5.5+ to work properly. Students can view the web pages with any browser. Monitor resolution of 1024x768 is recommended.

The template web pages offer many advantages. You can edit your web page instantly without knowing anything about web pages! Also, change the look as often as you want by selecting a new template. But best of all, your page will link to your assignments, calendar events, favorite sites, uploaded files, other teachers posting assignments, and school web site!

Modifying your web page

Your web page on yourhomework.com is an HTML file called index.html. You'll see this file in My Files in your main folder. The public can visit this page with any web browser. Don't delete this file! But if you do, you can always re-create it by selecting a template again. Read the About our pre-designed templates section above before you proceed.

There are three ways to modify your web page:

1) select one of our pre-designed templates (PC Windows and Internet Explorer version 5.5 or higher is required) and edit your content.

2) replace it with an index.html file created by another software; or

3) open the index.html in My Files and edit the HTML directly.

You can't break anything, so just have fun and try different content and inserting images. You can always delete everything and start over again.

Tip: When you are done, make sure you refresh/reload your screen so that the browser picks up the new changes.

Teachers are given 5MB of free space to store files at yourhomework.com. Click on My Files in My Site Builder to access the File Manager. Files can be uploaded on yourhomework.com so that:

• students can view, print and download worksheets, quizzes, projects…
• web page files can be uploaded for public display
• files such as presentations or Word documents can be uploaded so you can access them at home, school or on the road.

Your web page and personal folder at yourhomework.com is named teachers.yourhomework.com/login where login is your user ID (or the name you selected to replace your user ID). The name of your folder is displayed at the top of File Manager. You can view, edit, rename, and delete any of your files stored at yourhomework.com.

We automatically create a sub-folder called "public" in your main folder. When our web page template is utilized, all files uploaded into the "public" folder are accessible through the "My Files" link on your template web page.

Your main web page file is called index.html. When someone visits your site, this is the first page that will be displayed. Don't delete this file, but rather replace it if you upload a custom web page instead of using our templates.

Uploading files

In File Manager, click on the Browse button in the Upload a File function. You can then select a file from your personal computer, and rename it if you wish. Click Upload to upload the file, and you'll see it added to your list of files on yourhomework.com. Please include the file extension, for example quiz.doc.

Linking to files

After uploading a file, you can link to it from your course information section or an assignment. Or, use our web page templates to automatically link from your web page to all files in your "public" folder. Click HERE for details.

Creating sub-folders

Sub-folders allow you to keep your files sorted and organized. To create a sub-folder in your personal folder to store groups of files, go to the Make a New Folder function at the bottom of your File Manager. After naming your new folder, click the Make New Folder button. Your current open folder is always displayed at the top of your file manager. You can create an unlimited number of sub-folders.

yourhomework.com email accounts are provided free to all registered teachers. The yourhomework.com email address will automatically appear on the assignment page for each course, as well as the teacher web page. Clicking on the email address will activate the user's local email program on their computer.

Teachers can select either their yourhomework.com email address, another email address, or NO email address to appear on assignment pages. This setting is found under My User Info on your Personal Page.

Benefits for teachers include:

• Access your email from any Internet-connected computer at any time

• Keep your other email accounts private from students

• Assist your students on-line after school

• Receive assignments from students electronically

• Communicate with busy parents without leaving messages

Benefits for schools or districts include:

• Eliminate the time and expense of managing teacher email accounts

• Provide a consistent email address format for all teachers

• Empower beginners to feel confident in using an email account

• Increase teacher training time instead of managing email servers

Using Your Email Account

• Login to yourhomework.com using your user id and password.

• Your Personal Page contains a My Email button. Click on My Email to access your email account.

• From the email page you will see buttons in the left margin to write a NEW message, view your Inbox, or select a folder containing archived messages. The main screen displays your email inbox, or the template to compose a new email.

• To view the contents of an email, click on its sender or subject line. You can then reply, forward, or delete the message.

• From the inbox view, you can use the check boxes to perform functions on several emails at a time.

• Select Manage Folders to create, rename, or delete email folders.

• Selecting a folder at left will display all messages within that folder.

• Click Addresses to keep email addresses organized by groups

• Help is available within the email pages.
   

The Calendar is an organized list of events entered for either school or teacher. It is a convenient way to publish dates and details of course or school events. The public can search the calendar from the main Calendar page, and your students can see your calendar events directly from your course page.

Searching the Calendar

To Search the Calendar:

Adding a Calendar Event

As a registered teacher, please use your personal administration page to add a calendar event. This way your students can click on the Calendar link on your course page, and view your events directly.

Special Features

Email displayed to students: Select the email address that you want to display on your course for your students and parents. You may turn off email display if you like. If you have an existing web page using one of our templates, you.ll need to re-select the template to reflect the email address change.

About the Library Alert Service

yourhomework.com provides a vital communication link between teachers and librarians. Teachers select school and local libraries to be notified of research assignments from a list of participating libraries. When the teacher enters an assignment in yourhomework.com, a box can be marked to send a copy to the selected libraries. Library Alerts are delivered directly and instantly to the library's email account. There is no technical requirement for the library other than an email account. Librarians can prepare for the students by knowing about the topic, requirements and due date in advance. To learn more about this free service, visit our Librarians FAQ section.

Sending Library Alerts

Click My Library Alert on your Personal Page to select all the libraries that you want to receive copies of your research assignments. Once you have selected your libraries, they will remain on your Library Alert list until you remove them. Only assignments that you request to be sent as a Library Alert will be forwarded to these libraries.

1. Click Search New Libraries to select a school or library system near you.

2. Check the ADD box next to each library you want added to your Library Alert list. You may select as many as you wish. Click Add to My Libraries when you are done.

3. Search New Libraries whenever you want to add more libraries to your list.

4. To remove a library from your list, check the delete box next to the libraries you want to remove, then click the Delete My Libraries button.

When you enter an assignment, a check box is available if you want a copy of this assignment sent to you local public library to alert them of your research assignment. Once this assignment is marked for a Library Alert, librarians will receive another copy whenever you modify this assignment. You can uncheck the box for Library Alert if you don’t want another copy to be sent.

Content of a Library Alert

An exact copy of your marked assignment will be sent to the librarian’s email account, along with your name, the name of your school, your course, and yourhomework.com email address (if you have one). There is also a link to the online assignments for the course in case more information is desired. This information is valuable for librarians to better serve your students.