by : Steve Kroening

Whether you homeschool your children or send your kids to private or public school, most moms are always looking for good education resources for their kids. Unfortunately, many of those resources are very expensive.

But here's some great news: Many educational resources are about to cost a lot less!

In fact, they won't cost you a dime! Here's how:

You may have heard about new technology called "open source." Open-source software is essentially free for anyone who wants to use it. You can download it on your computer. And, if you know how to program it, you can customize it to fit your company's needs.

Well, educational resources are about to go open source. Scott McNealy, the former chairman of Sun Microsystems (a huge software manufacturer), is in the process of developing a new website that will offer education materials at no cost.

The new website is called curriki.com. It gets its name from a play on the words "curriculum" and "wiki." A wiki is a website that is put together through the collaboration of many different people. The most popular use of the word is in the name of website Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that's also open source.

McNealy's hope is that curriki.com will make many expensive textbooks go the way of the dinosaur. A non-profit organization (called Curriki) will run the website. The company will provide content. But the users will provide a lot of the content.

While the site won't be Christian in nature, Christians will be able to use the site and make adjustments to correct inaccuracies. When asked how the site will handle touchy issues like evolution vs. creationism, McNealy said, "Open source. So if a religious school wants to strike all this ... just take it out. It's open source -- you can cut and paste, you can use the pieces you want and create your own textbook." With curriki.com, you will have the final say on what your kids learn.

The website is up and running, but there isn't much on the site. Curriki plans to develop it over time, so check it often. Because of its flexibility, it's quite possible the site will revolutionize education. At the very least, it will bring a new level of competition to the education market that it's lacked. And, best of all, it will give you much needed resources at an unbeatable price.

(Source: Investor's Business Daily, October 10, 2006, page A5.)