Resources for Teens and Their Families

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Educational Resources for Teens (Use of Databases Requires a South Central Library Card. You can find information about obtaining a library card here.)

Advanced Placement Source AP Source is a database specifically designed for those students taking Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. This database features full-text academic journals and magazines dating back to 1985, as well as maps, photos, and flags.

Britannica School Britannica School offers sets of resources for elementary, middle, and high school students. This database has fascinating fast facts about a wide range of topics, what happened on this day in history, news headlines from the New York Times, and a wide range of primary sources. Browsing Britannica School would be fun for anybody interested in having some quick trivia facts as well.

Explora for Middle and High School Students (an EBSCO experience) Explora is a database that allows you to search for books, scholarly articles, reviews, and videos that will help in research reports, or for general knowledge purposes. By creating an account you can save your favorite resources in one place. Full text and peer reviewed articles are available.

LearningExpress Library LearningExpress Library has many resources for career preparation and career exam practice, preparation tools for the GED, college preparation exams, practice for math, writing, social studies, science, and technology for middle and high school students, subject skill practice for college students, and some core skill resources for adult learners.

Literary Reference Center Literary Reference Center the place for all things literature. This resource has information about books, and authors, as well as full texts of some classic works, which you can search by title, genre, or locale. There are also resources for citation instruction and research and writing tips for students.

NoveList K-8 NoveList K-8 contains information, reviews, and annotations for a wide range of contemporary young adult literature. You can search by topic (horror, family, classics, humor, and more), or by using their appeal mixer, which allows you to select the kind of book you want to read and the database finds titles tailored to your requests.

ProQuest Newspapers ProQuest Newspapers is a historical newspaper archive ranging from the 1700s to the 2000s containing thousands of well-known regional, state, and small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.

Wisconsin Media Lab Wisconsin Media Lab, by PBS Wisconsin has videos available to stream and download for a wide variety of topics and age groups. Each video includes the appropriate grade levels and school subject.

Other Resources:

Do Something Do Something is a youth-led organization that works to educate other young people about various social justice causes and teaches how to help. You can join campaigns that you are passionate about and perform actions to make changes within your community.  

Curiosity Machine Curiosity Machine has a wide range of technology and science based challenges created to allow users to understand the way things work and to be creative in solving problems. For each challenge, you are encouraged to post your design challenge progress and reflect on the final design after you complete it.

Duolingo Duolingo makes it easy to learn many languages with games and word repetition. It’s free and you can learn as many languages as you would like.

Coursera Coursera is an educational site that allows users to take college classes from highly ranked universities for free. If there’s an unconventional topic you are interested in, such as dog emotion, behavioral finance, cryptography, extinction, and many, many others, register for free and take the courses of your dreams.  

Freerice Freerice quizzes you on the topic of your choice (and they have many offerings from language learning to math, geography, English language and grammar, the humanities, and science, and for every question you get correct, grains of rice are donated to a “variety of World Food Programme projects around the world, depending on where needs are greatest” (quoted from freerice.com).

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture is a large database full of information regarding art and culture from all over the world. You can learn about art, cultural events, and artistic influences from around the world.  Is there anywhere you’ve always wanted to visit? You can see Stonehenge, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Palace of Versailles, and so much more.

Khan Academy Khan Academy allows for students of all ages to learn at their own pace and in subjects that they may need extra practice in or in which they would like to further their knowledge. Students may also get extra prep for the SAT, ACT, and AP exams.

Scratch Scratch is a website that teaches teens and tweens how to program interactive stories, games, and animations, and allows users to share their creations with others. Learn how to use code for free!

Teen Ink Teen Ink is an online magazine full of articles written by teens for teens on a variety of subjects, and include both fiction and nonfiction articles.

Baraboo Community Resources:

Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library The library provides a variety of resources and materials for free. Visit our website for more information about programming, materials, and available resources.

Beyond Blessed Food Pantry This food pantry, located at 1515 Walnut in Baraboo, “aims to treat every individual with dignity and respect while addressing the food scarcity issues at hand.” This pantry does not have residency restrictions and is open on Wednesdays from 4:00pm to 6:00 pm. 

Boys and Girls Club of Central Wisconsin The Boys and Girls Club of West-Central Wisconsin is a safe place for teens to gather. They provide programs and mentorships. You can find them at 124 2nd Street in Baraboo.

First United Methodist Church Neighborly Free Store  This store provides free clothing to members in the community. They are open Tuesdays 2:30-5:30 pm. You may call at 608-356-3991 with any questions you may have.

Health and Wellness Resources for Teens and Their Families:

Girls Health This website is a resource for tween and teen girls, featuring topics and resources about relationships, body, nutrition, illness, drugs and alcohol, feelings, bullying, safety, and the environment.

The Jed Foundation “The Jed Foundation’s Mental Health Resource Center provides essential information about common emotional information about common emotional health issues and shows teens and young adults how they can support one another, overcome challenges and make a successful transition to adulthood”

Live Another Day  A carefully curated list of mental health and substance use resources for black, indigenous, and people of color.

National Alliance on Mental Illness “NAMI provides advocacy, education, support, and public awareness so that all individuals and family affected by mental illness can build better lives.”

National Suicide Hotline 24-hour, confidential hotlines that connect you to a trained counselor at the nearest suicide crisis center. You can reach them at 1-800-273-8255 or 1-800-784-2433.

Stop Bullying “StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.”

Take Charge of Your Health: A Guide for Teenagers This site is a resource for teens about how they can make healthy choices.

TeensHealth TeensHealth is a website devoted to educating teens about their mental, physical, and sexual health. This website includes expert answers to important questions, quizzes, hot topics to explore and tips for a healthy life.

The Trevor Project “The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.” You can call the TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386, you can chat online through IM with a Trevor counselor, or text a Trevor Counselor. Counselors are available 24/7/365. You may find more information on their website.

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