There’s a particularly funny Calvin & Hobbes story arc where Susie Derkins (the comic strip’s studious, well-behaved Girl Next Door) has to go to Calvin’s house after school. Susie’s mom is out for a bit and can’t be there to greet her, so the future valedictorian needs to crash at the spiky-haired delinquent’s pad instead.
In one of the beats leading up to the story’s climax where Calvin tricks Susie and locks her in a hallway closet, he sees her hunched over notes and books, studying.
“What are you doing? Homework?” Calvin asks.
“I wasn’t sure I understood this chapter, so I reviewed my notes from the last chapter, and now I’m re-reading this,” Susie responds.
“You do all that work?” Calvin says, aghast.
“Well, now I understand it,” says Susie.
“Huh,” Calvin says, walking off. “And I used to think you were smart.”
***
School is once again in full swing in our neck of the woods. And within that maze of math, English, science, geography, history, and other subjects, students will sometimes hit dead ends.
Whether it’s not tracking what “circumference” means, getting lost in a William Faulkner novel, or having actual nightmares about a sentient red pen putting slashes through misspelled words on a test, there comes a time (or two or three or more) where all students will hit the wall.
Luckily, pupils of all ages who are also JCLS patrons have a superb free resource they can turn to when that happens.
BrainFuse HelpNow is truly a one-stop online shop for educational help and tutoring that boasts a number of useful academic tools. That includes live academic help for students in kindergarten all the way through college, a writing lab, test prep help, career exploration, language tutoring, and more.
You might as well call it Dome Depot; and every Susie and Calvin and student in between with a JCLS library card is invited to use it, either at home or on one of JCLS’s computers scattered across our 15 branches.
“I think you can find a lot of value in it, no matter what your age,” says JCLS digital selection librarian April Bozada-Armstrong. “But definitely if you’re in the midst of your school year and you’re starting to run up against questions, or you want to work even a little bit ahead, I think it’s a great resource. And then if you’re an adult who’s looking to refresh some of their skills, there’s stuff for you in there, too.”
Here are some of BrainFuse highlights:
- Live help for kindergarten through college, including featured help for financial aid assistance and tutoring
- Writing lab for help with papers
- Test prep center for ELA, SAT, ACT, AP, GED, and more
- SkillSurfer boasts study tools intended for standardized tests and subjects for self-guided study, or with help from a live expert
- eParachute is an application for career exploration
- MEET for scheduling study sessions with classmates in a private virtual study room
- Brainwave for group project planning
- Language lab for live tutoring for Spanish and vocabulary building in numerous languages
There’s a lot more, too, including preparation for the U.S. Citizenship test, help with Microsoft Office tools, and aid in crafting cover letters and resumes for job seekers.
A massive offering, to say the least.
And again, I cannot stress this enough: it’s free to use with your library card.
School is a maze, and life after school is a bigger maze, and we’re all going to hit dead ends at one time or another. BrainFuse HelpNow is a map and a compass and a well-versed guide to help you continue navigating effectively.
“A lot of times what I ran into was thinking that I understood a concept and then realizing that maybe I really didn’t get the full picture,” April says of her days as a student. “But that can be intimidating when you’re halfway through the curriculum and everyone around you, your peers, really seem to be getting it. So to just be able to sit down and talk with someone about a concept and see what you might not be understanding about it can be really valuable.”
“There are no bad questions to ask,” she adds of the live tutoring option. “But it can sometimes feel like that in a group environment, so if you get into a more one-on-one situation, you can maybe explore those ideas at your own pace and the way that you learn.”
Then at the end of it all, if a lazy peer or colleague questions your efforts, you can look at them and say, with confidence, “Well, now I understand it.”
And if they make a wisecrack about being mistaken about your intelligence, you can know that seeking out help from experts is one of the smartest things you can do.