[thaumaturgy]

I second http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/, it's a great site for learning the basics.

OGS (http://online-go.com/) also has a large beginner community, but they have some trolls and sandbaggers so you might not want your kid on there unguided.

KGS (http://www.gokgs.com/) has a Beginner Room and a Teaching Ladder room, and it's sort of the de-facto online go community for westerners, but the Java client can be a bit broken and KGS isn't as active as it used to be.

And check for local clubs! I live in a fairly rural area and we (amazingly!) have about 6 regular members in our local Go club, and we love getting new players started. You can check the American Go Association to see if there's a club in your area (http://www.usgo.org/where-play-go), although their list isn't totally comprehensive.

The usual adage is "lose your first 100 games quickly"; once you've played around a hundred games and gotten the hang of the rules and basics, start checking out some of Nick Sibicky's videos on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/nicksibicky/videos?view=0&shelf...). He teaches at the Seattle Go Center and does a really great job working with an audience of beginners. Start with his earlier lectures, because they're more geared towards real beginners, with later lectures starting to target more advanced amateurs as he gets more popular.

Enjoy!