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A home computer!
The family dog, the family car ... the family computer. Computers are showing up everywhere and the home is no exception. Recently, a teacher asked a grade five class how many of them had computers at home. In a class of 26, there were 23 that had a computer, in some cases more than one.
They are there for many reasons, most usually to bring home work from the office. Sometimes the home is the office. Often games are the driving force. Rarely is education the primary reason for buying a home computer, but once it is in the house, almost inevitably, parents look at the screen sitting on the desk and decide that they will use it to help their children get ahead in school.
Years ago finding high quality educational software was difficult. Now the problem is reversed. There is lots of software, how do you chose the best? Although the problem can be frustrating at times, it is well worth the effort. There is nothing quite like the magic of seeing a child struggling with spelling or math all of a sudden playing with words and numbers. In a matter of weeks what was an insurmountable obstacle and source of despair becomes a challenge, a game.
But beware! Many a parent has been lured by shiny packages and glossy magazine articles into the computer store. Their eyes glazed over as the sales person speaks computer jargon ("MS-DOS, 386, 2 Meg RAM, VGA ... you should have no problem") to them. With a light heart they plunk down $89 for the big box that has one diskette in it and go home. And then? Well it depends.
The fine print doesn't say anything about magic. The computer is just a tool and getting it to do stuff for you depends on the choices you make about what you buy, how you use it, who your kids are and why you are doing this in the first place. If this is where you find yourself, then help is on the way. Below you will find valuable educational software information that you will need to know before you can make the right choices for your home.
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