Computers at Home

While many of your child's interactions with educational technology are going to take place at school and will, for the most part, be determined by his or her school's policies, home computing is one area where you are entirely in charge.

This section of "How Can I Help My Child?" is designed to help you answer some of the questions that you may have about home computing and your child. Here are just a few of the questions that usually come up:

1. Should I buy a computer for my child?
   
2. My child wants a laptop computer. Is this really a good idea?
3. How can I make good decisions about purchasing educational software?
4. Should I install Internet filtering software, and just how well does filtering software actually work?
5. How can I keep my child safe on the Internet?
6. Should there be household rules governing computer use?
7. Should I place time limits on my child's computer use?

Just click on the above questions for tips and suggestions on how you might want to go about answering each of them. As you will see, there are some definite "dos" and "don'ts"—especially when it comes to Web safety—but there is still a lot of room for parents to set their own policies.

Should I Buy a Computer for My Child?

Educators generally agree that children who have computers at home are more likely to be technologically literate than children who do not. If your family can afford a computer, you can buy one confident that it is a smart investment in your child's education. If, however, purchasing a computer would cause financial hardship for you, then don't do it (and don't feel bad about not doing it). Things like clothing, food, and shelter take obvious priority over owning a computer. There are plenty of other avenues for children to gain information and computer literacy: many schools have after-hours programs that involve working with computers and other forms of technology, and your local public library also has computers available for school work and Web surfing.

If you do decide to buy a computer for your family, you may wonder how much money you should spend and what brands are the best. While there is virtually no limit to how much you could spend on a system, don't think that you should just purchase the most fully-featured, fastest computer you can afford. Retailers will always push "the best" but they seldom have what's best for you in mind (rather, the "best" computer from their perspective is the one that make them the most money).

Try making up a list of the things that you plan to do with your computer, both now and in the foreseeable future. If you or your child will be using it for multi-media productions and gaming, you'll probably need a fairly powerful system. If, on the other hand, your family will be doing little more than word processing and Web surfing, then a very modestly priced computer may be perfectly satisfactory.

There are many different brands in the computer marketplace. Our purpose here is not to recommend any one brand over another. You should, however, know that the Apple Macintosh is different from other brands of computer in that it does not run the Microsoft Windows operating system. Macintoshes are widely used in educational environments - many users find them to be more intuitive than Windows-based machines - but there are fewer programs available for the Mac. By contrast, Windows-based computers are more widely used, can run more programs, and generally cost less.

To get more information about buying a computer, visit the following links:

About.com: PC Hardware/Reviews
http://compreviews.about.com/
This site on the About.com Network has reviews of the latest computers and a useful "Before You Buy" section.

Consumer Reports
http://www.consumerreports.org/
Consumer Reports offers a wealth of information about consumer electronics, including computers. Click on the link "Home Computing Guide" in the "Free Highlights" area of the main Web page to get buying advice. In order to gain access to Consumer Reports' product reviews online, you will need to subscribe to their services. If you don't wish to purchase online access to their reviews, check with your local library to see if it has print copies of this popular rating service available.

C|Net Reviews
http://reviews.cnet.com/reviews/0-9870989.html
A good source for free reviews of the latest computer products.

PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com
Click on "Product Guides" to get purchasing advice about computers and related products.

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