cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (03/18/87)
This is a summary of responses I received to the posting: >My daughter is a little over three, and I'm curious to hear recommendations >and opinions about various educational software packages available for the >IBM PC. In particular, packages that teach reading, arithmetic, shapes, >preferably in a manner that's fun are of interest. I have an EGA with a >MONOCHROME display and a Logitech Mouse. The consensus seems to be "Reader Rabbit". ------------------------------------------------------------ From voder!pyramid!lll-lcc!styx!elxsi!len Tue Mar 10 19:26:19 1987 One package I would recommend without reservation is "Reader Rabbit," which has a number of "learning situations" in it. The two most basic games are letter position matching (ie, press a button if a three letter word begins with an s) and a 4x3 "Concentration"-like picture matching. I have observed children aged 40 months to 63 months playing with "Rabbit" and, if the "level of difficulty" chosen for them / by them is reasonable, they will play happily for close to their maximum attention span. It does seem to help them in preparing for reading. There is some benefit if an adult is available who has read the "teacher's guide" portion of the documentation, but this is not required. ------------------------------------------------------------ From pyramid!ames!seismo!elsie!mark Tue Mar 10 20:00:16 1987 My daughter is almost 6. We got her a program called READING RABBIT from Learning Center (somewhere in Calif -- seems widely available in software shops). It has several games designed to teach word/picture recognition. Beth loved it -- it was all she wanted to do for about 2 weeks. She still likes to play it occassionally (as she did last night). We noted a sharp increase in her understanding of words and sounding them out during her period of intense interest. Just got a second game from the same company: Gertrud's Secrets. It's a series of logic puzzles. Figure out what the pattern should be and match it up. It's not as well thought out as the Reading Rabbit, but Beth seems to like it also (not as intensely as the other, but she does like it). There's a money back guarantee on both programs. Reading Rabbit we'll definately keep, and probably also Gertrude. Hope this helps. ------------------------------------------------------------ From pyramid!decwrl!decvax!mcnc!mcnc!ecsvax!harris Tue Mar 10 20:00:36 1987 I have the same configuration and have children ages 3 and 5. I'd appreciate hearing about any information that comes your way. I've been frustrated - I have fine graphics and a mouse, but all the software is written for the CGA. ------------------------------------------------------------ From pyramid!octopus!pete Wed Mar 11 04:01:57 1987 I have a five year old and a 2.5 year old (both daughters). I felt remiss in not getting them any educational software, so I picked up a couple of things over the last couple of years, and also wrote a stupid little program: The stupid program was Teri's (5 year old) favorite from about age 3 to 4 1/2. All it does is implement an electronic etch-a-sketch using a joystick, in BASICA. It is about 10 lines of code. Hit the fire button and the screen erases... 'Daddy, I want to make pictures! I want to use the buttons!...' I bought 'Reader Rabbit' early '86 (?). I must say, I was pretty skeptical about the value of educational software. I now believe that it truly can be useful. Teri loves to play Reader Rabbit, and in the meantime has learned to read, recognise and spell just about every 3 letter word there is. It also has helped her learn about word families, etc. It is 6 different games in one... one of them (a memory-matching game) is tricky without color (there's a blotch on the screen, and you're supposed to recognise it as 'RED'), but it still is very useful without color. I got 'Moptown Parade' more recently (summertime). It is supposed to teach basic logic, pattern recognition, etc. Unfortunately, I had to give up my PC-XT compatible, and it doesn't run right on my AT compatible, so we haven't been able to use it. That last warning is pretty important: Make sure you can get your $$ back if a program won't run on YOUR system. Many of the programs have been written using stupid kludges that only work on 100% IBM PC's. Very sad. ------------------------------------------------------------ From pyramid!nsc!nsc.NSC.COM!larry Wed Mar 11 21:12:33 1987 Hi, my daughter and I have played with a couple of software packages for kids. My daughter is now seven. Most of the software we have played with is from Spinaker (sp?)(like a sail on a sail boat). All the software packages we played with required color and cga board. Ega would work too. The packages she liked were "KIDS ON KEYS" for ages 3 to 7, "MY A,B,C's for ages 3 to 7. The package she didn't like was "STORY MACHIN" ages ? . Story Machin was toooooo slowwwwwwwwwww. After all, at seven she knows everthing!!!!!!!!! I did not purchase this packages from a retailer. I have a friend who sell computers from his home. I purchased the software from him. ------------------------------------------------------------ From pyramid!amdahl!meccts!nis!rjg Wed Mar 11 21:12:43 1987 I guess I can try and plug my former place of employment... :-) Contact MECC (Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation) and ask them for a catalog. Their phone number is (612) 481-3500. You can find their software in various stores, but the stores carry only a small collection of their total titles. I'm not all that familiar with the IBM collection (since I worked on the Apple collection), but I know that the software won't be working with a mouse. I'm also not sure how many titles in total are available on the IBM. All the conversion work was done under an IBM contract, which hasn't been in effect for about a year, so there may be no, or not many new titles available. Drop me a line if you have any questions. ------------------------------------------------------------ From voder!pyramid!lll-lcc!ihnp4!houxm!homxb!whuts!abb Fri Mar 13 23:00:32 1987 try Mr. Math software from TERM Computer Services P.O. Box 725 New Providence N.J. 07974 ------------------------------------------------------------ It sounds as though a lot of the educational software out there assumes CGA, or at least color display. If you have an EGA that emulates CGA modes, this may not be enough, since emulating a CGA with a monochrome monitor attached apparently informs the program that you don't have a color display. I hope that someone out there reading this works for a company that writes educational software for the PC, and remembers that not everyone with an EGA has a color display. Clayton E. Cramer