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Our family has been on a journey that led us to not using much technology for a good number of years, and now that we are back in the 21st century, I am stumped at how to teach computer literacy to our children. When I was in highschool back in the 80's computers were so....well like a dinosaur compared with today We were not even required to take a class to learn computer science at all. Now I know it is "normal" to have pc's in school from the early years.

At any rate, I need some guidance on when to start teaching them-they pick stuff up so fast. My 5yo boy is far more savy using a tablet or smartphone than I even want to admit He learned just by observing what his older sibs and I do. Blows me away how intuitive it seems to be....good golly, I feel like the dinosaur! Now I have a refurbished Dell laptop that I purchased to replace one with Vista that died last summer. It has Win 10 on it, so I am about to embark on the adventure of learning something new (as a veteran homeschooler back in the late 80's and 90's when it was weird) I have always believed turning on the desire to learn and stepping out in faith (if need be) to learn was one of our goals in teaching our own children. So I love learning.

However our two young teens are another story. Our return to the Charlotte Mason methods is a step toward attempting to help them love learning. It has been slow, but they are so thrilled at our growing library that they are diving into good books and learning without even knowing it. When I first told them about HOD, they were so unimpressed and reluctant. But they have a stubborn momma,who has recently seen them stop putting new books on the shelf because they get sidetracked by, of all things, a science book!

But I am rambling...Does anyone have any suggestions onhow to incorporate the use of computers in their school day-not just for fun stuff, but using it as a tool they will likely need to know how to use later on? Is there a good book or tutorial anyone can recommend....sort of a Windows for dummies but more kid based? Any thoughts would be a big help.

Sarah

Hey Sarah, I might start by searching what Focus on the Family, Answers in Genesis, or HSLDA might have on the topic. Learning to use the tools available is one thing, and learning to be safe and pure is another. Hope you find some good ideas

Thanks! And you are so right! I plan on putting Covenant Eyes on the laptop once i actually get it set up. I haven't used that before but tried out Qustuidio on phones and so far its been good.

I will check the sites you mentioned

Microsoft has some pretty good videos for each of their software. Depending on how old your kids are, I would consider having them type something in Word periodically. You can have them view some of the Microsoft videos on formatting, spell check, etc as they go.
The other "key" programs I would try to introduce them to by the end of high school are Power Point and Excel. In Excel, it would be basic computations and basic graphs. Maybe something in science or economics would lend itself towards them using Excel in those ways. For Power Point, you could have them prepare some sort of presentation - maybe an end of the year review for Dad and any other family near by? There might be other things in the guides you are using that would be fun to make a presentation out of as well.
Finally, I would CAREFULLY introduce them to Cloud storage and email at some point. Cloud storage sites are ever evolving, but knowing they exist and the basics of how to use them can be helpful if they plan on going to college. Gone are the days of floppy discs, zip drives, and USB drives (although USB isn't completely dead yet). Now most things are just stored on the cloud!