Supposedly children can only learn to use computers and technology after being shuffled off to a super expensive computer lab staffed by an expert. I discovered a few weeks ago my oldest child scanning baby photos into the computer to create a power point presentation of important dates in the life of our family, complete with graphics. He has cleaned up my hard drive, cleared out my cell phone's storage, and stays on top of the anti-virus software. After I was impressed by the spreadsheet he created and stored on a flash drive to record his chore/babysitting money, I asked Will to make each child a chart to record their school progress. I had been relying on handwritten charts in their binder since they are not even close to being on the same week in any subject. Will made a master sheet for each child and left room for me to pencil in notes.
I am impressed by how quickly Will has picked up computer skills without any formal instruction or having a mother who knows little more than a few HTML codes. He has just played around and learned a great deal. One of the downsides of all this technological savy is that he has decided to start pestering me for his own computer and cell phone, but since that isn't likely to happen for another 5 years, he has ample opportunity to crash mine.
5 comments:
Kids are amazing in their ability to pick up computer skills. My kids give me tips on programs I've been using for years, even though they just started. And my son has learned a lot of programming by being involved in a robotics club - not in a classroom.
I enjoy so much seeing the things my children have learned without formal teaching over the years! It seems that it all sticks better also; likely because they get to spend more time on whatever interested them. :)
The myth that children need a formal introduction to "technology" at an early age really irks me. Computers as we now know them weren't even around when we were young, yet most of us seem to use them just fine.
For me one of the important facets is that when children want to learn they are highly motivated.
And when they don't want to learn, it is much, much harder.
My daughter is amazing with the computer too. Since we are a family of geeks she is well supplied with pcs and laptops.
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