November 01, 2002
A Wired Family Album
by Liza Sabater
[NOTA BENE: This article first appeared in the November 2002 edition of NYCHEA Newsletter]
The most dominant pieces of equipment in our household are our computers. Yes, we like to watch TV but we have shoved it to a corner of the living room. Yes, we like cars, but we rent since we no longer own one. What is right there, very present, when you walk through our doors are our computers --5 of them to be more specific.
Granted, we are not a typically wired family. Mark is a painter cum software developer cum Net & Software artist. I am a literary critic cum freelance writer cum web designer and producer. We have computers because we use them all the time. What is odd is that our involvement with computers and the Internet intensified right after we had our oldest son, Evan. This had all to do with our shock at the demands of parenthood. If you do not have relatives living close by, parenthood in NYC can be a very lonely exercise in love. There are few if not no mothers around during "normal" working hours. Networking is the name of the game in NYC and I met a lot of new mothers like me through mommy and me networking brunches.
Thanks to the Internet I can keep in touch with friends and family all around the globe and to make new connections. Nobody writes anymore but everybody sends email. And as the Web grows and becomes embraced (and unfortunately controlled) by corporate America, we have come to rely on the Internet as our first choice for news, research, art shows, writing and software publishing, communication and commerce. We don't open a newspaper in the mornings anymore, we just turn on Lola (my iMac).
Our computers and computer work is intertwined with our kids so much so that, there are many milestones to remember in our children's development but one that will always stand out is the day they each learned how to use a mouse. It meant they we were all ready for some serious computer fun. Mark coded his first website while rocking Evan to sleep on his lap and he actually developed a prototype for one of his NetArt pieces, p-Soup by using an 18 month old Evan as his tester. His career as a NetArtist took off months before Aidan was born. Kids, computers and art are a big deal in this household.
My children are 5 (Evan) and 2.6 (Aidan). To help them get to their sites and CDs fast, we put icons on the computer's desktop that will take them directly to what they want. We do not use too much given that the sites they visit have a ton of activities for them to do and all are age appropriate. And, unless I have tried a CD-ROM through the New York Public Library (http://nypl.org) which is an outstanding resource of digital media, I do not buy it. Actually, the library's website has just released a catalog of more than 30,000 digital images of their photography and illustration collection, some of it dating from the late 1700's. Check it out at http://digital.nypl.org/mmpco.
These are some of the websites and CDs we use at home. Keep in mind that, we have a cable modem and, unless you have a computer that has enough RAM to support FLASH and new versions of SHOCKWAVE, you will have a problem. Still, what I love about a lot of these sites is that the games are for free. As long I have the right plug-ins and enough bandwidth, they are there for the taking.
http://pbskids.org
I love PBS. I grew up with Sesame Street. I owe my English to Sesame Street. The site is a hub for mini-sites based on all the children's shows hosted on Channel 13. Evan plays with anything and everything. Aidan is learning his ABCs with the help of Cookie Monster. I think that Between The Lions, Sesame Street and Arthur are really decent sites for their age groups. A lot of their newer stuff does not run in old computers like my G3 233mghz iMac. Still, they have plenty of "printables" with activities that can be enjoyed in a "brick and mortar" setting.
http://nickjr.com
Another big hit at home. The Blue's Clues site is phenomenal for the toddler and late toddler crowd. My kids also like Dora The Explorer and Little Bill. For those that absolutely have to have some Spongebob interaction, you may want to bypass the Nick.com site and go straight to http://spongebob.com. You'll scream "I'm Ready!"
http://scholastic.com
Another site with loads of educational games for kids of all ages. I love the I Spy games. They are vignettes of the CD-ROM games that anyone in NYC can get through the New York Public Library. Some of those I spy riddles are true humdingers. I love them all!
http://ology.amnh.org/
Ology is the American Museum of Natural History's website for kids. My kids don't use it (too advanced for them) but I check it out for great ideas on how to organize our trips to the museum.
As to interactive CD-ROMs, I have limited my choices to a few companies because I feel that what they have created is truly educational.
JUMP START Kindergarten, First Grade and Spanish.
LIVING BOOKS, Arthur series, Dr. Seuss series, Aesop series.
There is not much that is really good, fun and educational all at the same time. Many gamers design educational CD-ROMs after they have dismissed the teachers behind the initial ideas. JUMP START tries to strike a balance. The Spanish one, in particular, has helped me in making it fun again for Evan to learn the language.
Jump Start is owned by The Learning Co. and they used to publish a series called Living Books. Suffering from "First Out Syndrome", the Living Books series were ahead of their time and when the titles were bought ---like all of Dr. Seuss and Arthur--, they were phased out and discontinued. If you happen to get your hands on any of the titles published under the Living Books label, snap it up immediately. Some of these came with Spanish and French versions of the games (especially if they were in the Arthur series). They are true gems. Some of these titles are available through the New York Public Library.
I SPY series by Scholastic
Reading is a skill that goes beyond words. When I told my kids this, they were excited because the I SPY books really give them the opportunity to 'read' to each other. The CD-ROMs are a bit different because you have several skill levels to develop. Some games involve the simple looking for the treasure game that is the premise of I Spy. In others, though, figuring out the riddles are the only way to make contraptions work within the game. They are truly awesome.
THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE by Sierra
Created before the I SPY games, The Incredible Machine is a completely non-verbal riddle interface that pops up icons when you mouse over them. It calls forth kids touching instinct brilliantly because it is through this trial and error that kids figure out how to connect the parts that will make the machines work and, eventually, take you to another level. It seems endless, at last count. We have been playing it for 3 years now and Evan (with Mark's help) has gone through the first and second level. As a game that develops logic and logistics, after challenging this, your kid most likely will find MYST and RIVEN (legendary CD-ROM games of logic and no-violence for adults) to be the next step up.
The chialist is a treasure trove of information for more digital and Internet
educational resources. If you have a computer and an Internet connection, make sure you sign up for the chialist at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chialist/ . It is an amazing resource.
Posted by Liza Sabater in Indy Learning
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