Summer Shopping? 

If parents are looking to buy some presents for your children this summer, there are plenty of good technology tools that can be useful to their education, as well as fun to use. Here are some suggestions:

A USB drive or flash disk (or several) for saving work and carrying back and forth from school. Also, an external hard drive for backing up data. These are simple and inexpensive technology tools that can help your child develop organizational and responsible skills.

A laptop. Students in grades 6 and 10 will be issued laptop computers next year, but other students would benefit. A small netbook can cost as little as $300, but can be a very powerful tool for students to use. (We're purchasing Acer Aspire One AO532h netbooks for grade 10 and 2go PC Convertible Classmate NL2 tablet netbooks for grade 6. These would be good models ...or choose an alternative.)

An iPad or iPod Touch. There are educational apps (as well as games, videos and music) that students can use on these. Students can access Wikipedia, study foreign languages, get math and science reference books, build flash card study guides and more on these devices.

A digital camera or videocamera. For as little as $100, you could get your child a device for recording images and video of the world around them. It's a simple tool, but one the child can use for many things, both educational and recreational.

Educational software. A fun typing game can build good keyboarding skills and can be educational, too. There are also programs to help students build good math skills, language skills, etc. Even simulation games like Civilization or Age of Empires can have educational value as well as being fun for young people. And, as I said before, keep a balance. Buying an iPad and loads of digital e-books is good, but it's still OK (and sometimes much more fun) to curl up with a physical
book. And instead of buying a football game for the Xbox or whatever, how about a real football? Or instead of an electronic game of Risk or Monopoly, get a physical board game version and play as a family.