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WE RATE 20 PROGRAMS
FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
THAT GO BEYOND
FUN AND GAMES.
WE ALSO LOOK
AT MATH SOFTWARE
FOR OLDER KIDS.
Ever since she was 4, Emily Miksiewicz of Allentown, Pa., has been dabbling in the sort of play that helped boost her budding math and writing skills. By the time she entered kindergarten, she was reading. Her mother, Jami, gives a lot of credit to some of the software programs that Emily, now 7, has been exploring on the family's home computer: "This is a valuable tool that can help children discover a whole new way of learning."
Many educators and parents consider computer software at the cutting edge of learning devices for earlygrade-school students. Consider it a good gift for a child with access to a home computer that has a CDROM drive. Software is no substitute for good teachers and textbooks, or stories read aloud by Mommy, Grandpa, or Aunt Doris. But it can engage fleeting young attention spans and boost skills such as reading, math, computer literacy -and turning off the TV set. I
Our Ratings can help you avoid expensave mistakes as you sort through some of the 2000 educationalsoftware titles now on the market. If you're like many people, you find that browsing for kids' software is a little overwhelming, something akin to cruising the cereal aisle of a supermarket. Even the bold, cartoonlike software packaging seems inspired by Cap'n Crunch.
The problem is, at $20 to $50 per package, your purchase is an investment, and some stores don't give refunds or exchanges if the software package is opened. Looks can be deceiving: "Just because something comes from a company with millions of dollars to buy...