Teaching Kids To Use Computers - A Good Place To Start

My daughter is in grade 4 and is beginning to do some school assignments on the computer, such as typing out a good copy of a written assignment. She's also beginning to use email. I've decided to make it part of her homeschool day to learn how to properly use the computer and understand how it functions. She's proficient on both Apple and Android devices but other than accessing a few websites and games that are allowed, she doesn't know much about using the computer. 

I want her to be able to run any word processor, save her work and find it again, edit a photo or make a collage either in Photoshop Elements or online somewhere like PicMonkey. Make a powerpoint type presentation for a school project, install and uninstall programs and troubleshoot minor wifi trouble. That sort of thing. We have a Mac that she will be doing most of this on, but we also have a Windows PC that a lot of this will translate to because once you know some you can figure the rest out - or ask Google. :)

To start, I came across this section of BBC Bitesize. If you homeschool and you haven't explored this site, you need to. It's terrific. We've used it mostly for supplementing science. What was I saying? Oh yes, the ICT or Information & Communications Technology section in BBC Bitesize KS3. 

There are five sections under KS3 ICT - Data and information, Software Applications, Multimedia, The history and impact of ICT and Evaluation.

Under each category are lessons with coordinating activities (animated videos in this case) and multiple choice tests.

I was fortunate to learn to run computers early on and I've never been afraid to try to figure out new technology, and when it was difficult to just sit and figure it out, I took courses or read books and as the internet has become more informative, I search it often to see how my latest problems are solved. Printing in black and white on a Mac was a real problem for me when I switched over. Of all the crazy little things. That's an example of a minor thing that way too many people I know simply can't solve without help. They are lacking the basic understanding of how all computers and operating systems and software work.

This is easy to add into the day because it's something my daughter can go off and do on her own. I watch her test results but it doesn't really add anything to my homeschool day at this point. I've found a few more tutorials for the Mac and PicMonkey and will share them as we test them.