Motherboard Books - Homeschool Review

 

Our latest review on Motherboard Books

We recently had the opportunity to review product from Motherboard Books. The product we got to use is the Let's Make a Web Page. We received this product in an ebook form via email. 
About Let's Make a Web Page: This program is written by homeschool vet Phyllis Wheeler, "the Computer Lady.  What received was a downloadable 60 page ebook. We had no trouble downloading this directly to the computer. Pretty simple process to get started. This ebook is easy to read and if you are computer savy easy to understand. If you have little to no computer knowledge it may prove to be a bit trying.
Table of Contents Include: Introduction for Parents 
Lesson 1: An Interview
Lesson 2: Download and Set Up the Program 
Lesson 3: Add Text
Lesson 4: Make a Table
Lesson 5: Add Photo
Lesson 6: From the Internet, Add Animations
Lesson 7: Browser Check, Backgrounds, Photos 
Lesson 8: Sound 
Lesson 9: Links 
Lesson 10: Post Your Work 
Appendix: How to Upload to the Internet 
This program is noted best used with children ages 8 years of age & up, with parental guidance. It is intended to be used as a short term program. 
The Let's Make a Web Page cost is $19.95.  With this ebook you get a free trial download to a program called the The Coffee Cup Visual Site Designer software. After your trial period is over, it costs $49.00. Unfortunately the Visual Site Designer is not compatible with Mac software, but it is compatible with Windows 7, 8, Vista, and XP.
Our thoughts on this program: In our world today, the computer is almost a necessity. Most everything runs off of some sort of technology today. I do believe it is important for our homeschooler's and other students to have some skill with the computer. Which is one thing that made this program a hit. Being a blogger I know a lot about the computer and some on HTML's which made it somewhat easier for me as the parent/teacher when trying to help my kids understand. While I did not use this with my two youngest (6 & 7) use this program I did let my 8 yo and 15 yo look this over and use this with me.  My oldest knows quite a bit about the computer as do my other kids, only she has a little more experience with some blogging and mild knowledge of html's. However, I noticed I was doing a lot more then she was doing on this program.
In our household our children learned the computer quite early, learning to operate around Kindergarten time frame being used as 15 min stations for each child, with restrictions. So all of my children have some sort of computer skills, even my youngest, now at the age of 6. Being able to use this program was huge for us. However, In my opinion, I do note that if you are not computer savy, you may have some form of difficulty in using this program. 
In the ebook there are several areas that speak about HTML's and other terms that a computer savy person may understand better then an individual with little or no computer experience. If I did not know anything today, I would probably have a little more difficulty in using this program. Unless your child is extremely good with any form of technology, In my opinion, I would recommend parental guidance with children 12 and under. Some kids are able to pick things up and roll with it and others are still struggling along. If your child is one with minimal computer experience, you will definitely want to aid them along in this program. 
While this program for this review was fairly short and for the most part, with a little more experience behind me and also having me along side of my kids, it is fairly easy to use. I do believe that when it comes to learning about technology there is a lot to learn and understand. Not everyone is techno savy. I do believe that the author should take more time with the instructing and allowing explanation to what we are doing or why we are doing this or what this does and etc. For my 8 yo, it was a little difficult and she was less interested. For my 15 yo she didn't struggle as much as my 8 yo but there were still a few areas where she was totally lost in what she was doing or why? She was a tad frustrated but willing to try. Even though the review period was short, it would of been nice to have a little extra time to piddle and work things especially when there were things that they were struggling with. 
Overall I would say this is a good program to use. If there are any glitches and you have techno support issues you can get support here.
Other's on the review crew are discussing this product and more from Motherboard Books.  If you would like to read what they are saying, please click the noted review crew link below the disclaimer.