Guest guest Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Ruth, I'm interested in knowing why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book. (I don't know anything about alphasmart - but heard that name before) I'm thinking lap top/note book (don't know if there is a difference between the two) because my son also struggles with spelling and grammar. he has the visual - while using the microsoft word (it underlines the incorrect spelling of words) and he will go back to correct it. Also, he can use the calendar for reminders and look up information on the net for research. I'm not sure if you can do all this with the alphasmart. This is why I'm interested in the lap-top or note-book. he needs this for more than just taking notes. I was told he can use this through high school & college. We'll see how this goes. I will still mention the skeleton notes - that looks like it will keep him thinking on what to write and listen... Thanks for explaining - this was helpful. Rose From: r_woman2 <me2ruth@...> Sent: Saturday, May 2, 2009 9:07:33 AMSubject: ( ) Re: taking notes >> Hi everyone,> haven't posted in a long time but read your post often. I was wondering if anyone has concerns with their child keeping up with taking notes in middle school? What are some of the things you are doing to help out? As you know, if you don't have all the notes - you can't study or be prepaired for a test.> right now, I'm trying to teach my child to type and pick up speed on the computer. Have any of you had luck with this?My 14yo has an accommodation that he is given a hard copy/skeleton outline of notes "with student effort". By skeleton outline, they mean an outline with some blanks that he has to fill in. I think all the evaluations he has ever had have recommended this, and the school went along with it. It seems to work well for him. I see the skeletons filled out in his binder and he has been getting better grades on tests since they started really focusing on this. The teachers were not comfortable just giving him notes, hence the required student effort and skeletons. And I think this is good at his age. I guess you would have to experiment with how much writing and listening at the same time your child can do. People also get their kids alphasmarts. These are little laptop word-processors designed to be used for SPED kids in school. They can be used for taking notes, taking tests, etc. The teacher can download from it into her computer. Most kids with writing difficulties can type a lot better than they can write. Some kids and schools really like these and some don't. If your school doesn't want to buy one, they don't cost all that much (different models though). I'm sure your child could find uses for it at home. Older kids sometimes just use laptops. Now they have those netbooks too!I haven't pushed the alphasmart/laptop, although I may soon as my son is going into 9th grade and he needs to learn to take his own notes somehow. At the moment, all the classrooms in our jr high have computers and he is allowed to use them for note-taking, any test, etc. He doesn't want to be different and has never done it so far. I described an alphasmart to him, and he said he might be interested though.Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 Hi Ruth, I have the Dell Mini netbook. It really is just like any other laptop except smaller, less hard drive space and a little slower. I have the windows XP version. I think it could be a good thing for a child as long as you can strip all the games and stuff off. You wouldn't want them in class playing a game. They are really inexpensive. I think I paid $199 for mine. It is the 9 " version. Since I bought mine they have come out with a 12 " also. I don't know anything about the other brands. My mini came with a simple word processing suite (microsoft works) but it would not be a problem to upgrade this to Word. Good battery life and the charger is not much bigger than a cell phone charger so you don't have to carry the big blocky charger around that usually comes with laptops. Vicki > > > > � Hi Ruth, > > �� I'm interested in knowing�why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book. > > I'm not necessarily. At this point, it would probably be up to my son. I think a laptop would be kind of big. A laptop might also have distracting things on it. > > You can get alphasmarts that hook up to the internet, so they are comparable to a netbook. Alphasmarts and netbooks would both be a more manageable size. We haven't gotten close enough to the decision for me to really micro-analyze them. I know a lot of high school/college kids really like their alphasmarts, netbooks are too new for me to hear much feedback. But they are so similar, I can't believe kids aren't using them the same way. And the price is right. > > Alphasmarts are probably more durable since they are designed for special needs kids of all ages, including elementary. That would be one reason to get an alphasmart. > > Teachers might like alphasmarts better because they are flatish and they can more easily peek to see what the student is doing. Also, the way they are made to sync easily in with the teacher's computer. I would think one thing you would want to check out is how much work each will be for the teachers to work with. They may already be set up for one thing or another. > > By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything electronic on the skeleton notes I could send you. They are all printed out hardcopy. The teachers like them so much that I think they must have good resources for them. They wouldn't be so positive about them if they had to make them up themselves. And my son only has a 504 right now, so there is no way they would be doing that. > > Ruth > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 Vickie, Did you buy this from Dell direct or at a store? just wondering. thanks From: Vickie Boehnlein <baneline@...> Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 9:53:19 AMSubject: ( ) Re: taking notes - Ruth Hi Ruth,I have the Dell Mini netbook. It really is just like any other laptop except smaller, less hard drive space and a little slower. I have the windows XP version. I think it could be a good thing for a child as long as you can strip all the games and stuff off. You wouldn't want them in class playing a game. They are really inexpensive. I think I paid $199 for mine. It is the 9" version. Since I bought mine they have come out with a 12" also. I don't know anything about the other brands. My mini came with a simple word processing suite (microsoft works) but it would not be a problem to upgrade this to Word. Good battery life and the charger is not much bigger than a cell phone charger so you don't have to carry the big blocky charger around that usually comes with laptops.Vicki> >> > � Hi Ruth,> > �� I'm interested in knowing�why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book.> > I'm not necessarily. At this point, it would probably be up to my son. I think a laptop would be kind of big. A laptop might also have distracting things on it. > > You can get alphasmarts that hook up to the internet, so they are comparable to a netbook. Alphasmarts and netbooks would both be a more manageable size. We haven't gotten close enough to the decision for me to really micro-analyze them. I know a lot of high school/college kids really like their alphasmarts, netbooks are too new for me to hear much feedback. But they are so similar, I can't believe kids aren't using them the same way. And the price is right. > > Alphasmarts are probably more durable since they are designed for special needs kids of all ages, including elementary. That would be one reason to get an alphasmart. > > Teachers might like alphasmarts better because they are flatish and they can more easily peek to see what the student is doing. Also, the way they are made to sync easily in with the teacher's computer. I would think one thing you would want to check out is how much work each will be for the teachers to work with. They may already be set up for one thing or another.> > By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything electronic on the skeleton notes I could send you. They are all printed out hardcopy. The teachers like them so much that I think they must have good resources for them. They wouldn't be so positive about them if they had to make them up themselves. And my son only has a 504 right now, so there is no way they would be doing that.> > Ruth> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 I ordered directly from Dell. I did see that they had them at Best Buy recently also. I believe it is officially called the Inspiron Mini 9. > > > > > > � Hi Ruth, > > > �� I'm interested in knowing�why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book. > > > > I'm not necessarily. At this point, it would probably be up to my son. I think a laptop would be kind of big. A laptop might also have distracting things on it. > > > > You can get alphasmarts that hook up to the internet, so they are comparable to a netbook. Alphasmarts and netbooks would both be a more manageable size. We haven't gotten close enough to the decision for me to really micro-analyze them. I know a lot of high school/college kids really like their alphasmarts, netbooks are too new for me to hear much feedback. But they are so similar, I can't believe kids aren't using them the same way. And the price is right. > > > > Alphasmarts are probably more durable since they are designed for special needs kids of all ages, including elementary. That would be one reason to get an alphasmart. > > > > Teachers might like alphasmarts better because they are flatish and they can more easily peek to see what the student is doing. Also, the way they are made to sync easily in with the teacher's computer. I would think one thing you would want to check out is how much work each will be for the teachers to work with. They may already be set up for one thing or another. > > > > By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything electronic on the skeleton notes I could send you. They are all printed out hardcopy. The teachers like them so much that I think they must have good resources for them. They wouldn't be so positive about them if they had to make them up themselves. And my son only has a 504 right now, so there is no way they would be doing that. > > > > Ruth > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 I checked back and it is $299 for the Windows XP version. They also have a Mini 10 that is new. Still not a bad price for a functional if little laptop. Vickie > > > > > > > > � Hi Ruth, > > > > �� I'm interested in knowing�why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book. > > > > > > I'm not necessarily. At this point, it would probably be up to my son. I think a laptop would be kind of big. A laptop might also have distracting things on it. > > > > > > You can get alphasmarts that hook up to the internet, so they are comparable to a netbook. Alphasmarts and netbooks would both be a more manageable size. We haven't gotten close enough to the decision for me to really micro-analyze them. I know a lot of high school/college kids really like their alphasmarts, netbooks are too new for me to hear much feedback. But they are so similar, I can't believe kids aren't using them the same way. And the price is right. > > > > > > Alphasmarts are probably more durable since they are designed for special needs kids of all ages, including elementary. That would be one reason to get an alphasmart. > > > > > > Teachers might like alphasmarts better because they are flatish and they can more easily peek to see what the student is doing. Also, the way they are made to sync easily in with the teacher's computer. I would think one thing you would want to check out is how much work each will be for the teachers to work with. They may already be set up for one thing or another. > > > > > > By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything electronic on the skeleton notes I could send you. They are all printed out hardcopy. The teachers like them so much that I think they must have good resources for them. They wouldn't be so positive about them if they had to make them up themselves. And my son only has a 504 right now, so there is no way they would be doing that. > > > > > > Ruth > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 got to look into that too. T.Y. Rose From: Vickie Boehnlein <baneline@...> Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 3:41:09 PMSubject: ( ) Re: taking notes - Ruth I ordered directly from Dell. I did see that they had them at Best Buy recently also. I believe it is officially called the Inspiron Mini 9.> > >> > > � Hi Ruth,> > > �� I'm interested in knowing�why you are going towards the alphasmart and not the lap top or note book.> > > > I'm not necessarily. At this point, it would probably be up to my son. I think a laptop would be kind of big. A laptop might also have distracting things on it. > > > > You can get alphasmarts that hook up to the internet, so they are comparable to a netbook. Alphasmarts and netbooks would both be a more manageable size. We haven't gotten close enough to the decision for me to really micro-analyze them. I know a lot of high school/college kids really like their alphasmarts, netbooks are too new for me to hear much feedback. But they are so similar, I can't believe kids aren't using them the same way. And the price is right. > > > > Alphasmarts are probably more durable since they are designed for special needs kids of all ages, including elementary. That would be one reason to get an alphasmart. > > > > Teachers might like alphasmarts better because they are flatish and they can more easily peek to see what the student is doing. Also, the way they are made to sync easily in with the teacher's computer. I would think one thing you would want to check out is how much work each will be for the teachers to work with. They may already be set up for one thing or another.> > > > By the way, I'm sorry, but I don't have anything electronic on the skeleton notes I could send you. They are all printed out hardcopy. The teachers like them so much that I think they must have good resources for them. They wouldn't be so positive about them if they had to make them up themselves. And my son only has a 504 right now, so there is no way they would be doing that.> > > > Ruth> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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