COmputer education
Most parents from very low-income families start Sunday Friends with no familiarity with computers. Computer literacy has always been low on their priority list – and, in many cases, scary. As a result, the children do not interact with computers at home and the families are passing up the many advantages of computer use.
However, through Sunday Friends, parents have come to appreciate the value of gaining computer literacy:
-
They want to be able to help their children with their homework.
-
They want to be able to communicate with their children's teachers and stay abreast of school news.
-
They want to role model active, healthy learning for their children.
-
They prefer that their children become more interested in computer use than television watching at home.
-
They want to learn about computer safety issues so they can safeguard their children's computer usage.
-
They wish to enhance their own job skills.
-
They wish to access practical information about jobs, housing, schooling, transportation, banking, bargain shopping and more.
-
want to create business cards and flyers for their small businesses.
Unlike the various computer classes that are offered in the community for adults only or for children only, at Sunday Friends you will see a whole family huddled together around each laptop computer. On their first day, you might notice them poking at the keyboard and giggling. Then, week by week, you'll observe them progressing, with the help of volunteer teachers, to develop more sophisticated skills, including:
-
General Computer Use
-
Word Processing
-
Internet Usage
-
Spreadsheet Data Entry
-
Academic and Language Learning Software
-
Accessing Public Computers
-
Acquiring, Owning and Maintaining a Computer
-
Computer Programming: Developing computer and cell phone apps, robotics, computer graphics, and more. We offer one or two very popular programming classes every month!
-
Computer Education has become important to our families. Parents who previously shunned computers are now engaging with their children in ways that are uplifting the futures for all family members. And youths and their parents are writing computer programs!
But, putting your fingers on a computer keyboard for the first time can be daunting. For the parents of Sunday Friends, the motivation and the support to get started come from our teachers and volunteers – and even more so from their own children. For the children of Sunday Friends, the willingness to sit down and focus on learning computer skills is greatly enhanced by our unique setting. That setting is… Parents and Children Learning Together.
Families tell us:
"I have learned how to communicate with family and friends over the internet."
"I had never used computer before but now I know how to type, make calendars, get directions and maps."
"We have learned how to use a computer as a family."
"I'm no longer afraid of computers."