[Note: The name and number have been set to "JENNY 867-5309".]

PHONE NUMBER

FoneHome -- E.T. Could Have Used This One!

by Susan P. Davis

Certainly, most everyone knows that E.T., the Extraterrestial spent
quite a bit of time trying to phone home. But, even if some of your
kids seem like they're from outer space, it's good for them to learn
how to call home when they need to do so.

In short, it is desirable to teach your children their own telephone
number. That's what I set out to do and that is how the following
program, FONEHOME came to be.

One of the reasons people invest in a personal computer is because
"it's educational for the kids." There is an adequate amount of
educational softw are available for the elementary and secondary
school-aged child and we at Sugar Software had already written Silly
Syntax and promoted it as "an educational game for all ages."

Bui what about educational software for the preschool child?

I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to teach our then 3 1/2-year-old
son our telephone number. He was able, but unwilling, to learn it.
So, it became a challenge. How can we motivate this child to learn
his phone number? Finally, I was inspired. I made a song out of
it. singing the numbers to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling
Down."

He was interested in the computer, so we used the phone number theme
as his introduction to the computer. We wrote the following program,
and had our son learn these skills:

(1) To type the word RUN (which he spells aloud "R-U-N -- Enter").

(2) To type his name in order to get the program to continue.

(3) Not to press the <break> key. This is hard for young children
because it is red and the most enticing key on the keyboard.

Once he accomplished these skills, the computer provided an immediate
reward: The "Phone Number" song in music, numbers and words.

FONEHOME is simple to personalize for any child. We have used it
successfully with the preschool population of our neighborhood.

As simple as this seems, it accomplished far more than the long
sought-after goal of teaching our son his phone number. He learned
that he can sit down comfortably in front of a computer and give it
instructions. Lots of middle-aged businessmen are still struggling
with this concept.