Computer Skills Curriculum
An Educational Resource for Home Schools
Scotto's Place at 2009 Homeschool Conventions!
I am very excited to announce that Scotto's Place is planning to have a vendor booth at the following events in 2009:
- 2009 Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati, OH. April 16-18, 2009.
- Illinois Christian Home Educators State Convention in Naperville, IL. June 4-6, 2009.
Scotto
Background
Welcome to my home school curriculum page!! Back in 2005 my 2 boys started telling me they wanted to learn more about using computers. So I began an Internet search for a home school curriculum that taught computer skills. Much to my surprise, I found there to be a lack of choices in this subject! Maybe that is because you can go to any library or bookstore and pick up a book on any facet of computer knowledge that interests you (or your children).
But how does the homeschooling parent (or child) choose where to begin? In the sea of computer-related subjects, which ones should a child learn? What computer knowledge is in some way essential for our children to possess? I decided that I would teach my own children some essential computer skills, write down the lessons, and eventually make them available to other home schooling families.
My career has been in the Information Technology area, both in the business world and in the scientific arena. I have a good idea of the essential computer skills that my children need to learn before entering the job market. My goal is to provide a series of workbooks which will cover these essentials for the home school family.
Planned Books in the Essential Computer Skills Curriculum
| Book Title/Subject | Estimated Availability |
|---|---|
| Essential Office Applications 1 | NOW! (View sample lessons!) |
| Essential Office Applications 2 | NOW! |
| Essential Web Site Development | 2009 |
| Essential PC Knowledge | 2009 |
Cost of the Curriculum
As much as possible, I base the curriculum on FREE tools that can be found on the Internet. This allows me to offer the curriculum and any needed software at a reasonable cost. See the ordering page for specific pricing information.
Essential Office Applications 1
(Ages 10+. 130 pages, 10 lessons. Includes student exercises, quizzes, and final exam.) The first book in the series provides a solid introduction to the skills of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software. Creating these types of documents is one of the most basic uses of computers today, and I am amazed at how many folks don't understand most of what these applications can do. This book will arm your child with more knowledge than many employees have!These lessons are based on the FREE OpenOffice.org application, which is very similar to Microsoft Office. If you use a different word processor or spreadsheet program, don't despair! The curriculum teaches you things that you should learn how to do in your programs. If you use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) all of the features taught will be available there as well, and the curriculum points out any differences in the Microsoft Office applications. (Also includes notes to support MS Office 2007 users.)
Download sample lessons from this workbook here!!!
| Introduction, Full Table of Contents, and Lesson 1: Document Basics | EOA1_L1.pdf (353KB) |
| From Lesson 6: Spreadsheet Basics | EOA1_L6.pdf (251KB) |
Ordering Information
Essential Office Applications 2
(Ages 13+. 158 pages, 8 lessons. Includes student exercises, quizzes, and final exam.) This book is a followup to Book 1, and teaches an intermediate level of skills needed to effectively create professional quality documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.NOTE that Book 1 and Book 2 together present a good amount of work for a semester of High School - 18 lessons over 18 weeks.
These lessons are based on the FREE OpenOffice.org programs, which are very similar to Microsoft Office. If you use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) all of the features taught will be available there as well, and the curriculum points out any differences in the Microsoft Office applications. (Also includes notes to support MS Office 2007 users.)
Download the complete Table of Contents here: EOA2_TOC.pdf (55KB).
Read more about OpenOffice.org and other cool programs that are FREE.
Ordering Information
Essential Web Site Development
This book will introduce the student to the following skills:- Programming in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is the basis for creating Web pages.
- The use of cascading style sheets to create a consistent "look" for your Web pages.
- Using Kompozer to create Web sites.
Ordering Information
Available in 2009.
Scotto's Pages
Scotto's Curriculum
Essential Computer Skills
Click on the logo above and check out my computer skills curriculum for home schools.
Joyful Experiences
An early learner Bible curriculum for home schools. (Coming soon.)
Cool Stuff
FEATURED LINKS

