New Blog

Hello to everyone that is following this blog.

I just updated my website and now my blog will be right on my website.

So please continue to follow our progress there.

Thanks!

Shira

http://www.computerlabsforkids.com/?page_id=104

Yesterday was our third class.

First we talked about three topics,

Set a Good Example

Seek to Live with the Truth

Do not Murder

The kids gave their own examples of what these meant to them. One of the children wants to set a good example to the gang bangers. Another one wanted to help change the school lunches. We talked about how each of us can change the world around us by demonstrating that change with our actions.

We discussed what truth is and how spreading untruth can cause so much trouble. A lot of people operate their lives around the untruth told to them by another. One volunteer shared with us her example about how a pharmaceutical company said a drug was good for you and then later she heard a report that the drug was really harmful. Sometimes you can be following a false data which can then be very confusing. It's important to discover the truth for yourself!

We talked about murder and the difference between murder and killing.

Next we went over what the Desktop is and what’s usually found on the Desktop.

We found our hard drives (c:) and (d:) and found out how much free space we have.

Then made a simple word document including changing the fonts.

Next we made our very own spreadsheets!

Finally the kids played the educational games (reading software and IQ boasting game).

We ended with snacks and drinks.

The kids helped me packed up my car when I left. They’re already setting a good example!

Second Class

Yesterday we held our second class. :-)

The kids seemed eager and interested in getting going right away, and after only a few minutes we began our lessons.

We started off talking about what a computer is, what software is, what a program is, what you use to put information into the computer, and the major parts of a computer. The kids participated in a lot of demonstrations and there were laughs and giggles when I pressed the "on" button and one child came to life to demonstrate the program worked.

Then we did three value lessons. The first one was on being faithful (don't be promiscuous for adults). Then we talked about loving and helping children. It was interesting because most of the kids have younger children that they help with and they could see things they could do to help those younger than them and to really listen and try to understand what's going on with them. The last one was on honoring and respecting your parents. Both the kids and adults got a laugh when I got down on my knees and pretended to be the child showing respect to my parent (one of the kids pretended to be my parent). We talked about respect not just being following orders, but something that comes out of the love and genuine thankfulness you feel for the help your parents give you.

They then played the educational games and we all had a good time on the computers.

First Day

Hello Everyone!

I'm starting this blog of our project in South Central Los Angeles at Messiah Full Gospel Bible Fellowship. Today was our very first day of class. We will be meeting for nine weeks for two hours every Saturday.

I arrived at 9:15 am, and the first thing we did was setup the room we'll be holding the course in. It's held inside a small trailer just outside the church. Pastor Vincent was there to help me, and we arranged the tables and chairs and cleaned up the trailer. When the kids started coming, I had them help me decorate the inside of the trailer with The Way to Happiness posters and our banner.

After a few introductions and creating name badges, one of the first things we did was a few assessment tests. This is so we'll be able to see how much progress we made at the end of the course. I gave out three assessments.

A Computer Questionnaire.

A Questionnaire about Morals.

A Reading Assessment.

Then we went over the parts of the laptops and had the kids make their name labels for the laptops and decorate their laptop boxes. We are using the Dell Mini 10 in light blue.

Next we watched three short videos...

One about happiness and how your happiness is affected by the actions of others.

One about taking care of yourself.

One about being temperate (not taking doing things in extreme).

We had discussions about each topic.

We then played some educational activities and games on the computers. Most of the kids played an IQ boasting game donated to us by Mind Sparke.

As the kids left we gave them some snacks (thanks to the Pastor) and promised to see them again next week.

Check back next Saturday to hear about our progress...