The kids’ new computer
I posted yesterday about my new computer. It’s not the only new piece of electronics in the house.
For the last few years, we have bought the children a single big gift. This year, with some help from Grandpa and Grandma C., we were able to buy a computer and an expansion kit that will allow the single computer to be used as up to 4 individual stations. The computer came with one very nice monitor (can you guess which one?) and with the help of our friends, we were able to round up a posse of free monitors, keyboards and mice. WalMart yielded several pairs of earphones for $1 apiece, which keeps me from going insane from all the competing streams of noise.
In spite of the limited space in our home, we thought it was worthwhile to invest in 2 small base cabinets and a 10 ft. hunk of countertop which matches the countertop in the nearby kitchen. I stained the cabinets to match those in the kitchen as well and we set up the kit and kaboodle along the dining room wall, where it can double as overflow seating when we have company for dinner. The CPU sits in one of the cabinets, and someday when we have flat panel monitors everything in sight will be compact enough to push against the wall (or even mount on the wall) giving us lots of wide-open counter space.
In the meantime, even with the big-headed old-fashioned monitors we are pretty tickled with the setup. Unfortunately, The Boy really likes it too, which is why the keyboards are on top of the monitors when not in use. I guess he’s a little geek in the making, which is the highest sort of compliment in our house.
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Filed under: education
Wow! Fantastic set-up. Envy is still a sin right? I better work on that, LOL!
Looks great and has already made me go and check out the website. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing it.
I recommend putting a baby program on one of the stations. Reader Rabbit Baby ($5 on ebay) or the free online baby keyboard pounder that puts fish or flowers on the screen at the push of any button or the mouse.
No skills at all required. It’s a big help to distract my 16 month old when I’m HSing.
Love the new setup!
How much is the cost of the expansion kit? Does it allow the children to go online or is it to just have their individual programs. It is a great idea. I am going to talk to DH about it!
Kathy,
It was about $200 at Tiger Direct. Not cheap, but far cheaper than buying 3 more computers - and takes less space than all those CPUs.
It allows each user to do almost anything, including going online or using the cd drive - though obviously they can’t all 4 use one CD drive at once.
[...] also have our new computer counter with 2 small base cabinets and a file cabinet. We plan to add a third cabinet under this soon. This [...]