A family with a bunch of school children may need a number of computers. If they need a computer for doing their homework, one computer is not enough. If they have to take turns with a single computer, it is likely that some homework may not be completed finished by the end of the evening. However, it can be very expensive to outfit each person in the family with his or her own computer. An excellent way to supply enough computers for each person in the family would be to purchase a refurbished computer. For purposes of homework, the latest, glitzy computer is not a necessity. A used computer with some basic software can meet the homework needs of any child.

Having a computer makes the homework experience very different from precomputer homework in the old days. When the Baby Boomers were students and had to write papers, the experience could be frustrating because we had to write everything on a rough draft with pencil on paper. A pencil had to be used when writing a rough draft. In fact, a pencil needed a partner. As the thoughts tumbled out, mistakes would be made and erased, and corrections would have to be made. Then after the rough draft was scribbled out, it would be time to edit. This often involved circles and arrows and lots of writing in the margins. When the changes were drastic, a second pencil draft would need to be copied out. Then, after the draft became final, it would have to be copied one more time in ink. The teachers always insisted that the theme had to be written in ink, on one side of the paper, and on every other line. This copying was time-consuming because the handwriting had to be neat enough for the teacher to read, and the spelling and grammar had to be correct. We did not begin typing our papers until our senior year when we had to type them. Typing a paper on a typewriter is an even tougher task because of typographical errors. Points came off for misspellings, and a mistyped word is a misspelled word. There were no wavy red lines to identify misspellings. Then, if a large error was made, the page would have to be retyped.

Kids today have the advantage of using a word processor. Life is much easier when changes can be made without using an eraser. A budding author can just start typing the rough draft. The most efficient method is to start with a list of ideas to be included and expanded on. These may need to be rearranged into a rudimentary outline. Then the details can be filled in for each point. When the first draft is finished, it is time to edit and improve. If a paragraph needs to be moved, circles and arrows are no longer necessary. The wonderful cut and paste action has taken their place. Now, writing has become more fun because it can be done more quickly and fluidly.