Any suggestions of a good computer to buy for my 8 year old son. THe school is getting chromebooks for all students, but we can bring in our own. My DS has already started developing games through Scratch and is very interested in programming and technology. He also likes minecraft and other similar games and also likes watching the various series on the nature channel, national geographic, etc. His gifted program also wants them to create movies and PowerPoints. Any suggestions?

What is your budget? If you can get small laptop vs. a tablet. Tablets are great entertainment devices IMO, but not that great for creating content although they are getting better. You at least need a keyboard. Other than that are your a PC or Mac household? For making movies, the software for Mac's are still better IMO. I tried a chromebook and they are nice, BUT all data is kept in the cloud. But I like that it basically runs linux. But am personally very old school and don't like the idea of keeping ALL my data on the cloud.

When my DS15 was in 6th grade, the teacher tried an experiment where all the kids could bring in a iPad (they were brand new) or small netbook. I bought my son a small netbook, Windows machine. It worked OK for that year, but we had a lot of hardware problems with that machine and it was quite slow. To be honest, I found this exasperated some of my son's problems in school that year. Giving him more access to his own computer turned into a bit of a enforcement problem.

My suggestion is that if the school wants to provide him a Chromebook, let them. If your DS has a different type of machine, running different software, then he'd have to use methods completely different from those of the rest of the class in order to accomplish the same things. That's fine if you're a computer-savvy adult, with access to documentation and other support resources. It's less fine when you're 8, and the only adult in the room is learning the technology along with you.

Now, if we're talking about giving him a second machine for strictly home use, that's a different conversation.

I agree with Dude. In addition to the reasons given, some schools may monitor devices which access their system. Parents may wish to read the parent/student handbook, terms of use, privacy policies, academic honesty statements, permission agreements, etc. Parents may also wish to ask questions.

For example:
- When a student accesses online course material or assignments, his/her IP address may be recorded.
- Keystrokes may also be recorded.
- Pages visited and time spent on each page may also be logged.
- Educational institutions may activate the video cam & microphone, making observations into the home or study environment.

IT World shows several answers posted to the question, "How can I tell if my laptop is being monitored?" This may be found online using a search engine.

Using a school-provided device for school work, and having a separate device for personal use may help maintain healthy boundaries.

indigo makes very good points. We provide chromebooks to all of our students, and absolutely we monitor every keystroke and website they visit. The principal actually gets pings every time a flagged event occurs. For the same reason, I am very careful about what I write in my work gmail account, calendar, and what I save to GoogleDrive. (Not to mention I am squeamish about saving my psych reports to the all-seeing Google.)