Have you ever used Brianware Safari?

[MeganP]

Is the program any good? I've wanted to get some fun, but educational, computer games for my 5&6yos, and this was advertised with Homeschool Buyers Coop for $50. Is it worth it?

[nmoira]

Is the program any good? I've wanted to get some fun, but educational, computer games for my 5&6yos, and this was advertised with Homeschool Buyers Coop for $50. Is it worth it?I don't think it's appropriate for most kids that young. It was a disaster with my advanced 7yo. A number of the puzzles require the user to click to the beat a certain number of times to a beat before answering, and there's little room for error. DD's sense of rhythm is a bit lacking, and this is impossible for her to do (we're working on this in piano and with some other software too). Because of this, more than half the game is inaccessible to her. I can see why this device is used -- to get the child concentrating on something else between exposure to a pattern and recall -- but I can't help but think they could have made alternative diversion methods available. There's also a maze sequence which drove her to tears. She could see immediately how to do the mazes, but if the cursor even grazes against the walls throughout most of the maze, it's restarted, and with a time penalty in the upper levels.

I wish I had my $50 back.

You can pick up the Zoombini games for next to nothing if you have a PC. :)

[Pamela H in Texas]

I encouraged a friend to get it for her ds (6 last week) because he really needs the brain work (bright, above average iq, but some issues). It is working really well with my son, but he's much older.

I was on the phone with her as she tried to do it with ds and most of it was REALLY hard for him. It should be, of course, as 10-12 yr olds should be challenged with a good bit of it. My 16yo wants me to buy her one!

But I wondered if it's going to work with a child that young. It might be better to wait til 8?

[MeganP]

Thanks for your responses, ladies. I'll pass on it for a couple of years.