yr 11 trio been told we need Word on pc for coursework!

[triplets]

Hi, I am not very savvy about these things, they have been told to use Microsoft Word to access their work. We have Office which the kids say is no good. Have looked on Amazon etc but no sure what I am supposed to be buying, also looks very expensive. Can anyone help please?

If the school are insisting on that then they should provide the software or computer use at school

OpenOffice is free & you can access most word documents on it

Whatever happened to old fashioned pen & paper.

Can't you use libre office? Its free and opens word documents and any documents you create can be opened by word.

Open Office is just as good. Just save documents as 'word documents' when you save them.

I thought word was part of office, otherwise you can get a student version which is cheaper .

Try Open Office it's free and just save the doc as an .rtf file.

Or pop into currys pc world tomorrow and have a chat with someone about a student version of MS office.

I couldn't remember the name of it but pictures is right - give open office a try as it's free

Bloody cheek of the school!

If you wanted to go for Microsoft you need office home and student - then you need to decide if you want it for 1 or more computers. I stupidly bought the professional version last time that I will not be able to transfer to a new computer if my current one dies (expensive mistake)

You just find openoffice online and download it free.

what the dc are saying is there work is already on it, but it now all has to be completed at home, so they need to access it. It sounds as though is the student one you have Bluesky, does it come as a disc?

"Whatever happened to old fashioned pen & paper."

You don't have children at high school then? A lot of homework is done on computers these days. Although DD still handwrites a lot in her exercise books.

You can open Microsoft Word documents in Open Office, although I have found that it sometimes changes the formatting and layout. The other option is to buy the student version of Microsoft Office. It will ask you the name of the school to check whether they are registered, but it will save you ££££.

thank you, will have a look at Open Office in the morning. x

I do have a dd at secondary.

She has very very little homework that HAS to be completed on a computer as computer access is limited for most of her school friends

Word should be part of your Microsoft Office bundle. Office contains Word, Outlook and Excel.

Secondly, if you don't have Word for whatever reason, use Open office as has been suggested. Default it will save to .rtf which can only be read by open office. You need to save as or export the file so it is compatible with Word again so that the teacher will be able to read it.

Or, there is even a free trial available for Office. Which includes word.

clicky

I think you can only use the trial service once and only for so long.
The OO text editor is fine, will do the job. But DC keep having to produce stuff in powerpoint; this is a pain because the OO version is pants (Empress). Pisses me off, although luckily right now I have a work laptop with MSOffice they can borrow. Grrrrrrrr...

I'm surprised they've got to Y11 without needing Word and PowerPoint.

Are you near to your local library? They can prepare the work at home, type it up and print it there. Or put it on a stick to print at school.

DD has to use Powerpoint a lot as well.

Her school also uses MyMaths to set maths homework.

i have office365 which is the subscription licence version of ms office. includes all apps and is 7 or 8 quid a month.

i also have openoffice on another laptop and it does the job pretty well as far as word docs are concerned.

Why can't MSoft devise a website service so all kids could login, produce their work in right format, and message the homework assignment to teacher; without kids needing own copy at home? This must exist, no?

and even that is a bit outrageous; some households still don't have 'Net or computers. Urk.

Not many households with children don't have access to computers, and schools always have computers available or any that don't.

for

My DC have done almost all their homework on computer since about Y9. We put PC and desk in their room at that time. They link in to school website to access work and up load it.
I suspect your DC are trying to do the same. It might be just a case of knowing how to open the file with another program. (open with). Don't go buying any software without getting some advice from the school tech / IT person first. They can probably explain to your DC how to do it if you don't have the knowledge yourself.

May not be able to access them at school if the school bus home leaves 10 minutes after the bill rings.

I still think it's outrageous that schools expect specific technology in the home (beyond electricity, anyway).

"May not be able to access them at school if the school bus home leaves 10 minutes after the bill rings."

We have that issue as well. Once the school bus goes most children have to rely on their parents to pick them up otherwise they can't get home.

I'm amazed you've got this far without it tbh but Office is the overall Microsoft package which includes word , excel etc . Could they go to library or presumably there are facilities at school to do access their work in breaks or after school ? dd uses Evernote for homework which is accessible from tablets and pc online.