I watched last night's NBC news during my lunch break and saw a story about the recent national report card on kid's math scores. 61% of 4th graders and 66% of 8th graders are "not proficient" in math (whatever that means) and suggesting that parents and taxpayers should be outraged that increased education spending has not lead to better results. Is anyone considering the possibility that some of the blame might actually be the parents?
Perhaps Shawn and I have just been blessed with "smart" kids but I'm not so sure that is the whole reason they get good grades. We have VERY high expectations of our kids (some would say too high) and we usually spend a good hour or more with them every weeknight going over homework and preparing for tests. I'll admit I wasn't such a big fan of doing this early on. It's certainly not my idea of fun, but I'm now convinced that it makes a big difference. When our kids come home with anything but an A on homework and tests, they know we're going to expect some additional study time and a better result the next time.
I really don't think we can expect the schools and our government to solve this problem. A big part of the solution has to start at home.
Am I alone in this thinking? Opposing viewpoints are welcome.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Type To Learn 3 on Windows Vista
While setting up a new PC for my kid's school, I discovered that Type to Learn 3 would not work on Microsoft Vista Home Premium.
The error I was getting was: Fatal Error : Failed to open DAT file "Splash"
I tried the various compatibility modes and Vista, but always got the same error immediately upon launching the program. A Google search for this error revealed some reviews from people getting the same error, but nothing helpful.
I called the Sunburst tech support number and they explained that the version I was installing (marked 1.0h on the CD) was not compatible for Vista. They did manufacture a version of Type to Learn 3 that was compatible with Vista, but it had been discontinued since Type to Learn 4 was their current release.
I decided to see if I could debug the issue myself and found a folder on the installation CD named "Res" that did not get copied to the program folder at the time of installation. It had a subdirectory named "DAT", which contained a file named "SPLASH.DAT". Aha! I then copied the entire contents of the "Res" folder to the TTL3Home program folder on the PC (See note below), tried the program again, and it worked fine. Problem solved.
Note that I initially tried to copy the "Res" folder while logged in as a non-administrator. As expected, Vista prompted me for the administrator password, but then it only pretended to copy the files. Nothing actually copied and there were no errors indicated. I had to logout of the user account and login as an administrator before I could copy the files. Probably something obvious, but the reason doesn't come to mind immediately. In any case, the problem is fixed so all is good.
The error I was getting was: Fatal Error : Failed to open DAT file "Splash"
I tried the various compatibility modes and Vista, but always got the same error immediately upon launching the program. A Google search for this error revealed some reviews from people getting the same error, but nothing helpful.
I called the Sunburst tech support number and they explained that the version I was installing (marked 1.0h on the CD) was not compatible for Vista. They did manufacture a version of Type to Learn 3 that was compatible with Vista, but it had been discontinued since Type to Learn 4 was their current release.
I decided to see if I could debug the issue myself and found a folder on the installation CD named "Res" that did not get copied to the program folder at the time of installation. It had a subdirectory named "DAT", which contained a file named "SPLASH.DAT". Aha! I then copied the entire contents of the "Res" folder to the TTL3Home program folder on the PC (See note below), tried the program again, and it worked fine. Problem solved.
Note that I initially tried to copy the "Res" folder while logged in as a non-administrator. As expected, Vista prompted me for the administrator password, but then it only pretended to copy the files. Nothing actually copied and there were no errors indicated. I had to logout of the user account and login as an administrator before I could copy the files. Probably something obvious, but the reason doesn't come to mind immediately. In any case, the problem is fixed so all is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
