Whenever my children are hovering over their laptops, working on their homework, I like to remind them that I had to hand-write all of my papers, in the snow, uphill both ways. No, wait a minute. I’m mixing that up with the “in my day” walking-to-school speech my father used to give me. But I do tell them that the fanciest report I handed in during middle school was illustrated with photos cut out from my mother’s Ladies Home Journal magazine.
They snicker. Every time.
Honestly, I am a tad jealous of the technology available to my children that allows them to make their homework look all fancy and appealing, even when it’s about — yawn — algebra. Whether it’s the videos they’ve produced or the recent PowerPoint presentation on Riki Tiki Tavi, I not-so-secretly long to have had the same creative capabilities when I was their age. And we often learn about new cool things they can do, which I then use at MommaSaid.
So it was easy for me to say yes when Microsoft asked me to be a brand ambassador, because then I get to share the cool things your kids and you can do, thanks to Office. Here are some neat things you can do with Microsoft Office 2010:
- Use templates for handsome reports. You can search from thousands of templates that will make your report stand out from the rest. In fact, you can get 5 Minute Makeovers not only in Word, but PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Publisher, too.
- Make purty charts with lots of colors. (Maybe show who’s doing most of the chores around here?) It’s great for math homework and all kinds of reports. Click here for easy directions on how to make charts in Word.
- Import easy-to-read calendars. Microsoft offers academic year calendars that make it easy for you and your family to keep track of the recitals, games, project due dates and more.
Personally, my favorite program is Word, having written five books in it. One son loves Publisher and my math lover adores Excel. What’s your favorite?
MommaSaid has been compensated for this brand ambassadorship with Microsoft Office. We’re kinda geeky, so it fits well.