Dated offering

A couple of years ago the five programs included in this compendium were available separately for-a total of £32, so to have them collected on one disc at a shade under £20 represents a considerable saving.

I first saw these programs when the BBC Micro was arriving in schools a few years ago.

Since then several competent and original software houses have moved into the educational market and these Clare's programs now look rather jaded.

The program Counting is a simple way to reinforce num bers, and you can select the range within which the child works.

Garden shows the best use of the Mode 7 graphics, presenting a picture of a house, pond, sky, and so on.

Questions are asked, to which the answer is either Yes or No, and the child merely supplies the choice.

Take-1 introduces simple subtraction by asking the child to count up objects, such as dogs and gnomes, and then asking how many would be left.

Hue Men and Shape Men are both matching games, obviously with colours and shapes as the variables.

This compendium is possibly worth looking at, but don't think you'll get up-to-date software.

Phil Tayler