Hi All,

My two children are now in middle school and I am one overwhelmed blind 
parent, just so you know where I'm coming from!

I am currently using a Windows 7 desktop PC (I was unable to upgrade it 
to Windows 10 for reasons never fully explained by the Windows 10 
upgrade installation program.) I am using JAWS version 17. 
Unfortunately, I let my most recent SMA lapse and now the web site says 
it will cost me $750 to upgrade to the newest version of JAWS and renew 
my SMA. I use Internet Explorer as my browser.

Yesterday, I did purchase a new Windows 10 laptop that is still in the 
box and I'll have to decide whether to upgrade JAWS or switch to NVDA. 
(BTW, will I be able to boot up my new laptop using Narrator without any 
sighted assistance? Any tips on that would also be welcome in a separate 
message.)

That all said...

The school my children attend uses Google Classroom for their classwork 
and homework assignments, although it is not fully implemented yet. 
(While in school, each child has the use of a Chrome Book computer.) I 
was given the link to a temporary Google Sheets spreadsheet document for 
their weekly and future homework assignments. I pulled up the document 
in my IE browser but found it practically impossible to navigate using 
any familiar JAWS keystrokes so I could not make any coherent sense of 
the document. In addition, my JAWS software spontaneously unloaded and 
reloaded itself a couple of times while I was trying to access this 
Google spreadsheet document.

For both my Windows 7 desktop and Windows 10 laptop, which combination 
of screen reader and browser programs would be the best for accessing 
Google Classroom and Google Docs? Any advice on how to navigate these 
Google products  is greatly appreciated. I expect I am facing some steep 
learning curves in the near future.

Thanks,

Duane Farrar


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