These four programs are more like traditional drills than any others in our roundup this year. Each is a two-CD set that covers the basics you'd find in a school curriculum. Talking heads, instructive but not terribly engaging, appear in bubbles to lecture kids on concepts before they play learning games.

The titles are useful in providing practice on specific subjects where youngsters may be encountering problems (such as Phonics, for ages 4 to 8). But they're enough like homework to discourage kids from picking them up to play voluntarily.