Software giants weren't interested. So [Bob Davidson]'s husband, Bob, encouraged her to start a company of her own. In 1983, she used their three children's $6,000 college fund for capital and started selling and distributing Math Blaster and two other titles from their Rancho Palos Verdes home.

Educational software also has started to turn toward CD-ROM technology, compact discs that incorporate sound, music and visuals on a personal computer. Many mainstay programs, such as Math Blaster, have been introduced in CD-ROM versions. Another CD-ROM title allows users to create a computer scrapbook with words, pictures and narration.

In February, Davidson signed a deal with Simon & Schuster, a subsidiary of Viacom, to develop curriculum-based software with the publisher's educational books division. The two companies also plan to create products for Simon & Schuster's list of 300,000 consumer titles. Included will be a multimedia investment guide based on Peter Lynch's bestseller "Beating the Street" and an interactive children's book called "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," featuring singer Ray Charles.