New laptop.

I assume she already have a broadband internet connection already, If your friend is moving her laptop around her house, she definitely needs a wifi router so that she can connect to the internet wirelessly anytime, anywhere within her house, another is a printer, that's a must specially you've mention that she has kids doing some homework stuffs. If she can buy a mouse, better buy because it's easier to use than the one built in with the laptop, it will speed up her work.

One thing that not all computer user did not know, is that by operating the computer, there will be "garbage" files that getting bigger and bigger (temp. file, registry and so on). All of these can cause PC to slow. To overcome this problem you need some utility software. I use Glary Utilities, it is quite good and FREE

Laptop needs latest anti virus , check out all the drivers are installed ,then a internet connection ,if she will download more then idm latest version ,then register cleaner ,track eraser to clean temp files and unwanted registry files,then ms office pack if not available then some games if needed not much it will slow down the performance

Can you tell me what's her computers'OS? this situation something like our reset our computers' OS. I usually search for an anti-virus software to protect the system. eg:360 Security Guard,it was free.setup something about Office software,Compression software and so on.