Many school districts around the country select the Mac as the computer of choice. You may want to ask your school district what they are using. Choosing a computer with the same operating system that your child will be using at school may be a consideration in the choice of a computer.
My kids have been exposed to both systems by now (the youngest being in 5th grade). Our school district uses both the Mac and the PC. At home, we were a PC family until recently, when I added 2 Macs to several PCs (We will be PC-free within a few years).
Most educational CDs are available for the Mac platform. The same is true of basic applications like word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software, email and internet browser. That should not be a concern.
As for the price, you should bear in mind that the Mac is no more expensive than an equally outfitted PC with similar specifications. It's just that Apple does not offer bargain basement computers like some of the major PC mfrs. That's a good thing, because any Mac that you buy will be capable of the basic tasks (and more) that you have in mind without much effort. That's not something one could say about the PC.
Remember too that your time is money. Macs are generally maintenance-free. Software updates happen automatically, there is no need for anti-virus or internet security software, and you will not have to become the "computer guy" in your household because there is rarely anything that can go wrong with the Mac that requires troubleshooting.
Finally, connections to the internet and to printers and other devices are much simpler and often automatic.
For all of the above reasons, I would highly recommend getting a Mac.
Additional comment: My kids love the Mac. That's reason enough to go with a Mac.
