Getting on the Internet needs hardware and software, as with your home computer.

Hardware:

• Your computer.
• A modem. That lets your computer phone up a big computer, which is connected to the Internet. After your computer and the big computer agree on a few things, you're connected to the Internet. 
• You have a phone connection in your room, so use that and go. You can't talk on the phone while your computer is on the same line.
• We have DSL in the computer room. It's fast! Go down there and find an unused Ethernet cable near the little table next to the door. If you have Ethernet on your machine, you can just bring it down there, hook up, and really go.

Software:

• A browser. This program shows you what you found on the Internet. You're using one now to read this. Internet Explorer is almost universal, but others like Netscape, Mozilla, Konqueror work well.
• Optional: an ftp program. This program lets you give and grab things to and from the Internet in bunches. But some other program is going to have to handle what you grab.
• Optional: Web authoring software. Use this to make your own Web site. I used Front Page to do this one.