kdownie Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 My dh sold one of his guitars the other day and said he got to do "whatever he wanted" with the money. :001_rolleyes: Today, I come home from the library with the kids, and he has an Ipad waiting :-). (Yeah, he's a keeper). So, what can I do with this for school? I wasn't expecting it so haven't done any kind of research on things. So, tell me, what are your top couple ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Put iBooks, the Kindle app and Google Play on page one. ;) Some folks hate the screen protector. I wouldn't use my iPad without one. I have scratched up two protectors so far,but never my screen. Nuff said? Search these boards for great apps and textbooks that are available in i Tunes. Avoid Scramble with Friends unless you can overcome addictions easily. Me? Took me the better part of a year to play it every now and then. That is it for now. Dd is driving, and I am in the back seat trying to distract myself. I figure if I'm going to die, I want to die happy - using my iPad! What a sweet hubby you have! Enjoy your iPad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 This is where I get most of my free apps http://www.smartappsforkids.com and of course the wonderful people on here post when they find free apps. If you use your local library find out if they recommend any apps for taking out books online, etc. We use educreations daily - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?ls=1&mt=8 Search every piece of curriculum you use with your kids and the word app after it. You might be surprised how many companies are filling this niche. You might want to learn about Dropbox, Notability and PDF Expert. When your kids get older there will be a whole new world of apps that you and they will want to download. Have fun. Also, I second the screen protector - with kids, it's a life saver. We also put our ipad into an Otterbox Defender series because I didn't want it broken by little hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybell Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I don't have an ipad, I have an android tablet but they are used in the same way. The way I use mine for homeschooling, is I have the dropbox installed and any word or pdf files that I have on my desktop, I save to the dropbox. I have them saved in files by subject so I can access what I am looking for easily. I take answer keys and readings all over the house or if I have to go out, they can read aloud in the car. It is pretty handy. As far as apps go, I haven't downloaded many but I do use homeschool helper to plan out the weeks schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Go into Settings -> General -> Restrictions and ensure that In-App Purchases is set to Off and Require Password is set to Immediately. This will prevent your children from inadvertently making purchases while playing in apps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 My favourite educational apps: Math Bingo Word Wizard Monster Physics Sudoku School Flag Master Brainpop Jr TanZen Google Earth Barefoot Atlas Star Walk Solar Walk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Load up on Google books! You can get all the volumes of Olive Miller's magnificent Book House set, plus everything by Alfred Church and Padraig Colum. Those alone are almost all the literature a child needs for K-8. I round it out with a tab kept opened to The Baldwin Project. My girls think of my iPad as The Endless Wonderful Book Machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Go into Settings -> General -> Restrictions and ensure that In-App Purchases is set to Off and Require Password is set to Immediately. This will prevent your children from inadvertently making purchases while playing in apps. Great idea, esp. when using a free app, and the offer for the paid version pops up. I have hit it by mistake, but stopped b/c I had to enter my password. Subscribing to this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Get the screen protectors and get a stylus (I have the super cheap ones and like them just fine). Get Notability, the Kindle app, and Dropbox (especially if you don't have a iPad compatible printer). Load free books onto the Kindle app and iBooks. I highly prefer the Chrome app to Safari, and I prefer to use the Chrome app for surfing, rather than specific apps for things like Facebook, Amazon, etc., but that's personal preference. Consider getting a Bluetooth keyboard/case; then it makes the iPad function like a small laptop. This took it from "nice to have" to "amazing, how did I ever function without it?" quickly. You may want the QuickOffice HD app if you do word processing/spreadsheets on it, but you might hold off on that until you see if you need it. I just discovered the National Archives' free app for a daily document, and I'm really excited about using that with my kids next year. I scan math tests into my computer and turn them into PDFs that can be worked on Notability; I just print a couple for the portfolio. We have curricula in PDF/Kindle form -- less to lug around. Enjoy surfing or looking stuff up without having to go to the desktop machine (if that's what you have). And there are lots of free/cheap math, science, etc. apps. If your library has Mango language, look for the app for that. I just bought the Homeschool Helper app for planning, and that looks really good. It was easy to enter lesson plans into it, but I haven't used it for actual tracking of lessons yet, so I can't comment on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Oh, yes, definitely set it to ask for a password before downloading anything. Also, if you have small kids like I do, become familiar with the guided access thing so that you can keep them in an app, or keep them from bumping you out of one. It's under "accessibility" in the settings. I have a data-plan-capable iPad but no data plan, so mine is set to keep the 3G off at all times; it only works with WiFi. I think they default to WiFi even if 3G is available, but you might want to check that if you don't want to use your data plan when WiFi's available. I also have mine set so that apps don't send me notifications; that gets annoying. If there's an app update, a little number appears over the App Store app, and that's plenty for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Get a great case for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 My kids are enjoying Stack the States and Stack the Countries. I think there are free versions, but the other versions don't cost very much and have more "bonus" games that are worth it, imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Load up on Google books! You can get all the volumes of Olive Miller's magnificent Book House set, plus everything by Alfred Church and Padraig Colum. Those alone are almost all the literature a child needs for K-8. I round it out with a tab kept opened to The Baldwin Project. My girls think of my iPad as The Endless Wonderful Book Machine. I've gotten two of those but found them really really slow to open, so I deleted them. I also installed Overdrive so I can download books from the library. I got a 32 GB and had it almost full. I had only 2GB left and had to delete stuff so it would run a little faster! When it's full it's a bit slow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Ivy Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 My 4th grade class loves SushiMonster. Great for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Also, a friend of mine downloaded The Homeschool Helper app (www.homeschoolhelperapp.com) and swears by it. I have yet to use it as I'm not homeschooling right now, but if it's still around when my baby is older, I will probably get it. It is supposed to help you keep track of days in school, grades, activities, field trips, different grading scales for each child, etc. Sounds pretty neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briansmama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 My friend is an artist and recommended Drawing Carl app for my ds who loves to draw. It's a great app! She also showed me how to use Paper, another great app for drawing (though not as kid-friendly as Carl). We use the Montessori maps apps and all the others mentioned by pp. Splash math is great for practice. We love Audible for audiobooks. I use Evernote for all homeschool planning/notes and observations for each child. I love that I can take a picture or video of what they are doing and add it to a note/folder in Evernote. Great way to document learning. I second checking if your library has a subscription to Mango. We are using the program free from home on our iPad because our library system carries it. They also carry the World Book Encyclopedia online and ,y boys love using that for science. Khan Academy is great too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briansmama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Oh and Pinterest! That app is great for homeschool crafts/projects! I find free projects/crafts on Pinterest on almost any topic we are learning about and set the iPad in the middle of the craft table and we work off the tutorial/instructions as we go. So convenient! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I love the iPad for its portable cookbook capability as well -- no more printing out recipes from the internet. And I keep my knitting patterns on it too. And I keep a running grocery list on Notability. Basically, it's cut down a LOT on my random papers. I even have used Notability to fill out forms, which I've then emailed directly from the iPad -- so handy, no papers to lose, no papers to have to remember to give someone, because it's already done. I just taught a co-op class, and Notability was immensely helpful. I had the PDF curriculum guide on it and was able to make notes/plans right with Notability. The book we used was on the Kindle app, which is also pretty easy for annotating, via highlighting. I also had pictures to show the kids right on the iPad (small class of only 4 kids, so I didn't need a huge screen), and I was able to download the music file we needed and play it right on the iPad, without having to mess with my MP3 player/CD player combo. I am so not a huge fan of little people on electronics, but I do have a free or cheap (not sure, DH downloaded it; it might have been a couple of dollars) app that has really nice pictures of wild animals with their sounds, and my toddler adores it. In short, the iPad, but specifically the iPad+keyboard+Notability app combo has really, really made a lot of things easier in my life. I managed just fine without all of it, but I feel like it's really enhanced my life as a mom/homeschooler/household manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hana Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Question about the Kindle app for ipod. One of my children has an ipad; the other has a Kindle Fire. If I want them both to do DragonBox, which option would be better: just buy it for the ipad, then have them take turns, or buy it for the Kindle, then they could both access it? I'm sorry if this questions seems silly, I just don't know what Kindle looks like on an ipad, so I don't know if just straight-up ipaid would be easier/better in some way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I honestly have no idea about that; we don't have a Kindle, nor DragonBox. But hopefully someone else will chime in with an answer for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 Question about the Kindle app for ipod. One of my children has an ipad; the other has a Kindle Fire. If I want them both to do DragonBox, which option would be better: just buy it for the ipad, then have them take turns, or buy it for the Kindle, then they could both access it? I'm sorry if this questions seems silly, I just don't know what Kindle looks like on an ipad, so I don't know if just straight-up ipaid would be easier/better in some way. I think your question is buried in this thread, I would start another thread to get your answer quicker because it is a great question! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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