KINDLE and homeschooling......

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I'm upgrading my Kindle soon and when it comes in I thought I'd give my old kindle to my son-I've been wanting to get him one anyway so this is a win-win situation.....I know there are good educational apps and games out there...but what do you use? How do you use your kindle in your homeschooling???? Would love to hear what everyone does......

 

 

 

[Justified]

I will be honest. Amazon and google play are years behind Apple in the educational children app world. I have both as they were gifts from family. My oldest DD has the kindle and she is annoyed that all the good apps are on the iPad (edit). I would suggest instead of upgrading to a better kindle, just get the iPad and add the kindle app. The iPad minis are probably going to be as cheap as $199 if not less during the holiday shopping season due to Target and Best Buy already having them at that price for the school shopping season. As far as kindle apps, here is what my almost 11 year old has for educational apps.

 

Dragonbox

brainpop

Stack the country

President vs aliens

Stack the states

Pettsons inventions

Tower math

Factor samurai

Stellarium

Singapore math grade 5

Spelling city

Abacus adventure

Words with bees

Civiballs

Chicken coop fractions game

Lego instructions

 

I could name more for the iPad and all of these except for maybe one is on the iPad. We will be ditching the kindle competely this Christmas. HTH

[prairiewindmomma]

My kindle is just now becoming utilized in our homeschool. I'm getting the free classics there instead of buying the paperback.  That said, I'm still going to be buying paperbacks for lit analysis as I think that underlining and writing is going to work for that particular kid....he needs the kinesthetic experience to connect.

 

I'm with the pp....our ipad mini is in near constant use....our four kindles are somewhat neglected.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I am definitely in the same place as Justified - go with an iPad if you are spending the money.  We have friends with Kindle Fires as they were cheaper.  Every time we find an amazing app, they cannot get it.  Many free or low cost iBooks are only for iPad.  The apps and iBooks are the main place we digitize school.  OneNote is our scheduler, then we use Breaking the Barrier Spanish iBook, Pop Quiz Spanish Vocabulary, Speed Latin, Collider, Monster Physics, Elements Flashcards,  Dragonbox Algebra and Elements, Stack the Countries, Geography Drive USA, and Presidents vs. Aliens.  We also use YouTube for lectures, audiobooks, and lots of fun movies in various subjects.

 

Next year we will add Word within a Word iBook, E.O. Wilson Life on Earth iBook, Breaking the Barrier Spanish 2 iBook, and McGraw Hill U.S. History Timeline.  We will also be using digital copies of our math and Greek books instead of hardbound copies.

[marynamo]

I don't have an iPad or a Kindle device, but I do have an Andriod Tablet (with kindle app installed on it). There are fantastic applications available in the app store, many are free.

 

You should also check out the site http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com they post several fantastic kindle books that are listed as free for a limited time on Amazon. Really well worth looking in.

 

Blessings

[Hunter]

I'm not using any educational apps right now, but I use a TON of eBooks. It really matters what you use your tablet for, to know which one will be better for you.

 

The Kindle Fire is great for immersion Reading and Amazon Prime. I had the larger sized new Kindle Fire for a few weeks and it didn't meet my needs. It didn't have a keyboard cover and I was afraid it was going to get scratched and broken. Compared to the Ipad Mini it wasn't as safely portable for my ultra mobile lifestyle. For someone staying at home with Amazon prime it would have been perfect, though, especially if they were also using the Immersion Reading with a struggling reader.

 

The newer Kindle Fires are more crippled than the old ones and at least a couple months ago the newer gens had less apps than the older gens. On the other hand I have all sorts if problems with my iPad not being able to redownload many of the apps I purchased, so it's pretty useless for apps. There is a whole thread somewhere here, but I seem to be the only one HERE with that problem, even though there are reports elsewhere of it not being uncommon.

 

Good luck!

[Ad astra]

I've been drooling over Kindle tablets for long precisely because of immersion reading. I'm a non-native English speaker so this function can be very useful for me when I read books in English. I don't play any game or use many apps so I'm thinking of getting a cheaper HD 6 or 7 for myself when the newer version is released in October.

 

But I wouldn't get a Kindle for my kids because, like other PPs mentioned, MUCH more and better educational apps are available in the iTunes store. You can find a daily update for free educational iPad apps at http://www.smartappsforkids.com/. I also looked into the details of the FreeTime Unlimited subscription option ($2.99/month) on Kindle tablets and found out a majority of the kids shows, games and books included in FreeTime are "twaddles" (mostly Disney and Nickelodeon stories) that I would not personally pick for my kids, so no merit for us. Moreover, you can watch all Prime streaming videos with the Amazon Instant Video app, play the Amazon Music app and get free e-books with the Kindle app on iPad as well. The only true pros of Kindle tablets I've seen are that you can download Prime videos and do immersion reading on your Kindle tablet.

 

OTOH, I'm quite happy with my Kindle Paperwhite for it is easy for eyes and only for reading, thus not distracting. My DS is reading the early chapter books on Paperwhite we checked out from our local online public library. I just wish this e-book reader also had the immersion reading function. 

[SweetMissMagnolia]

thanks for all the tips and info.........

[Hunter]

I think some android and ipad apps are starting to come out with immersion reading. Make sure your current devices have the most up to date version of the Kindle apps and see what you have before investing in a Kindle Fire just for the immersion.

[PeterPan]

I'm with the others.  Not trying to make you spend more money, but you'll be MUCH happier with an iPad.  You could go back a generation and get a lower price that will be close to the kindle hdx.  Btw, the wifi is WAY faster on the iPads than on the kindle (and samsung for that matter).  The iPad will charge faster.

 

On the iPad you'll be able to run Microsoft OneNote.  Hmm, I hadn't thought about whether you could do that on the kindle.  Can you?  I picked up ds' kindle (the smaller hdx) for $130 like new on ebay.  Ebay is a great place to find stuff right now if you're really careful.  I also just got an iPad air for my MIL to give to someone, and it's AWESOME, wow.  Like NO CONTEST.  I got it on ebay for $350, and it's the full iPad air, not the mini.  It was a certified refurb.  

 

The way you get between apps is so much better on the iPad than on the kindle.  It's going to make it easier for you to use it more for school stuff.  So you can quickly set a timer (or turn one off), look at your checklist for the day, open up the ebook file of the curriculum you're using, surf or read material while your ds is taking forever to do his task, switch over to the browser and look up something on youtube on khan academy, the flip to music and play your memory work for his recitation time.  It's just all so fast because the organization is better.  The Kindle's organization is better for media, where you want that overflow to see all your audiobooks, ebooks, etc., kwim?  Once you become a power user, you really want to go ipad.  At least that's my take.  :)

 

And the iPad will come with Siri!

 

The app selection is *improving* on android, so it's not as bad as it was.  It just varies as to which ones are on both or not.  There's not as big a disparity as there had been, not on the apps we use.  

 

But you know, if you get a great deal on your new kindle and that's the price point, get the kindle, lol.  But if you're paying almost the same price as for the iPad, lean iPad.  It's much better for that power user rather than media consumption.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

thanks

[Outdoorsy Type]

I have an iPad and a kindle fire. They are completely different. My kindle fire is used the most with immersion reading and audio books. Probably 2-3 hrs of use a day.

 

For apps and using the web, the iPad wins. If I had to choose, I would pick the kindle fire for school, but that is because I use immersion reading and audible a lot.

[Desert Strawberry]

Books. So many books. Lots and lots of free books.

Not many apps. There are some cool science ones. Periodic table, amazing night skies. Stuff like that. But mostly just books.

[Lucy]

Well, yes.  If I had tons of money to spend I'd get us all iPads, but with four kids and myself, Kindles were the only feasible option.  It also makes it far less of freak out moment when you see it being dropped on the concrete, sliding down the stairs (that was actually me!), or left behind at church.  Plus, if mom already has a kindle to pass down, it's handy to keep the whole family on the same thing so they can share the Amazon account - download the same apps and such - without having to have a Kindle account for the kid and an apple account for the mom.  The great apps eventually get to Kindle.  Here is how I use the Kindles in our school:  tons and tons of books, Dragonbox, Stack the States, President apps, Minecraft (to create things from our history or lit), web searches, email, flashcard apps, how to draw stuff apps, youtube, audiobooks.  Plus, it's just a ton of fun and music and movies and such.  I also reward my kids with new game apps.