diaperjoys Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 We're looking for an eReader to use for some of our literature this coming school year. Is there an eReader that can double for some other school activities - such as Xtra math, Quizlet Latin drills, etc?? I'm looking for a way to take advantage of some of the free literature downloads I can access, as well as ease the congestion on our only PC. With 4 kids needing to do math fact practice, typing, vocab drills, etc., it is getting tricky to juggle everyone. We don't have a lot of "technology" at our house, so I'm very much not up to speed on which devices can do what. I'm thinking I need a Kindle of some sort, (two or three of them, actually), but I'm uncertain which one would be best suited for the job. Cheap is good - our roof and our central heat both went out this year, which has led to some interesting financial juggling! Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 We're in the same boat. Six kids vs two computers was getting too tight. We have a pair of tablets and one DC owns their own Kindle Paperwhite, which gives us much more wiggle room for Duolingo and Kindle books specifically. We also enjoy apps like the DragonBox series, Hands on Equations, Minecraft pocket edition, and such. The Kindle Fire would meet all your needs. A regular Kindle (Paperwhite, etc) is *just* a reader and can't do apps. DD's Paperwhite has a very rudimentary browser and she can do some email and Facebook on it if she's desperate. (It's slow and awkward.) They also have e-ink technology which is much easier on eyes if you're going to do a lot of reading. The Fire has the Kindle app already on it, you can load nearly any of the apps you see on Amazon, and it has a regular screen like a smartphone. We also have a Samsung tablet that's on the same plan our smartphones are. This one can connect to the internet itself like our phones, which has advantages. It can also download nearly any app from Amazon, and even more from the Playstore. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 The iPad mini would be my absolute top choice because there is nothing that it can't do and everyone knows how to use it. However, if finances do not allow for an iPad mini, I would check the deals at Amazon for a kindle Fire. My father in law has one and and he loves it. He uses it for books, music and movies. They even have a kids Fire that is durable and comes with a breakage guarantee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Btw we have friends that have the off brand tablets and they are a huge annoyance. We know because we constantly get calls asking for help. We now tell them either go with apple or get a FIRE. Even though the FIRE is also and "off-Brand" it does work with and connect to your Amazon account :) But I still really encourage you to get the iPad mini because the parental controls are AMAZING. They make it SO easy to make sure every aspect of your child's iPad is 100% safe and usable. (The only thing I don't recommend is Apple Music, the monthly subscription because you can end up with really inappropriate music (since it's all included for free, you'll never know) a friend of my sons downloaded inappropriate times and we found out months later.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I got a fire last black friday for $35. Ive seen them on sale since then at $39. It is versatile and easy to use and I was pleasantly surprised by it. My kids and I also each have Nook Simple Touch.... But that's just a dedicated reader ... No apps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggieMama Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 We love our Fires. We bought the $35 ones on Black Friday and they have been wonderful. We bought the Freetime service, as we have a 4 and 5 year old. The app has pretty good parental controls. The only thing I have to manage is how much my kids put on the tablets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) Also recommend the Kindle Fire! They are regularly $50 now, which is an amazing price. We bought 2 on Black Friday (for 4 kids to share). We have parental controls so they have to come to us before downloading anything and we can send books directly to their tablets. My favorite thing about the Fires is durability. They are much better made than other tablets--They just feel more solid and hefty. I dropped a $70 generic tablet which hit the wooden floor divider in the doorway, shattering the screen, within a month of purchase. I replaced it with a Fire (just before they lowered the price) and it's been dropped a couple times--although not quite as hard and still looks great. So far, we've added some logic games (and they've chosen some more "fun" ones). We can add library books from our state's digital library or purchased ones from Amazon. We also have a touch screen PC in our schoolroom. I like this for using as a family. We can pull up art prints, Youtube videos, play DVDs (with or without headphones), listen to books on Librivox, type writing assignments, etc. I've ripped all our music/Latin/hymn CDs to the computer so I only have to shuffle around our math DVDs. Ours has a larger screen, so I really like that! The funny thing is that my 6yo is the only one who consistently uses the touch screen. The rest of us still go for the mouse...I guess old habits are hard to break! :laugh: We bought this a few years ago as an "open box" item at Best Buy for under $500. I would think the price has gone down a bit since then, but we haven't priced computers in awhile. Edited March 5, 2016 by Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diaperjoys Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 Thanks for all the help! Sounds like the Kindle Fire is the way to go. One question: The parental controls that are being mentioned. Is that something that comes with the device, or is it something that we add on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I am the only one that mentioned Parental Controls and I was talking about the ipad in that mention. So, I can't say if the parental controls on the FIRE are great. But I'm sure the other ppl will chime in with info eventually. :o) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Passing the buck too. :o All six of my kids, ages 5 to 17, use our Fire, but I've never looked into parental controls. The FAQs on Amazon probably have good information on them if no one responds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mona Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 You can access parental controls from the settings menu. You can block internet access, specific content (news, books, audiobooks, music, apps, etc), email, contacts, video, etc. I block purchases (1-click buying) on my kindle in case my toddler is playing on it. Make sure to enable password protect for purchases or you might get some accidental purchases. You don't want that surprise. We have three kindle fires and I really like that I can purchase a book and we all get to follow along and read it together. You can enable "whisper sync" so that you all get it or just download to each device separately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Tablets can do lots more than dedicated ereaders, but we love the Kindle Paperwhite here for narratives. We use a lot of narratives and novels. For non-narratives we prefer hardcopy. We don't use a lot of PDF and eBook non-narrative textbooks. Those are better on a tablet or laptop. We also use tablets for whispersync sets where the eBook is read aloud with a professional audiobook. I think Windows still doesn't have an app that can play them together, but Android and Apple do. You don't need a Kindle Fire for that anymore. My tablet is a Barnes and Noble that I got for just $50 when I traded in a broken down iPad mini. It is nothing to recommend, but it gets the job done. If I were buying, I'd probably try a Fire. EXCEPT the Google playstore doesn't work for Fire, and I don't like that at ALL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 You can access parental controls from the settings menu. You can block internet access, specific content (news, books, audiobooks, music, apps, etc), email, contacts, video, etc. I block purchases (1-click buying) on my kindle in case my toddler is playing on it. Make sure to enable password protect for purchases or you might get some accidental purchases. You don't want that surprise. This is what we do...I unblock access if they want to watch on Prime or download and app. Tablets can do lots more than dedicated ereaders, but we love the Kindle Paperwhite here for narratives. The good thing about the Paperwhite is it doesn't have to be charged constantly. I probably charged mine once a week while reading a couple hours per day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaxy Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 You can use the "Freetime" function in a Fire without subscribing to the Freetime extras. That allows you to control the content a child can access (and you can create a profile for each child, if you choose). You can also set it so they have time limits on apps/games, but unlimited (or whatever) time reading books. I bought a $35 Fire during the uh, Fire sale. Didn't get a case for it and that was a mistake. Developed a crack in the screen, someone dropped it and it shattered a bit. I will keep it around for audio books only. The materials are definitely of cheaper quality than our other Fires (one is an earlier generation but I forget the details). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 We have an iPad and two Kindle fires (one was a work purchase, and the other two were gifts). We like both options. i would probably start with one Kindle fire, and then see what you like from there. I think you could do most of what you want with the Kindle, and it's inexpensive. If you want something different, you can work your way up to a pricier device. If you opt for an iPad, get as much storage space as you can. They last a long time, and it stinks to run out of storage! You need it for updates as well as for apps and such. This blog has a lot of good information about Kindle Fire devices: http://www.lovemyfire.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keirin Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 I love the freetime app on the kindle fire - we bought one for our four year olds on their fourth birthday and they only use freetime right now. Freetime essentially restricts them to only accessing books, videos, and apps (no internet browsing). You can set it so that they have to do an a certain amount of time on educational apps/books/videos before they can do anything else. You can also just set it to only be available for use from 2 - 3 PM or something like that (and you can set weekends and weekdays to have separate hours). And finally you can set books, videos, and apps with different time limits... so for example you could say books are unlimited, videos are allowable for up to an hour a day, and apps are allowable for 30 minutes a day. And you can subscribe to the freetime service to get access to a large catalog of child appropriate content from amazon, or you can just set it up with the apps/videos/books that you have bought and specifically added to a list. Now, all that being said, I still have an ipad and I'm intending to have one for each of the kids to use for school work for a few reasons. There are some really nice educational apps that just aren't available on the kindle fire. Even some google play apps are NOT available on the kindle fire (at least not easily). Amazon only allows you to easily install apps from their store (there are ways to get around this but I won't go into the technical details here). Also, the ipad has the ability to lock the kids into one specific app and I think this will be really helpful for some of the educational app time that I want them to have where I want them learning something that I have specifically purchased and intend them to use (like reading eggs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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