(credit: flickr/seeminglee)
With our kids settled back into their new school year, I’ve teamed up with a few local families to dig up some iPad/iPhone apps to help with the new term.
I know there are lots of apps for students of all different ages, but the problem I always have is finding ones that are a good fit for my kids. By teaming up we’re hoping to get the research time down and share some of the educational gems we’ve found.
First off is the Dictionary and Thesaurus app (iTunes) from Dictionary.com. My younger kids have enjoyed discovering new words to use in their homework, while the older ones have used it to check they have the meaning correct in theirs.
Next is an app the whole family now uses, but I didn’t know about until my friends suggested it. Penultimate (iTunes) is essentially a note taking tool for the iPad, but the flexibility has meant that it’s been put to all sorts of uses in our family. While it can just be used to draw pictures, the handwriting and ink tools mean it is just as useful for note taking and quick explanatory diagrams during homework time.
An app we discovered in out family, but has also been adopted by other families I know, is Vocab Plus (iTunes). As well as helping with tests this is actually a nice little tool for expanding kids vocabulary. It offers around 1500 words along with their definitions and it’s all spoken. There are then a range of different word games that aim at expanding the number of words you use. It’s become something of a family favorite, not just for the kids.
Finally (for now) all the families I’ve been talking to have said that the Documents to Go app (iTunes) is increasingly useful. As homework and project work is ever more computer focused, my kids want to take their work with them while we are away. Previously they used to bring a reading book or exercise book with them, but now they can just copy stuff across to this app and work on it where ever they want.
This is of course just the tip of the iceberg, and I’ll check back later with more suggestions that our families have turned up. In the meantime perhaps you’d like to suggest some educational apps that you couldn’t live without?
[Head image by flickr/seeminglee]
