Scheduling

I love that I can sync to my iCal so I always have the latest calendar, complete with alarm reminders (which I use a LOT). I also can plan chores (especially easy if you like FlyLady), menu planning and other things too. There’s also a planner app that looks like a real planner and syncs with your Google calendar, if you prefer. I can schedule reminders for all sorts of home maintenance tasks so don’t forget to change the air filter. All this helps me focus less on tasks and more on learning.

Recording

I can take notes and pictures, edit and post them to a ton of places. I can write & publish a blog post with my WordPress app. I can save things to remember in Evernote and remind myself of the great time we had in my gratitude journal.

Learning

YouTube has tons of videos that are terrific for school. I love to pull up video of things like beavers making dens or a working printing press. I can read books from my Kindle app and from other literature apps. I have things like math flash cards, games and other tools to reinforce skills. (I’ll get into these in another post.) Anything I need to make note of is just a click away. When we are learning on the go, I can look up anything we are curious about, like identifying birds or wildflowers.

Enriching

Drawing apps, cooking apps, just about anything to plan a field trip (with maps, phone numbers & forecasts) is right at my fingertips. Pandora and other sites have all the music we need. We can learn a foreign language or listen to an audio book or podcast, plan a garden or visit the Louvre.

Planning

When I need to, I can use PocketFlicks to add movies to my Netflix instant queue (or for delivery) for school, like documentaries and period movies. I can search for books at my library with a web browser and even print documents I need for lessons. I wish I could say I have found a great teacher planner app, but no such good fortune. That I still have to do on paper or in Homeschool Tracker Plus. But it does help me plan just about anything I need to do. And I can set goals with a little help from master planner Franklin Covey.

I know technology isn’t the answer to everything, even for home education. But technology, when it makes things easier, is a good thing. Thankfully, there’s no a app to replace me–yet.

What do you use your iPhone/iPad/iTouch for in your homeschool? What are your favorite apps?

They have three products that I am in love with. There  is something about visual learning that is helpful to everyone, no matter what your learning style. Mind maps, graphs and charts make it easy to see what you are learning and how it is connected to other things.

I highly encourage you to watch the videos of each of the products here so you can see how they work. I downloaded th free trial and in no time I was using Inspiration 8 to help me write a book. It creates an outline of your mindmap and then you can dump it into your word processor and voila there is your paper or book or article. It’s fabulous!

And Kidspiration is great. Visual math lessons can replace manipulatives and they can see how to add fractions, learn to read and write a paper in one very easy program. It will even give verbal cues for pre-readers.

InspireData is a scientist’s dream. Teach your kids how to collect and analyze data. Create slideshows of your findings and more. There are even databases included that you can use to practice analyzing right away. If you want you can create a secure online survey that your child can use to collect specific data. Their community is a great place to share tips and get help, should you need it.

I don’t make any money from this company, I just love their products. User friendly, affordable and useful. I can think of a hundred ways I will use their products. Download a free 30 day trial and see for yourself.

1. Use it to document things you can’t put in a book. Plays, 3D projects, songs, events of all kinds. These are life and these are the stuff homeschooling is made of. Get it all!
2. When doing a project, take pictures of options. Then you can see all options at once and make better decisions. For example, a collage or a layout can be difficult to work out because you can’t remember what you liked best. Capture it and you can choose your favorite with ease.
3. Don’t have a scanner? Take photos of notebook work. You can keep a digital copy of their best work in case something should happen.
4. Take pictures of things that don’t keep, like clouds or leaves. None of the mess, and you have exactly the photo you need.
5. Journal your life for relatives.
6. Use it as an opportunity for the kids to learn photography. Maybe they can turn it into a business.
7. Use it to take custom pictures for activities like bingo and flashcards.
8. Take pictures of the family for a one-of-a-kind picture book for baby.
9. Use pictures as story starters to strengthen writing skills.
10. Have a digital scavenger hunt. List things they must find and capture with the camera. First to get back with all of them wins.
11. Let siblings take pictures of one another to practice being the director and taking direction.
12. Use it to snap pictures of your homeschool inventory for insurance.
13. With iron-on transfer paper available at your local discount store you can make cool tees for your homeschool outings. These make great gifts too.
14. Make a video or take pictures of how to get to your house for visiting friends.
15. Use the photos to make gifts for birthdays and Christmas. Calendars and such are always big hits.

Have another idea? Leave a comment!