How useful is an Ipad if you don't have a consistent internet connection?

We had considered getting an Ipad last year and decided against it at that time, but are now revisiting the decision. However, I’m wondering how necessary is it to be continuously connected to the internet? How useful is it away from an internet connection? Part of the reason I’m reconsidering this is because I need to reduce my time on the computer during the day…too easy for me to get distracted by FB, Pinterest, and even this lovely Forum. =) However, because there are certain things we need to access on the computer during school time or during the day in general I can’t just shut the computer away all day or disconnect it from the internet. Some of the kinds of things I’m talking about are my dd does math drill and French games/videos online at the moment, we listen to our composer or other music (all our music is on the computer), we might stop to look up pictures of animals or other things we read about, etc. Is it possible to download apps that would be able to do these kinds of things without having to connect to the internet everytime? Does this make sense? The idea being that we would load the items we need for school or other necessary tasks during the day on the Ipad to refer to as needed through the day without needing to open the computer, get online to look something up, and getting derailed by emails, FB, and everything else out there etc.

I’m also wondering because next year we’ll be moving to Africa and while we’ll have internet it won’t be wireless or reliable all the time, so we don’t want to invest in something like an Ipad if lack of consistent internet connection will severely limit what we can do with it.

Would appreciate any thoughts from any of you Ipad owners out there.

Thanks,

Jen