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iPad – Is it worth it?
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DH was looking at the different educational apps for the iPad today. He was thinking it might be a good investment in our homeschooling. Can you tell me more? Is it worth the investment? Do you use it much for homeschooling? My children are 7, 4, and 1, so we would be looking at apps for early and emerging reading, basic math, etc. Are there any apps you would recommend? Do you use it much for your own use as well?
I can’t help with the educational apps for the younger kids, but I can say that my iPad has been well worth the purchase. It has become my regular computer. I can pretty much do everything on my iPad that I can do on my desktop computer.
We use the iPad for school for various things from listening to music of whatever composer we are studying to reading books from it.
I, also, use my iPad at church. I prefer my Bible on my iPad to my paper Bible for use at church. It is easier to attach notes to verses as there is no trying to write in a margin. 🙂
Yes, yes, yes. Our favorite app is iBooks. We have downloaded SO many wonderful FREE books! Our current literature book is Wind in the Willows, and we read it everyday on our iPad. Just this afternoon, ds7 had the iPad in his room reading Winnie-the-Pooh.
I occasionally use my iPad to check off our work on the Organizer. I also love to use it when cooking. I can easily pull up a recipe online, stand the iPad up on the counter, and cook without having to hold a cookbook page open at the same time!
We don’t download many apps. We do have the iBirdLite bird-watching app, the Bible app, Pandora for listening to music, and iBooks of course. We refrain from installing game-type apps because we don’t want the children to view the iPad as a toy or video game. (We also do not have a gaming system i.e. Wii, PlayStation, etc. in our home.) It is very much Mommy’s iPad, and they must ask before using it for anything.
In fact, we love our iPad so much at our house that we have two…one for dh and one for me! A very worth-it investment!
Just as Lindsey described her iPad, it is mine, and we only allow the games state stacker, country stacker, and Math Facts Stars for occasional use. My favorite apps are iBooks, Daily Notes, Penultimate, a Bible app, Calendar, Timers, Contacts Book, Dictionary (Word Web does not need the internet), Lose It (fitness/meal journal log), Mvelopes budget app, Khan Academy math video apps (once videos are downloaded, the internet is no longer needed to view them), and PDF expert.
I have the Yesterday’s Classics collection along with tons of classic literature in iBooks. (tons…that is if you could weigh digital books)
I have an apple bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iPad to journal efficiently in Daily Notes. This app has an unlimited amount of customizable tabs to categorize all kinds of writing. I can make pdfs of my writing and send it to my email to be printed from my desktop computer. I have a tab for each child (quotes, personal journal about that child), a family journal, a commonplace journal, a devotional journal, a home management journal. I have even made tabs for our Scripture memory system (daily, even, odd, weekdays, 1-31). I can cut and paste to move the memory passage to a different tab.
Penultimate is used a lot as our dry erase board. With Penultimate, the stylus is used directly on the iPad to draw and write with different colors and thickness of lines.
Pdf Expert allows us to use the stylus to hand write directly onto a pdf page. Think Math Mammoth here…no printing! I also downloaded Ambleside Online’s yahoo group pdf art prints into iBooks.
We all, 7 children and I, can view our iPad screen from a television…which makes an 42″ HDTV sound like a great family Christmas gift this year. Hint, hint.
I don’t always have internet available, but most of the apps don’t need the internet to function. I wish the SCM organizer had a fancy app that I could use offline…one of my little homeschooling dreams because we live in a rural area with limited internet access. The SCM organizer is especially efficient when I use the iPad. In fact, the SCM Organizer is one of the main reasons we purchased an iPad, and why we have plans to get a permanent wireless internet connection soon.
Janell
My iPad is quickly becoming the most used device in our house 🙂 My children are 10, 8 and 2.5 and they all have favourite apps both for school and for play.
Some of our favourites Apps are – iBooks, Montessori Spelling, Fill the Gap, Sight Words free, Math Drills Lite, Clock Master, G2 Math HD (Basic math skills), Starfall ABCs, Google Earth, Tangrams, Doodle Buddy, Moxie (word game). We also use YouTube to watch things like Wild Kratts, other nature programs and old movies. My dd8 uses the iPad for her piano lessons free off YouTube (freepianolessons4kids).
I also use ChorePad (kids chore checklist), 2Do (my calendar/todo list), Pages, Sudoku Tablet, Bible.is, and BigOven (recipes).
I can access Skedtrack to enter and check off the kids school schedule. I can also print their schedule directly from the iPad using Printopia. Printopia also works to print documents in Pages too.
I love the versatility of the iPad… I can read the news, the SCM forum, check and write emails, skype with family in Australia, as well as all the school things. We love it.
Michelle
Hubby has one for work and I have one. We love ours. While it is mine, the kids are allowed to use it with supervision for certain tasks. Playing is 1x day, 15 minutes or less and not every day.
Favorite apps for iOS devices –
- Bible – I use my iphone and ipad almost exclusively now.
- Wunderlist
- iBooks
- Netflix
- Bible.is
- iBird Explorer
- Pandora
- Stack the States (or Countries)
- Rocket Math
- Bob Books
- Shake the States
- Montessori Approach to Geography (also some for math, etc)
- Fighter Verses (waiting for a SCM scripture memory system app 🙂
- Google Earth
- Penultimate
- Print n share
- Word Warp
- Preschool Memory Match – I greatly prefer over many cards!
- Rush Hour
- Yatzy
- Life
- Pages
- Around Me
- White Noise Lite
- Simply Find It
- World Book – This Day in History
- Flashcards Deluxe
- Fractions App
- Leaf Snap – lots of potential
- Montessori Crossword
- Montessori Place Value
I would LOVE a good app for cursive handwriting (maybe even print, too). The ones I’ve tried stink.
Christie
PS – While I really like the iPad, I still prefer my Macbook. I didn’t think I would, but I do.
Thanks so much, everyone, for all the help! You’ve about got us sold. We would just need to decide what size to get. And if I can hook it up to my Android we won’t need to bother with 3G.
Christie, I really appreciate you listing your favorite apps too. That is great list! DH thought about a Macbook too. We have a laptop (PC), but we don’t use it much except for travel or when we need an extra computer. Our iMac is the main computer, and we wish we had forked the extra money for a Macbook instead of a laptop. Do you mind sharing why you like the Macbook better than the iPad?
I like typing on a keyboard for posting here or on my co-op’s website. I should probably give the iPad a better test run for say a week or so solid to form an informed opinion. I do like it in the kitchen for recipes and such, too. I have the 32 GB and use my iPhone as a mobile hotspot, too. Bonus, I only pay for that when we’re traveling.
I don’t have an iPad but we have 3 iPod touchs and an iPhone being used by various members of the family. It is def worth the investment. My kids love it, even my 2 year old can scroll through and play the games. Montessori intro to Math and intro to letters are wonderful as is iWritewords, superwhy, and LetsTans. We also have a bunch of noneducational games LOL. Not only great for educational purposed but also great to keep the kids from fighting on long car trips and Dr’s appointments and such. I decided to spring for the phone so I could search online for things while we were out exploring such as bird, plant and animal identification, but it also has a gps included and lots of wonderful other apps. The free books are terrific!
So we are VERY behind the technology right now. We are wondering about getting an iPad, probably the latest version. But, what does 4G mean? Does that mean we have unlimited access to the Interenet all the time? Is there a service fee each month to access the Internet? Is there a certain amount of minutes each month, like a cell phone (which we don’t have; I’m kind of guessing about some of this…)? Our main unknown is cost. We think we’d utilize it often enough to justify the initial cost, but we’re trying to figure out if there are other costs or contracts to consider. What kind of coverage is there? We live in a remote area and I know others who have issues with cell coverage here so we’re wondering if iPads work that way too? Whatever info you can offer regarding this technical side of things would be fantastic. I’ve really enjoyed reading about how you each use yours and all the different applications available. TIA! Jenni
iPads come in two versions.
One version uses a WiFi internet connection like any computer might use. That doesen’t have any ongoing costs beside whatever you normally use for the internet.
The other version has uses the cellular network (like cell phones use) to be able to have access just about anywhere. You have to pay a monthly fee for this, just like a cell phone. But it’s only used for internet access on the iPad. It does not also function as a cell phone.
Well, we took the plunge and got an iPad on sale for Black Friday! I’m so excited to try it out!
Doug, do you know if you can hook up an iPhone or Android to the iPad to get 3G easily? Or is there an extra cost for that too? I have an Android, and DH just got an iPhone for his b’day. The only times we would need to do that is when we travel or visit MIL’s since she doesn’t have internet.
Have fun learning the tricks of your iPad.
My “new” favorite apps are Notability (because it combines the features I love about pdf expert and penultimate into one multi-purpose app for only 99 cents) and 1000 gifts (free thanksgiving list app based on the great book by the same title). I am also enjoying Pandora from my iPad…have it connected to larger speakers.
Currently I am investigating an app for viewing and labeling the night sky. I got The Night Sky, but I am not satisfied with it (seems directionally off and has very simple labels). If anyone has a recommendation for a night sky app, would you please let me know? Thank you.
Janell
Okay, I discovered the Star Walk app tonight. It is beautiful and very accurate. I’m finally heading off to bed…got a little carried away and its nearly 1:00 am Pacific Standard time…but what a great star gazing time I have had this clear November night. Good night!
P.S. I plan on spending the bucks tomorrow and getting iBird Explorer.
@artcmomto3, If you buy the tethering data plan for the iPhone you can turn on the personal hotspot feature that will let you use it for an internet connection on the iPad, computer, or any other Wifi defice.
@Janell, Yes Star Walk and iBird Explorer Pro are both great apps. Have you tried the free Google Earth app yet? It’s amazing on an iPad.
By the way, if anone is shopping for Apple products, they will let you use the educational discount as a homeschooler. Cick the “Education Store” link on the store page. If you are asked to identify your school then choose “k-12” and type “homeschool” in the search box to find your school. If you shop at a local Apple store you can just tell them you’re a homeschooler and ask for educational pricing.
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