Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: e-book reader, ipad, Kindle, Nook

This topic has 24 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by missceegee.

Viewing 10 posts - 16 through 25 (of 25 total)

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December 15, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Joytoread
Participant
Here is a question. What are some peoples favourite apps for those who own ipads?
Would love to hear what you have found.
Kim.
December 16, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Betty Dickerson
Participant
Doug, this was so helpful. One thing my husband keeps bringing up is if you already have a laptop or home computer, do you really need an Ipad?
I have an older Iphone but really have a hard time reading on it. I also find that I get tired of reading from a computer screen as well, for any length of time. So, I was leaning towards the Kindle. My husband, though, wants to hold out for the DX to come down in price. He thinks he could use it for work.
We used to travel alot more as a family with my dh’s work. And I used to do alot more reading aloud. Now that my children are a bit older and we are home more, I’ve been trying to discern which device would better serve us. The Iphone has been VERY helpful when traveling. The google maps app is better than my GPS. I can look up local restaurants and find gluten free food. It has been so helpful! So, I’m still wondering/debating between the two choices.
I really appreciate your video!
Blessings,
Betty
December 16, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Cindie2dds
Member
Joytoread ~ I have little ones, but my 1st grader really likes Stack the States and Pop Math. We just got it a couple of weeks ago, so we are still learning about it. Google Earth is wonderful on the iPad because the kids can easily zoom in and out by themselves using their fingers. Great for geography. I’m trying to limit the use because she would play with it all day long.
December 17, 2010 at 3:14 am
Doug Smith
Keymaster
One thing my husband keeps bringing up is if you already have a laptop or home computer, do you really need an Ipad?
One of the things these devices have done for us is move some of our activity away from the computer screen and to the couch or kitchen table. It suddenly becomes a much more social activity than facing into a computer screen. It becomes so easy to look at something together with someone else or just hand the device to another family member to enjoy what you are looking at. We often read together as a family or share something we’ve looked up on the Web.
My husband, though, wants to hold out for the DX to come down in price. He thinks he could use it for work.
At current prices the iPad is only a little more than the Kindle DX. The screen size is the same so the comparison comes down to do you want color, apps, and speed or do you prefer the e-ink screen of the Kindle. Both have a very high-quality screen that I find easy to read from. I recommend trying them both in a store to see how you like the way they look and work. I know our local Best Buy store carries both.
As far as using one for work, I’ve loaded some technical manuals on our devices and it’s been great for some of my tasks.
December 17, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Joytoread
Participant
It is much easier to read from a ebook reader than on the computer. My eyes hurt after a while when I am on the computer but I don’t get that same thing from my ipad. I also like that I can read on the couch rather than crowd around a computer. Thank you for the apps Cindie2dds; I will look at them. My children are young also.
Kim.
December 18, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Crystal Wagner
Participant
What size memory on the iPad would you recommend? I know that it depends on what you intend to do with it. But is the 16GB sufficient for most activities?
December 18, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Doug Smith
Keymaster
Most books and documents take up very little space. Apps don’t tend to be very large either.
Audio, photos, and especially video use space much faster. So if you think you might fill it with a lot of music and movies then look to the larger units.
I just checked our 32GB model. We have it about half full with:
- 1.51 GB audio (562 songs)
- 0.13 GB video (just a couple short videos totaling about 6 minutes)
- 6.9 GB photos (5,145 photos)
- 7.5 GB apps (124 apps. We test a lot of apps and one is quite large)
- 0.16 GB books (94 books)
December 19, 2010 at 10:54 pm
nak
Participant
Doug,
Excellent video! Thank you so much for that. I know that the video mentions a few apps that you use in your homeschool, but I would like to see a video that is dedicated to which apps you find most beneficial and how you use them.
(I think dh bought me an ipad for Christmas. )
-Nancy

December 28, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Wendy Roseberry
Participant
Hi Doug – thanks for the video. It was very helpful for me and my husband as we have been trying to figure out which option is best for us.
Do you know of an e-reader that doesn’t have any internet connectivity? I realize that you can simply not give your child the password to your in-house WiFi, but where we live we can actually pick up several wireless networks from our neighbors and some of those do not require a password to access. I’m kind of concerned about him getting access that I don’t know about. When I looked at the Kindle I did not see a way to totally restrict access to Wi-Fi.
I saw an e-reader called eMatic at Walmart.com that just has USB connection to your computer and no WiFi, but I don’t think that uses eInk technology (not sure if that’s a big deal or not for us). I’m also concerned about the, um, reliability of the device. 🙂

January 4, 2011 at 4:52 pm
missceegee
Participant
Knowledge Quest Maps just launched a new website – http://www.apps-school.com/ – that lists ipad apps. I thought this might be of interest to those who have an ipad.
Christie