Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Homeschool Helper App

I know I promised to let you know what I've been using for planning our homeschool this year as the Well-Planned Day software was a complete flop.

Maybe I should put that in all caps & bold....COMPLETE FLOP.

I'm not bitter.  Really, I'm not.  I'm over it.  Way over it.

Anyway...now that you've been holding your breath for 4 months, I will tell you.  (If you've been holding your breath for 4 months, you have bigger problems than finding the perfect planner)

The answer is.... HOMESCHOOL HELPER for iPad.



First, I must say that my iPad has revolutionized my life.  Homeschooling, chore lists, weight-loss, Bible-reading, etc. - so much is on my iPad and I love it!

I had read a review of Homeschool Helper from SamsNoggin and I knew it would be one of the very first apps I would put on my iPad.  I am able to plan a month's worth of school in less time that I've ever been able to do it.  As I have a few children combined in their classes, the "copy lesson" feature is absolutely invaluable.  I type in all the lessons & dates for one student, then copy it to another's calendar.  Bam!  It's that easy.  

While I am able to grade and figure averages on this app, I have not yet taken the time to do so.

Every day, my kids click on their name, the "notebook" icon and up pops their calendar.  They click on the date and they see their assignments for the day.  They can check off each assignment as they finish. They have come to depend on Homeschool Helper to tell them what to do every day.  This is a huge blessing for me.

You can also enter field trips and extra projects.  I think I may utilize that more this year.  While we don't make use of more than half of what it can do, I feel it was one of the best app-purchases I have ever made - iPhone & iPad combined.

Which makes me think...my only "complaint" is that it does not yet sync with my iPhone.  That would be a nice feature.

If you go to the Homeschool Helper site (which has been linked to several times in this post), you can watch video tutorials teaching you how to use this app.  As I believe it's pretty easy to figure out, I've never watched them.  However, there are some moms who are visual learners who may find these videos quite helpful!  In fact, the whole site does a great job in describing this app - much better than I.  In fact, maybe you should just head over there and ignore the rest of this post.

Still here?  I'll finish up...

How much for the planner that has changed my life?  A whopping $4.99!!!!  Seriously, you don't have $5.00 to spend on a planner?  It's not a subscription - it's a one-time payment.  You can't get a paper planner for that price!!!!

SO...if you have an iPad, throw the pen away, save your money on software that doesn't work or is overly-complicated.  Splurge a bit, spend five-bucks and get the Homeschool Helper.

There.  I told you.  You may resume breathing.

3 comments:

Anissa said...

I've been using Homeschool Helper the last few weeks and I love it. Love it!

NextGen Homeschool said...

I'm so glad your post was on Facebook today! I was soooo terribly disappointed with the My Well Planned Day "app" that launched this year, I was starting to lose hope that I could do my homeschool planning on my new iPad. I'm happy to hear you are loving the Homeschool Helper app, and since I also have multiple children working on similar lesson plans, the copy function sounds awesome to me! I can't wait to check it out.
Renée at NextGen Homeschool

Kayleen said...

I TOTALLY agree. I think the $4.99 was money spent. My girls love the grade feature. It is a fantastic planner.