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.

App Week - Times Tables

Category: Education
Seller: 24x7 digital LLC
Cost: FREE


Knowing the multiplication tables is key if our children are going to progress well in Math.  Most curricula do not give children a lot of time to learn them before going on to division concepts and the students who have not learned the multiplication tables begin to lag behind...quickly.  Each of my children has had a difficult time memorizing the multiplication tables.  Maybe it's because I didn't drill them enough.  (Maybe THAT'S because I've always had at least 2 or more other students to teach, laundry to do, dinner to cook, babies to change, etc.) However, once they realize how critical they are to the rest of their Math assignments, they begin to learn them.

Enter the Times Tables app.  This is a great app for the children who are just learning multiplication as well as a review tool for my older children.  With this app, just like all 24x7 digital apps (see my Teach Me post), you may track the progress of several different students.  You can take their photo, type in their name and they just click on their own avatar when they're ready to play.

Let's use my daughter, Katrina, as today's example.  She is my fourth grader and ready to dive in deep with division, but has been struggling with multiplication.  She will take my phone (with permission - ALWAYS!), tap on her avatar, and tap on the "learn" option.  Instead of messing with a bunch of flashcards (which you always have to put back in order after drilling randomly), she has 4 options to help her learn.  The first is a "grid" with all of the multiplication facts on it.  She taps on a fact, it shows up at the top of the screen (answer included) and a voice reads the fact.  This is great for all types of learning styles.  The "flash-card" option is just that - Katrina will see a card with a fact (no answer), try to answer it & then double tap on it to see if she is correct.  The third option helps her see the concepts at work as the app uses "apple trees" to illustrate the multiplication tables.  Choose a factor, multiply it by another, and the answer is given.  Again, the voice is heard to read the facts.  Tapping on the trees allows the student to skip-count in order to see how multiplication works.  Lastly, there are "list flash cards" where there will be a list of each multiplication family (without answers).  She will go through and give her best answers, then, again, double-tap to check her work.

All of this can be done independently while I am free to work with the other children on their school. *smile & happy dance*

After Katrina goes through some drills, she is able to play games.  In the "Times Tables" drills, she can choose how many facts she'd like to be quizzed on in each family.  While a timer runs, it only does so for her to gage her own progress and speed.  On "Random Problems," Katrina can choose 10, 20, 30, or 40 random problems to be tested on up through 11x11.   Or, she may choose to be quizzed randomly on all the facts up to 12x12.  Again, the timer in this game is only for her to know how quickly she is able to answer.  "Multiplication Challenge" tests Katrina on each fact family in order and she must get each level perfect before she can progress to the next level.  The last game, "Timed Quiz" gives random facts from each family and she must do it within a certain amount of time (which I set).  Obviously, some of these games are more challenging than others which makes this app so great for all ages & levels!

While I am not sitting there doing the drills and games with Katrina, I am able to check her scores, times, and the dates on which she did them for each "quiz" or game.  This will tell me what she needs work on the most.

Though simple without animation, etc., (often, that's a plus!) I believe the Times Table app is useful in our homeschool. I highly recommend it for beginning multipliers or older students who just need some review or who need to increase their speed.

App Week - Merriam-Webster Dictionary (free)

Category:  Reference
Seller:  Merriam-Webster Inc.
Cost: FREE


What school is complete without a dictionary?  Our homeschool has at least 4 physical dictionaries that I can think of off the top of my head.  We have two 1828 Webster's, a regular dictionary (sorry - don't remember the name & I'm too lazy to go search for it), and a children's illustrated dictionary (that is fantastic!).  I have taught my five oldest how to use these dictionaries and they have.  In fact, 2 of the children just used one of them yesterday and today.

However, one of my son's favorite apps is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  The one I have is the free version that is supported with advertisements.  However, I didn't realize that until I was reading the difference between my version and the $3.99 version...the ads are minimal and in a very small space at the bottom of the screen.  Totally useless on this app-user!

Anyway, we all remember well the feeling as children of being told to look up something in the dictionary; that book that weighed twice as much as we did, whose pages numbered more than we even knew to count, and which had its own prominent spot in the classroom (due to the fact that no one, adult or child, really wanted to move it around too much).

And, didn't you just love asking how to spell a word and your teacher answered, "Go look it up in the dictionary"?!  HOW IN THE WORLD WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary app makes the use of a dictionary less frightening.  First, it weighs much less - in my case, it weighs precisely 4.8 ounces.  This makes it much less painful if you actually drop it on your toe.

Searching for words is a matter of typing.  My son, Seth, will type in the word he's looking for and as he's typing, the dictionary will begin to "guess" the word.  So, instead of typing the whole thing, he usually can just click on the word once it pops up.  When he clicks on the word, the screen will bring it up along with its phonetic spelling, part of speech, definition(s), sentence examples, origin, first use, and a list of its synonyms & antonyms.  Just like a "real" dictionary! (I must say that having a list of synonyms negates the need for a thesaurus much of the time.)  This saves quite a bit of time for a younger student which saves on frustration.

When Seth doesn't know how to spell a word or is tired of typing so many words with his stubby fingers, the dictionary has a "voice search" feature in which Seth just speaks the word and it comes up with the definition.  However, he must speak very clearly or he will not be understood.  As children sometimes have a difficult time with pronunciation and enunciation, I often will speak the word for him (and even then it sometimes doesn't comprehend!).  It is a great feature, though.

Another audio feature is "word pronunciation."  When the word you're looking for comes up with it's definition and other information, there is the universal speaker symbol next to it.  Tap on it and you will hear a voice give you the correct pronunciation of the word - a fantastic tool for kids looking up words they've never heard.

While I love this app, I still believe it is important for children to learn how to use a physical dictionary.  Learning alphabetical order and having the patience to really look up a word is essential in educational growth.  This is why I had my 3rd & 4th graders using the BIG BOOK today - to keep them familiar with the "real" thing.

That said, this app is great for those days when your child has quite a few words to look up or you're pressed for time.  (Ok, so we're always pressed for time...use discretion.)  Sometimes, learning vocabulary is the goal...not the frustrating task of lifting and perusing large books.  Make the job more fun and get it done quickly with Merriam-Webster's app.

Do you use this app?  Let me know what you think!

App Week - Teach Me: Toddler-2nd Grade

*NOTE* The apps I will be reviewing this week are mostly designed for iPhone & iPad.

When I purchased my iPhone a year or so ago, I ignorantly assumed that it would be my phone.  How simple I was!  After finding some great educations games & activities, I basically have to wait my turn for the phone! Which, is hard to argue with when they're learning things and I just want to check my Twitter-feed.

App of the Day:  Teach Me: Toddler, Teach Me: Kindergarten, Teach Me: 1st grade, Teach Me: 2nd grade
     Category: Education
     Seller: 24x7 digital LLC
     Awards:  Best App Ever - 2nd place in education (Teach Me! Kindergarten)
     Designed for:  iPhone & iPad
     Cost:  $.99/app

One of the first apps I got for the kids was Teach Me: Kindergarten.  The little mouse "tells" my daughter what she needs to do on each screen.  Math, spelling, & reading (sight words) are the subjects that she works on and whenever she gets something correct, she earns a coin.  After receiving a certain amount of coins, she gets to go "shopping."  She'll pick out a scene and buy various objects for it.  She's even made me an aquarium and brings it to me whenever she thinks I need to feed my fish!

After Gloria enjoying the activities so much, I found Teach Me: Toddler for Zane.  He works on number recognition, letters, shapes, colors, counting, and phonics.  He doesn't have to work as hard for rewards, so has quite a few of them.

Both apps are very easy for the children to learn and to use.  In fact, as I was going to be doing this review, I decided to see if 24x7digital LLC.,  had released any other grades in the Teach Me series.  Good news - they have!  They now have 1st and 2nd grade...still focusing on math, spelling, and reading sight words, but each grade level become more complex.  What I love about the 1st and 2nd grade is that they children actually get to "write" on "paper" using their index finger to spell words and do "fast math."  Very cool!

And, yes, I just downloaded those as well.  It was good to know that I was able to spell all of the words & do the math problems correctly.  Ok, well, except for one.  I made the age-old mistake of not looking at the sign and added instead of subtracted.  It happens to everyone.  *ahem*

Whether looking for something to begin your child in letter/number recognition, reviewing math facts, or needing to supplement your busy homeschool day, I highly recommend the Teach Me series.  Find it on iTunes or go directly to 24x7 digital's website!

App Week

Throughout the coming week, I plan to review a few of the apps my children and I enjoy using in our homeschool...and maybe a couple we use during our free-time, as well.

Stay tuned!