Homeschool Helper

Homeschool Helper is an app for the iPad that is absolutely amazing! It's perfect for keeping track of your student's grades, attendance, book lists, field trips, tasks, and more. 

Here's why I like it: You can set up unlimited number of students and everything is customizable. No preprogrammed anything. Simple input your child's name, add the courses he or she is taking, track attendance on a simple calendar device (one click), and record grades. The app does everything else including calculating the grades and creating reports. The grade calculator even scales grades and you can change the scale for each individual student!

The reports can be viewed or emailed or printed. You can print a report card, attendance sheet, list of books read, tasks to be done and more.  

The app also

World War II Interactive

World War II Interactive for iPad provides a glimpse into World War II, its causes, events, and aftermath. The app includes more than 600 photos, 35 rare video clips, and audios of famous speeches made by Allied leaders.

You can browse by timeline event, media, people, and weapons.

This interactive app is perfect for students, teachers, veterans, or history buffs. I particularly like the app because it uses all the senses: auditory, visual and even kinesthetic (the interactivity of the app itself). Perfect for lesson plans and unit studies. 

Teaching A Foreign Language

Foreign language is a notoriously challenging subject for many Americans due to our relative isolation from the rest of the world. Even those who take a foreign language in high school or college rarely end up using it. In fact, only 26% of American’s speak a second language well enough to hold a conversation while more than 50% of Europeans are fluent in at least one additional language. So if you are one of the 74% of Americans that continue to struggle with a foreign language here are a few ideas that might make the process a little more enjoyable.

Experts agree that “immersion” substantially increase a student’s ability to retain foreign languages. Although trips to Mexico or Europe may be out of the question, there are other ways to create immersion opportunities for the whole

Medieval Life

Medieval Life features sound effects and interactive pen and ink drawings, paintings, and photographs that tell the story of life in the middle ages. It includes information on castle life, cathedrals, farms, towns, work, play, food, clothing, religion, homes, children, women, knights, tools, weapons, monastery, Vikings and Viking ships.

Pros: The sound effects, such as dogs barking, a blacksmith clanking tools, geese honking, and monks chanting, help pull you back into the middle ages. I like that. I also found it fun trying to find all the interactive hot spots; kind of like playing “Where’s Waldo.”

Cons: There is no animation or video including in the app. Although the pictures are interesting and there is a bit of interactivity, this app lacks the features that would

Continuing Education

Even if you already have a college degree, continuing your education is a great way to bolster your teaching skills, and add inspiration to your homeschooling curriculum. Although there are countless resources on the market, I’ll give you a short list of my favorites.

A Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is a book that helps homeschooling parents walk through the process of building their own understanding of classic literature. It’s a wonderful book with plenty of guidance. However, because it included some “assignments” to help sharpen your skills, it is best read within a group setting. If you have a few friends that are interested in studying literature, I would highly recommend this book.

iTunes University offers free seminars on a number of different topics from a variety

123 World Geography HD

What I really love about the iPad is that it’s not only fun, it’s educational, too. Why not take advantage of this feature by not only entertaining your children, but educating them as well. 123 World Geography HD can help you do just that.

123 World entertains your children by providing “coloring book” fun as well as exotic music from places like Cuba, Ireland, Asia, and Japan. And, while your children are “coloring” and enjoying these cultural sounds from around the world, they’re also practicing color, number, and letter recognition.

They can also practice foreign language skills. With a simple change in the settings, you can modify the voice-over language to speak English, Spanish, French, or German. Now, instead of one, two, three, it can say uno, dos, tres or un, deux, trios.

Preschool Memory Match App Review

Preschool Memory Match might be for preschoolers, but I had fun with it, too!

Preschool Memory Match is colorful, fun and educational. Your kids will enjoy delightful sound effects as they successfully find the pairs of animals, instruments, and other symbols. When they complete the game, they are rewarded with three wacky buttons that spin, whirl, pop, and fizz. What I like most about this app - kids will have fun and learn at the same time!

Choose from the Settings menu whether you want sound or not, which symbols you want to use, whether or not you want to show the words or hear the words. A super duper hard category uses all the symbols! 

Features:

• Over 220 different pairs to match in 5 categories! (Transportation, Musical Instruments, Animals/Bugs, Food, and Objects)...