As anyone may expect, homeschooling can be at times challenging. Teaching is a full time career for a reason, often unappreciated for all that it brings to society. It is very demanding, one has to keep on top of knowledge and find strategies to pass on that knowledge to many many different people who all have different ways of learning. Of course it is demanding, rewarding but challenging.
Homeschooling while very rewarding can be difficult at times, parents know well that not everyday is a day they can give everything their all and so there comes times when a little help can come in handy. Apps for homeschooling can be a game changer. The ones I am sharing here are ran and operated by very qualified professionals and teachers, they are so good that mainstream schools use them themselves to supplement the learning experience.
This was the first app we used when looking for content to add on when homeschooling. This app is easy to navigate and fun, it is more appropriate for preschoolers and early years of primary school but the various choice content and short lessons and videos can benefit older kids too if they struggle with attention span or to get into new topics. My favourite feature of this app is that kids can “like” lessons which are then shared via email with parents alongside a short video summary and discussion prompts so you can easily engage with your child in their learning and new found interest. As a mom of five my only drawbacks are that you can only open three kids account at a time and that I wish there were a follow up app for later grades as it is just such a lovely lovely concept.
I dare anyone to join a homeschooling group where at least one parent will not have recommended this app. I was on the fence using it for a while. It does cover mainly reading and maths, my kids seem to love it and it is a solid concept. I cannot fault it for its purpose or its technical execution. I would definitely recommend it if you are needing help with grammar and maths, there are lots of resources available and you can print out lessons if you are worried about too much screen time and want to encourage your child working with pen and paper. My only drawbacks are that from my point of view the graphics are not the most engaging and it can be a little over stimulating with the very vivid and saturated colours but it is a personal preference and most of my children do enjoy spending time and learning on it.
This one is very new to us but I am already in love and so are all of my kids including our most challenging learner. There are two different apps, the one for earlier years from two to eight years old allows you to open an account for each child which is great. The later app however does not allow as many accounts, it tells me it might be assumed children have their own device so it becomes a little more challenging to log in and out of accounts, I think this is something that could be improved upon but if your children have access to personal devices this won’t be a problem. I LOVE the amount of resources, the colour schemes and how engaging it has all been so far. I actually love the range of topics so much I made an account for myself to try as there are topics geared towards mature learners as well. It is a free app which is amazing for what it offers and definitely on par with paying apps. I will update my review on it once I have used it a little longer but it is such a strong start that it made my top three choices so far.
I hope this little post will have been of help, please reach out in comments if you would like me to share more thoughts on app resources for homeschooling!
Have a magical day and thank you for reading,
N.
The Little Mermaid Now 