How to pick apps for Homeschooling.

There are thousands of apps for the iPad and iPhone. It is easy to get app crazy with all the free or cheap apps. How do you know what app to buy? How do you know if an app is worth the cost? How do you sort through all the thousands of apps to find good apps for homeschooling? Here is what I recommend for finding and choosing good homeschool education apps:

1. Search the iTunes Education category. Remember that if you are searching on the iPad it does not sort based on popularity. The iPad defaults to listing the newest app first.
2. Read reviews on iTunes and on other web-pages listed below. The iTunes store will have reviews listed by those who have purchased the app. These will be people who purchased the app without a promo code. Many web site reviewers are given free promo codes to review the app. This is OK but sometimes it it good to know that they did not purchase the App.

1. Try the free or light version of the app. Many apps have a free version that has limited features that you can try out before you buy. Search the Apple store using the word light with the app title.
2. Wait for the app to go on sale. Apps frequently go on sale. Several websites list apps for sale. If there is an app you like but you are hesitant to buy because of the price you can try waiting for the app to go on sale. Many apps go on sale around Christmas or around the company’s anniversary.
3. Buy a couple of .99 apps to get a feel for the value of apps and how much you are willing to spend on an App that may not live up to your expectations.
4. Look at the number of stars. Each app in the iTunes store usually has a rating. Some apps may not have enough reviews to have a rating. This is OK if the app had a recent update but the older version of the app had good rating. Some websites will sort the app list by its star rating and then by category.
5. App finding apps:There are also apps you can download that filter out apps. You can try the app Kinder Town to search for good kids apps.