Five Best Innovative iPad Accessories for Homeschooling

The iPad is currently one of the most popular platforms of entertainment favored by both kids and adults. However, apart from its function as a platform for amusement, Apple’s famed tablet is now also being used as a tool for education at home.

There are literally hundreds of apps today that specifically target homeschooled boys and girls. Learning site Te@chthought has listed 40 iPad apps for homeschooled students, which are perfect for kids aged 4 and up.

However, despite the number of amazing homeschooling apps that could very well replace traditional school lessons for growing children, the iPad is as only good as its accessories. Without the proper accessories to accompany it, a homeschool teacher wouldn’t be able to utilize Apple’s tablet to its full potential. So aside from tablet cases, here are 5 essential accessories that are needed for teaching kids at home:

Twelve South Compass Mobile Stand

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(courtesy of smokingapples.com)

The problem with most tablet stands is that they only allow the device to rest either in portrait or landscape mode. This is where the  Twelve South Compass Mobile Stand  comes in, allowing you to view the tablet in any orientation you want. Homeschooling shouldn’t reflect traditional schools where learning is mostly done on a desk. Rather, homeschooling should adjust depending on the situation and the Twelve South Compass Mobile Stand is perfect for that.

The beauty about this stand is that it is easy to set-up: all you need to do is fold out its legs and the two iPad supports. If you want to switch into typing mode, just fold out the secondary leg at the back.

Li9184319087_7431b04e9f_zfeProof Waterproof iPad Nuud Case

 (courtesy of Cristina Go)

When homeschooling demands a field trip to the ocean, it’s best to seal the iPad with a waterproof case to prevent it from wearing out. The LifeProof Waterproof iPad Nuud Case  is an amazing accessory because it seals the iPad completely. It comes with Nuud’s naked screen technology, which inhibits air gap to interfere with the touch navigation.

Apple TV
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The Apple TV is a great accessory for homeschool teachers who don’t want to tether their tablet like a traditional school projector or podium. It is a digital media receiver that delivers lectures and presentations wirelessly with the help of the AirPlay feature.  This medium comes in handy when you conduct film viewings, stream podcasts, and watch documentaries to more than two kids at home.

Don’t be fooled by Apple TV’s single core A5 chip. Even though it lacks in speed compared to the ultrafast processing power of newer smartgadgets such as Apple’s very own iPhone 6 or competitor Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4’s, Apple TV can still deliver a seamless and high-quality streaming.

Brydge Keyboard With Speakers
7138536257_6e405c67e8_o(courtesy of karmelka66)

Even the most tech-savvy teachers find it troublesome to type on a touchscreen for long periods of time. Hence, our list would not be complete without an external keyboard to go along with the iPad. Perhaps the best keyboard to use is the Brydge iPad Keyboard with Speakers, which makes iPads look like laptops. The keyboard is finished with a matte coating, wherein two rubber bumpers are mounted on the front to prevent the screen to interact with the keys. The rubber feet at the bottom are an essential feature, preventing the tablet from sliding off the keyboard while resting on a flat surface.

Magnetic MiStand
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(courtesy of Cult of Mac)

If you want to dedicate a certain part of the house as a “Virtual Learning Corner,” you can place your iPad on that space and snap it with the Magnetic MiStand. According to  Cult of Mac, the tablet stand employs a magnetic ball to hold the iPad in place. You can allow kids to go to the corner in groups of three or four as the stand rotates to any angle, thanks to the ball and socket joint held by magnets. As it uses a nano-suction mechanism, the MiStand becomes applicable to other devices such as the Kindle Fire and Wacom graphic tablets.

While you need to shell out some money to have these accessories, it can’t be denied the amount of assistance they offer in homeschool learning.

 

@WrittenbyJenni

10 Tablet-Friendly Educational Resources for Homeschooling

Photo courtesy of Honza Soukup via Flickr Creative Commons

Photo courtesy of Honza Soukup via Flickr Creative Commons

 

With the proliferation of technology, the traditional learning landscapes have been transformed into virtual experiences. Today, we’re experiencing the rise of the educational applications, web 2.0 tools, and cloud-based eLearning platforms. Even in the K-12 scene, there are various private vendors that are now offering the lower level MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), which used to be for higher education only. In fact, the total number of homeschooled students has reached over 1.5 million in 2013; thanks to the successful usage of iPad and other mobile devices.

Below, we’ll give you the 10 tablet-ready learning apps and educational online resources you can use while homeschooling your kids.

1. Conversation Builder Teen

Most homeschooled students have limited contact with their fellow students, as opposed to those who attends school regularly. With ConversatonBuilder. You can teach them how to engage and confidently converse with other people around. To make it more engaging, the app provides a virtual image and a speech balloon of the person whom they will practice speaking to. With its full audio and text support, tapping the speech balloon will let them hear the natural response to a situational conversation. Your kid can also participate in its preprogrammed, guided conversations that are designed to take place between two to three people. Discovery K-12 As mentioned above, there are private vendors that offer MOOC-type of classes to interested K-12 students; and one of which is Discovery K-12. It is an iPad platform that offers online curriculum in STEM for K-12. It contains over 16,000 lessons, classic literature eBooks, and a weekly spelling program. New assignments are sent daily for your kids to work on. Similar to the traditional school experience, they will be graded and evaluated for progress tracking.

3. Timeline

Featured as one of Verizon’s growing number of Thinkfinity resources, The Timeline App for Android and iOS helps you create a graphical representation of an event by displaying items (texts, images, and website links) sequentially along a line. Read Write Think said that the Timeline entries can be organized by date, time of the day, or an event. For story writing exercises, your kid can maximize the tool when creating plot sequences. It’s also very interactive. You can access it on other devices (using a common user account) to add text annotations when checking their work.

4. Theatre In The Homeschool

Who says that you can’t expose your kids to the performing arts? Theatre in the Homeschool is a web-based learning resource powered by Learnist. It is optimized to work for the mobile web and desktop browsers. Curated by Kimberly Charron of Homeschooling in Nova Scotia, its virtual books will help you mount a drama class in the comfort of your living room. One of its virtual curricula called “Bring Books To Life With Drama,” shows you how to teach them about improvising a role, basic playwriting, costuming and makeup, and puppetry. The instructions presented online require you to be a hands-on parent in this lesson.

5. Hands-On Equations 1 Lite

Elementary Algebra should also be a part of your home school tablet. Designed for kids aged 8 onwards, the application will help you mount a math class with lessons that are right for their age. Edudemic reiterated that it doesn’t even require the user to have a strong background in algebra to learn the concepts presented. Each lesson comes with an introductory three-to-four minute video followed by two examples, and ten exercises. The lite version only comes with three lessons. The succeeding modules are available through in-app purchases.

6. LanguageBuilder for iPad

Teaching your kids how to properly construct sentences is one of the major lessons that you should integrate into your homeschooling curriculum. LanguageBuilder for iPad is all about improving kids sentence ideation, improve their receptive and expressive language inputs, and improve their word formation. Each exercise is fill in the blanks, where they need to complete the thought of a sentence. It offers distinct images as hint. The app also allows students to record the sentences using their own vocals.

7. Free Geography Resources for Kids

This is another e-Learning resource powered by Learnist, which teaches your kids about basic World Geography. All its virtual textbooks are curated from websites such as National Geographic and Knowledge Quest Maps. In here they will learn about the different countries of the world, its inhabitants, ecology, and climate. It also comes with an impressive feature: a printable giant-sized blank map that you can use to administer tests and activities. You can ask them to color and highlight a particular spot on the map or identify geographical borders of a continent.

8. DK The Human Body App

Recommended by Apps For Homeschooling, the DK The Human Body App is an intuitive scientific tool that will enable you to teach your kids about the basics of anatomy. The digital render of the human body is presented in a child-friendly manner and with excellent 3D animations and vector graphics. All the facets of the Scientific Branch are covered by the app: muscular, skeletal, integrated body, endocrine, respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. All of them have separate chapters that contain detailed stories and close examinations of certain functions and structures.

9. The Common Core Standards App

This is a useful resource that collates all the teaching standards approved by the Department of Education. Most teachers in K-12 institutions are designing their lesson plans based on the Common Core Standards. We browsed the “Number and Operations-Fractions” standard for Grade 3. It states that each student at this level should only be limited to fractions with denominators 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. So, if your child belongs to the said grade levels, you can you use this as a guide. This allows the parent to see how your kid’s lessons are aligned to what is prescribed by the Department of Education.

 

10. This Day in History for iPad

We recommend the This Day in History, with its a rich and interactive multimedia calendar that displays significant historical event/s for a given date. The data presented on its calendar interface are a combination of illustrations, photos, and audio speeches. All of its data are synced over the internet. Another interesting feature of the app is the ability to learn other nation’s National Anthem. But, to access them, you need to search for the day they became a nation and manually scroll through the app.

 

These are just some of the curated educational iPad learning resources that you can use when homeschooling your child. For more suggestions, subscribe to our blog.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Birch is proud to be of help with the homeschooling of her niece. She believes that today’s technology makes homeschooling a more viable option for learning, especially with devices’ abilities to pick up information and files. For more insights, message her on Google +.