With my oldest entering kindergarten next year, I’m slowly becoming integrated into the public school system. One hot topic I’m hearing about seems to be the length of the summertime break.
In Canada, the school year begins in September and ends in June. For school kids this means two months of fun-in-the-sun activities, family vacations, summer camps and an eight week break from learning.
The summer break is based on agrarian societies and the last time I checked, my sons aren’t planning to plow any fields, although my youngest does have a love affair with moo-cows. (I should mention that I appreciate what farmers and their families do. Farming plays an important role in our society. I believe, however, that our school system needs to better reflect the current economy. Alright, I will step off the soapbox and get back to tablet technology…)
This is why I love tablet technology. If you have a seasonal gap in school, a tablet is a great tool to continue the learning process in a fun and interactive way.
Here are a few educational apps which cover off the basics of writing, reading and arithmetic, or as I fondly remember them being called, the 3 R’s:
Writing
1. Write My Name by Injini (iPad only)
2. iWriteWords by gdiplus (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad)
Reading
1. Booksy by Tipitap (iPad only)
2. Reading Rainbow by RRKidz (iPad only)
Arithmetic (My oldest is really into math – hence the number of apps mentioned below.)
1. Bugsy Kindergarten Math by Peapod Labs (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad)
2. TallyTots by Spinlight Studio (iPad only)
3. Math Doodles by Carstens Studio (iPad only) – For me, this app makes me think about math differently. I’m struggling to master it, which I love because I’m realizing how lazy my brain is when it comes to simple math. My son likes it, too!
4. Toca Store by Toca Boca (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad)
I know the above is heavily focused on the iOS platform so for those Android users your best bet is CommonSenseMedia. This link will take you to a list of android apps which you’ll be able to scroll through quickly.
And of course, for all of these apps, do your due diligence to make sure they are right for your children. You know your children best and what they will like or gravitate towards. Tablet technology is only a tool and without guidance or attention, your child won’t be able to get the most out of it.
Now let’s connect – what apps do you use to reduce the summertime learning gap? Tweet me @weebootMom or email me at weeboot@gmail.com.
