*This piece brought to you as part of the #VZEducation Campaign and is compensated. But the thoughts and opinions are mine.*

Apps. By this point we all know and believe that apps can be more than mindless time wasters. They can be informative and educational and broaden our minds. But it seems that most of the “learning” apps are either aimed at young learners or aimed at much older. There are also all the reference apps like the ones I shared with my 5 Apps to Start the School Year With post. But where are all the learning games and apps for older kids, say about junior high?

Well, with the Verizon Educational Tools helped me to find some great learning apps for my junior high students. I found this line call iTooch that has all kinds of apps for different grades and even the TOEFL test. We tried the free (or “lite”) versions of the 7th grade Math and Language Arts.

This are not game but more quiz like. They have practice and test modes. In the practice mode you get questions to answer and it is not timed. If you need help on a question then just go to the lesson and it will be queued up right to the information you need. Where as test is timed and counts your questions (and score).

I absolutely love the whole lesson aspect of these apps! It is my favorite part. I know, that sounds weird. But by having the lesson with every question I don’t have to help;). I set one of my kids down with my phone and told her to start playing. She quickly stopped  and said she couldn’t play any more because she didn’t know what the indirect voice was. I told her to read the lesson and she was back on her way. She knew what indirect voice was but didn’t know that was what it was called.  And the math app was set up the same way! 

With the “lite” version there are still lots to do. There are different subjects for kids to do but they can only do the first chapter. But the full app is pretty affordable. You can buy them by the small subject (like 7th grade math) or by the grade. The whole grade level app is $9.99 normally at Amazon. They also offer free chapters if you will rate the game on Google Play. 

I really liked this line of apps but to be completely honest, my daughter wished it was more game like. So if you are looking for a real game… this isn’t it. But if you are looking for a study tool and quiz, this is for you!

Thanks to the #VZEducation campaign for compensating me for this piece. But I chose the app and all thoughts are mine! 

I was recently asked (and compensated with a Critical Thinking Company product) to take a look at the Critical Thinking Company’s Alphabet Song Game.

Software and apps for toddlers and preschoolers is always a hard thing. You want to engage the children, yet make sure it isn’t to challenging for them to run. You also want them to learn something and not just turn off mentally. I find the Alphabet Song Game to be a great balance of language learning, entertainment, and fine motor skills development. I evaluated this software on my PC but it also comes as a free app on iOS, Android and Windows 8.

This really is built upon the Alphabet Song and is quite precious. At the beginning of every lesson they sing the Alphabet Song. Then the lesson takes the child through the Alphabet Song again by singing along to their action, and each lesson has a different call to action. It starts with choosing the capitol letters in the alphabet where they choose the next letter by clicking on it and there is a choice between 2 capitol letters. The lessons get harder by going from capital letters to lower case and then they increase the number to choose from. The advanced lessons even have them choose among letters going the right and wrong directions. 

I love this! It is cute and just really gets to the alphabet! Understanding letters is the first key to reading and really helps start them down the path of logic. And anything that requires consistent mouse movement and clicking helps work on those fine motor skills. 

I highly recommend the Alphabet Song Game for anyone who wants to have a fun learning activity for their non-reading child on their computer, phone or tablet.

Once again the Critical Thinking Company has come up with a fabulous product. If you want more of their products (like ones they are charging for;) they have given me a coupon to share with you all!!! Use code BLOGR814 by October 31, 2014 to get 15% off your entire order! 

(Remember that while the Critical Thinking Company may have compensated me to write about this software the thoughts and opinions are still mine!)

Devices, homework, education and apps. There is so much of all of them and so many choices to make! What is a person to do? Kids love technology and playing so that is a tool we want to use to its fullest with our kids. Verizon wants to help parents out when it comes to apps and education with the Verizon Educational Tools App. The Verizon Educational Tools is an app that helps parents find educational apps based that are best suited to your child’s needs and age. And I am stoked that they have asked me to write about it!
The Verizon Educational Tools app is set up to make it easy to find specific apps to work on specific subjects based on their grade level. After you choose a grade level you are given options between apps and videos. And in each of those categories you can choose between searching by category or common core. Under category you can pick apps by subject and sub-subject! Under Common Core you can choose by each section of the codes.
The apps that you find have all been reviewed and recommended a board of experts. So you can take faith that these aren’t just random apps found by a search engine. In addition to just giving an overview of the app, the panel breaks down and gives you a detailed look at every aspect of the apps. But some of the apps listed will be not be free and all costs for the apps and all that are completely separate from the Verizon Educational Tools App.
There are also a couple of other areas of the app that parents might find helpful. Common Core is a really big deal in schools now (not so much for my homeschool;). So to help parents with this there is a free Common Core for Dummies that comes with the app. But in addition to guide they have the actual Common Core standards by state. So there are no more questions when teachers shrug their shoulders about it, you can get it yourself!
There are also some great discounts and offers available. This is the only place that companies can buy placement in the app at all (and it doesn’t influence being listed anywhere else). There are deals on BrainPop, magazines and a bunch of other things.
Verizon Educational Tools seems to be a fabulous tool that makes finding subject and grade level appropriate apps extremely easy! This is an add on service so it is $2 a month per device. But if you have a More Everything plan you can get this free if you download and activate it by September 30, 2014. Then it will be free for the life of your More Everything plan! If you have multiple devices on the More Everything plan you must install and activate the Verizon Educational Tools App on each device. But remember, you must get this by September 30, 2014 for it to be free (or wait for another promotion).
So go grab Verizon Educational Tools and get this school year off to a great start!

(Disclosure: I am an Ambassador for Verizon Educational Tools and have been compensated for this post. But while Verizon picked the subject, all thoughts and opinions are mine alone!)