The Homeschool Helper App

I recently stumbled upon an iPad app that is going to change the way I organize our homeschool, and I thought other homeschooling mamas might be interested in reading about it too.  I have been using a paper system for planning that works, but I don't love it and had already been thinking about how to change it for next year.  For planning, I'm more of a write-it-down mom instead of digital ... but when I saw this app, it sounded so perfect and was only $4.99, so I wanted to give it a try.  I suppose that is expensive for an app, but for all that it does, I promise it's a steal!

It's called the Homeschool Helper, and it does everything!  Literally.  You can add all of your children separately and pre-plan the year by entering in lessons for each school subject, checking them off as you complete each one.  You organize the subjects however you prefer - it's very intuitive but also allows enough freedom to organize the way that works best for you.  You can keep track of attendance AND grades, it's wonderful.  I love that it automatically tracks grades for me because ... although I have to teach math, I don't like it much :-)  You can also keep track of the time used for schooling if needed.

You can create task lists, keep track of upcoming field trips, and also run several different types of reports (including report cards).  You can run a list of lessons to be completed for the day, which I really like because I can check them off as completed while we go about our day.  There's nothing like checking through a to-do list, right?  This list could also be emailed and then printed - I haven't done that yet but I am tossing around that idea to use for Angel so she can work independently.

I absolutely love this app.  It created more work for me temporarily because I went back through the school year and entered in all the lessons and grades, but I am all caught up now :-)  Homeschool Helper is awesome ... it was developed by a fellow homeschooler and is going to make my life so much easier!  Yay for easy!  If you are a homeschooling mama and looking for a fantastic way to organize your planning and grading, go check this out on Facebook!