it's a toolbox. Before my first PDA, my purse was a grown up pencil case with a wallet and pens. Recently my purse has been growing. First I added a nook which put almost every book I want to read at my constant beck and call. Then my husband gave me an iPad and all the rest of the world is at my feet. All those terrific apps have taken my compulsive planning to a new level by making it--easy.
The most important app is the most basic and it came with the machine,
the Calendar Function. It isn't pretty, but it more than does the job. All my appointments and projects are there whenever I add something new. They come in a few different configurations and I've found them all useful. The information is presented as completely as possible without unnecessary bulk This app plays well with others most importantly with my lesson planning app.
Wikly--alas poor wikly I loved it well. It's color-coding feature is beautiful and practical, but it doesn't work well with other programs. I was hoping to work that one to my advantage by using it for a specific and limited purpose, but the way that Calendar shares some info clutters the screen with unintended items. It's plan to make planning beautiful has left it hampered with too narrow a display. If I could link this app exclusively to my lesson planning app I'd be so happy. It would declutter Calendar and make my school plans beautiful.
iPlan Lessons--if you homeschool, if you teach at all, this is a wonderful thing. All three years I taught professionally I wrote 3 weeks worth of lesson plans, . I always figured I knew what they needed to know. I knew what they didn't, and I knew what resources I had to close the gap. What more do you need? Not so with homeschooling where you are teaching multiple grades and resources can be swallowed up in the general school clutter. Not with iPlan, I've been planning for every day, some subjects a few weeks in advance. Suddenly writing out detailed lesson plans is just a few clicks, gathering information for an easy to execute plan that incorporates all the kids and all the resources, simply. You can organize lessons by date, resource and class. If you teach you will appreciate this and as it is still in development it's only going to get better.
Pepper Plate--this is a dedicated app that amazes me every time I pick it up. I felt the need to get our family menus more organized so I sketched out a crap weekly plan because every work of art needs a beginning. Pepper Plate put it on a calendar and I was thrilled. Then I had some time to enter the fancy Sunday dinner and the ingredient list was just a click away from a shopping list. Adding in other recipes--even "frozen pizza" and adding that recipe to the shopping list means I'm ready to shop whenever or wherever the opportunity presents itself. I can take items off the list by clicking, so a quick spin around the kitchen means I won't be buying a third jug of BBQ sauce. The library of recipes I'm amassing lets me see a day when meal planning for a week is 7 clicks away.
Chore Pad--I have mentioned this before, but it's changed our lives. The kid's responsibilities are all set up on lists and they are rewarded with stars. We assigned a monetary value to stars and a family economy has been born. Stars can be redeemed for rewards or lost for bad behavior. Inspection is simple and instant. We love this.
