Our Back-to-School Apps (for kids and me)

The following is a sponsored post.
While I was compensated for it, the thoughts and opinions expressed in this post
are my own and in no way were influenced by the company

My kids spend way too much time on my iPhone and iPad. How in the world can they get more use out of it than I can. However, most of their activities are pure entertainment and since this is a back-to-school season, I wanted to share my favorite smart phone/tablet apps with you.

Reading

Rosetta Stone Kids Reading

Great for kids 3+, this program is animated and is best for beginners. By doing various reading games your kids will be unlocking additional fun activities. My first grader, who couldn’t read at all, have made a significant progress with this app. $70/year

Raz Kids

This system work for a variety of reading levels, but I especially found it useful with my daughter, who is way ahead of her class when it comes to reading. This program lets you pick different levels. Along with a book, this program comes with a quiz that check the level of comprehension of the story. Price $100/ year

Math

IXL

This is my new favorite tool to help kids with math. From Pre-K math to Precalculus skills, we are finishing our first year with this program. It has a great mobile format and computer interface and comes with a great reward system both of my kids love. $79/year (sibling discounts). 

Shopping

With so many shopping options, it seems like you can find deals everywhere. However, for me this merchant stands up in the crowd:

Zulily

Using the zulily app is like opening a handheld treasure chest every day. You never know what you’ll uncover but you know you’re bound to find something great.

The mobile interface lets me shop whenever I can and i know I will save money and will discover amazing items for me and the kids. This fall, once again, I am relying on solely to help me with Back-to-School shopping

To help prepare your kids to head back into the classroom,  kids fashion expert Shawn Anderson has created a list of her top tips for Back-to-School shopping. 

After first installing the mobile app, users are displayed a brief, informative tutorial on how to use the new application.

A clear, easily accessible layout displays a customer’s personalized list of “New Today” events directly through the application.

Zulily has built upon its proprietary personalization technology to create a completely individualized homepage view, from top to bottom. The app learns customer’s preferences and then features the most relevant sales events and information front and center for quick, meaningful shopping.

while browsing zulily’s events, customers have the ability to select favorites and “bookmark” for easy access.  A “bookmark” ribbon will be displayed on the watch application and instantly synced with the “New Today” tab on the existing iPhone application. This feature allows shoppers to easily customize events to shop at a later time on the iPhone app.

Organization and File Management

Looking to get organized for school? These are my favorite apps that let me stay on top everything (including my kids homework)

Google Drive

Has the basic functions of the Office, but it is in the cloud, so it can be accessed from anywhere

Google Calendar

Just like Google Drive, you can create multiple calendars on the computer and keep track of your and your kids activities on a smartphone, tablet or another computer

Evernote

It is like having a virtual assistant. Besides notes, you can also save your reciepts using this dandy app

Dropbox

My all time favorite, it works best for files that can’t be easily emailed and it would synch with any device (phone, tablet, computer) you have around.