Staples is making our Back to School Smoother with Technology

When we’re getting ready for back to school, its easy to focus on the obvious – school supplies, new shoes, and backpacks. But this year, we also prepped my son with amazing learning apps on his new Kindle Fire HD.  Now when he comes home from school (exhausted and ready for some quiet time) he takes 20 minutes to play games (and usually cuddle with his best buddy).  Little does he realize he’s getting some extra learning time in!

Kindle Fire for Back to School

 

Colin was diagnosed in the spring with a learning disability, so we have been learning a lot about how to support his learning at home. And we’re so very lucky – with the explosion of apps, kids can practice skills and reinforce what they are learning at school at home with the help of technology. Colin really struggles with recognizing his numbers and letters. So when we were getting ready for back to school, we upped Colin’s app time, so he could get extra review time in for his numbers and letters.

Staples BTS

Now, we’re extra lucky — my sister is a special ed teacher and she has recommended some amazing learning apps for Colin! Here are our favorites:

1. Endless Alphabet ($4.99) Colin’s absolute FAVORITE!
2. Math Vs Zombies ($4.99 – also a free version)
3. Reading Eggs ($.99)
4. Ninja Math (free)
5. Raz-Kids (free)

If you are looking for an e-reader and a tablet for your child, the Kindle Fire is one of your  best options out there in terms of bang for your buck. One of my favorite features is Kindle FreeTime. This only works with the Kindle Fire. For a $2.99 a month subscription fee if you have Amazon Prime,  you can get hand-picked books and apps delivered to your child that are age-specific and screened as appropriate for your child. It’s slightly higher if you don’t have a Prime membership ($4.99). What I love most is that you can set profiles up for multiple kids (for a slightly higher pricepoint) and you can limits on screentime so that your kids don’t go over when you get distracted.   With Kindle FreeTime, parents can set daily limits, or restrict certain categories – like games and video – while leaving unlimited time for reading. In Kindle FreeTime mode, web browsing and purchasing content are also disabled.Learn First and Bed Time features extend FreeTime’s existing Daily Time Limit controls. Parents can block access to games and cartoons until after educational goals are met and set when FreeTime may be used.

The Kindle Fire HD   has been a key feature in Colin’s educational plan.  If you’re in a similar place, I bet you would love it in your house as well! Staples carries lots of Kindle options, as well as tons of Kindle accessories, so check it out!

 

Disclaimer: I received a sample Kindle Fire from Staples to facilitate this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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About Melissa

Written by Melissa Angert, editor of this fashion blog and author of Girlymama. You can also find her on Twitter as Melissa Angert. She is a mom of 3 living in Providence.