One of my goals for our homeschool for next year is to get another Kindle the boys can share. I think it's great that we can cut down on some of the book clutter and take our books on the go.
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| R11 has quite a collection to choose from- she's read an unbelievable number of classic books for her age. |
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| The Lord of the Rings is one of her favorites. Don't be fooled by the size of the font...that is a serious read! |
So, I have a poll of sorts and I'd love for you to answer some questions for me in the comments.So, tell me....
- How do you use an eReader in your homeschool?
- How many do you have for the number of kids you have?
- Are you successful sharing it around or is it best to have their own?
- How old are your kids when they first start using the eReader?
- Can you share resources around within the same family?
- What are your favorite books for schooling using an eReader?
10 comments:
I have a Kindle, not for homeschooling but because I can't have a lot of books around since I move so much. They are amazing! And you're absolutely right, they make classics much more accessible, especially since they're almost all free.
I have a kindle for myself because it makes reading (specifically page turning) so much easier while I'm nursing my baby and reading to my preschooler. We don't use it for homeschooling per se, by my now four year old has been able to find her curious George book on the kindle since I bought it when she was two. My plan is to purchase them one each when they are around 8-10.
We have two Kindle Fires; one is mine and one for McKenna. We love them! How do we use them? Well, we read. :) I will admit to Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies as well, but those are mostly for the boys. (We share our Kindles with them. Sometimes. ;) ) McKenna also watches Netflix on hers when she isn't feeling well.
I LOVE the touch screen and the ability to look up words and make notes. I am going public domain classic crazy on mine and have a boatload queued up. I am currently reading Ben Franklin's autobiography. He's a hoot!
My 16yo does not have an e-reader, but she downloaded the Kindle ap on her laptop and was reading Utopia by Thomas More and Marco Polo's journal. Just because she could. She saw that Australia has a shorter time period before things hit the public domain so she went onto Guttenburg AU and wants to read 1984 by Orwell. Not sure if that's o.k. or not so we need to read the fine print on that.
I at first had a hard time because I really love real, live books. I have since gone over to the other side and love it! I do still have a hard time actually *buying* e-books. I have a few, but it just feels...strange.
We have one Kindle Fire that Mr. B and I share. We just started using it this year for his literature and he would much rather read a real book. It really depends on the price of the book and whether I want it for our home library. I indulge for books we want to have in hardcopy but otherwise it is getting easier for me to purchase the ebook version for Mr. B.
We don't have any trouble sharing it.
How do you use an eReader in your homeschool?
My older 2 girls have quite a few classics and books to read for history and science on their kindle. They each also have their own Kindle app on their computers. I don't remember what we did before the Kindle, but I think it involved many long hours at the public library and filling out stacks of ILL request forms.
How many do you have for the number of kids you have?
I have a Kindle, and my 2 oldest have a kindle, but we have 6 kindle apps downloaded for our use.
Are you successful sharing it around or is it best to have their own?
We are having a LOT of trouble remembering to share. We don't have many gadgets in our house, so our Kindles are a HUGE favorite among the kids. In fact, the only one who doesn't Kindle - is the Daddy in the family.
How old are your kids when they first start using the eReader?
My cousin bought us our first Kindle a year ago. Until then, we only had 1 Kindle app, and we rarely used it.
Can you share resources around within the same family?
Yes we can! and we do often! I even have figured out how to add PDF files to our Kindle Libraries, which make them much more accessible as well.
What are your favorite books for schooling using an eReader?
I'm actually building a whole blog around that ... http://eaglenestmom.blogspot.com/
I'm posting free resources that I find for young readers and school subjects every day .... but my MAIN goal is to go through my recommended reading lists for History and Science, and post every resource available from Amazon, Gutenburg, and Librivox.
We're using a kindle app on our iPad. My oldest is 8 (she has three younger brothers). So far we almost only use it for me reading aloud to the kids, but I think as the kids get older we will get them Kindles or some other type of ereader. My oldest doesn't mind reading in the iPad, but her brothers don't always "get" that she is reading a book and demand quickly to have their own turn on the iPad for educational apps or games. And I can't use it to read blogs while nursing the baby if she has it to read. ;-)
I get books amazon, Gutenberg and booksshouldbefree.org, as well as checking out ebooks from our public library!
Thanks for all your comments and ideas. By the end of summer I hope to have another Kindle in the house. Not sure how I feel about the Kindle Fire just because the games can be a distraction to my boys! I'll give some thought to that.
No Kindle here! Just not ready to give up paper books. I love going to the book store and bringing home books. I love ordering bunches of books for our school year and seeing them on our book shelves. Kindles and Nooks depress me!!
When we get too many books I donate them to our local library used bookstore or to our local mission. So, it's a win/win!!
I was the first to get a kindle with the keypad. I thought I would not like b/c I'm such a book lover but I am so attached to my kindle. It's great to be able to get all the classics for free and take my entire library with me to the dance lessons,boy scout meetings. Then I started lending it to whatever child wasn't in class but just waiting around so they could read the classics. For Christmas my wonderful mom bought each of the kids who are still home a kindle for themselves. The have those pared down versions and love them. No games, just books, books, books.
So far, we only have 2 in the family. I have a Nook (and it's basically just for me) and ds11 has a Kindle Touch. He adores it and takes it everywhere! He has read more classics than any other year now that he can get them on the Kindle and look up words instantly when he finds one he doesn't know. Dd9 will be getting one for her next bday, and my younger two (6 and 5) will probably wait a bit.
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