Pea of Sweetness

Have Fun and Stay Mentally Sharp with The Secret Society App

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As a busy mom I need to have occasional downtime. What I have found, though, is that in that downtime I want to do something I enjoy, but it has to be something that keeps my mind sharp, too. If I do something mindless, I’m more likely to fall into a slump and not bounce back! Did I mention I’m busy? I don’t have time for that!
That is why I love The Secret Society – Hidden Mystery. It is definitely my most used “game” app on my phone. It is the top free-to-play hidden object adventure from G5 Entertainment. It is free and available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, and Amazon. In-app purchases are available.
Secret Society App
What I love most about The Secret Society app is that it includes a story line wound into a variety of activities that keep my mind sharp. The majority of the activities are the hidden object puzzles. We investigate “magic pictures” to find objects. There are different levels, different ways to view the pictures (such as night mode, pairs mode, pieces mode, morphs mode, etc.), so the pictures never get dull no matter how many times you investigate the same pictures. You interact with various characters in the story line to complete quests and continue the search for your missing uncle. It’s really a compelling story line!

In addition to the hidden object puzzles there is a block puzzle, pipes puzzle, memory match, and gem puzzle. All of these activities make me think and keep me sharp! Plus, I enjoy them! If I need a quick break between blog posts, homeschool lessons, laundry, etc., I can do one or two puzzles, or if I’m winding down for the night, I can do puzzles until I run out of energy! It’s a popular game among women because it’s a great “time out” from our busy days, though I have a few male friends as well!
Secret Society App
That’s another great feature – you can connect with friends! Each friend has one of a few professions. You can help each other by sending gifts and visiting one another plus you can hire your friends and receive a benefit according to your friend’s profession – extra money, experience, chance of finding an item, etc. It’s nice to play with friends!
I have been playing Secret Society for a couple of months now, and I’m totally hooked. If you’re looking for a game you can enjoy that offers excitement, variety, and mental sharpness, I definitely recommend it! Plus, it’s free! Download it now from iTunes App Store, Google Play, or Amazon, and be sure to add me as a friend! (My code is 2AM2MU) 😉
 

Educational Apps from the Creators of Reading Eggs

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We are always on the lookout for great educational apps. They are perfect when we are on the go and for use when one child is using the computer and I need an independent activity for one of the other children as well. They’re perfect for using in our homeschool, in a waiting room, in the car, etc. The possibilities are endless!
Reading Eggs
Disclosure: I received downloads of the apps to facilitate my educational apps review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
The creators from one of our favorite educational resources, Reading Eggs, offers a number of educational apps for learning on-the-go! Their apps are now available for a range of devices including the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. Whether you have young children working on reading skills or even math skills, there are a variety of educational apps available so you can choose the app (or apps) that are perfect for them! The apps range from Preschool (ages 3+) to ages 6-12.
For our review, we received Eggy Alphabet and Eggy Numbers to 100.

Eggy Alphabet

Eggy Alphabet is an alphabet games app recommended for ages 3+. All three of our children (ages 4, 6, and 8) have been using it. I was able to create a separate account for each of them, which is nice because it saves their information, and they don’t get upset if their siblings do better or worse than them.

There are a variety of activities within Eggy Alphabet. 208 activities plus the Letter Game! The kids learn to identify letters and phonemic sounds. There are different levels available so our preschooler can start at the very beginning, but our 6 and 8 year old (who both have reading delays due to their special needs) can start at a higher level and still benefit from the Eggy Alphabet App.
eggy alphabet educational apps
All three kids really like Eggy Alphabet App. The only activity that I have heard any complaints on is writing the letters because they all have fine motor challenges, so it is challenging for them. Yet they still ask to use this app, which tells me they really enjoy it! I can see how they are enjoying it! I know they are learning more when they are enjoying what they’re doing! Plus, it definitely has come in handy for on the go as well!
I love that Eggy Alphabet not only saves progress, but rewards the children to keep them motivated and has a way for me to see the stats as well! I can see the total time they’ve spent working on the app, how many eggs they’ve earned, how many activities they have completed, etc.

Eggy Numbers to 100

Eggy Numbers to 100 is a math skills app recommended for ages 5-8. Our 6 and 8 year old have been using it. Unlike the Eggy Alphabet App, though, they cannot have separate accounts in this app. For the settings, you can only add one name and then pick the voice accent. From what I can tell, though, it doesn’t have saved progress, though, so it doesn’t really need to have separate accounts.

Our daughter has really taken to this app, but our oldest son doesn’t have as much interest in it. He is very motivated by rewards, so I think the fact that it doesn’t track progress is a big factor in why it doesn’t appeal to him as much. The activities within the app, though, are exciting and fun, which is why our daughter enjoys it so much. Within this app children learn counting, estimation, addition, subtraction and multiples.
Eggy Numbers App
We definitely don’t use this app as much as Eggy Alphabet – especially since our preschooler can’t use it as well. He really doesn’t like to be left out! But again, it has come in handy on-the-go! It offers additional activities to give the kids extra math practice in a way they enjoy!
Overall, we’re excited about the educational apps offered by Reading Eggs. We are excited to check out more of them! The kids really love Eggy Alphabet, and we hope to check out more of the apps that are similar to it! These apps are perfect for motivating kids to practice their reading or math and offer parents a solution for keeping kids busy in times when they may be out and about, sitting in a waiting room, etc.

For More Information:

Visit the Reading Eggs App Page
Follow Reading Eggs on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and their blog
 

A Great Reading App for Young Children

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Disclosure: I received a free app download to facilitate my Reading App review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
Do you have young kids learning to read or have a classroom of young kids learning to read? Whether you’re a homeschooler, teacher or a parent looking to encourage reading, Rhyme to Read is a valuable app!
Rhyme to Read is a beginning reading program made up of 20 books. It can be used for beginning readers or readers that may need additional help. The only recommended prerequisite is a knowledge of letters and consonant letter sound connections. Our older two children (ages 6 and 8) are both delayed readers due to their special needs, so I was definitely looking forward to trying out the Rhyme to Read app.
Rhyme to Read - Reading App Review
The Rhyme to Read app was created by two educators. Lynn Klaiman is a learning specialist and Sara Hines has a PHd in Special Education. This alone intrigued me since we have three special needs kids. I felt like I was going to get an opportunity to introduce our kids to something special from those that understand special needs. I was definitely right!
Our whole family has been enjoying Rhyme to Read. My original intent was to work it into part of our homeschool day and have each child use it individually so they wouldn’t have distractions and could easily focus on what they are reading. What ended up happening, though, is our preschooler wanted to get involved, too, so it has now become part of our nighttime story time! We’ll all gather around, and our oldest son and daughter will each read one of the books (or a few!). Even our preschooler (age 4) has started recognizing some of the words!
What really stands out about Rhyme to Read is it truly is structured in a way to help kids build upon what they have learned. In addition to being progressive, each book highlights a short vowel sound (4 books per short vowel sound) and word families (like bat, cat, rat). Plus each word family is color coded so they recognize the word families. Our kids are very visual, so the color coding really stood out in their minds. They could clearly see how the word families relate and had a much easier time reading those words because of this feature. It also repeats and re emphasizes the word family to really help it “stick.”
Rhyme to Read Reading App Review
Color coding the word families also helps them to recognize the differences – that words begin with different sounds. This really helps stress the phonemic sounds, which has been key to our children’s learning. Phonemic awareness is really what has helped our children start to overcome their barriers, and Rhyme to Read definitely provided them with it. They are happy and confident when reading the books on Rhyme to Read versus being frustrated, which is often the case.
In addition to phonological awareness, Rhyme to Read does also introduce sight words. Sight words are in black font to help them recognize them. I always get nervous when sight words pop up because that is one of the things our kids have struggled with most. The way it eases into them, though, and then offers a page at the back to review them really helped them to recognize the sight words, which is a huge step in their reading! There are thirty-five common sight words total that are previewed the first five times they appear.
All three kids really enjoy the characters and pretty much know them by name now. Since their names are often part of the word families this has once again helped them to recognize the word family. I truly love that they do enjoy it as well! Plus I love that it has really been a great way to wind down together enjoying reading for once. Even if we’ve had a stressful homeschool day, this is reading time we all enjoy together.
Rhyme to Read is available on the App Store in 2 versions. The 1st Version is free and includes Book #1. You can then opt to make in app purchases of the additional books at $.99 each. The 2nd Version includes all 20 books for just $9.99 – a great value! We have been using it on our 2nd generation iPad with the current iOS, though it can be used on Apple devices with iOS 6 and higher.

For More Information:

Visit the Rhyme to Read Website
Connect with Rhyme to Read on Facebook

*Giveaway Coming Soon!*

Stay tuned! I’ll be sharing a giveaway of the full Rhyme to Read app soon! 3 will win! It will be open worldwide ages 18+. Check back soon to enter to win!

iTooch Educational app Review

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Disclosure: I received a free download of an iTooch app to facilitate my educational app review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
iTooch Educational App Review
I had a chance to review iTooch apps last year when it only started at the 3rd Grade level and am really excited that the new apps have launched! They now have 1st Grade through 8th Grade Apps with new functions!
Here are the functions that are available in the new version:
– A brand new interface: Global user experience has been completely redesigned in order to be clearer, more colorful and simpler to use.
– Multiple players: This feature is designed to handle multiple players such as students in the same classroom, siblings or friends. Users can now create, on the same device, as many accounts as they wish and will also be able to save their scores!
– Speech synthesis: The most asked for feature is now available on the new version of iTooch apps! This feature will be very helpful to our youngest users who are learning to read as well as to students with special needs.
– Font Size adjustment: Thanks to this new feature, users will now be able to adjust font size to their preference.
iTooch ipad exercise
For our review we received the 2nd Grade app. Both of our oldest children (ages 8 and 6) are at the 2nd grade level, so I know we will get a lot of use out of it. The 2nd Grade app includes both Math and Language Arts.
Each subject is broken down into specific categories. The Math, for example, is broken down into Solving Problems: + and -, Operations, Numbers & Operations, Measurement & Data, and Geometry. Each category is broken down into multiple Sub-Categories. I was impressed with how many problems are in this one app!
I was able to save both children as a “Player,” and when they are on it they can get on their own account and it saves their scores. When we got started, it walked us through a tutorial so they both would understand how to use the app. Because they aren’t at a high reading level due to their special needs, I walked through the tutorial with them and read it to them.
iTooch Educational App Review
In the Settings I was able to turn Speech Synthesis on so it would read the problems for them from that point on. This is definitely a helpful feature for us because of their delays. Many subjects at the 2nd Grade level no longer offer this. It can be hard when your children are at a higher grade level for a subject like Math but still struggle with reading. I don’t want to hold them back in Math because of this, so I think it is fantastic that they offer this!
Using the Speech Synthesis feature is simple! There is a little speaker next to the text, and if they need the text to be read, they just click on the speaker. This option is available for both the problem and the potential answers if they are multiple choice.
If they struggle with a problem they can simply swipe to the left and read over the Lesson Summary. This does not have the option of Speech Synthesis, but if they are struggling, I want to go over the Lesson with them anyway. It’s a great teaching opportunity!
In the Settings we can also control Sound volume, Effects and Text Size as well as choose a Standard or Advanced Calculator and Notation. I love that it has so many features. While working on a set of problems there is the option to turning testing on or leave it off. If you just want them to Practice, you simply leave testing off. We have only been practicing this far until I know they are ready to test.
iTooch ipad lesson
Lately our kids haven’t been “in the mood” to do our homeschool work. Those times can be really challenging. I found they enjoy the iTooch app so they actually WANT to do it. This has really helped improve their mood and offered them something that is both educational and fun! Plus we can use it on both the iPhone and iPad which means no fighting over one or the other! The only downfall is their points aren’t saved across devices, so they may have a certain amount of points on the iPhone and a completely different amount on the iPad. Personally, I don’t find this to be too big of a deal because they can always use the extra practice.
Overall, I’m so glad we have the iTooch 2nd Grade App! I love the changes they’ve made, and I love that the kids enjoy it as well!
iTooch apps are available in four stores; App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon App Shop and Windows 8.

For More Information:

Visit the EduPad Website
Connect with EduPad on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

*Giveaway!!!*

Would you like to try the new iTooch Apps for iOS? 24 winners will each receive a free download – 3 winners for each grade level. This giveaway runs through 5/20/14 and is open worldwide ages 18+. Enter the giveaway now!