iPad, my love.

I bought myself an iPad finally. I broke down and bought it. I've wanted once since they first came out but...well frankly I'm cheap. I wasn't excited about spending SO MUCH MONEY on one piece of electronic equipment. But upon further research, I realized it could easily be used as an integral part of my business. Whoa baby. That was an understatement. Now that I've been using it for a couple weeks, I'm kinda mad I didn't buy it sooner. ;) Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite apps with you!

For teachers...iTeach. HELLO GENIUS. AND FREE!! This app allows you to organize class lists, keep track of grades/attendance, make seating charts (for me, I use this feature to draw out formations!), you can make a profile for each student with a picture, parent info, contact info, allergies...anything else you can think of, really. It's genius. I've spent a good part of my weekend entering my students in to the app. The only thing I wish it did was offer a previously entered student as an option once you started typing a new class list. Like when I start typing L..e...x...i I wish it would bring up a list of ALL my Lexi's so I could just select one. But I realize this is a free app and not for dance teachers who put kids in 5 or 6 classes, so no biggie. Can't complain over something that's free!

For girls...Fancy Nancy Dress Up. (.99 cents) Dora's Skywriting Adventure (1.99) Fancy Nancy is just fun for Rory, no real learning done with this app. She loves it though and it's pretty cute! 99 cents? I can do that. :) Dora, on the other hand, is totally 100% educational. It takes Rory through exercises learning to identify, write and sound out letters. So far, she can successfully write an A, a B and a C. She LOVES to play this "game" and I love to let her.

For little guys and girls...Fisher Price has 4 FREE apps. One for colors, shapes, letters and body parts. They are adorable, play sweet background music and are just active enough for Trace. Not too many flashing colors but super easy for him to play. Any time he touches the screen, something cute happens.

We love the iPad in this house. It was a great investment for my business and for my kids. (And yeah, Dave and I have got some apps on there too. :)) All told, I've spent less than $7 on apps and it's entertained everyone for hours. If you are on the fence about investing in one, I say do it. We've already gotten our money's worth, I'd say! :)