The back-to-school season is loaded with to-dos and, for many of us, stress. There’s the stress of finding school supplies, the stress of summer slowly fading away, and for some parents, the stress of their students heading off to college for the first time.
Thankfully, there are a number of back-to-school apps designed to make your life easier, both as a parent and as a student. As we approach the start of the school year this month and next, here are a few of our recommendations for back-to-school apps to try out:
- ShopSavvy: ShopSavvy is a barcode and QR code scanner that does a lot of things, most notably help you quickly access product reviews and best prices on items at local and online stores. For parents who fully embrace the back-to-school shopping frenzy, ShopSavvy is a great way to find good deals around you.
- Evernote: No back-to-school app list would be complete without Evernote. While it’s not a school-specific app per se, Evernote is a great way to keep track of notes on a variety of subjects. Even if you don’t take your notes directly onto an iPad or similar smart device, you can easily upload photos of materials for access later on. Its one of our favorites!
- EasyBib: For any students who write papers with citations, EasyBib is a great resource to easily create format-specific citations. Of course, we still advocate learning to do citations the old-fashioned way, but sometimes it’s helpful to have a tool to make sure you get things right.
- myHomework: myHomework is just as useful for high school and college students to plan out their homework assignments, tests, and quizzes as it is for parents of elementary and middle schoolers to help them keep track of what’s going on in the classroom. This app is basically a calendar on steroids–you can plug in your class schedules and assignments with ease, and keep track of everything all in one place.
- Quizlet: Parents can (thankfully) say goodbye to stacks and stacks of old-school flashcards. For high school and college students alike, Quizlet is an invaluable tool for memorization and studying. Not only can you create your own digital flashcards, you can also browse pre-made study sets for subjects like languages and the sciences.
We’ll also give an honorable mention to your school or college’s app, if they have one. More and more school districts and universities are building their own apps to share information, alerts, maps, and more. Especially for the college-bound student, these apps are worth a download just to have them on-hand.
Whether you’re a parent or a student, we know there’s sure to be a lot on your mind as you approach the coming school year. We hope these apps make your life easier!
