Schoolhouse (Basic App is Free; $1 in app purchases for subjects)
Version 2.1
Review – A great way to help your kids brush up on their educational skills!
Looking for an iPhone / iPod Touch app to help your child work on their educational requirements? If so you may be interested in Schoolhouse.
Schoolhouse, developed by BizzyTime Inc. is a child – specific application that includes Math, Spelling, Time, US Currency and Word pronunciation practice. The basic app comes with a limited usability of each although you can purchase upgrades to add more features to the subjects that you are more interested in.
According to the developer’s information, this app is geared towards children from Kindergarten through the 5th grade.
The free app allows your child to play in the practice mode although you can purchase Custom, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. Unfortunately Practice mode will only let you guess the right answer .. so if by chance you don’t know the answer you just have to keep guessing until you get it right, or just back out and start over.
Let’s take a look at the different subjects ..
Math
The math section offers up a series of math problems on the screen and your child has to decide what the correct answer is. The free app contains addition only, however you can purchase subtraction, division, multiplication, and negative answers.
Spelling
In the spelling section you are given a word and then you have to spell it correctly. The free app is limited to practice mode only as well. My frustration with this section is that it’s apparently case sensitive so if you don’t have it cased exactly as the app does it won’t except your answer. You get a sound and vibration instead, and if you are not paying attention you have no idea why it’s doing that.
Time
This section shows a clock at the top and based on the time showing on it you have to determine the numerical equivalent. The free app is limited to only even hour increments although I hope that it gets more complicated with the in app purchases.
Money
This section shows money on the screen and your child needs to decide what it’s seeing. Since I’m only playing with the free version of this app I cannot comment on how complicated this section gets. On the free version it shows one coin on the screen and you decide whether it’s a nickel, penny, quarter, or dime. Needless to say after a few tries the coin starts repeating.
Word Pronunciation
In this section the app shows a word on the screen and your child is to say the word outloud. This gives them a good means to practice both reading and speaking words.
Overall this app appears to have potential to be a very beneficial educational tool, however to do so it will require many in app purchases. While it gives you a good preview of the app, almost all of the functions are locked down without spending money.
Some of the features that can be purchased are:
- different difficulty levels for each subject
- correct answers only
- allowing hints
- time limts
- randomizing
- repeating problems
In addition the app includes the ability to set up a profile for each user, track your progress, your best times, and give your child an opportunity to make or break their goals.
This app seems to be a very good educational tool to get your kids on top of their education. It covers many different subjects, is a very clean and well laid out app, and is progressive so that it can be used for different years and grade levels. I suggest grabbing the basic app and letting your child give it a good test run. You may find that this app is exactly what you were looking for!!
- Christina G
© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.
This educational app does cover a lot of territory that is helpful to kids. Fun color scheme and images, learning prompts and rewards make it worth it for parents to use as both an entertaining and educational tool.