Lighten Your Backpack with Must-Have Apps

As you get ready to buy No. 2 pencils, erasers and crayons in anticipation for going back to school, download a few apps for your smartphone. Not only will apps help lighten the load of your backpack, they will also help avoid the possibility of breaking or losing your school supplies.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Thesaurus and Science Glossary apps will negate the need to carry heavy reference books by keeping information easily accessible via your smartphone or tablet. As calculators continue to be common fare for students, there are plenty of apps for younger students, while those in middle school and higher grades can try the RealCalc Scientific Calculator for more advanced equations.

Flashcards+ allows you to stay green while studying. Instead of buying flash cards in bulk for studying, get the app instead,” said author and parent advocate Sue Scheff. She adds, “MyHomework allows students to keep track of their classes and assignments and helps with organization.”

Apps like Notability and Evernote have changed note-taking forever. Notability allows for annotation and enables kids to retrieve documents remotely and easily submit work via DropBox or Google docs. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists and record voice reminders. With Evernote, notes are also completely searchable and can easily be saved, shared and synced.

“I’m teaching my 10-year daughter to use Evernote for the joys of note-taking and lists,” said Molly Thornberg of DigitalMomBlog.

Once you start to investigate the most appropriate apps for your child, you will find everything from Cliffs Notes to Mathway and everything in between. Be sure to check out the app stores before stocking up, because chances are, there are some tech options to augment your traditional back-to-school shopping ritual this year.