31 Jul 6 tech tools for parents
The Library Elf website is telling me we have books due back in three days. I’ll go and find those. Right after I read the newsletter on School eNews app, order the school photos online, get the bookclub from scholastic website, order the entertainment guide ebook, book a last minute childcare place with Kindy Now and bpay the school fees. Phew! That’s a lot of technology for one little kindergarten guy.
When did going to school and kindy get so tech?
I’ve heard that some school tuckshops take email orders, we haven’t gotten that far yet but since starting school there’s a whole lot of technology making our lives easier (?)
- School eNews app – Rather than scrabbling through school bags and smelly black banana skins, our school emails the fortnightly newsletter and any most other updates. They also gave us the heads up on the School eNews app. This neat little app will let you know when a new notice has gone up and then format it so that it’s easy to read on your smart phone.*
- Scholastic bookclub. Remember the bookclub books you used to beg mum to buy? You’d pick the books, mum would tick the box and put the money and the form in an envelope and a few weeks later, back would come the books. Now it’s all ordered on line from companies like Scholastic.*
- Kindy Now. You’ve got a work conference coming up and you need extra childcare days for the little angel. Open up your apps and check out Kindy Now. This app connects your directly with your childcare centre letting you know the last minute places available at your childcare and letting you book them in. The childcare wins because they get an additional payment for the day and you win because it gets you out of a spot. *
- School photos. No longer do they send home the happy snap school pics for your to choose which ones you’d like. Now companies like www.aussieschoolphotos.com get you to order and prepay your pics online.
- School interviews. Don’t worry about ticking a box on your time slot for the next Parent Teacher interview and then finding out it’s gone. Now you jump online and book it straight in on sites like www.schoolinterview.com.au
- Library elf beats having to hold on to the book receipt docket or waiting for that email that tells you your books are overdue. Get online check whether your library is one of the 50 odd registered with www.LibraryElf.com and sign up. A few days before your books are due they will send you an email and then another just before they become due. At the moment just the government libraries seem to be on it. *
*Educational Institutions need to be registered with the technology. If they’re not, why not suggest it to them.
Whatever happened to the simple pen and paper, school note in the school bag option? I think I like them better. Maybe we need to go old school again. What do you think?