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Original poster

What do kids need for high school with regards to devices etc for education?

34 replies

forloves · 16/04/2023 14:15

Hi all,

Don't really have anyone else to talk to about this. DC starts high school in Sept and is already an extremely unmotivated learner. I know they will need A LOT of help managing homework and general learning.

At the moment they have an iPad used mainly for roblux and editing videos! I don't want any screen time arguments so I was thinking of getting a cheap Samsung tablet just to be used for learning - do they use many apps for maths practice? Or is this unnecessary?

And aside from that would a laptop or desktop be best?

Anything else that would aid learning?

Thank you!

OP posts:
Verassata · 18/04/2023 12:40

@forloves I think it was 45 minutes. Ds1 (20, home from uni for holidays) says he thinks it was that. Their lessons were an hour long in school so easy to concentrate for that length of time. It does depend on the school though and how much they set. Yes it was every day on weekdays. Most of the time it was work not finished in lessons rather than homework, homework.

SpringBunnies · 18/04/2023 12:42

Depends on school. Ours is very online. There's a homework app where both parents and the child have logins. This is where you see the homework set. You need a laptop to use Office 365 and the school has a subscription. Homework in Office apps and you hand in either via Teams or paper. Some homework can come via school email. It all depends on the teacher whether they want to use Teams, email or paper.

DC has a phone, iPad and a Mac laptop. I'd say phone and laptop are essential. The laptop can be either windows or mac as long as it can do Office 365.

Verassata · 18/04/2023 12:46

Meant to say, they used Google classrooms, uploaded photos of some things in books if they were finishing things from class, online apps for maths and things. They were taught how to use it in school and parents were also emailed with details so we had all the info too.

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LER83 · 18/04/2023 14:06

I would wait until they start and then decide, based on what sort of homework they get. My ds is year 8, his school supply ipads for every child which they keep until they leave. Any work he does on that, but he hardly gets any homework, maybe 2/3 pieces a week. May change when he starts GCSEs in Sept. If needed we have a basic laptop he can use, although one of his choices for GCSE is Computer Science so he may need a better laptop for that.

redskylight · 18/04/2023 14:29

Verassata · 18/04/2023 12:40

@forloves I think it was 45 minutes. Ds1 (20, home from uni for holidays) says he thinks it was that. Their lessons were an hour long in school so easy to concentrate for that length of time. It does depend on the school though and how much they set. Yes it was every day on weekdays. Most of the time it was work not finished in lessons rather than homework, homework.

I would actually strongly advise not insisting on a fixed routine. Your child needs the flexibility to join clubs that might have differing timetables or to just ad-hoc decide to go and meet friends. Or even just to decide that today they are too tired and will leave their homework until tomorrow (assuming no deadlines).
Better to help them with tools to effectively manage their time than be too regimented.

Verassata · 18/04/2023 15:18

@redskylight It wasn't a at this time precisely you must start your homework, it was just after the snack time which may be later if attending an after school club and maybe they needed a long toilet break but just before they started gaming etc. It was a good habit, one that paid off for both children. School was a 20 minute walk away.

They had evening sports/activities a few nights a week so no time to do homework after returning from those and also physically worn out at times. It was a good routine and one they could opt out of if tired etc. My children's school friends don't meet up in person, they play online games as everyone has access to their computer where they play as a team or chatted through head sets. Geographically they were not close together.

They did learn to self regulate but the jump from primary, 10 spellings every week and 20 minutes of maths or English homework on a Friday was hardly going to prepare them for secondary homework. The homework slot meant I was available to assist and direct at that time and it got them into a habit of doing homework on the day it was set whilst the lesson was still fresh in their mind.

MrsCarson · 18/04/2023 15:33

Chromebook and scientific calculator.
Dd had google classroom on her phone but found it was a lot easier to do the work on her chromebook

Skybluepinky · 18/04/2023 16:07

Ours have to have a Chromebook, this is taken to school everyday and home etc is set on it.

PicaK · 18/04/2023 16:14

Mine just uses his phone. The longer essays are hand written. Y9.

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