Using PDF Files in my Home School

I'm really happy that so many texts are now available as PDF.  I love the freedom of being able to just print out the pages I need, as many times as I need them.  It's been especially useful now that I'm on round two with much of our curriculum. However, technology has started to change the way I've been thinking about using the PDF files.  For one, my child is forever losing the sheets I print out, or they become a wrinkled mess.  This leads to much frustration on the part of all of us.

Now that we have iPads, I've been looking into ways to utilize them more.  The kids never seem to lose their iPad or wrinkle it up.  So I've come across a few apps and I'm giving it a try.

App #1: Dropbox:  Dropbox is a fantastic file sharing app.  You can access your documents, files, or photos from just about any device.  It also makes it easy to share documents through its public folder.  You upload your file here and it creates a link that you can then share out.  You get two gigs of free storage, so it'll manage even your largest of files. We have found it useful for the kids to save their compositions into Dropbox so they can easily edit or print them from other computers.

App #2 Notability: Notability is another app that allows you to create notes and annotate those PDF files. It's not free, but at $2.99, and often on sale, it won't break the bank either--much cheaper than a ream of paper and ink!  It works along with Dropbox to get those files onto your iPad and make them more than just readable files.  You can use Notability to mark up and highlight, fill in blanks, you name it.  I recently uploaded my son's daily grammar work into Dropbox, and then used the import function on Notability to bring the file into the app.  Using a stylus, he can now use his favorite color to do his work, without all that wasted ink and paper.  No more loose pages anywhere! There will never be an excuse again for not knowing where his work is and if it's been done.

We are still working out the bugs, but I have great hope that these two apps will really help us out this year. To give some more instruction and insight, I've found this blog entry that really goes into detail. How are you using your iPads, tablets, or Kindles in your home school?  Do you have a clever way to utilize technology and school work?