Educational apps that actually worked
Apps we've had genuine success with:
- Duolingo (10yo loves it, actually retained Spanish vocabulary)
- Khan Academy (saved my butt when he needed to catch up on fractions)
- Scratch (started learning actual coding logic, not just games)
- Prodigy Math (he'll play this voluntarily which is insane)
Apps that were trash:
- ABCmouse (paid subscription, he got bored in 2 weeks)
- Most of the "educational" games that are just ads with some math
Not gonna pretend the apps are a substitute for real teaching but they've genuinely helped bridge some gaps. The key seems to be picking one thing he actually cares about instead of downloading 47 apps hoping something sticks.
Khan Academy literally saved my kid's entire math grade. The fractions thing is REAL - my son watched like 3 videos and suddenly got it when I couldn't explain it