Lunchables or Pizza Pops? Child A has a book report, volleyball tryouts and a math test. Child B has school photo day and a pre-teen sleepover. Oh, and, by the way, you’re out of peanut butter. Again. If you long for an Uber Super Duper Family Command Centre, or even an app, to help you manage the inevitable back-to-school mayhem, you’re in luck. The team at Lift Legal has compiled this list of apps to help you better everything from school lunches to soccer practice.
Cozi Family Organizer
With its built-in calendar, to-do list, and shopping and journal functions, Cozi Family Organizer (Android and iPhone) lets you easily organize your family’s daily assignments, practices and events. Colour code each family member, then enter events. Share the calendar and organize your day. Cozi’s chore function allows family members to check off tasks they’ve completed. We can’t promise that Billy will remember to wash behind his ears. However, we can hope he’ll empty the dishwasher and let you know about his book report—preferably long before it’s actually due.
Lala Lunchbox
Believe it or not, you can make lunch prep fun in ways that don’t involve making caterpillars out of grapes or dressing up pancakes. With Lala Lunchbox (iPhone only), you can involve your children in making smart, nutritious choices. Kids set up a virtual lunchbox: by choosing from fruits and vegetables, proteins and snacks, they feed a hungry monster for the week. What’s even better is that their picks then become a grocery list for you!
With Lala Lunchbox, children and their families learn about packing a better lunch. There are even food bundles for special diets (i.e., nut free, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and kosher), curated by a dietitian and designed to provide lunch packing inspiration for a variety of lifestyles and eating habits.
Here Comes the Bus
Parents don’t need the added stress of needing to call their child’s school to check on the status of the school bus. No child wants to wait in the dark, freezing temperatures, pouring rain or hot sun.
Here Comes the Bus (Android and iPhone) uses Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers, now standard on most school buses, to let families see arrival and departure information for various stops and schools. This way, they know when the bus will arrive. Get updates and alerts with last-minute route or schedule changes, or when the ride is five minutes away. Push notifications can indicate when the bus arrives safely at school. And if you wish you had eyes in the back of your head, don’t worry: with Here Comes the Bus, even if you have multiple children on different buses, you can track them all simultaneously.
Out of Milk
Not only are you out of peanut butter (crunchy, not smooth), but you’re also out of milk. This aptly-named app (Android and iPhone) lets you keep track of your shopping needs, keep tabs on your pantry’s inventory and manage your to-do list items. Create and manage grocery lists with family members. Keep track of what you’ve bought and still need to pick up. There are even pre-made grocery list templates for all occasions. Now there’s no reason to ever come home from shopping having forgotten a carton of milk, a loaf of bread and a stick of butter!
School A to Z
It’s been a few years since you’ve taken analytic geometry, and the idea of helping your kid with her math homework feels like a major pain in the asymptote. Or maybe you need to pour yourself a strong coffee (or two) before you pore over your son’s paper on Shakespeare. Homework can sometimes feel daunting. As a parent, you know it’s an important key to learning, but you may sometimes find it hard to keep up with what needs to be done.
With comprehensive homework support, School A to Z (World Wide Web) offers a broad range of resources to point parents in the right direction. Get a refresher, as well as useful tips and help sheets to improve study skills in subjects including math, English (including Shakespeare), French, anatomy and more.
Oh, and if you really, truly want to learn more about the Bard, yes, you can access the complete works of Shakespeare (41 plays, 154 sonnets and 6 poems, including doubtful works) with the Shakespeare Pro app for iPhone and Android.