Between Zoom calls with the grandparents, baseball games across town, carpool duties, soccer practice, and all of the zillion other activities in your life, having a family can sometimes feel like running a small business! Fortunately, we live in a time with so much awesome technology that there are a ton of options and organizational apps to keep you (and your kids!) all on track.
We’ve compiled some great picks that will help you successfully wrangle every event and schedule, manage their screen time schedules, give your kids inspiration to stay on top of their studies, and so much more.
Top Organizational Apps for Families
Google Calendar
Cost: Free
The number one, must-have tool for many Bark team members and parents, Google Calendar is an absolute essential for modern family life. You can color-code events for each family member, set event reminders, make tasks, and even block off time so nothing else can be scheduled. Best of all, everyone can access the same calendar so you’re all on the same page. (Note: Apple’s Calendar app is basically the same thing, and may be a better fit for dedicated iOS families.)
Remember the Milk
Cost: Free
This easy-to-use app takes to-do lists to the next level! No matter what, when, or where you have to do something, Remember the Milk can help you create manageable tasks, delegate errands, and get timely notifications. It’s a great way to help share responsibility for household duties with everyone in your house.
Forest
Cost: $1.99
Forest is a creative way to get your kids — or yourself! — to pay attention for longer chunks of time. There are lots of great timers out there that will shut down your phone for a certain amount of time to keep you on task (more on that below). Forest, however, makes it interesting by gamifying it: You set a period (say, 25 minutes) and it plants a digital seed. If you successfully stay working and not playing on your phone, the seed will bloom and grow into a beautiful tree. If you give in and start scrolling through Instagram, the tree will wither. The bonus? The company also donates money to help plant trees in real life!
Evernote
Cost: Free
Gone are the days of Trapper Keepers and piles of loose-leaf notebook paper. For organizing digital notes, Evernote is a great option with a ton of cool functionality. Kids can keep track of all their lessons for each class, and then find them in an instant. You can also embed images and links to connect everything together. With the free version, you can sync up to two devices.
Bark
Cost: Free 7-day trial
Bark’s screen time feature provides a customizable, no-fuss way to manage your child’s digital habits — from sunup to sundown. For example, when your kids are in school, you can block access to everything but educational sites. And at bedtime, you can allow apps to help them wind down for the evening. And because all kids deserve to blow off a little steam, you can designate free time hours just for play.
Quizlet
Cost: Free
Does your kid have an epic science vocab list or tons of historical figures to memorize? Then you probably know that keeping track of dozens of flashcards can be a hassle (not to mention all of the space they take up!). Quizlet is an online version of flashcards that kids can make and access anywhere at any time. There are also banks of pre-made study sets to choose from, so your child doesn’t always have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to making new cards. As organizational apps go, Quizlet is one that can not only save time and paper but can also help your kid become a better student.
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Bark helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.
