When my grandparents went to school, they carried along a little slate (chalk board) to do their schoolwork as directed by their teachers.

When I went to school, we used textbooks that were owned by the school.

Today’s schoolkids have begun using iPads for doing schoolwork and reading textbooks. Advantages including saving the cost of print books and never being able to say they lost their homework.

I’m wondering how useful this would be for homeschooling. For one thing, homeschoolers aren’t usually the wealthiest people in the world, and iPads aren’t cheap (though we can expect the price to come down over time.) And if you buy one for each child, well, now you’re really talking a few bucks (the Duggars would need a home equity loan to pay for iPads for everyone!)

You’d also have to block out Facebook and Twitter and all the rest of the social media suspects, or no one would get any of their schoolwork done.

So what do you think? I’m removing the affordability factor by asking: if someone gave you $500 per child to buy iPads for homeschooling, would you do it? Do you think it would make homeschooling easier or harder?