Back To School Hacks for Older Students

Most high school and college students are heading back to school this month.  I’ve found the older our kids get, the more expensive the back-to-school gear becomes! 

Nonetheless, here are a few back to school hacks we recommend to make your older student’s year more efficient.

Everlast Rocketbook

I came across the Everlast Rocketbook at the CES Consumer Electronics Show I attended earlier this year.  It is a reusable notebook that comes in two sizes for taking notes. 

Using the included black Pilot Frixion pen, your student can take notes and draw diagrams in the notebook just as s/he would with any other notebook.

But, the Rocketbook has a techy twist.  Using the accompanying Rocketbook app, your student can easily scan in each page of notes and upload them to Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, OneDrive, OneNote, Slack, Box, iCloud, iMessage, or Email, simply by checking a symbol at the bottom of each note page before the scan.

The scan becomes a PDF and is digitally available whenever your student needs it.  Recently, Rocketbook added a new feature that if your student sends his/her notes to an email address (like his/her own), Rocketbook will transcribe the notes on the page!

Now your student can take notes in class and have them digitally transcribed by the time it’s time to do homework. 

Using both sides of the page, the Everlast Rocketbook will last a while. But they can be “erased” simply by using a wet towel and drying the pages.  With pages scanned and washed, s/he can continue taking notes, the notebook is reusable time and time again.

The Letter and Executive sized Everlast Rocketbooks are available through Rocketbook for $34 including free shipping.

iXpand Flash Drive 

The Apple iPhone is the preferred cellphone of older students.  The problem? There’s never enough storage!  The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive relieves phone storage woes. 

Just plug it into an iPhone and download the app.  Now your student is ready to transfer pictures, videos, and other files to the storage drive, freeing up valuable space on his/her phone.

My daughter often complains her iPhone has no more space.  The iXpand Flash Drive will allow her to easily move files to the drive. 

Then she can plug the iXpand Flash Drive into her computer to download files for safe keeping.

The iXpand Flash Drive is also great for backing up the iPhone too.  This can be done automatically every time it is connected to the iPhone or iPad.

As the iXpand Flash Drive supports video formats like MP4 and MOV, students can easily watch movies right from the drive (unfortunately, not downloaded Netlifx movies). 

Students can also transfer large files and presentations from their computer to their phone for use at school.  the iXpand is a great back to school hack that will save your student the agony of not enough phone memory.

  The iXpand Flash Drive is available in 16GB, 32GB 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB sizes at Amazon, ranging from $32 to $152 with free shipping.

IRISPen Digital Highlighter

Weego Jump Starter

Once your child learns to drive, ensure you put a jump starter in the car s/he drives.  Weego makes a series of DIY jump starters that will allow your student to jump her/his car by her/himself with no need to flag someone else to help.

It can only take a matter of minutes and Weego’s Smarty Clamps to ensure that no matter how your student places the clamps, no sparks will fly. 

In fact, the Weego Jump Starter shows the steps very clearly on the Weego unit and even lights up green when everything is done correctly.

The fear of trying to remember where the red clamp goes versus the black one or which color gets placed first is gone. 

All instructions are clear and precautions have been taken to eliminate fear.  Best yet, your student can now jump her/his own car in minutes and won’t be stranded for long.

Keep it in the car for when that inopportune moment strikes.  The Weego Jump Starter keeps its charge for over a year as well.  Unless, of course, your student decides to continue to use it as a phone charger too (which is possible!).  

We loved the simplicity of the Weego 44 JumpStart and yet it’s a powerful workhorse in jumping your car, charging your laptop (with an accessory) or even powering 12V accessories (with an accessory).

Weego Jump Starters are available from the Weego website starting at $69.99 and up, (dependent upon the model) plus shipping and taxes.

Sugru Moldable Glue

Best known as moldable glue, Sugru brings possibility and shape to your student’s “if only….” needs.  Choose a color and shape the clay for any hack.

Use it to hold loose wires,  make hooks for coffee mugs, “glue” on drawer knobs to hang things, fix broken phone cords, create a tablet stand, create an under-the-desk holder for headphones, the possibilities are endless!

Best yet, it takes up to 24 hours for the glue to harden, so you can make adjustments hours after you shape it if need be. 

I’ve used Sugru to repair my computer glasses, fix my daughter’s backpack, fix a loose tablet cord, and a lot of other things.

Not sure how your student will use it?  No worries, there are a lot of suggestions on the Sugru website.  Sugru lasts longer if kept in the refrigerator, so unused portions can be used.  

Sugru is available through their website in either 3-packs or 8-packs, starting at $9.99.

Some really cool back to school hacks, huh?  My Dad always told me, “work smart not hard.” 

I love that gadgets can help make “smart” some older traditional ways of doing things.  Rocketbook makes it easy to save your handwritten notes to your phone/tablet/computer. 

The IRISPen Air 7 lets you digitize textbooks so you can copy and organize their content in ways that make sense to the student. 

The Weego JumpStart, iXpand Flash, and Sugru make things easier too.

Surprise your student with useful gadgets that will make studying more fun…and definitely a lot more efficient! 

For more ideas, see our back to school hacks from last year!

*We were given samples of each of these back to school hacks with the exception of the IRISPen Air 7  for evaluation.  Inclusion in this guide is up to our discretion.  All opinions are our own.