{"id":9284,"date":"2015-10-16T08:50:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T12:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=9284"},"modified":"2015-10-16T08:57:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T12:57:04","slug":"learn-with-homer-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/16\/learn-with-homer-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn with Homer Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"learn<\/a>One of my biggest fears when taking on homeschooling my children was teaching them to read. \u00a0Honeybun came out of kindergarten reading and seemed to be a natural at it and has blossomed as a reader and now tells us regularly that reading is her favorite thing. \u00a0And now with three others coming up, I hope to instill the same love of reading and success that Honeybun has acquired.<\/p>\n

But taking under teaching a child to read when my professional experience stops at letter recognition is quite a daunting task. \u00a0And with a reluctant learner like Sugarplum who would rather be flitting around the yard or doing flips on the couch, I’ve found myself even more overwhelmed. \u00a0We’ve tried a lot of things including various work books, studying sight words, reading books together and we just started the Sequential Spelling program that Honeybun has been very successful with but all of it has been completed begrudgingly usually with a lot of arguing and threatening from me to complete the tasks.<\/p>\n

So, needless to say, when I was offered the opportunity to try Learn\u00a0with Homer, an online program specifically for reading, I was intrigued. \u00a0My girls often fight over taking turns using my iPad for math games so I figured a reading program on the computer\/iPad would be just as exciting to my reluctant learner.<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

I easily set up the account for the entire family, including Doodle, and as soon as I sat Sugarplum down with the program for the first time, she was off and running. \u00a0First she had to select her avatar and a thinking cap which was a bit of a long process for my computer-mouse challenged kindergartener but eventually she got the hang of it and we jumped right into the first lesson.<\/p>\n

I decided to have her start at the beginning which started as many reading programs do, with the short \/a\/ sound. \u00a0The first lesson discussed the sound short \/a\/ makes and had her complete a few tasks which included letter recognition, repeating the sound, and selecting words with the sound. \u00a0She breezed right through the lesson as she’s already reading somewhat independently but still enjoyed the lessons and it was a good way to get her comfortable with the program. \u00a0(There is an option to turn off the “learning path” which allows children to skip around the lessons and not be forced to do them in order which I may explore for Honeybun who is already reading above grade level).<\/p>\n

After each lesson is the option to continue or draw a picture. \u00a0The program prompted Sugarplum to draw a picture related to the lesson but she struggled with controlling the mouse and staying on the canvas area. \u00a0It’s something I’m sure she’ll get better at with practice or may do better with on the iPad.<\/p>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/p>\n

The program also includes many poems and stories which follow the lessons or can be accessed through the “Storytime” area of Pickle Wickle Park (the program homepage). \u00a0Each lesson in a level builds upon itself and reviews previous lessons and includes phonics, letter recognition as well as relating sight words and is designed for children to be able to use the program without adult help\u00a0but the program also allows parents to \u00a0monitor and track their child’s progress in the program through an easy to navigate dashboard.<\/p>\n

\"learning<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall, we are really enjoying the program so far. \u00a0Sugarplum giggles her way through the lessons and the program also includes non-fiction information in history and science and songs in the same read-aloud format of the poems and stories.
\n