Encourage Your Kids to Read with HOMER

I received a subscription to HOMER Reading for review purposes and compensation in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Does school look different for you this year? If it does, I am sure you are looking for anything to help your kids learn while saving you some time and some of your sanity! 

Despite homeschooling all along, I still look for anything that could take a little stress off especially at younger grades when kids need more help and more supervision. Adding a kindergartner this year along with my elementary kiddo and two middle school kids, I knew I was going to need any extra help I could get!

You see, I love preschool and kindergarten for the most part, but if I am going to be honest, teaching kids to read is NOT a favorite of mine. In fact it is really the worst for me. I just do not have the patience to listen to p-a-n, p-a-n, p-a-n, POT! Yes, I admit it, I hate teaching kids to read. Of course, I want them to read, reading is so incredibly important, and I have learned since starting 8 years ago to take a break when I feel frustrated that they aren't progressing, but any help they can get elsewhere is going to be a sanity saver for me!

Enter HOMER Reading, an app that engages my kindergartner and keeps her working on that ever important skill of reading.

Great Things about HOMER Reading

• No ads
• Interactive
• Personalized to your child's interests
• Covers both phonics and sight words
• Lots of reading practice
• Parent Portal

If you have ever had kids in an app with ads, you know how easy it is for them to randomly click an ad and end of somewhere completely unrelated. This leads to frustration on their part because their game is gone, and your part because you have to stop what you are doing to fix it. No ads eliminates that aspect!

The app is interactive. Your child will not be mindlessly watching videos with HOMER Reading. Kids engage with the content to work on specific reading skills or to read books that interest them. This means if you need your little one occupied for a bit, this is something you can use guilt free! 

I mentioned above that they pick books to read on their interests, but they also get content that interests them. This works because as the parent, you select which things (out of several) that they are interested in, and the content of the HOMER Reading App is changed to fit that. So if you kid is into dinos, boom....dino themed games!

The app covers phonics one letter at a time as well as sight words as you follow along your child's pathway. They can also use the reading section to practice specific skills without starting at the beginning of the pathway and following it to the needed skill. 

Even after they are reading independently, HOMER Reading offers a wide selection of books for kids to enjoy! They have the option of reading the story independently or listening to the story and following along on the page. 

A parent portal! This probably shouldn't be as exciting as it is, but their online parent portal makes it super easy to see what my child has covered as well as print out accompanying printables for coloring or to work on handwriting. Seriously a time saver here!

One Improvement I'd make to HOMER Reading

HOMER Reading is intended for ages up to 9, so when I attempted to make my son an account to get some extra practice it wouldn't allow me to with his actual birthday. I do think this app could be useful to get extra practice for kids who are a bit reluctant to read even at slightly older ages. Although much older and the content may seem too babyish to kids. 

I could also see a use for older kids who have a disability causing them to think at a younger level. Therefore, I think the age cap should be changed or maybe another type of account offered. 

HOMER Encourages Kids to Practice Reading

My daughter really enjoys using the drawing in the app as a reward after completing a lesson. When I asked her what her favorite part was she said, "I like that it will read to you, or you can read yourself." Not what I was expecting to be her favorite, but she does love stories! 

HOMER Reading makes a fun addition to any reading curriculum. It reinforces what has already been taught providing extra practice to improve fluency and excite kids about reading. 

Want to give it a try before you buy? Grab a free 30 day trial HERE! Once your trial is over, you can get a subscription for 60% off! That's just $45 for the whole year!