Homer Review

Wednesday, November 29th

2023 Learn to Read Program Reviews

Homer

• $9.99 per month or $119.88 per year
• 74% reading score increase
• Bonus app with Sesame Street characters

Homer is a learn to read program created for children ages 2-8. It covers reading, math, creativity, thinking, and social and emotional learning. Homer follows the common core standard in teaching children to read. The teacher will teach the letter and its sound together in a planned way with a purposeful order. Homer prides itself on being able to increase test scores by 74%.

Steps to being a fluent reader

Starting out, your child will be given a 5-step process to learn the pre-literacy skills needed for reading.

• The first step includes being Introduced to Letters, deciphering between lower and upper case letters and knowing that the shapes of the letters create meaning.
• Next they will move on to "Finding Their Way" . Children will be able to sing their ABC's, identify letters, practice forming the letters, use auditory and visual memory for letter shapes and sounds, and create language skills.
• The third step, "Finding A Path" , teaches your children the beginning of phonics.
• The fourth step is "Discovering New Terrain" . During this step of the process, your child will connect the letters to their sounds. They will be able to read short words and sentences, spell short words, start learning sight words and begin getting fluent in their reading.
• The fifth and final step is "Reaching New Heights" . For this step, your child will become more fluent, sound out complex words and read books interesting to them.

The Homer learning process

Homer's learning program as a whole has four steps to it. Step one is to introduce the concept. Step two is practice and reinforce what was taught. Step three is apply and show what you have learned. Step four is to transfer and show in the real world what you can do. Homer advertises that they have used scientific evidence and research to create this approach. This four-step approach gets applied to all of their subjects, from reading to math.

Reasonably priced

At the time of this review the annual membership is on sale for $59.99 for the year or $4.99 for 12 months. If you want to pay monthly with the ability to cancel, it will cost you $9.99 per month. Homer also has another app included with it which is Learn with Sesame Street. Unfortunately, we didn't see the appeal to the app itself. It would be ok to use as an educational game to keep your child entertained for a few minutes and will reinforce literacy skills but it will not teach your child how to read.

Lackluster reputation

According to the Better Business Bureau, Homer has an "A+" rating. However, they have numerous complaints about customers trying to cancel and either not being able to or still being charged. Their communication with their customers appears to be lacking until it is escalated to this level. While there are some positive reviews from parents stating that their kids enjoy the app even those on the older range of the program, many users wish that skills were reiterated more and that there was a little more practice involved while using the app.

Better options are out there

We are not overly impressed with Homer. Its biggest benefit is the connection to Sesame Street in the bonus app. Between the complaints on being able to cancel and being overcharged, to the lack of reiteration on skills, this app appears to be lacking. We would strongly encourage you to check out some of the other options over Homer when looking for a program to teach your child to read.