Language Arts, especially Language Arts for Elementary age children, is the one area I feel the least confident about. There are so many things this subject area encompasses and so many ways to teach them. Finding Home School Navigator has put pretty much everything in one place, you know, like an easy button. We, my 12-year-old struggling reader and I, have been using the online subscription for over a month now. It has fulfilled one of the main goals of our homeschool, encouraging life long learning. If our children know how to learn, their future is wide open.
There are six different levels within Home School Navigator. These roughly correlate to grade levels but are designated by color. Having had a few struggling readers, we really appreciate this. We were given access to all the levels in the beginning in order to try them out and determine the best fit for our learner. Even though my son’s reading level is lower, we settled on the Green level for the remainder of our subscription. This is also the level at which the Interactive Notebooks start. These are included in the subscription or able to be purchased separately.
The Interactive Notebook is a printable resource for study one of the selected books. There are four per level plus some other titles that I’m not sure which level (if any) they are part of. My children love these! There are shapes and flaps to cut out that are adhered to a sheet of paper – any kind of paper you wish. We’ve been gathering the various print outs and written work in a binder, so that is where our Interactive Notebook pages are as well. Similar to the lapbooks we used in the earlier years, the pieces are interactive. The question or word to define or whatever is printed on the piece. Once glued to the page, your child writes their response on the sheet so it is hidden by the flap. These work well for reviewing if you have a break in the middle of your book (like we have had).
As much as I love that we can purchase the Interactive Notebooks separately, I am really impressed with what all is covered throughout the (school) year of our subscription. There are 36 weeks of lessons completely put together for us to go through. I printout the overview for the month and gather the books. So far we have found all in our library system. Knowing which ones we’ll need ahead time lets me plan for the holds that come from other libraries. Or just purchase them, because we love growing our home library as well.
Each week is completely planned out, five days per week in Home School Navigator. The days are not too full that we cannot complete the five days of work within our four-day school week. The areas in the Green Level are broken down as: Read Aloud, Reading Skills Practice, Writing/Grammar, Phonics/Word Study/Vocabulary, Handwriting, and Independent Reading (where you’ll find the Interactive Notebooks when they are used). The Read Alouds often have a video of one of the instructors reading the book aloud. As handy as this is, I still think you really need to have the book. The first time through, we use the video. This has really helped my son who is still working on some of the earlier skills. He can follow along in our copy of the book. The other days we take turns reading pages, or I may read the whole book aloud.
The other areas have activities for most days. Occasionally these are just to review what you did the day before, etc. Which is why this works well to adapt to your learner’s specific needs. Also, some of the activities are not specific to language arts, but rather an extension of the story. When we read Meteor! by Patricia Polacco (the whole month features this favorite author) we made craters with our own meteors (balls). The printable spelled out the scientific method and the steps for conducting this experiment. I love how this crossed subject areas. And that it was recommended to do this outside. It’s like the authors are moms who just know this sort of thing. Oh wait, they are. Not only are they former classroom teachers, but they are homeschool moms. They are in the best position to put this together, using effective methods and fun, accessible activities.
Not only is this organized and easy to implement, but you can upload your child’s work and start building a portfolio. This is not something needed for our state’s requirements, but if it were, how fabulous! We figured out that when we marked that we were complete each day, the progress bar at the top started showing, well, progress. This was motivating for my son to see.
As much as I am enjoying using Home School Navigator with my children, I have found I need to supplement the reading instruction for my son. This is probably more due to his challenges than anything lacking in the curriculum. The navigation is a bit clunky. My children would not be able to navigate this on their own. Not that I really want or need them to. The more we are using the program and getting our rhythm, the more it is apparent that I am a part of this process, too. This is not a self-guided reading program. This is an online interface for guiding us through the various activities and lessons. As a physical book love and hands-on family, this suits us very well.
Read other Crew families experiences with Home School Navigator by clicking the image below.
