Homeschool Review Crew - Home School Navigator

I was thrilled to get a chance to review one year subscription for one student to The Home School Navigator Reading and Language Arts Curriculum from Home School Navigator and the interactive notebooks.

What is Home School Navigator?

This video from their site describes it well:

Home School Navigator is language arts reading, writing, grammar, word study and vocabulary in one organized plan presented by Ashley and Beth who have a background in reading instruction and are connected to the homeschool community and put together a program that encompasses successful teaching methods that worked with their own children. They developed Home School Navigator to stress read alouds with literature along with embedded videos to watch, worksheets, games, and hands-on activities.

Red level - learning letter recognition
Orange level - read simple words, sentences beginning to write
Yellow level - read simple stories write complete sentences
Green level - able to read short chapter books
Blue level - chapter books writing in paragraphs
Indigo level - reading longer chapter books, critique ideas and longer writing pieces

It is designed to be used over a 9-month school year, broken down by month, weeks, and finally days of lessons that consist of read alouds of recommended books, videos, worksheets, games, and interactive books. The daily/weekly/monthly schedules are laid out nicely in PDF downloads that you print or refer to onscreen. These schedules are easy to follow and cover each day's worth of the learning plans which makes it super easy for the teacher to follow.

The program is set up on the website, but it contains components that you will print to get the full experience and to establish work in a notebook that you will save for your child's portfolio.

I received an online subscription to the site that includes six levels of reading, writing, and word study lessons. Each level is color coded as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Indigo. They grow in skill level, with indigo being at approximately a 5th Grade level. It is a 36-week course with daily reading, writing and word study lesson plans. Each level includes 60 instructional videos. The word study program for the younger levels includes word wall headings, cards, and games. The older level that we used also included computer/typing practice, games, and interactive books. Also included is a monthly skills checklist, portfolio maintenance, monthly goal sheets, activities that encourage multiple learning styles, and review games to download. All of the downloads are in a PDF format.

Home School Navigator wants to help homeschooling families who want to develop stronger readers and writers in their children. The program is specifically designed for the home educator giving us plans, teaching videos and handouts to enrich each step of the program.

It is perfect to use on the go or anywhere you have an internet connection to download what you need, though if you are out of the country, know that it does use Standard American English.

This is how the lessons look when you first click on the week. The menu bars expand to reveal links and embeded videos needed to complete each section.

Once you finish, you can take a picture of your child's work and upload it to a private portfolio, or simply mark it as done.

How Did We Use It?

I logged on to check out the site before choosing a level. I had access to all of the levels for four weeks before I would need to lock into a specific level, so I took time deciding on which level would be best for my daughter since, she is in the 5th Grade so should be reading at a 5th Grade level, but she is not a huge fan of reading, so I didn't want to overwhelm her. I considered going down a level or two just so she would enjoy the process and want to excel without getting frustrated. But, in the end, I chose the Indigo level that is at her current grade level.

Once we settled on a level that was right for us, I downloaded the guide which was an 81-page pdf It included a materials list that listed everything I would need. Then, I went back to the site to click on the first week's lesson, and it included a 5-page weekly guide that was laid out step-by-step. Once you select the level and show the child how it works, it is really easy to allow them to do this independently, at least at the level I chose. The younger levels may require more hands-on intervention from the parent as it does not automatically progress to the next level after each section is complete. It does require some remembering of where you left off and know-how in uploading work or marking as complete. At the end of each week, you can either upload your child's work to create a portfolio all in one place online, or you can simply mark it as complete and continue.

INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK:

One of the my favorite parts of the program was the interactive notebook that was presented starting in the second week, at our level with the book called Holes. This interactive notebook is a bit like a lapbook. Home School Navigator provided the pdf download to print out that contained all of the components to cut out and glue onto a notebook journal to create a hands-on, interactive learning experience focused on a specific book. In our case, it was a book called Holes by Louis Sachar which is a young adult mystery comedy.

My daughter absolutely loves hands-on activities while learning, so I knew this would be a winner:

What Did We Think?

This program is really well designed. A lot of research, care, and thought has gone into the program's set up.  I love how everything is right there at my fingertips and how after watching the training video and maneuvering the site, it was easy enough for my 11-year-old to use on her own.  I feel like it is a comprehensive course that is enjoyable without including meaningless fluff.

FIND Home School Navigator ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homeschoolnavigation/ 
Pinterest: Home School Navigator 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeschoolnavigator/ 

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: