Christine Dehne, Brooklyn-based mom, educator and multimedia artist, has found great things in this new app created right here in Brooklyn: Learn With Homer.
I was recently asked to check out the newly released Learn with Homer, and was pleased to see that it was created right here in Brooklyn. I’m all for supporting local talent, and the app is billed as a beginning literacy tool, so I was excited to check it out with my 4-year-old.
My last post was a list of apps you could set your kid in front of and expect nary a peep while she played quietly on her own. This app requires some adult supervision for setup and for basic directions to begin. The adult creates an account for each user, and helps the child to take her own photo and choose her own “thinking cap.” Of course, my child chose the princess cap, but there are lots of fun choices including a taco. I took this as a great sign that the app would be encouraging creative, out-of-the-box thinking, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Once the user is set up, a pre-reader may need instruction to find her way to whichever part of the app she is interested in. This includes “Learn to Read,” “Storytime,” “Homer’s Clubhouse,” and “Discover the World.” My child chose “Discover the World” first. Within this portion of the app we found very easy to navigate learning units that walk the child through basic information about topics like “Marvelous Mammals,” and “Five Senses.” Inside each learning unit the child can choose to have the material read to her or to read it herself. I was impressed with the quality and breadth of the content. There are simple prompts for the child to manipulate slide shows and sounds to enhance the written content. Each segment has quiz questions and opportunities for the user to record her thoughts. This is embedded into the segment, so my child didn’t even notice the switch from learning materials to testing for comprehension. She wasn’t ready with answers after the first segment, but once we started another one she was a more active listener This was a great moment for me to see her learning basic literacy skills and applying them immediately. I’ve found this method of reflective learning to be incredibly helpful with my college students, so I’m not at all surprised it works well with the younger learners too.
After checking out “Discover the World” my child moved on to “Learn to Read” where I was so happy to see that my child was introduced to how the sound “A” functions both at the beginning of and in the middle of a word. I’ve noticed many other apps only focus on the beginning letter of a word. In addition, the concept of sight words is introduced. I can see that this app is going to get a ton of use in our home over the next year.
Learn with Homer is a free app with basic learning bundles included and options for in-app purchasing for more content. The free content is plentiful, and it gives you a great feel for the app, what it is capable of, and whether you’re interested in purchasing more. My guess is that you’ll be back for more.
Christine Dehne is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist and educator and a mother of two girls. She strives to teach her children and her students to be happy but conscious consumers of media. You can reach her at christinedehne (at) gmail (dot) com.