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Homer Helps Horizons National

Homer isn’t just about serving the families who subscribe to our product, we have a double bottom line. We want to better the whole. And, like any mother will tell you, it takes a village to raise a child. We have a product we sell to families for unlimited access to the Homer method for reading instruction, but we also have a commitment to reach kids whose families are not in a position to pay for a subscription service. So we grant Homer to schools, libraries, nonprofits, hospitals, and the military 100% free of charge.

This summer, for the second year, Homer is proud to partner with Horizons National Summer Enrichment Program, a network of community-centered academic summer programs that puts students of varying abilities, coming from low-income households who wouldn’t be able to afford the program without assistance, on a path to success. Their mission is to close the achievement gap by providing these children access to high-quality academics in an engaging summer course.  

It is well-documented that children who are not engaged over the summer months lose focus, many of them having issues retaining what they learned over the previous year if they aren’t reinforcing their learnings over the summer months. Students who aren’t able to pay for enrichment tend to fall further behind in reading and math during the summer months, while their more economically advantaged peers keep pace or even jump ahead. This phenomenon, known as the ‘summer slide,’ really puts students who don’t have access to special programs at a disadvantage and has become one of the most urgent educational needs in the US.

Summer learning loss leaves students as much as three years behind their higher income peers by the time they reach fifth grade. In contrast, Horizons students gain an average of two to three months in reading and math skills during the six-week summer program, keeping them at grade level or above.

We are so proud to partner with Horizons National and do our part to make an impact on these communities. We also appreciate all of you who make an effort to volunteer, read, teach, be that ‘other’ mom or aunt to the kid next door and shephard them on the right path. We’re all in this together and we want to hear how you’re impacting a life this summer.

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Castles of Loire Valley

Kimberly Palsson and her family of four continue their journey exploring Europe and bonding as a family. This week, they explore the south of France.

After bustling Paris, we spend a week in the countryside just a few hours south of Paris. We stay in a stone home over 300 years old in a tiny town in Loire Valley.

There’s very little here, but we do stumble upon a baguette vending machine! So funny. I really recommend Airbnb for unique accommodations. You’re in the French countryside; it should feel like it!

The Loire Valley is known for its incredible castles and vineyards. While they are happy in the picture above, we quickly learn that kids aren’t as interested in castles once they discover that they aren’t actually pink and sparkly. This is a real disappointment. No joke. Prepare yourself. But I like the opportunity to meld what they are reading in storybooks, or on Homer, with the reality and often origin of those stories. Here’s our take on each place we stopped:

Chenonceau. This chateau is regularly ranked the best of Loire Valley, so we made it our first stop. The walk up to the chateau is stunning, with tall trees lining the walkway. Unbelievable gardens surround the chateau. The chateau is very interesting, probably more so for history buffs. But it’s definitely not for all kids. Olaf prefers to run around outside while Stefan and I take shifts inside with Lillian. I think we would enjoy this more if we were major history buffs.

There’s a cute duck pond and a wine cellar where they pour estate wines. A picnic area by the parking lot is a little disappointing, given how grand everything else is.

Amboise. A lovely little town with pedestrianized cobblestoned streets. We don’t visit the castle here, but instead spend time walking around. We highly recommend a creperie here, Les 4 Saisons. Also The Clos Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last years and died, is worth a visit. The chateau there remains decorated as it was when he lived there. And the grounds make for a nice walk. There are many re-creations of his inventions, which we all find really interesting. We also discover a nice playground, which we enjoy for a long time.

There are a few food options available, one of which is a restaurant serving 15th century food using recipes from the time! We want to try it, but a school is visiting this day and commandeers the entire place for the day. Too bad. Instead we enjoy the Creperie, situated on top of a cliff overlooking the town. It is very picturesque and the kids run around the rose garden and fountain area while we wait for our food.

Saumur. Simple small town. The walk up to the castle is very nice, meandering through the old town and up some steps. We don’t stay long, as it begins to drizzle.

The Maison de Vins in Saumur is a good place to learn a bit about the region’s wines, and you can taste 5 for free! Lillian gets a taste of grape juice and feels very grownup about it. They sell wines, but they can also provide a map and recommendations on wineries in the area. There are several “Maison de Vins” in the region. I recommend it as a good introduction for your first time in the area.

Chateau Villandry. This is a favorite! There’s a sweet bridge over a stream filed with koi, and a vegetable garden rivaling the beauty of any rose garden I’ve seen. Along the path, there are many sweet spots to stop and relax. Lillian insists on taking a photo of me and Stefan in a spot she thinks looks romantic. She’s so cute! And it turns out to be a good shot!  After passing through numerous gardens, we reach a maze, which makes me feel like a kid too. Beyond the maze is an expansive yard with really nice playground equipment. Naturally the kids go nuts. I reommend Villandry for its beauty, calm ambiance and of course the playground and maze for hte kids. We love it.

Chateau D’Usse. The supposed inspiration for Walk Disney’s magic kingdom castle. We cheap out and don’t pay the fees to go up to the castle. Instead we admire it from a parking lot below. It looks the most like what I expected a castle to look like. Perhaps thanks to Disney.

Warning: Almost everything is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Schedule your time wisely or you could end up suffering to find food those days.

Because of the nature of staying in the countryside, we eat at home almost every evening. Often we are in the backyard garden with a bottle of wine purchased from a local vineyard. It’s calm and easy. And on that note, we are surprised we haven’t gotten sick of each other yet. Almost all day, every day, is spent just the 4 of us. That can be a lot, but we are genuinely enjoying this special time together. And I think we are getting into a bit of a groove. Maybe that has helped us settle in a bit here. I think we’ll miss it when we move on.

If you’ve spent any time in the Loire Valley with your kids, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share your experiences this summer with us. Even going to a new place in your hometown is an adventure to share. #TravelWithHomer.

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Dump Truck Sensory Bin Activity

Our very own Samantha Creighan, Homer’s Director of Children’s Research, has brought incredible insight to our team as we focus on building a child-centered learning product and brand. Not only is she a dedicated researcher with a PhD in cognition and learning, but she’s also a mom to a pretty adorable 2 year-old boy. This week, Sam shares a sensory activity you can do with your child after reading the story Dump Truck in the StoryTime section of the Homer app.

My almost-two-year-old son, like many kids is obsessed with anything with wheels, especially construction vehicles. And who can blame him; with their bold bright colors, BIG wheels, and their affinity for dirt and mud, what’s not to love?  

His interest in trucks has influenced his clothing, his bedroom décor, and even his upcoming birthday party. But what’s really cool has been watching how his interest has fueled his play and learning.

Through stories and songs like Dump Truck, he’s expanded his vocabulary and has been able to see these trucks in action in ways he might not have otherwise. He (and I, too!) now know the differences between a loader and an excavator, understand what parts like the hydraulic ram and boom are, and have learned how different trucks are used for different but equally important jobs.

He then applies these concepts to his play… I caught him singing “and now we’re ready to load, load, load!” while happily filling up his own dump truck.  

Now that summer is here and the truck toys have been spending a lot of time outside in the dirt, I had an idea to make our own construction site, facilitating his exploration of different textures and materials. Sensory activities, which is really just anything that allows a kid to explore something using their senses, like this one provide kids with opportunities to compare and contrast, discover cause and effect, problem solve, and most importantly create and imagine.

I used three disposable cookie sheets and filled each one with a different material: flour, decaffeinated coffee grinds, and dried beans. I scattered his construction toys amongst the trays and also brought out some shovels, cups, buckets, a sifter, and a spray bottle filled with water. As we played, I added some rocks, leaves, and sticks, and then eventually caved and added some potting soil to another tray.

Cole loved the sound the beans made as they filled up the trucks, the way the wheels left tracks in the smooth flour, and the coffee was his favorite for scooping. He really directed the experience, and I tried to jump in when I could and chat with him about what we were doing.

Eventually, we started mixing materials and exploring what happened when you added water. The spray bottle was also a great way to clean off the trucks after their hard day of work. Cleanup was as you would expect, although I’m wondering what will happen to the few rogue beans I may have missed.

The best part about this activity is that you really can’t go wrong, because you can basically use anything you have on hand. Also, there are plenty of resources out there for more inspiration. You don’t even have to use construction vehicles; you can create a similar world for zoo animals, dinosaurs, even princesses. The key is using something your child is already interested in to inspire, engage, learn, and PLAY.

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Adventures in Paris with Kids

The Palsson family is in Paris this week, their seventh week together, as a family, learning about the world on a 125 day journey across Europe. Kimberly shares her favorite parts about traveling together, as well as tips about travel with kids.

Paris is a big city with a lot to offer any traveler, so there’s no big surprise that we have an amazing week in Paris as a family. We’ve been here before with the kids, but this time we decide to stay in a part of town we have never ventured into before, which makes it feel like a completely new city to us!

Our Airbnb here is my favorite thus far. The kids have a bunkbed and an assortment of toys, and there are lots of windows overlooking the canal and La Villete. It is very cool. In addition to the apartment, here are our other favorites from the week:

The Salvador Dali Museum. While I haven’t been a big fan of Surrealism, I may be now that I’ve visited this museum with my kids. It’s fun to experience this type of art with your children and see it through their eyes. Both Lillian and Olaf get a kick out of it. They examine each piece, discuss it and in some cases simulate parts of it. At one point both kids are on the floor wriggling like serpents in front of a huge sculpture of a serpent. This museum is small too, which is a bonus when visiting with kids.

Sidenote: A fun ritual we’ve begun is allowing the kids to pick out a postcard at the museum we visit. Then they spend time coloring on the postcards when we stop for a beer or dinner later. We’ve done that at most places we’ve visited, and they seem to really enjoy it. It gives us a bit of calm time too.

Bistrot Mee is one of those places you just can’t believe you stumbled upon. The food is incredible, and their lunch special of one appetizer and one entree is just 15 Euros. What a treat. And it was refreshing to eat something different from German and French food at this point in the tirp. The kids loved it too. I can’t get over what good eaters they are.

The Centre Pompidou is a fun place to take the kids. It’s full of amazing art and always has an interesting exhibit geared toward young kids. We go directly to the kids area, where Lillian and Olaf get to create their own art. They decorate large papers and then take photos in front of them. This art is later projected onto the buildings of a model city to resemble the work of JR. The kids have a great time with it. They also have a project where you complete the graffiti work with a sticker. Our kids are particularly captivated by this activity as they are obsessed with stickers.

David Toutain. Date night restaurant. It’s a mystery degustation, which is our absolute favorite way to dine. We start with champagne and three amuse bouches which are strange and lovely. Then seven courses timed perfectly and paired with incredible wines, cider and even sake. This meal is perfection. If you can, go. Be sure to book a table in advance.

Sidenote: Our date night is made possible by our Airbnb host finding us the most fantastic French babysitter. She and the kids hit it off immediately and made it easy to leave them for a night out. At my request, she picked up groceries to make dinner. When we got home, we learned she’d made crepes for the kids. I was impressed, but she just said, “Of course! I’m French!” She even left some for the kids to have for breakfast. Amazing.

Les Bancs Publics is the coolest little corner bistro! Without a reservation, we get one of the last tables for lunch and gorge ourselves on delicious avocado salad, spinach soup with mussels and vegetable linguine. So so good. For dessert, rhubarb pie and rhubarb cherry cake. The lunch menus here are completely reasonable too. Highly recommend.

Parc de la Villette is a cute park that happens to be across the street from our apartment. There is a fantastic dragon slide, lots of areas to picnic and the Museum of Sciences. If you aren’t staying nearby, I’m not sure I’d venture all the way here for the Parc de la Villette, but we really enjoy it. Our time here felt like normal family time. I particularly love picnicking in the park for dinner one night.

Bicycles in Paris. The thought of biking in any major city scares me, but this bike ride is fantastic. Stefan pulls the kids in a trailer behind his bike. There are some great bike paths along the canal that are completely separated from the road, so it feels safe and provides the opportunity to take your time a bit more. Not only does the path offer a beautiful view, but there are a lot of cool things you can get to by bicycle. It works if you’re willing to take a lot of breaks. The kids aren’t always as happy as pictured above. Some sticker books and snacks help, but we find no substitute for stopping and letting them run around. This is one crazy adventure I’d suggest.

A note on Versailles: Our kids found it incredibly boring. While the gardens are a great place for kids to run around, that doesn’t last long. This is one popular thing I’d suggest skipping.

Have you been to Paris with your kids? I’d love to hear your favorite things to do because I’m sure we’ll be back! #TravelWithHomer

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Feeling Good about iPad Time

I’m willing to admit that iPad time sometimes feels like it saves my life, especially when traveling. My kids get so excited to spend time on their devices that they are much more manageable on travel days. As soon as we settle into our seats on the train, in the car, or on an airplane, they get set up with their tablets. The addition of headphones makes this even more calming for me.

It’s both magical and scary how they can both zone out for hours on end. While I choose not to overthink things like this usually, I gave a lot more thought to my kids’ iPad time as we prepared for our 125 day road trip across Europe. They would be in the car a lot, and I didn’t want all of that time devoted to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

In addition to planning an assortment of fun car activities, which I’d love to share with you in detail in another post, I revamped their iPads. I decided that no matter how much effort I put into entertaining the kids in the car, we’d still be relying heavily on their tablets this summer. So I removed the guilt.

I took all videos off of their iPads and populated the screen with educational apps. Homer helped a lot with this. The app is filled with stories to engage the kids, but the kids are also super excited to conquer new letters, expand their vocabulary, and move through different lands. My daughter is especially competitive with herself and excited to see how much she can accomplish. With Homer, I would be in control of what they could access. I downloaded a lot onto the iPad before we set out, but I purposefully didn’t let them access everything. I want there to be new surprises along the way. So I updated Homer regularly on stops so they’d always have new content to explore.

Now, when I hand them the iPads in the backseat of the car, I don’t feel the usual twinge of guilt. I am confident that this screen time is engaging learning time for them. The best part is the kids are so engrossed with this interesting content that they don’t seem to miss the videos they once watched with zombie dedication.

In addition to limiting the iPad content to educational apps, I made both iPads look exactly the same. This may sounds like a small thing, but it is a game changer! I no longer hear, “She has something special on her iPad that I don’t have!” And my daughter can easily show Olaf where certain apps are on his tablet.

Headphones are also key to my iPad-use happiness. I don’t have to hear two different apps going at the same time, which makes me a bit crazy. A bonus to the headphones is that Stefan and I can now listen to Audible or a favorite podcast without worrying too much about the content being kid-friendly.

Store the iPads, with their headphones, in a bag together. We used a small travel bag from Ikea. They’re opaque and just the right size to keep everything together. This makes them easy to add to the backpack, but it also helps keep the devices out of sight so the kids aren’t constantly reaching for them.

If you’re planning a trip this summer, I hope you’ll find these tips helpful in balancing the pull of the screens with your desire to keep your children from turning into zombies. I’d also love to hear your tips and tricks!

So happy to #TravelwithHomer this summer.

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Red, White, and Blue Treat

Bring out the berries, because this Homer mom-approved sweet treat is not only pretty, it’s also fun and something you and your young child can do together. The best part? This berry-licious dish takes less than 15 minutes to make.

I tried it out with my three-year-old and, even though she was a bit opinionated about wanting to do it herself, she loved mixing and prepping it for our guests that evening.

Ingredients:

18 ounce carton vanilla low-fat yogurt

1/4 teaspoon almond extract or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 28-ounce container frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed 3 cups fresh raspberries and/or cut-up fresh strawberries 3 cups fresh blueberries

6 small flags (for decoration)

Directions:

In a large bowl, pour almond extract or vanilla in yogurt mixture. Fold in whipped topping.

To serve, in six dessert dishes, alternate layers of the berries with layers of the yogurt mixture. Makes 6 servings._ (We started with two together, and then finished it off with the additional 4 later on.)_

Cover and chill for up to 1 hr. Before serving. (I will say, we ate ours right away and it was delicious.)

Learning Tip: Watch “Sweet Tweets: Happy Birthday,” our new song that will be released in the StoryTime section of the Homer app for this week’s Saturday Surprise. Share your 4th of July berry recipes on Facebook or Instagram tagging @learnwithhomer and #SweetTreats and we’ll enter your child to win a special surprise from Homer.

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How to Get Kids to Want to Do Their Summer Reading

Guest post by Alicia Wieser, Founder of The Parenting Journal

The best thing you can do for your child this summer? Engage him or her in reading activities voluntarily.

A new study, reviewed by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, shows that more than summer camps and traveling, reading and writing at home over the summer are the best ways to improve your child’s future academic success. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that it is critical that your child participate in these reading activities at his or own will in order to reap the benefits of improved academic success.

The research covered a study of over 4000 children ages four to seven years of age and how their different summer activities impacted literacy and math scores. The study analyzes “how various summer activities, such as attending camp, reading and talking about math at home, vacations and day trips, and summer school, have distinct academic effects.”

The result? “Time spent at home, reading independently or talking about books and stories with parents, seems to have a greater influence on children’s academic growth than summer camps or vacations,” writes Leah Shafer in her review of the study in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education’s publication.

But that is not the only key takeaway. The other significant finding, Shafer notes, is “Tutoring and attending summer school was associated with lower scores in the fall.” This research suggests that when we force children to learn, or put them in programs against their own volition, we are hurting their future academic success. “At the very least, for academically focused opportunities to be effective,” Shafer continues, “they need to be voluntary, rather than compulsory activities such as summer school or tutoring.”

How do we get our children to engage in reading and writing voluntarily? We need to find books,stories and activities that intersect with their interests.

Tim Ferriss bestselling author on human behavior, has studied how to optimize teaching his whole career. When asked how he would set up his classroom, he said his first day of teaching young students would be full of fun exercises and building credibility. The whole point is getting his students to want to come back the next day. He says of teaching, “you need the patient to be willing to take the medicine.” If we are going to successfully engage our children in reading and writing this summer, this is what we as parents must do this summer with our children: find ways to get them “to be willing” to read and write.

My son is five years old and I met with my son’s head of kindergarten to discuss how to encourage my son to engage in hand strengthening activities to help develop his handwriting. He recommended lots of activities like legos, using scissors, and making bread. “Ultimately,” he said, ���You have to find activities that interest him in order for him to engage them. Find themes that he likes, Paw Patrol, for example. Try to find activities to work on hand strength in that theme.”

I will be trying to meet my son’s interests this summer to engage him in reading and writing. We will be doing competitions (he loves competitions) and employing other themes in which he is interested to enlist him successfully in reading and writing. Unfortunately for me, one of my son’s biggest interests are bugs. Unfortunate because I cannot stand bugs! Eeek… Well, I will do what I have to do in order to find stories and activities this summer that meet his interests, even if it is a summer about bugs! Just, please no cockroaches….

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Off To France

The Palsson family leaves Germany this week and discovers France. As they journey through Europe, they’re inspiring all of us to take on new adventures, try new things, and find time to have fun as a family. Read what’s happening in the Discover the World section of the Homer app and see where you’re inspired to go.

Champagne Region: Surprisingly Fun with Kids

We leave Germany for France this week! On our way, we decide to hit up a few other countries. Why not?!

We stop in Soy, Belgium to visit an amazing brewery, Fantome. My husband emails with the brewer, Dany, who will be too busy brewing today to show us around. Another time. So we stop by the old farmhouse where the magic happens and proceed to a cute little spot for lunch, La Command’Rie. They let us buy Fantome by the glass, and we all decide Belgium food is our favorite so far.

We also stop in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The old city wall there is incredible. Just wow. It overlooks more of the city below, with a river and an old bridge built in the 1200s. It is breathtaking.

We arrive in Reims that same day and settle into our new Airbnb. Lillian has been talking about this one for months, so she starts jumping up and down when she realizes she finally gets to sleep in the bed with the slide. Forget seeing the world. All you really need is a bed with a slide, apparently.

Reims, France is an interesting town. While it’s known as the center of the Champagne world, it really is so much more. First we love that it is small enough to walk all the way through and around, with kids. While most of the town may look ordinary (if you can say that about anything in Europe), we stumble upon beautiful old places, like an old Abbey and ruins of amazing sites destroyed during the Revolution. It’s full of charming surprises.

Taittinger is located in town, and they don’t require reservations for the tours they operate throughout the day. While California wine tours spend time showing you the fermentation tanks and explaining the science of making wine, this tour focuses on the impressive caves storing an incredible number of bottles of Champagne. These caves and passageways date back to Roman times. The small, short chisel marks on the wall give you an idea of the amount of work it took to build these caves. It’s impressive. Parts of the cellar used to be an abbey, so you can see a couple staircases that used to lead up to different parts of the abbey and original doors from the 12th century. These caves were also used by Reims citizens during World War I, and there are some markings on the walls left from that time too. It’s fascinating. The glass of champagne at the end of the tour is nice too.

We take a day trip to Epernay, only 25km south of here and the center of the Champagne region.There are many small towns surrounding Epernay, and we stop in Hautvillers. It’s a cute old town, with the church where Dom Perignon, the monk who made champagne what it is today, is buried. I find the tastings at the local shops here off-putting, as they charge around 5 Euros for a “tasting”, which is just a small glass of one type of Champagne. In this regard, I prefer California wine tasting, where I get a bit of education and the opportunity to taste and compare different styles side-by-side.

We’re delighted to find Au 36 in Hautvillers. They provide side-by-side tastings and yummy snacks to accompany them. They even offer grape juice tasting made up of a white and red juice from local grapes. The kids feel very sophisticated. The white, made from Muscat grapes, is the favorite.

Epernay has many nice restaurants, but be sure to make reservations. They fill up, and everything closes at 2pm. We lingered in Hautvillers too long, so we had to pick up sandwiches somewhere. My impression of Epernay is not great. The champagne houses all seem super commercial and a bit snobby. I’d spend time elsewhere in the Champagne region.

We drive “The Champagne Route” on the way home. There are 3 different routes, very clearly labeled. It’s a very nice thing the region has done for visitors. We drive through fields of vines and through tiny towns. It is unbelievably charming. I would have preferred spending more of the day doing this than in Epernay. We feel like we got a complete Champagne experience though.

One last gem to share. To the side of Les Halles, we discover a cool space behind the shops on a walking street. It is so hipster, with umbrellas hanging from lines overhead and seats made from reclaimed wood and tin barrels. There are a few food carts selling champagne, beer and hamburgers. Perfection. The kids run around with the perfect balance of crazy to get out energy and restraint to not irritate everyone else there. Or so I hope. A nice last impression of this adorable town.

Have you spent time in the Champagne region? I’d love to hear what you loved and didn’t!

Next Stop: Paris! #TravelWithHomer

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5 Tips To Prevent Summer Slide

The days are getting longer. And with the absence of school comes freedom from our humdrum routines. Most of us greet the summer months with a mixture of relief (Ahh, no more lunches to pack at 6 a.m.) and anxiety (Will my daughter’s brain turn to mush?). We've all heard about the proverbial "summer brain drain," kids losing months of learning over the summer months only to find themselves behind in September. Not to despair. There are some simple, and fun, ways to add real learning value to your summer vacation routines.

1. Put some spice, and predictability, into summer reading

Take the anxiety out of summer reading requirements by making a schedule and rewarding your child for meeting summer reading milestones. Last summer, a friend and her little ones fashioned a construction paper "beanstalk" on the wall of their kitchen. For every book read, a colorful leaf was added to the growing vine. By the time school started, Jack and the Beanstalk had nothing on these guys. And if you're looking for some great additions to your school's list, use Homer’s Summer Reading Challenge and create your own reading vine.

2. Make math games part of family fun

One of my kids' favorite math games, "I’ve got a number," is a great way to give your kids a math workout on a long road trip. Come up with a number between one and 100. Take a mini white board and write down math clues to help your kids guess the number. For example: I've got a number. It's divisible by five but not by two. It's also known as a "quarter." It’s one-fourth of 100. See how long it takes your kids to guess "25."

3. Scrabble is a great vocabulary builder

Our family loves team Scrabble. When our girls were really little, they played on a team with the grown-ups, but now that they’re a little older, they've formed a team of three to take us on. There's nothing more fun than scoring 14 points with that pesky Q, except maybe watching your 7-year-old make the word "zebra" for 16.

4. Encourage your child to keep a summer scrapbook

Keeping a scrapbook of summer fun, even if that fun takes place in the backyard, encourages your child to develop storytelling skills, writing skills and to explore their own creativity. Target and Michael's are great resources for scrapbooking supplies, and Scribble Press has a great publishing tool if you want to save those memories for posterity.

5. Don't forget free time in the great outdoors

No matter how important it is to keep some structured learning going on over the summer, it's equally important to give your children time to explore the world independently with no agenda. Plan a campout in the backyard and spend the night stargazing. Who knows? Maybe learning the names of the constellations will spark an interest in the Greek myths, or even space travel.

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Homer’s Summer Reading Challenge

You’ve heard it loud and clear from all of your children’s teachers: the most important thing moms and dads can do for their kids over the summer is keep reading routines alive and well. But there’s nothing worse that watching your child approach their summer reading list with a look of dread. After all, reading is supposed to be a delight, not a burden.

The experts (and crafty moms) at Homer have created a Summer Reading Challenge that will help your family keep reading routines alive and fun all summer long. So head for the hammock with Homer and start the challenge under the shade of your favorite tree!

Instructions:

Read a story

Cut out a leaf (either make your own or use the one in your child’s downloadable reading list)

Write the story title on the leaf

Punch a hole in the leaf and add it to a string you hang in your chid’s room

Share with the Homer community by posting to the Homer Facebook page and tagging #HomerSummerChallenge

> Download full summer reading list for ages 2-3

> Download full summer reading list for ages 4-6

> Download full summer reading list for ages 7-8

If your child completes all stories on the reading list for her age group by July 31, we’ll send her a surprise gift to celebrate her achievement. 

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How Do You Build Resilient Kids? Let Them Learn to Fail

Summer is upon us, and moms (and dads) everywhere are biting their nails about how to keep their kids learning and thriving all summer. As the founders of the Homer learning program for kids ages 2-8, we’re often asked for tips on how parents can fill the summer months with valuable learning experiences for their children.

This summer, we’ve got an unconventional tip for over-achieving parents everywhere: give your child a chance to fail this summer.

Okay. Okay. We’re not suggesting you manufacture hardship for your child over the summer months or create a resilience bootcamp in the backyard. But we can’t resist sharing a piece by our rockstar Homer mom, Rankin McGugin, mother of 3 (with one on the way), and - if that weren’t enough - a brain scientist to boot. Rankin reminds us - a generation of parents who, whether we want to admit it or not, hover way more than our own moms did - about the importance of failure in developing resilience, creativity and humility. So, while you’re designing your summer star chart and filling out medical forms for camp, take some notes from our resident brain researcher: it’s healthy for kids to experience a little boredom, a little discomfort and - are you ready? - a little failure, if we want them to grow up to be the kind of people we’d choose to spend a summer vacation with!

From Rankin: Learn to Fail Well

The rise of helicopter parenting is no surprise when you consider how much more delightful it is to watch your child succeed than to fail. Why not hover around them, preventing every stumble, never allowing them to feel an ounce of boredom or discomfort? Well, for one, it’s obnoxious. But here’s the real reason: children need failure to build their internal resilience, and they need this resilience to get through the curve balls life will inevitably throw at them.

Children are born with immense adaptive potential, but we slowly rob them of this developmental right in our attempt to protect them from failure and regret. We want all their experiences to be the same, to be successes and victories. But what they need from time to time is to take a nose-dive, botch it up, get it wrong, and learn to try again a different way.

A recent article in Scientific America is entitled “One reason young people don’t go into science? We don’t fail well.” Luckily for me, I grew up the third of four children, quickly mastering the art of failure in an atmosphere of competition. When my older brother disapproved of my prom date, I’d find another. When my big sister raised her eyebrows at my bleached jorts and camo tank-top, I’d head back to my closet. When the jokes in my drama speech failed to evoke laughter from even my baby sister, I’d rewrite them. I turned my pattern of trying and failing and trying again into a career, and became a scientist. Because this is what scientists do: we try and, more often than not, we fail. But now I have children of my own, and I pain to watch them fail. We’ve all heard it said that failure is the best teacher. Still, it is achingly difficult to sit back and watch our children crash and burn, when helicoptering over them is all too convenient.

Here’s the science behind it: learning can transpire in two contradictory paths. The first is reward-based learning, which originates from a positive brain response that reinforces experiences that feel ‘good’ (think: sharing a toy and receiving applause); and the second is avoidance learning, whereby a negative experience trains the brain to avoid repeating the same mistakes (think: saying an ugly word and going to time out). Scientists at USC use magnetic resonance imaging to show that the developing brain responds similarly to failure as it does to regret, recognizing when something was done incorrectly and learning to adapt behavior for the future.

Children’s brains are not hard-wired at birth; they are dynamic and influenced by learning throughout the course of a lifetime. But research on brain plasticity highlights the critical period of childhood, during which neural processes prune unused connections in the brain and strengthen existing ones. In order to fully develop, children need a little failure, a little stress.

Not all stress is bad. UC Berkeley researcher Daniela Kaufer supports the benefits of stress on the brain, which include improved cognitive performance, more stable memory formations, and even the development of new neurons. So let’s give our children a chance to fail, to form those experiences of regret, and to use these memories to adapt and learn. Then we can send them off into the world, confident we’ve allowed them to learn how to fail well.

[learnwithhomer]

Cologne: Tiny Things, Old Things, Pork And A Date Night

The Palssons are onto their second stop on their 125 trek across Europe. This week: Cologne, Germany. 

After 3 nights in Lubeck, we pack up and drive to Cologne, Germany. On the way, we stop in Hamburg to visit the Miniature Museum on a friend’s recommendation. While this is not the sort of thing for which I’d typically detour, we actually have a really great time. The ticket cost is steep, but I’d still highly recommend this place to anyone traveling in the area.

Miniature Museum in Hamburg. It’s a huge floor of miniature land after miniature land. The detail is incredible on these sets! People grilling hot dogs on their patios, parades, police raiding a shady warehouse on the edge of town. All very interesting. There is a ledge where kids can stand to see it all. We spend almost 2 hours there and still don’t come close to seeing everything. The kids have a blast, but I think Stefan likes it the most. We are here in the beginning of June, and it is already very crowded, so I understand why they limit admittance.

Our Airbnb in Cologne is farther out of town than I realized. Oops! We are in the guest house of a family with two young girls, ages 1 and 3. The backyard has a trampoline, a slide, a swing and a sandbox. These are basically my kids’ favorite things. This is why I booked this place. They run straight for the fun yard, and we have to drag them inside to eat and get ready for bed. It makes me happy that they appreciated this (remote) place I booked.

While Cologne is not our favorite city, we do like how walkable it is. We take full advantage and see a lot of the city. The Dom Cathedral is an amazing Gothic structure, and there’s a Roman arch nearby. I’m impressed to see things this old still standing. Of course, the kids want to climb on it.

The Ludwig Museum offers some impressive modern art, which Lillian loves. Olaf has to be carried to remain under control. I know he doesn’t like museums the way Lillian did at his age, but I’m glad we still try to expose him to such things. We like museums, so we want to make that part of his world as well. We play a game where he finds one item in each room that he likes. Then we get to one room where he just states, “no.” Okay, so it’s not for everyone.

There’s a nice walkway and green space along the water, and it’s lined with bars and restaurants. We discover we aren’t the biggest fans of Kolsch beer, but we find some great schnitzel and pork knuckle in Cologne. One restaurant is pretty great:

Gilden im Zims restaurant. It’s in a very touristy area of town, but the place seems to be packed with locals. The food is amazing. Stefan eats pork knuckle every day this week, and this is his favorite of the week. My pork chop is also delicious, but the greatest delight is a local specialty: creamed spinach with fried eggs and fried potatoes. This place makes us feel like it’s just a normal night out at a local bar. We watch a local soccer match while the kids play Speakaboos and Homer on their iPads.

Stefan and I have our first date night of the trip in Cologne! Our Airbnb host, Gisele, watches our kids along wtih her two girls. They can’t speak the same language, but they have a great time playing together anyway. In the meantime, Stefan and I are able to enjoy a fancy 5-course tasting menu with wine pairings in town. The food is just okay, but the German and Austrian wines are fantastic. It feels really good to be out of the house spending quality time together. Sometimes we don’t realize how much we need it until we get it. We will be planning more dates throughout the trip to make sure we have this special time to connect.

Next stop: Luxembourg and France! #TravelWithHomer and #travelwithkids

[learnwithhomer]

Write A Story About Dad

It’s all about Dad this weekend. Why not encourage your child to create a unique, handmade tale he’ll never forget using your child’s imagination and storytelling ability?

Have your child follow the instructions below creating a Dad-centered story and enter the Homer Father’s Day Challenge. One special winner will receive a 3-month subscription package to Birchbox men. Materials: • 2 x 8.5 inch sheets of construction paper
 • Hole punch
 • Ribbon for binding the book
 • Crayons, markers, and other decorations
 1. Assemble the sheets of construction paper. Use one sheet for the front and back cover, and one sheet for the inside pages.
 2. Fold the pile of construction paper in half width-wise to make a storybook 8.5 X 5.5 inches.
 3. Cut three lengths of ribbon, each around 12 inches long, and thread each one through the three holes. You can also use one long ribbon to thread throughout all holes. Tie the ends of the single ribbon in a bow. Pay close attention not to tie too tightly because it will cause the pages of the book to tear.
 4. Now, it’s time for your child to color and create the story. With Dad (or Grandpa or Uncle) as the primary character, what will he be doing and what is the beginning, middle, and end of the story for him? Let your child talk and discover. If your child is able to write, have your child write the title of the story.
 5. While your child tells you the tale, write it down. Have your child illustrate the pages and talk about the story together.
 6. Submit this piece of art or your child’s own video story talking about the great guy in their life with jessica@homerlearning.com by June 16 and your special Dad will be entered to win a 3-month subscription to Birchbox Man. Special instructions for entry: 1. Post a photo or video of your child telling a story about the greatest Dad ever to your own Facebook page tagging #HomerDad.
 2. Email jessica@homerlearning.com with photos and/or video of your child’s story. 
 3. We’ll share to the Homer Facebook and Instagram accounts on June 17. The entry with the most “likes” by June 18 will win the prize.

[learnwithhomer]

First Road Trip Stop: Lubek, Germany

This week, the Palsson family journeys to Lubek, Germany as their first stop on a 125 day family road trip across Europe. Follow along each week as Homer mom Kimberly and her family of four learn, bond, and travel together. 

Lubek: Quaint German Beauty

It’s our first week on the road. The only negative so far is discovering our 2 year old son gets car sick. His carseat still faces backward, the standard in Europe, and I don’t think it helps. While we can’t figure out how to get him to stop vomiting in the car, we have prepared a kit next to his seat to make cleanup easier. It includes: wipes, diapers, two clean rags (one for wiping the vomit and the other for setting underneath him when I have to put him back in his carseat), an extra set of clothes, including socks and shoes, and plastic bags to contain the mess and smell. It’s working. And, luckily Olaf doesn’t seem too upset by the whole thing. It’s just something for us to manage.

The first stop on this crazy adventure is Lubeck, Germany. We drive through Denmark and take the ferry to Germany. The play area entertains the kids the entire ride; it’s a welcomed break from the car. Lesson learned: if you ever have the option, take the ferry!

Lubeck is a beautiful old town with tall church steeples reaching above the skyline. Our apartment is in the center of town, and the kids sleep in the attic, which they think is super cool. I love that they’re embracing this adventure already!

It’s not a main tourist destination, but we love Lubeck. Here are a few of our favorite things:

Schiffergesellschaft restaurant. I’d recommend it for anyone, especially those with kids. It was a guild house for fishermen for hundreds of years, and amazing boats hang from the ceiling. It’s pretty special. The food and service are very good. Reservations are highly recommended as this seems to be a popular place with both locals and tourists.

Fraulein Bromse cafe and playground. The museum is on the grounds of a very old church, and the reconstruction is starkly modern next to the remains of the old worn brick. It’s striking. In the center is a nice cafe and playground. The kids were instantly happy. Stefan and I had a beer as the cafe was preparing to close (30 minutes before closing time). These Germans are serious about time. We visited again the next morning and enjoyed incredible quiche and cake with coffee. And the kids played their hearts out. I’d recommend this cafe to anyone, with or without kids. It’s a great place to sit and enjoy a quiet spot overlooking the rooftops of the city.

CafeBar coffee shop. We walked a ton in Lubeck and discovered this cool coffee shop when the kids got tired. I had a coffee while Stefan had one of the best G&Ts of his life. The staff were very helpful and nice. The kids sat on a bench, both inside and outside. They played with Olaf’s cars and some flashcards I brought along (find what’s the same and what’s different). It was a perfect place to linger.

Next stop: Cologne, Germany! Stay tuned and share your family adventures with #TravelwithHomer.

[learnwithhomer]

Animal Clue Activity

Who doesn’t like to play a game of Clue with their kids? After reading “Who Am I? Wild Animals” in the StoryTime section of the Homer app, take the game offline and think of new animals to use. It only takes a few materials and will allow for the whole family to be involved in the guessing game. 

Supplies Needed:

Construction Paper (White and Colored) Markers Glue Stick

Instructions: 

1. Take two sheets of paper. Fold the first one in half. Cut (with an adult’s help) the second one in half.   

2. On the right side, draw or paste a picture of your animal and write the animal’s name. Make sure to leave space at the top. 

3. On the left side, write clues about your animal.  You might include things like: – What color your animal is – Where it lives – What it likes to eat – What kind of animal (mammal, reptile, insect) 

4. Take the other sheet of paper and fold a 1-inch border. Carefully cut strips going all the way to the border without cutting through the paper. (Bonus: Before cutting, you can decorate the paper with the animal’s habitat.) 

5. Tape or glue the border to the first sheet of paper so that the strips ‘hide’ your animal. BONUS: Think of how you would pretend to be your animal. Would you waddle? Hop? Gggggrowl? 

Share your creations with us on Instagram and Facebook and tag #HomerAnimals. 

[learnwithhomer]

Panda Pancake Recipe

Saturday mornings are great opportunities to cook a big breakfast, bond with your child, and get in a new read. Pair the “Who Am I? Wild Animals” story in the StoryTime section of the Homer app with a delicious Panda Pancake breakfast. Here’s what you’ll need to cook up the fun.

Ingredients:

2 round pancakes 1 blueberry Chocolate syrup 1 apple 6 red grapes Mint leaves (optional)

Instructions:

Place the two round pancakes in the center of the plate. Cut up apples into thin lines and place in branch-like shapes around the pancakes. Take two grapes and cut them in half. Then, add four whole grapes to make feet for the second pancake. Add a blueberry nose and chocolate mouth. Top it off with some mint garnish at the bottom of the lower pancake. Enjoy!

Share your breakfast masterpieces on our Facebook and Instagram pages using the hashtag #HomerBreakfast. 

[learnwithhomer]

Planning Our European Road Trip

The Palsson summer European road trip continues as this family of four explores the world with a 125 day adventure to learn about other cultures and bond as a family. Kimberly shares her planning, and hopefully inspiring parents to take a trip, even if you can simply expose your child to the local museum, and apply what your child is learning in Homer’s Discover the World section.

Planning Our European Road Trip

I want to provide some insight into how we planned this trip. We decided to see Europe for the summer, but how does one begin planning such a big trip? Luckily, I love planning, especially when I can employ a Google Spreadsheet (which I always do!), so we started plotting destinations and dates to see what this trip could look like.

Stefan kept insisting the best way to see Europe was by car. I thought the train would be better, but he eventually won me over. I’m so glad we decided on the car. This way, we aren’t at all confined by schedules or destinations. We can wander, which is a true luxury.

Our original goal in planning the trip was to visit Spain. As I went through draft after draft of plans, our priorities slowly shifted. Why don’t we go to Croatia, where one of Lillian’s classmates is from? And won’t it be easier to visit Spain another time from NYC than it will be to see some small towns in the Czech Republic and Austria? These thoughts directed our drafting as well as a set of rules I adoped.

Rule #1: No driving two days in a row. A few reaons I made this rule: it doesn’t seem fun; it’s more work packing and unpacking; and it doesn’t seem fair to the kids. They aren’t used to riding in the car. We’ve always lived in cities where we walk or take the subway places, so we have no idea how they’ll do, especially for long periods of time. By refusing to drive two days in a row, we’re giving them a break from the car and making this feel more like a vacation than a constant road trip.

As I planned the trip, this rule made me think beyond staying in a city for just 2 days, the minimum with this rule. Perhaps we need at least 3 or 4 to really experience a place. So that’s what I’ve tried to do. We will stop and explore, not just spend the night, even if it’s a smaller town we know nothing about.

Rule #2: No drives over 5 hours. In fact, I tried to plan it so we wouldn’t be in the car more than 3-4 hours at a time. Again, it’s just no fun spending the whole day in the car. Plus, this forces us to stop along the way and explore new places we may not visit otherwise.

Rule #3: No repeats. We won’t travel anywhere we’ve already been. With one exception: Paris. Lillian, our 5 year old, loves Paris. She’s been a couple times and talks about it a lot. We’ll have to revisit this city, but if you’re going to pick one to be the exception to the rule, it should be Paris.

These rules made a huge impact on our trip planning. We started looking at the whole of Europe as our destination, rather than just the main cities we first had in mind. We’ll have to slow down.

My spreadsheet began to reflect a great trip. Here’s a snapshot of the first month. I did this for the entire 125 days. I know plans may change, but I like seeing how everything works together. And this way, I can start booking accommodations, at least for the first half of the trip.  

In the end, the map above is what we’ve come up with for our 125 day trek across Europe.

We won’t be spending more than a week in Spain, our original destination, but we’ll have the opportunity to see some parts of Europe that we may not see otherwise. Our jumping off point isn’t Stockholm, where we’ve been living, but rather the south of Sweden, where Stefan’s family has a summer house. We’ll also end the trip here, where we’ll leave the car and fly back to the states in October. Wish us luck! We’re off! #TravelWithHomer