ABC's and Sweet Tea: Home School Navigator Reading and Language Arts Curriculum ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

For the past few weeks we have been reviewing a wonderful comprehensive language arts curriculum using the Indigo level of Home School Navigator Reading and Language Arts Curriculum with a focus on the Holes Interactive Notebook. Language arts curriculum is another one of my favorite things to review right along with math. I am a reader, and I also love to write, so it's right up my alley.

Home School Navigator is an online program that offers six different levels of language arts for your students with 36 weeks of instruction. It has everything you're looking for to have a complete language arts curriculum at your fingertips.

When we first started this program I had initially thought that we would start on the Blue level, but quickly realized that I needed to move him up to the Indigo level. Home School Navigator was extremely generous and gave us a full year of curriculum, and I was able to move Gav up to the next level no problem. I was given 4 weeks to decide which level that he needed to be in, and then I could lock in after getting a feel for what the levels offered.

I really like how the program is set up. It's based on working 5 days a week, but as the teacher, you can easily pick and choose what you want to work on with your child. The layout is very easy to follow, so that you can complete the day's assignments and move on with ease. It's divided by months, and then weeks, and then days. It's broken down so that you and your child know exactly what's going to be taught and when.

One thing I love about Home School Navigator is that it has everything you need in a complete curriculum. It includes:

Daily/Weekly/and Yearly Teaching Guides
Video Library
Read Alouds
Literature/Comprehension
Writing/Grammar
Phonics/Word Study/Vocabulary
Computer Skills
Independent Reading Time
Tons of printouts to go along with the lessons that include the answer keys

There are even games to play with your students to help remember vocabulary etc.

Now if you buy the entire curriculum, in about the second month, you will come to the Interactive Notebooks. These are super cool, because they actually offer just the book studies if you want them! In our Indigo level, the first one is for the book Holes. I can't tell you how many times that Gav has read a book, and I have tried to look up something to go with it, that can teach him different aspects of what's going on in the book.

The Interactive Notebooks remind me of a lapbook in a way. The printouts are all done by chapters and have little mini lessons and activities to do that coincide with the book. You child may have a literary lesson, or some vocabulary to look up in the dictionary, or just a fun page to do. There are little pieces to cut out and add to your child's notebook that will include the lessons for that chapter.

The Interactive Notebooks are so easy to put together and do not take long at all. The only thing you need are the printouts, a spiral or composition notebook, some scissors, and a glue stick. That's it! I actually put the notebook together myself in a little over an hour. It takes time to cut the little "lessons" out, but does not require much effort at all.

I ended up using a spiral to put Gav's together for Holes.

These are very simple to understand. I personally like to look over what the notebook is asking for in those chapters, and then read the chapters it covers. This way you kind of know what you're looking for.

You can see here that it's a very simple concept, but gives your student those extra lessons to really understand what they're reading.

You can see that most of the pieces are affixed to the notebook so that they flip up and your child can write the answer underneath it.

What did we think of this program? I loved it. Gav felt that he was a little too old for it, and I think he's correct on some of it. I did find that it has been a great review for him, and there were plenty of things that we could go over in it. I think that the Interactive Notebooks are really neat, and I love the option to be able to purchase them without having to buy the entire curriculum. On the other hand, I think this curriculum is extremely affordable in itself, and can be used as a one stop curriculum for some families. If you're interested in Home School Navigator Reading and Language Arts Curriculum as a full curriculum or even just the Interactive Notebooks, I highly recommend them both!