Homer is a personalized literacy app that turns my 5-year-old's screen time into a captivating learning experience

• When it comes to screen time for kids, it is critical to include apps that are educational and engaging.
• Homer, an early learning platform for ages 2 years and up, tailors literacy lessons to your child's abilities and interests.
• The stories and games in Homer's Reading and Stories apps held my daughter's attention more than any other app as she learned sight words and letter sounds.

Lately, I've been trying to indulge my kids' screen time requests less frequently. It's easy for me to jump at the chance to take a short break from the mayhem by letting them zone out with a device, but that's not the kind of long-term parent I'm really interested in being.

I am, however, completely willing to be the type of parent who tricks their kids into learning during screen time. That's why apps like Homer are great. Literacy building and reading skills set inside an app that knows they love dinosaurs and music? Sign me up. Sign us all up. And that's just what we did when Homer offered us a chance to test its two bundled apps: Reading and Stories.

Since installing the apps, my 5-year-old Lyla has been happy to spend at least 30 minutes a day playing and learning with Homer, accounting for about half of her allotted screen time and leaving neither of us feeling particularly taken advantage of.

Design and specs

Homer is an early literacy learning platform loaded with more than 1,000 games and stories for kids 2 to 8 years old, though older children may benefit as well. Its two apps —Reading and Stories — are designed by a team of child development, curriculum design, and education technology experts and tailored to your child's needs and interests for an optimal learning experience.

The bundled apps are offered as a 30-day full-access free trial to start, then as a monthly ($9.99) or annual (currently $45) subscription. Homer is compatible with iOS and Android platforms and available for download from the AppStore, Google Play Store, and Amazon. The apps hold space for individual accounts for up to four children based on information like their age, reading level, and interests.

Throughout Reading and Stories, the illustrations, animations, and stories are all created with mass appeal in mind. They are varied in style and content, especially compared to other educational apps that feature a consistent cast of characters, like the monsters from Endless Reader. There is one regular presence throughout Homer Reading: a monkey that narrates throughout the games and guides your child along their learning path with friendly encouragement.

The library in the Stories app also features a wide variety of styles. Lyla chose a handful of subjects she was interested in, like Holidays, Princesses, and Animals, and in return got a tremendous amount of story options. To make the most of this platform, your child should be able to touch and hold objects on the screen, drag objects, and follow simple one-step directions.

What it's like to use

To begin, Lyla and I opened the Stories app and worked together on the introductory personalization process. We input her first name and birthday, chose her specific interests from a list of options, and determined her reading stage based on a series of simple questions about letter and word recognition.

From that point, Lyla basically ripped the iPad out of my hands so she could explore further. Like a lot of 5-year-olds, she is picking up lots of reading cues and exploring different aspects of literacy, like rhyming and sounding out. She was captivated by the captions that were highlighted one word at a time as the stories were read or sung aloud to her.

Plus, the library that she was choosing from was based entirely on the information we had input at the beginning. Stories were divided into the same types of categories, like Princesses and Animals, and she could easily toggle through to find a new story or revisit an older one. The stories that I overheard were goofy and fun and I could see why she liked them.

Later we tried the Reading app, which is used for more active learning through lessons and games. These are placed along a learning path and grouped by level. Lyla started to fly through each one. They include a combination of sight word exercises, letter tracing, and games based on her reading level followed by a recap of the level. This is not to say that Lyla is scoring 100% on everything, but the games are simple and short and provide gentle prompts to help achieve the right answer before the activity is over.

Although she was actually learning the same sight words or letter sounds for a few activities in a row, she was able to stay attentive because the challenges were presented in new ways. Each game kept her busy answering questions and thinking critically. Importantly, the learning tasks were punctuated by occasional self-guided drawing activities. Ultimately, she was more engaged and entertained than I have seen her with other apps.

What makes Homer stand out

Typically, personalization is not a priority in early learning apps; the focus is on making sure the lessons and content are intriguing enough that any child would like it. Homer highlights the relevance of a child's preferences, interests, and skills in their learning process. Over the month or so that Lyla has been using Homer, it's been easy for her to get lost in the stories and games. She spends at least 30 minutes a day on the apps, but often longer.

Also worth noting: Educators — including teachers and librarians — can download this app for free.

The cons

You'll need an internet connection to access your personalized app settings, which is potentially limiting for families without Wi-Fi or if you're just on the go. You can download individual lessons while you are connected to the internet for later use, but if you close the app, the downloads become unavailable — it must remain running in the background for continued access.

The bottom line

Homer excels at keeping kids interested and learning. The apps are flexible for a range of ages and skills, from toddlers through growing readers, as well as a spectrum of learning styles and abilities. Lyla, for example, is in the early reading stage and gets frustrated easily. Even when the tasks are challenging, she sticks with them thanks to the games being inherently fun for her because they feel relatable and meaningful.

Pros: Great for literacy learning, tailored programming for kids 2 years and older

Cons: Not fully accessible offline