TrailGuide is HomeTrail's SMS and WhatsApp assistant for Plus families. This reference covers the full set of family-facing tasks TrailGuide can currently help with and gives you language you can copy into a message.
For a shorter introduction, start with Getting Started with TrailGuide. To connect a phone, see Connecting TrailGuide with SMS or WhatsApp.
Before you start
- Name the student, date, activity, or pack whenever it matters.
- TrailGuide asks a short follow-up when a request is missing important details or could match more than one record.
- Changes to family records usually show a confirmation before they are saved. Reply Y to approve the complete summary or N to cancel it.
- Trail Mail and reminders can be sent or scheduled immediately. If you make a mistake, ask TrailGuide to undo the recent action.
- Nest, generated packs, Trail Mail, and Compass work review require the student app features included with HomeTrail Plus.
- TrailGuide works only with the current family's HomeTrail information and the messages or attachments you choose to send.
See plans, records, and progress
TrailGuide can read family information without changing it.
Read the schedule
See planned or upcoming sessions for a day or date range.
What's planned for Avery today?
Show me Jordan's schedule for next week.
Read completed learning
Review learning sessions that have already been logged.
What did Avery finish on Thursday?
Check progress
Get a recent progress summary for one or more students, with an optional subject focus.
How did Jordan do in math this week?
Read attendance
Check attendance for a day or date range.
How many attendance days does Avery have this month?
Read weather for your family location
Ask about stored daily weather, including outdoor conditions, sunrise, or sunset when available.
What is the weather today?
Recall recent TrailGuide messages
Refer to a recent message, link, or request without typing the whole thing again.
Use the article link I sent earlier for Jordan.
Record and manage learning
Log completed learning
Record a learning session that already happened, including the student, activity, subject, date, duration, and details you provide.
Log 45 minutes of Riverbend Math for Avery today.
Plan future learning
Create a future learning session after TrailGuide checks the schedule for conflicts or duplicates.
Plan a 30-minute nature journal for Jordan Friday at 1:30.
Update a planned session
Add, append, replace, or correct notes and details on one specific planned activity.
Add this note to Avery's math lesson tomorrow: use the fraction tiles first.
Complete a planned session
Mark one existing planned activity complete.
Mark Jordan's nature journal complete.
Delete a session
Remove one resolved session after reviewing TrailGuide's confirmation summary.
Delete Avery's duplicate reading session from yesterday.
Mark attendance
Mark one or more students present or absent for a date.
Mark everyone present today.
Adjust nature time
Add, subtract, or set a student's nature-time total. Say whether you want to add to the total or replace it.
Add 30 minutes of nature time for Avery today.
Set Jordan's nature time for Tuesday to 90 minutes.
Save a journal entry
Save the entry exactly as written, or ask TrailGuide to help you draft it before saving.
Save this journal entry for today: Avery kept trying until the bridge held all ten blocks.
Manage custom curriculum
Read, add, edit, archive, assign, or schedule custom curriculum. TrailGuide can also move a missed lesson created from a Compass curriculum PDF and reflow the remaining incomplete lessons.
Add Lantern Science to Jordan's custom curriculum on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
We missed Fractions Tuesday; resume Thursday and reflow the rest.
Undo a recent eligible action
Use a natural correction such as undo, oops, or take that back. You can name the action when it was not the most recent one.
Undo Avery's Trail Mail.
Never mind that reminder.
Create and manage Nest packs
TrailGuide can work with Nest when student app access is enabled for the family and student.
See saved packs
Ask which pack types are active or assigned for a student.
What packs are active for Avery?
See generated pack cards
Read the cards currently generated for Nest, including generation and completion status.
What generated cards are in Jordan's Nest today?
Generate a new pack card
Create a fresh pack output from a topic, specific settings, a web link, or a recent source card. Current pack types can include:
- Coloring pages, crosswords, quizzes, silly stories, and word searches
- Math worksheets, multiplication practice, and cursive practice
- Fun facts, word of the day, sports recaps, weather, and news patrols
- Parent-selected articles, YouTube videos, and podcast episodes
- Source-backed Deep Dives and short HomeTrail podcasts
Make Jordan a 12-word rainforest word search for Friday.
Make Avery a two-digit addition worksheet with 15 problems.
Turn the article I sent into a Newsworthy card for Jordan.
TrailGuide says when generation is queued and sends the finished preview when it is ready. Review generated work and external material before relying on it.
Find articles, videos, or podcasts
Search for grade-appropriate material, use relevant Compass context and family publisher preferences, and review a numbered shortlist before choosing one or more results. Selected external material stays hidden until a parent approves it. TrailGuide can also turn article research into a cited Deep Dive, a short HomeTrail podcast, or another suitable on-demand pack.
Find Charlie podcasts and articles about mountain lions around Rocky Mountain National Park.
Send 1 and 3 to Charlie, then turn those sources into a Deep Dive.
For the full research and approval flow, see Finding Learning Materials with TrailGuide.
Find and queue one educational video
For a quick one-video request, TrailGuide can find a kid-friendly video, check whether it fits the student's grade, and queue it in the YouTube Videos pack.
Find Avery a kid-friendly video about how beavers build dams.
Follow YouTube channels for Nest
Follow a channel for one student, list followed channels, stop following one, or turn TrailGuide new-video alerts on and off.
Follow @scienceforkids for Avery and text me when a new video is ready.
When a followed channel publishes a video, TrailGuide texts the direct YouTube link after quiet hours. Reply ADD to put the prompted video in the student's Nest.
Turn off new-video alerts for Science for Kids and Avery.
Rename or move a generated card
Change a generated card's parent-facing title or the date it becomes visible in Nest.
Rename Jordan's latest word search to Rainforest Review.
Move Avery's math worksheet to Friday.
Regenerate or revise a card
Create a fresh revision from a recent output while keeping the earlier card intact.
Make that worksheet shorter and include one example.
Add details, attach work, or complete a generated pack
Add notes or an attached photo to the learning session connected to a generated card. Mark it complete only when you say the work is finished.
Attach this photo to Avery's cursive pack and mark it complete.
Print a Nest daily edition
Build a print-friendly daily edition from one or more students' existing Nest work and return temporary print links.
Print today's Nest for Avery and Jordan.
TrailGuide can read, rename, regenerate, and complete generated cards. It cannot archive, restore, hide, or delete those cards by text message; use Plus Hub → Nest for those actions.
Use Compass for learning insight
Review attached cursive work
Attach a clear photo and explicitly ask Compass for feedback on one student's cursive practice. The review can identify strengths and suggest what to practice next, but it is not an official grade, score, diagnosis, or assessment.
Can Compass review Avery's cursive practice and tell me what to work on next?
Save a reviewed work signal to Compass
After a qualifying review, TrailGuide asks whether you want to save reliable observations to the student's Compass learning map. Nothing is saved until you confirm.
Yes, save those observations to Compass.
Get parent-facing homeschool support
Ask TrailGuide to help you reflect on rhythms, patterns, confidence, or what kind of help to request from Compass. Recent session notes or journal entries are included only when you explicitly ask for that deeper review or consent to it.
Our mornings keep stalling. Help me think through a gentler rhythm and what to ask Compass for.
Create a draft portfolio
Build a draft portfolio from a student's sessions for a date range, with optional subject, activity, project, media, or session filters. TrailGuide returns a direct link so the parent can review it.
Create a March science portfolio for Jordan.
Communicate and remember
Send Trail Mail
Send a student-facing note, encouragement, photo, or voice memo into Nest. Trail Mail is for messages and media; use a pack for articles, videos, worksheets, quizzes, or generated activities.
Send Avery Trail Mail: I loved how carefully you worked through those fractions today.
Schedule a reminder
Ask TrailGuide to text you a reminder at a specific date and time.
Remind me Friday at 4:00 PM to review Jordan's progress.
Find ideas, materials, and answers
Answer a homeschool or student question
Get a direct answer without changing HomeTrail records. TrailGuide may offer to log a useful question-and-answer exchange as spontaneous learning.
How long would it take to drive to the bottom of the ocean at 60 miles per hour?
Find educational resources
Search for a specific worksheet, lesson plan, activity, or other resource by topic, grade, or subject.
Find a third-grade lesson plan about pollinators.
Discover activities and outings
Get ideas for learning activities, outdoor exploration, or local outings.
Suggest outdoor science activities for a rainy week.
Get HomeTrail, settings, and account help
Search HomeTrail help
Ask where to find a feature, how a HomeTrail workflow works, or how to configure it. TrailGuide searches the published Help Center before answering.
How do I set up weekly progress reports?
Change supported Trailhead settings
TrailGuide can help change supported settings for progress reports, daily recap texts, TrailGuide, learning-material publisher exclusions, profile notes, profile fields, the school year, and grading. Review and confirm the exact change before it is saved.
Turn on weekly progress reports.
Change a student grade
TrailGuide can update the grade on an individual student profile after showing the current and requested grade for confirmation. The new grade guides future generated packs and worksheets. The current-grade attendance chart switches to attendance recorded under the new grade: it shows zero when that grade has no attendance yet, or shows any days already recorded for that grade. Attendance from the student's previous grade stays saved under previous grades. Existing generated content and past learning records are not rewritten.
Update Kate to sixth grade.
Check subscription and billing information
Ask about the current plan, trial end, payment method status, invoices, cancellation, plan changes, card updates, or starting Plus. TrailGuide summarizes what it can see, then directs the family account owner to sign in to HomeTrail for billing changes.
When does my Plus trial end?
TrailGuide never sends login credentials or direct billing-management links.
What TrailGuide does not do by text
- It does not share login credentials or direct billing-management links.
- It does not make unsupported account, phone, consent, teacher-integration, or deletion changes.
- It does not archive, restore, hide, or delete generated Nest cards.
- It does not treat Compass feedback as an official grade, score, diagnosis, or assessment.
- It does not guarantee that AI-generated work or an external article or video is error-free or suitable for every family. A parent should review it.
- It does not use another family's records or provide a raw dump of stored context.
When TrailGuide cannot perform a requested action, it searches HomeTrail help and points you to the closest supported screen or support path.
