This festive month features fun learning for your little ones! Read about hands-on learning, reading readiness, creative kits, and educational examples. This spotlight is on companies that help you teach and make learning fun. Get acquainted with early learning options for your home.
Pitsco Education
The littlest of learners have big potential! And Pitsco Education is excited to offer experiences that encourage hands-on discovery and exploration for young learners.
 
Pitsco has been a hands-on learning company for 50 years. Time and time again, we have seen the impact of meaningful and easy-to-facilitate experiences. Hands-on in early learning helps address a child’s perceptual, motor, and physical growth as well as their social, emotional, and language development.
 
Parents and teachers alike can attest that Pitsco’s newest early-learning offerings are more than beneficial – they’re fun too! For example, a parent’s Facebook comment was all that one elementary curriculum coordinator in South Redford, MI, needed to confirm what she had been hearing in bits and pieces from summer school teachers – that her district’s investment in STEM and STEAM materials paid off. “I’m so thankful for the out-of-the-box activities South Redford planned for our students and the awesome teachers that taught them,” the parent’s Facebook post read. “You know it was good teaching when your kids don’t realize they are learning while having a blast!”
 
And this kind of learning can happen at home, in a cooperative learning space, or in a traditional classroom; playful learning really can happen anywhere. Pitsco has numerous solutions that get STEAM in children’s hands – such as the Bee-Bot® programmable robot; topical activity bundles that explore the food web, construction, sound, and more; and STEM Boxes and design and building kits.
 
Visit Pitsco.com/Shop/Early-Learning to learn more, or call 800-835-0686 to place your order today!
LightSail Education
If your child spends 30 minutes a day reading, 5 days a week for 3 months, we GUARANTEE their reading skills will improve…or your money back!*
 
And that’s just the beginning…
 
Built by homeschoolers for homeschoolers.
 
Watch your children…
 
  • Browse the digital shelves with over 12,000 books…
  • Listen to thousands of audiobooks on-the-go…
  • Explore the past with World Book Digital Encyclopedia…
  • Meet new people with Biography Center…
  • Take a deep dive with a Unit Study…
  • Write and publish their own books!
 
The possibilities are endless!
 
 
Your kids can explore to their heart’s content while you have peace of mind knowing they’re protected by ChildSafe Content Controls, aligning our content with your family’s values.
 
Settings per child allow them the freedom to grow while you monitor behind the scenes.
 
Spice up your homeschool this holiday season with resources right in the comfort of your own home…or wherever you may have journeyed!
 
*Measured by Lexile® level after completing the Power Challenge and by then reading Power Texts daily on LightSail’s Platform.
Ivy Kids Kits
Read, play, create, and learn with Ivy Kids monthly book-inspired STEM kits.

Ivy Kids creates educational kits for children ages 3-8. Each Ivy Kids kit includes a carefully selected, highly rated children's book, and over 12 fun, creative, and unique hands-on activities that promote the development of math, science, literacy, engineering, and art skills through play and exploration. Inside an Ivy Kids kit there are board games, arts and crafts, science experiments, projects, math manipulatives, story characters, and so much more. Everything that you need is included in the kit and conveniently delivered right to you each month!

Ivy Kids currently offers monthly, 3-month, and 6-month subscriptions. A large variety of individual past kits are also available for purchase in the Ivy Kids online store-- no subscription necessary. Customers also have the option of adding extra sibling materials to a kit for only an additional $5.95 (per sibling).

Subscribe and use code IVY20 to save 20% on your 1st kit or use code PASTKITS10 to save 10% on any past kit.

To learn more about subscriptions and past kits, visit the Ivy Kids website www.ivykidskits.com.
All About Learning
Ready to build a strong foundation for reading?  

The All About Reading program begins with a Pre-reading level for preschoolers and kindergarteners. To provide the strong foundation that early readers need, the All About Reading Pre-Reading program focuses on what we call the Big Five Skills. These fundamental pre-reading skills include:

  • Print Awareness: the understanding that the print on a page represents words that have meaning and are related to spoken language
  • Letter knowledge: the ability to recognize the letters of the alphabet and to know the names and sounds of each
  • Phonological awareness: the ability to hear and identify the various sounds heard in spoken words
  • Listening comprehension: the ability to understand the meaning of words a child hears and to relate to them in some way
  • Motivation to read: a child’s eagerness and willingness to read

The Big Five Skills help pre-readers understand the basics of language and how it works, preparing them to become proficient readers for life.

In our 78-lesson pre-reading program, your child will play special games, enjoy little crafts, and engage in charming storytime activities, all the while absorbing the all-important Big Five Skills.

Give pre-readers the skills they need to succeed!

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 DISCLAIMER: The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine and its staff do not necessarily endorse or agree with the images, advertisements, or other content appearing in any third-party advertising. Please use discernment and wisdom when considering advice and recommendations made in any of these offerings.