Parent Advocate in 5 Easy Steps
Improved grades, fewer classroom struggles and a happier kid is what every parent can hope for at the start of a new school year. There are 5 secrets to a successful school year and you can master them all.
learning development
Young Rembrandts: About Us Video
There are visible academic and art benefits for children that participate in our program. Young Rembrandts’ students have fun while developing fundamental art literacy and improved academic abilities.
10 Family Fun Activities for May
May is a great month to enjoy the spring weather! Get outdoors and enjoy the month of May with these 10 Family Fun Activities!
1. Go Explore! Spring usually creates the best weather for being outdoors! Put on your favorite walking shoes and check out the world around you. You never know what trails you’ll find and what exciting things you’ll see on your Spring time adventures.
2. Enjoy a Spring Time Scavenger Hunt! Go to the nearest park or even your backyard! 
3. Get crafty and Make a Kite.
4. Plant seeds and start a garden full of beautiful flowers or your favorite vegetables!
Insights from Children’s Art Expert Bette Fetter
May is almost here! Check out the top blog posts of April from Bette, including the release of an all NEW collection of drawing videos! 
Reading Help
A few weeks ago my sister Diane called to talk about her granddaughter Lanie. 
It seems her first grade teacher had some concerns about her reading and wanted to meet with Lanie’s mom and dad. They talked as a family about what the stumbling block might be and remembered our conversations about visual learners. Lanie is a visual learner and she loves to draw. She loves to draw anywhere, anytime, all the time. She takes weekly Young Rembrandts classes at her elementary school. Lanie is a visual learner – but not because she loves art. She’s a visual learner because that is how her brain is wired.
10 Family Fun Activities for April
“Spring with its waving green grass and heaps of sweet-smelling flowers on every hill and in every dale. “- Roy Bean
April is a great month to welcome Spring and enjoy the beautiful weather with outdoor activities! Enjoy these 10 activities I found that are fun for the whole family:
- Enjoy a Springtime Craft like Handprint Flowers!
- Welcome the birds back by making a birdhouse!
- Enjoy the outdoors and spring weather with a Nature Scavenger Hunt!
- Have some fun showing off your artistic abilities and color outside with chalk!
- Walk to the nearest playground or have your little one ride their bike!
Franchise USA Article: Mastering the Art of Franchising
I’ve recently been featured in the latest issue of Franchising USA Magazine. Check out my article here, “Mastering the Art of Franchising” or by visiting the Young Rembrandts Franchise site . Here’s a sneak peak…
“The Young Rembrandts difference is that it’s not just a business or product, it’s a mission,” explains Fetter. “Our franchisees are passionate and mission orientated and the quality of the product 
doesn’t compare to just any art class. It’s been designed very intentionally to maximize the amount of impact we believe art can have on children academically and holistically.”
8 Great iPad Apps for Kids: Reading Apps for Children
Here are 8 AWESOME apps to help your child learn and enjoy reading! 
- Reading Rainbow: Offers a library of books to users, themed according to a child’s interests (action adventures, magical tales, etc.). Kids can choose to have a book read aloud to them or to read the book themselves. To access more than one book, however, you’ll have to subscribe to the app — a $10 recurring monthly fee or $30 for six months.
- Starfall Learn to Read: an app version of the stellar learn-to-read website, Starfall. The app has the same content as the “Learn to Read” section of the site. There are 15 mini-books, each focusing on a specific vowel, along with videos and activities to enhance literacy learning. As with other Starfall apps, the thorough and careful design keeps kids focused on learning.
- Martha Speaks Dog Party: A US Dept. of Education-funded study found target vocabulary improved up to 31 percent for children ages 3-7 who played this Parents’ Choice Recommended app over a two-week period. Includes FOUR fun-filled games starring Martha, the talking dog from the popular PBS KIDS TV series MARTHA SPEAKS(TM).
Chocolate Math and Visual Learners
Last night our grandson Brayden had some subtraction homework to do. He had already finished his writing and sight words and his enthusiasm was beginning to fade. To reinvigorate homework time and make the math fun, his mom brought out the math manipulatives, but these were extra special manipulatives. Emily filled a small paper cup about half full of M+Ms. And as much as kids are attracted to small colorful objects, small colorful chocolate objects are really engaging. She explained that he could use the candy to count out and subtract the numbers, and when the homework was successfully completed, they were his to eat.
World Autism Awareness Month
The month of April has the wonderful distinction of being Autism Awareness Month, and today, April 2nd, is World Autism Day. Autism is a neurological disorder that disrupts a person’s learning and socialization. While it affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S., it’s considered a ‘spectrum’ disorder because the characteristics vary from person to person.
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