Simply Smart (LLC) is an organization dedicated to helping families create centers of learning that promote joy, connection, independence, character & excellence. Simply Smart was started by a mother and daughter determined to provide better resources for their own family. As an attorney & busy mother (now with eight children), and a grandmother with over twenty grandchildren, they recognized a new approach to learning was needed that was more effective and workable for families. At Simply Smart, we understand first hand the challenges (and benefits) of teaching children in a family setting. The solutions shared are ones that work.
A mother's perspective
As a young mother with six children aged 0-12, I was faced with a situation I never anticipated. One of my school-aged children had a very specific set of problems that made his success in school impossible. I’ll write more elsewhere, but the bottom line is that at the end of one school year I was a heavily-involved school mom, volunteering two days a week at the elementary school and looking forward to the time when all my children would be in school. A few months later, I was a mother with six energetic children that were home all day long as I attempted to home-school and keep the kids out of trouble.
The sudden transition was a good deal more difficult than I expected. Because I had majored in education and had a teaching certificate, I was certain home schooling would be a piece of cake. I set up a classroom, made a schedule for the first day of school, and off we went! A week later I was pulling my hair out and ready to put them all back in public school.
It became clear that my life was already booked to the max before taking on 5 hours of school a day. It also became clear that educating a variety of ages at the same time is totally different than plowing a 4th grader through that year’s curriculum. Finding good curriculum material wasn’t usually the problem. However, finding curriculum material that worked in a family setting was impossible. That started a 36 year journey to create a fun, comprehensive activity-based curriculum that worked well with toddlers through high-school aged children. It needed to focus on quality family time while producing a level of academic excellence that would prepare students for life and college. Welcome to Simply Smart!
A DAUGHTER'S PERSPECTIVE
It has been said, “if you want to teach a child to dance, you have to turn on the music.” Dancing without music is not fun or enjoyable. It seems silly and has no obvious purpose. The same is true when learning other subjects – if you want to teach a child math, literature, science or social studies, you need to turn on the music. You need to teach them why it is interesting, relevant and fun.
My mother turned on the music of learning for me. She filled our home with art, classical literature, science experiments and math supplies. She used to say there should be no line between school and play. My mother’s excitement for learning was contagious. In our free time we read, did art, taught ourselves to play instruments, experimented with science and math, played games as a family and so much more. That is not to say that we wanted to do every school assignment, but it is to say play and school often looked similar. Learning was something we wanted to do of our own accord.
As a parent, I wanted to instill the same love of learning in my children. I wanted my home to be a place where we had fun learning together and my children loved learning on their own. I quickly found that creating that type of environment, while ensuring my children mastered everything, was difficult. My mother began preparing resources to help me. After ten years, this website is what resulted.
