How The Southwestern Advantage Learning System Helps Families

student rep Jen

Each summer, over 200,000 families across the US and Canada invest in education with the Southwestern Advantage Learning System via a student rep visiting their home. 

Southwestern Advantage is a 158 year old education company. Our learning system is made up of books, software, and an online component that all works together. The Southwestern Advantage Learning System provides students with 'Tools for Learning and Skills for Life.' What that means is our system helps out with homework and studying, and it also reinforces the critical messages of character development that parents strive to instill. We combine the how-to of school work with success principles that every student should hear. These are included throughout our learning system and discussed heavily in our web component.

But how are this many families able decide in just a short 20 minute visit that these products are the right fit for their family? 

There are a few main reasons that we hear time and time again as to why families from coast to coast make the decision to be one of our "Families For Education" (something we call our customers).

Education is a top priority

The most common reason that families decide to invest in our products is because of how fundamentally important education and character development are to parents today. As a parent, there are two things that you can give your children that they will take with them for the rest of their lives: their knowledge and their character -- what they learn and the person who they become.

Parents are the best and most important teachers whom their children will ever know. In nearly every parents' mind, a resource that is going to help their children have more access to knowledge, reveal more of their personal potential, and gain confidence is something worth having at home -- whether it's used once a month or on a daily basis. Parents want to see their children grow to do better and have more opportunities than they had. A quality education is the best path to begin achieving this. 

Helping Parents Help Kids

student rep Anna

Families have different struggles when it comes to homework, but one that stands out regularly is how frustrating it can be for parents to help out. Many times the methods have changed, and mom or dad's way isn't the way the teacher does it. Other times the phrase "if you don't use it you lose it" rings true. Not doing polynomials for 25 years makes for a tough process to remember. Having something close by that easily walks you through it step-by-step in clear terms is pretty handy.

Time Saving

Our planet seems to spin faster now than it ever has before. We live in a hyperactive world with too much to do and not enough hours in the day to do it. Students feel this too. As kids get older, they get busier; more homework, more extracurriculars, more friends, more activities. Something that helps students get more work done in less time always seems to put a smile on their face. It's an exhausting feeling when it's 10 o'clock at night and you've been staring at number 28 on the assignment for 15 minutes and you're still only half-way through all of your homework. That's where our products help.

Much like a virtual tutoring service, our SW Advantage web component works along with the books by providing video examples of an instructor walking viewers through thousands of examples and explanations in a simple step-by-step format -- helping both parents and students together. 

Interest In School

Building and maintaing kids' interest in school and learning at a young age is crucial. It's rare for a child to excel in the classroom if they're not excited to be there in the first place. School is designed to be more and more challenging each year. A child who starts school with an attitude of disengagement has a very long, hard road ahead. Reading with kids on a daily basis is an incredibly effective way to not only build excitement for learning, but also for parents to prepare them for the surprisingly advanced things that children are now doing in Kindergarten and early elementary school. 

There are other reasons why families decide so easily to make a purchase. Sometimes they quickly see a need that could be filled, the products are easy to use, large age ranges are covered, high quality, fair prices, or many times a genuine connection was made between the student rep and the family whom they visited. Have you ever met someone for the first time, but you felt like you'd known them for years? That.

Regardless of the reason for purchasing, we admire our Families For Education tremendously, and we aim to continually thank them all for being parents who care about education and who make investments into the future of their children.