Southwestern Advantage Blog

We believe in paying it forward. Service by our Student Reps takes place each year on a global scale. Monetary and product donations made via our Share The Advantage Program help young people all over the world with their education. In Bonfil – a struggling neighborhood in Cancun, Mexico – a woman named Sonia found a child wandering the streets and asked why he was not in school. He told her the kids had bullied him for his disability (Polio), calling him "Pedro Crutches" and other mean things. He had been kicked out of school for fighting. She told him to come to her home the next day, along with any other children who were unable to attend school. At first Sonia had only a small group of students. Word spread about the classes being offered from her tiny home, and attendance quickly grew. Before long, she had a small volunteer staff helping teach nearly 100 neighborhood children in her home which became known as La Escuelita de Sonia. Sonia and her staff knew they had ...

As an alumna of their sales & leadership program , I obviously loved the Southwestern Advantage products and believed in their effectiveness in reaching students.  Now, as an educator, I am even more convicted in the Southwestern Advantage products. I currently teach third and fourth grade students in a small school in the Sand Hills of Nebraska.   Most of my students have never been past a two hour radius of their home.   I try to incorporate as many “real-world” experiences to my students as possible while still reaching all the standards that are required.   I have found in my years of teaching that kids LOVE non-fiction books.   As a teacher, so do I.   Books about animals, space, and our Earth are so interesting to kids who love learning.   My students choose to use their free-time in the classroom reading the Explore and Learn and Ask Me books from Southwestern Advantage.   They are always quick to tell me the new facts they...

You have probably heard the saying –  If you always think the way you’ve always thought, you will always do what you have always done, and you will always get what you always gotten  – and quite frankly sometimes that’s not good enough for us. To illustrate the point, let me share some information with you about why train tracks in the United States areas wide as they are. See if you think it has applicability. The United States standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them inEngland, and English expatriates built the American railroads. Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jugs and tools that they used for bu...

I grew up in a community where if you didn’t get along with someone, the advice we heard from our elders was, "Learn how to." If we had trouble working with someone, the teacher purposely assigned us to a group so that we would have to work together. My parents insisted that I learn to work my problems out. They didn’t call other parents to complain about our problems and how they could fix them. I was disciplined by my parents whenever I lacked self-discipline -- when I was disrespectful to others, when I didn't do my share of the chores, or when I got poor grades. Did I like it at the time? Nope; but now as an adult, I'm grateful for it. And now, as and educator, I increasingly see the opposite approach growing into a dangerous parenting trend. Every parent wants to see their children happy, safe, and successful. Teachers want the same for their students. However, the growing hurdle is the mindset that if a child gets upset, the parent(s) should step in and fix...

If you have a child in school today, chances are you’ve heard something about the Common Core State Standards . Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have decided to align their instruction to these standards, promising sweeping changes to classrooms across the country over the next several years. What are the Common Core State Standards? Why are they important? Where did they come from? What is Southwestern Advantage’s connection to the Common Core? The answers to these critical questions will help parents understand exactly what the Common Core is all about, and what it means for your child’s education. WHAT ARE THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS? Common Core State Standards are a set of standards, not a curriculum . The Common Core State Standards are a common set of educational standards defining the mathematics and English language arts knowledge and skills all United States students in grades K-12 need to be successfully prepared for college and the workforce in the 21st...

" SkWids.com makes learning come alive for young kids. Wholesomely endearing SkWids characters learn and practice important curriculum-based math, phonics, language, science, and social studies concepts right along with your child. The videos are smart and lively, with the perfect balance of explanation and instructional support consistent with current core teaching strategies. Fun interactive games, projects, songs, and click-and-print activities reinforce key learning concepts, while kid-friendly stories about character-building experiences encourage discussion and creative problem solving. Best of all, the SkWids Parent Dashboard helps you navigate your child’s progress, links quiz questions back to the point of instruction and practice, and explains the curriculum relationship between concepts and core standards so you are prepared for the next steps in your child’s education.  With on-going creation of new, engaging learning content, SkWids.com provides a fresh, engagi...

Thaddeus Wert,  M.Ed., Vanderbilt Review of Southwestern Advantage: Math Content As I went through all of this material, I tried to think of topics that were left out, and I honestly couldn’t think of any. This is the most comprehensive presentation of elementary, middle, and secondary level mathematics that I’ve ever seen. Students can potentially find math examples by searching on the Internet, but there aren’t any websites that are this organized and easy to navigate. There certainly isn’t one single website that provides as much content as what is available in these books. Special Features This is where I am most impressed with this product. Southwestern Advantage has managed to bring a “hypertext” feel to the static pages of a hardcover book. Students today are turned off by linear presentations of content, and they have shorter attention spans. The problem is they still have to learn a lot of math concepts! I believe the Advantage books will appeal to students who...

Southwestern Advantage has developed materials that are written to help children build on their knowledge and curiosity.  I value and utilize a variety of the Southwestern Advantage product line .    The My Books help children identify & match words using vibrant illustrations.  When my children were very young they enjoyed pointing and identifying pictures in each book.  Becoming familiar with written text, as well as learning how to page through a book the correct way, nurtures their reading experience.  The My Books have been used for years and years in my home.  Having these books in my own children's hands at a young age, has given them independence and a sense of accomplishment.  As young as one year old, my children have paged through the My Books .  At first I would ask them to label the words.  This helped them as they were learning to talk. If they did not know, I would tell them and we would locate o...

Homeschooling is no easy task. It requires an extensive amount of dedication, time, and resources. We're always excited to hear when our student reps are able to positively impact the efforts of homeschooling families across the nation. Here are a few reviews we wanted to highlight. Tell us your story: Facebook.com/SouthwesternAdvantage Twitter.com/Southwestern Email: sw@southwestern.com

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?  The...