Southwestern Advantage Blog

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...

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...

" 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...