NEW! SMARTS@Home for Parents!

“The best thing I learned in SMARTS is that I am smarter than I thought!”

-SMARTS Student

Does your child lose papers or pencils, have trouble getting started or finishing an assignment, or get “stuck” doing a problem when one method doesn’t work? Does your child turn in work that is disorganized or unchecked? Does your child have difficulty remembering terms or procedures, have lots of great ideas but struggles to organize written assignments, or get overwhelmed and give up—at least temporarily, until you help your child work through it? No worries! The SMARTS executive function curriculum is now available to families like yours! Welcome to SMARTS@Home!

HOW SMARTS@HOME EXECUTIVE FUNCTION STRATEGIES CAN HELP:

SMARTS@Home is an Elementary age program for parents to use with their children, Grades 2-6.

Imagine if you provided your child with a set of SMARTS executive function strategies that could improve your child’s performance and confidence in these areas:

Goal Setting:

At home, you set goals for your child all the time, both short-term and long-term. SMARTS teaches a structured way to use goal setting to motivate your child to set and reach their own goals, empowering them to envision success and develop a plan to get there.

Thinking Flexibly:

You want your child to feel prepared for the world and to be able to respond flexibly to any challenges that may arise. SMARTS teaches strategies that allow children to follow more than one pathway to a solution, understand different perspectives (which is great for social interactions, too), consider multiple meanings, and shift between main ideas and details.

Organizing Materials:

You get a firsthand view of how your child organizes materials and supplies, whether academic or personal. SMARTS teaches strategies for keeping belongings neat and organized, so materials and supplies are easy to find.

Organizing and Prioritzing Time:

As a family, you know that being able to manage time is helpful for the entire family, yet many children don’t understand how time works or how time management tools can be used. SMARTS teaches strategies for estimating time, prioritizing tasks, and using tools like timers and calendars.

Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking:

At home, you may find that you do most of the checking and monitoring, helping catch mistakes and stay on track despite distractions. SMARTS teaches you to embed opportunities to monitor and check, helping children become more independent, learning to monitor their moods and behaviors, check their work for common errors, and reflect on their strategy use and progress towards their goals.

Metacognition:

As the foundation of any SMARTS program, your child will learn about metacognition—thinking about thinking. This self-understanding unlocks the door to developing children’s knowledge of their unique strengths and challenges, crucial for success in every subject and grade level–and in every aspect of life!

Free Lesson: "How Can Strategies Help Me?

Explore our research-based approach through a fun and engaging lesson that helps children learn why it’s important to think strategically about solving problems.

Includes a “What is Executive Function?” resource for parents, a great way to learn more about the role that Executive Function plays in learning and problem-solving as well as developing the self-confidence needed to meet future challenges — SMARTS@Home teaches children HOW to learn.

TRY IT OUT

Who Should Use SMARTS@Home?

Designed for use in the home, in an environment where a parent and a child spend dedicated time together. Unlike our original SMARTS program designed for teachers, SMARTS@Home requires one-on-one attention and interaction — time away from other distractions, time that is dedicated to changing a child’s attitude and perceptions about learning. SMARTS@Home is ideal for:

HOMESCHOOLERS

Executive function strategies are an important part of homeschool instruction. SMARTS@Home is flexible and its short lessons are fun, adaptable, and relevant across a wide range of academic and non-academic needs. Read more about how homeschool families are using SMARTS@Home in their teaching.

AFTER-SCHOOL LEARNERS

Even when children attend traditional brick-and-mortar schools, parents are on the front line when it comes to executive function challenges. SMARTS@Home is a powerful resource, giving parents and children the tools for success both in school and at home. The short lessons can fit easily into a busy afterschool schedule, and the flexible curriculum provides options for how deep to take the learning. There are also materials that can be used to communicate with teachers and other adults invested in your child’s education. Read more about how SMARTS@Home can benefit afterschool learners.

Tested and proven, SMARTS@Home contains all the features a parent needs to teach executive function strategies at home.

READY TO USE LESSONS:

All you need to do is read over the background of the unit and lesson plan and print whatever is needed. Then sit with your child and go through each lesson.

FLEXIBILITY:

Because the program is designed to be used at home, you have the option to determine your lesson schedule and how much time you spend on each lesson or unit. You can also modify instruction by determining question levels and allowing your child choices for certain activities (i.e., to draw, talk, act, etc.). Finally, you can determine how you want to embed the strategies — both within the academic content of your child’s schooling and in the daily activities of your home.

Support:

With SMARTS@Home, you have a smorgasbord of resources, like a program tutorial video, FAQ page, and list of resources. You also have access to ResearchILD’s publications, webinars, conferences, blogs, and an amazing SMARTS team!

How to Use SMARTS@Home

SMARTS@Home is an easy-to-use complete curriculum — tested with families like yours, and proven to improve your child’s ability to learn. Starting with Unit 1, your and your child will learn new approaches that make learning fun! The program uses what your child is good at to gain confidence and resilience to use the next time they encounter an obstacle.

The curriculum consists of six units, each containing four lessons, and each lesson has all a parent needs to Get Started.

Included with each unit:

an instructional video walks you through the lesson
slides
handouts
lesson extensions and reflection activities.

Why do we structure lessons a month apart?
Because success builds on success!

Your child will be changing habits, and strengthening their ability to learn, month by month. Your child will be acquiring EF skills such as organization, time management, prioritizing tasks, and creating resiliency to overcome challenges — habits that require patience and repetition so that they become part of a new confidant approach to learning. Parents should plan on spending a month on each unit. Each lesson builds on the foundation laid by the previous one, and extends beyond school lessons to how they approach everything that is challenging in their lives.

How to Get SMARTS@Home

SMARTS@Home is sold as a monthly subscription. Each month, you will receive the next unit, complete with videos, activities, extensions and more! Each unit focuses on a specific theme that builds on the EF strategies learned in previous months. In addition to six units of material, your subscription provides access to support and training, allowing you to move through the program at your own pace, making connections and empowering your children to master the executive function strategies they need to be successful.

Ready to Buy?

It’s easy! Purchase the program with any major credit card.

BUY SMARTS@Home

You can cancel your subscription at any time.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about SMARTS@Home:

For what ages is SMARTS@Home appropriate?

SMARTS@Home is most appropriate for children ages 6-10 or grades 1-5. However, it can be adapted for younger or older children.

Can I use SMARTS@Home with a younger child?

Yes! SMARTS@Home can be adapted for younger children. Because of the program’s built-in flexibility, you can plan to spend more time on individual lessons or activities, and you can always revisit videos and activities if your child needs more practice. Since the program involves your participation, you can tailor the discussions to your child and simplify language where necessary. Also, throughout the program, there are options where you may pick from two or more pathways to learning the same material, often targeting different age/ability levels. Review questions are leveled in terms of difficulty, so you may choose to ask one, two, or all three questions. There are videos and audios throughout the program to make information more accessible, and many activities provide opportunities for your child to talk, draw, or act instead of reading and writing. Your younger child will love the characters in each unit!

Can I use SMARTS@Home with an older child?

Yes! SMARTS@Home can be adapted for older children. While the lesson characters may seem too young for your child, many older children enjoy them, and the content is easily adaptable for use by older children. Because of the program’s built-in flexibility, you can plan to spend less time on individual lessons or activities or even skip activities used for reinforcement if concepts are already mastered. Since the program involves your participation, you can tailor the discussions to your child and dive deeper into topics using lesson extensions. Also, throughout the program, there are options where you may pick from two or more pathways to learning the same material, often targeting different age/ability levels. Review questions are leveled in terms of difficulty, so you may choose to ask one, two, or all three questions. Finally, many activities within lessons and extensions after lessons contain challenges to push your child even further!

Can I use SMARTS@Home with more than one child?

Yes! SMARTS@Home is designed to be used one-on-one with an adult guiding a child through the instruction and activities. However, the program has several features that make it possible to use with more than one child:

The online activities reset after each use, so additional children can do the activities in succession. The work of each individual child can be saved or printed.
Handouts can be downloaded and printed or completed digitally to produce separate portfolios for each child.
Some activities provide options for differentiation that can be based on age and/or learning profile.
Some activities can easily be done in small groups.

How do I schedule lessons for this program? Is there a sample scope and sequence/calendar?

SMARTS@Home is designed to maximize your flexibility, so you can plan units and lessons around your family’s schedule.

My child has already been exposed to the SMARTS curriculum in school. Can my child still benefit from SMARTS@Home?

Yes! SMARTS@Home builds on concepts that your child is learning in school. Some of the activities may be similar, but efforts were made to make them unique so that your child will still be engaged. The online platform includes videos and audios that allows for content to be learned through interactive online activities. The characters are new for each unit, and there are specific references to how material can be applied both at home and in school. SMARTS@Home can be the perfect add-on for a child learning the SMARTS curriculum in school by encouraging the child to dive deeper with your support, revisit what has been already introduced, and extend learning so that strategies can be generalized to home, extracurricular activities, and beyond!

My child’s school is not using SMARTS. How can I introduce the SMARTS curriculum to my child’s school?

Many schools around the country and around the world are using the SMARTS curriculum. We are always happy to talk to school administrators to see if SMARTS will be a good addition to their school. Please provide an administrator at your child’s school with the link to our Contact Us page, and a SMARTS representative will be in contact shortly.

What are some ways that I can use SMARTS@Home in my homeschool?

SMARTS@Home is an excellent way to support your homeschool student(s).

SMARTS@Home teaches EF strategies that will help them to understand how they learn, and what works best in different situations. Strategies learned connect to curriculum content and application to all academic areas, as well as application outside of school. The SMARTS@Home program includes Resources for Homeschool.