Product Reviews - Janet Sweet, Educational Content Developer

"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, engaging bridge to successful learning, both at home and in the classroom."

-Janet Sweet

Over the past two decades, Janet Sweet has specialized in early learning content that makes a FUN difference in helping kids be successful in school. Her experience creating award-winning curriculum-based content for several leading children’s educational publishers helps ensure that our SkWids content engages, educates, and entertains young learners.

Educator Reviews - Thaddeus Wert, M.Ed., Vanderbilt University

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 are used to clicking through links on the Internet.

The “Got to Know!” boxes are a fantastic feature. They are attention-grabbing, and they let students know right away the information they should memorize.

I love the “Watch Out!” sidebars. They point out the stumbling blocks students can trip over when they are trying to solve a problem. Advantage covers all the most common ones they will encounter in high school math courses.

The “Try It This Way” sidebars are also extremely useful. Whenever possible, Advantage points out different ways of approaching a problem, and different ways work for different students. Also, it reinforces the fact that there is usually more than one method of solving a math problem, and if you do it differently from someone else, that doesn’t mean you’re wrong.

The “Need More Help?” boxes are great, because they illustrate the connectedness of mathematics. This cross-referencing is a terrific feature, and will save students hours of frustrated searching.

The “Ways to Remember” boxes are a nice way to present some common mnemonics that most math teachers and students use. If they were buried in the text, they would be lost, but this way students notice them and can remember them.

A small detail I like a lot: the highlighting of key words and phrases.  Proper use of vocabulary is crucial to success in math, and students need to know that certain words have very specific meanings when they are used in a mathematical context. The way Advantage highlights them reinforces that point.

Finally, all of the information packed into tables at the end of every strand is a stroke of genius. If I’m looking for a quick math fact or formula, that’s where I would go first to find it. I can predict that parents and students are going to wear those sections out! That said, I see that Advantage has compiled all of them together at the end of Book II—very smart.

Organization of the Volumes

I like the way these books are divided into strands, and each strand has subtopics. Using the color-coding at the top of the pages makes it easy for students to see where they are anywhere in the books. The nine strands make sense, and the progression of topics from simple to advanced is logical. Having an easily accessible guide to the color bars at the back cover is a great idea. The Glossary is very comprehensive, and providing relevant page numbers is fantastic! The index is very easy to use, and I love the fact that Book II pages pick up where Book I ends. That makes it easy to go directly to the topic you’re searching for.

I’m very glad to see that you have so many worked-out examples for each subtopic.

Appearance
The first thing that strikes me as a reader is all the color. It is wonderful and inviting, and it serves a purpose—to help the student navigate through all the content, as well as clearly illustrate concepts.

The photos used at the beginning of each strand are, without exception, spectacular. Each one is relevant to its strand’s subject matter, and if I were a student, they would make me want to learn more about that topic.

Within each strand, I really like the way you have opened things up. For the simpler topics, the type is larger, and there are fewer examples per page. As the content gets more advanced, the type gets smaller, and there is more information presented on each page. However, even in the Calculus strand, everything is open and unintimidating. Unintimidating is good when it comes to math texts! Examples and information are presented clearly and succinctly. Southwestern Advantage has done a great job taking complicated topics and making them easy to understand by focusing on the essentials.

The illustrations that support the examples are very well done. For example, in the Geometry strand in the Surface Area and Volume section, the shading really helps students visualize the three-dimensional solids. It’s a small detail, but a lot of math books don’t go to the depth Southwestern Advantage has.

Also, using actual graphing calculator screenshots is so helpful for students who are trying to work out the examples themselves. They can compare their calculator’s screens to the ones in the books to verify they are on the right track.

SWadvantage.com

Supplementary Resources
When I heard Southwestern Advantage was going to develop a companion website for these books, I confess I had my doubts that you could do it. However, it looks like it was done right. The use of video tutorials is becoming commonplace, but what I’m most impressed with is how easy it is to find the appropriate tutorial. Just typing in the relevant page number is brilliant!


I would say this system is perfect for families homeschooling their children, or parents trying to supplement their children’s math education. If a student worked his or her way through all the material in these books, he or she would be well-prepared for first-year college math. All of the resources available at SWadvantage.com are a fantastic value for Southwestern Advantage customers.

The company can be very proud of what it has produced. These two books are well-written and well-organized, and students will find them to be incredibly useful tools as they work their way through their math courses.


—Thaddeus T. Wert
20+ years as a classroom teacher at an independent college prep school for girls; curriculum developer; Math Department chair
B.S., Engineering, Vanderbilt University
M.Ed., Vanderbilt University
(Ellen Bowers Hofstead Chair in Mathematics and Science; Hubert Smothers Award for Excellence in Teaching)

You Are Nothing But Your Fruit

The following is a paraphrased version of a blog (edited for our audience), originally found on cracked.com. This particular post, written by NYT best-selling author Jason Pargin (aka David Wong), shares so many similar things that Southwestern Advantage teaches our student reps, we wanted to share a few of his thoughts with our audience. Enjoy.

Start doing things that will make yourself become the type of person people want to be around.

This is a first step that is nearly always skipped. People ask "How do I get a great job?" and not "How do I become the type of person employers want to hire?" Guys ask "How do I get pretty girls to like me?" instead of "What can I do to become the type of person that pretty girls like?" Maybe the reason is because that second question in both scenarios will very well require facing fears, giving up comforts, and changing your attitudes in life.

"But why can't people just like me for me?" The answer is because people need things.

Do your actions fill the needs of others? Why not? The secret to winning in life and winning with people: when you decide to do the hard things that make you uncomfortable, and stop avoiding them, you become a better version of yourself. You're serving others when doing just one of those hard things fills a need of just one other person. You're serving others when you inspire them to do the same in their own lives.

"But I'm just not good at ___!" 

Quick secret: If you put in enough hours of practice and repetition, you can get sort-of-good at anything. Don't like the idea of pouring time into learning a skill? Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the sheer act of practicing will cause you to grow. People typically quit things because it takes too long to see positive results. They don't understand that the process is the result.

The bad news is that if you want anything worthwhile in life, you have no other choice. Nothing worthwhile is given; it's always earned in a hard uncomfortable way. In my non-expert opinion, people aren't unhappy with themselves because they have low self-esteem, or because others were mean to them. They're unhappy with themselves because they never do anything truly challenging. Not even you can just "love you for you." If you're unhappy, it's because you're not growing. You're not growing because you're not challenging yourself. 

Maybe you don't like hearing this, and you're responding with something you heard as a kid that sounds a little like, "It's what's on the inside that matters!" True, but just understand that your 'inside' is simply the collection of attitudes you have chosen and actions you have taken. 

You have a common defense to everything I've said so far, and to every critical voice in your life. It's what your ego is saying to you in order to prevent you from having to do the hard work of improving: "I know I'm a good person on the inside." 

Don't get me wrong; who you are inside is everything -- "who you are inside" is the metaphorical dirt from which your fruit grows. But here's what everyone needs to know, and what many cannot accept:

"You" are nothing but your fruit.

Nobody cares about your dirt. "Who you are inside" is meaningless aside from what it produces for other people.

Inside, some people feel like they have great compassion. Then a local tragedy occurs so they say, "Let them know that they are in my thoughts" instead of finding out what those people need and actually helping. Tragedies occur every day but millions of us tell ourselves that caring is just as good as doing. It's an internal mechanism controlled by the lazy part of our brain to keep us from being uncomfortable. 

Doctors don't say to their patients, "I just wanted to tell you that you're in my thoughts. Good luck -- let me know if that cured you."

What do you actually do? If someone had hidden cameras that followed you around for a month, would they be impressed with what they saw? Remember, they can't read your mind -- they can only observe. Would they be inspired by what you do?

Apply the same standards to yourself that you apply to everyone else. Even Jesus said a tree is judged by its fruit over and over and over. He also said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." We are not judged by our insides, but instead by the fruit that our insides produce. 

The human mind will always fight against thinking that it needs to change. We are equipped with layer after layer of defense mechanisms designed to shoot down anything that might keep us from staying exactly where we are. Some of you reading this are feeling your brain bombard with knee-jerk reasons to reject these ideas.

Your defense mechanisms may have spent a lifetime training you to do the following:

Interpret Any Criticism as an Insult 
"You're only saying this so you'll feel superior to me!"

Focus on the Messenger to Avoid Hearing the Message 
"Who are they to tell me how to live?"

Focus on the Tone to Avoid Hearing the Content
"Your tone comes off as offensive to me, so I'll ignore it."

Revise Your Own History
"Things used to be worse, so if I keep doing what I've been doing, they'll get better."

Mediocrity is comfortable. It's why so many people prefer it. Happiness and fulfillment takes effort. Also, courage. It's incredibly comforting to know that as long as you don't face fears in life, then you'll never fail. It's so much easier to just sit back and criticize other people.

By the way, whatever you try to do or build -- be it a job, a new skill, or a new relationship -- you will immediately find someone who will trash it. Maybe not to your face, but they'll do it. Your drunk friends do not want you to get sober. Your fat friends do not want you to start a fitness regimen. Your lazy friends do not want to see you embark on a career.

They're only expressing their own fear. Skepticism is another excuse to do nothing. Don't be that person. If you are that person, stop. This is what's making people hate you. This is what's making you hate yourself.

How about this: While other people are criticizing, decide to do anything -- add any skill, any improvement to your human tool set, and get good enough at it to impress people. It doesn't matter what -- just pick something that will be hard, scary at first, and/or make you uncomfortable.

Please don't focus on something great that you're going to make happen to you ("I'm going to find a girlfriend; I'm going to make lots of money..."). Instead, just focus on giving yourself a skill that would make you ever so slightly more interesting and valuable to other people.

Your brain will instantly create a mental list of reasons not to do it, but you have to kill your excuses. Or they will kill you.

It will be fun to see if we find even one person who actually does this, but if so, we'll look back not just on the activity, but why. You have nothing to lose; and our world needs more fruit-producing people.

PS. You can find the unedited, much saltier version of this blog here.

Educator Reviews - Julie Westcott, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction

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 other objects in our house that matched the illustrations.  As simple as it may seem, it was helping my children.  The repetition of asking my children questions about the pictures, gave them a sense of confidence as they answered.  I would change my questions or add more questions as we looked at the book time and time again.  They were never tired of looking at the book.  As they became more comfortable with the idea of looking at books, I would see my young preschoolers select the My Books on their own.  Children need books in their preschool libraries that identify common objects so they can start to make connections in their world around them.  The words in the My Books are found in many beginning and emergent level books. My children have been exposed to these words time and time again in isolation.  What a benefit to my children's reading development!

The SkWids characters take the books to another level.  Online you can see the SkWids characters come alive.  They have educational songs to download as well as vignettes online that teach preschool skills.  The Lexi character is cute and lovable.  I have watched a few episodes with my son.  They are lively and entertaining.  The online opportunity gives you more resources, and the videos are set up to give lessons as well as directions for basic preschool crafts or activities.  These resources enhance the books and are fun for my preschooler to watch, as well as learn and follow along.  My son and I have used the songs from SkWids because they are upbeat, and he learns at the same time.  Some of the concepts are more complex, and I use them in the classroom.  The students listen intently when I play a new song from SkWids.  Once they know it, they are singing along strong.

Baggin the Draggin is a CD game we downloaded.  I am never sure what to think of games to download, but this one was great!  My son, in 1st grade, is building many new skills using this game.  Skills he hasn't mastered like putting the months/days in order, repeat throughout the game.  I like that you can set the level to the ability of your child as well as age and grade.  As a parent, I don't mind him playing this game, because I know he is practicing skills and learning new ones.  My daughter has seen him play the game and is now curious as to what it looks like for her level.  She has yet to get a chance.  

The Ask Me book set is hard to keep on my book shelf at school.  My 1st & 2nd grade students want to read them in their free time. These books are also open and being read at home.  My son who is a 1st grader will share information facts in our conversations at home.  I will often ask him where he learned the fact.  His reply is simple, "I read them in the Ask Me book."  He seems very knowledgeable and gains so many great skills as he reads this series of books.  Both he and my 4th grader will sit and read the books together, marveling at the facts they read.  

Over 15 years of teaching, I see students fascinated with historical events, social systems, and cultures in our world.  Students are intrigued with all aspects of life science as well as physical and space science.  The Ask Me books have topics that not only answer question, but this series is build to cultivate more questions.  The Ask Me series lists each title in question form, which really lights up a young reader's mind.  Teachers, like myself, are always in search of well written non-fiction materials for young children.  It is quite hard to locate books that provide information at reading suited for a beginning reader or an emerging reading ability. Many children at the primary level are learning to read, instead of reading to learn.  Many non-fiction books for children have a reading level that is appropriate for intermediate students, instead of primary learners.  Young students are torn with wanting to learn the information, yet not having materials that match their ability to read.  The Ask Me books bridge that gap. Students who are learning to read instead of reading to learn, can look at the Ask Me books.  The short paragraphs are manageable.  The reader gains a lot of great information as well as success reading.  Inquisitive minds want to know, therefore it is no coincidence, the Ask Me books begin with questions for each heading.  This approach really interests 5-9 year old readers.

Science and social studies units become more defined as children develop in the intermediate grades.  Students in 3-6th grade need materials that forge deeper into content areas. Independent learners value building on their knowledge and seeking new information.  The Explore and Learn books give learners a place to begin as they go on their journey.  This set has done wonder's for my daughter this year.  When she received the books this past summer, she was rejuvenated and ready to dive in.  The Explore and Learn set has aloud my daughter to do just that…explore and learn.  This series provides illustrated experiments, activities, & crafts throughout each book.  Children at this age need to apply, create and analyze a concept in order to fully understand the complexities within each topic.  With this series, I often I saw my daughter filling a bin with odds and ends, such as balloons, funnels, water bottles and other materials.  She used a deck of cards to bookmark many pages.   She did not want to miss any of her favorite pages.  Seeing her grow-up with Southwestern Advantage resources, makes me wish I had the same opportunities as a child.

Knowing a child is driving their own learning in a positive and productive way is what I love to see in both my classroom and at home.  My children ignite their own learning through the Southwestern Advantage books and it makes me proud that I made the choice to give them these resources at a young age.  I hope other families are able to share in the same excitement as their child learns and grows.  Giving your child books that help them learn gives your child the advantage to do and be more in life!

Julie Westcott

Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, St. Mary's University
1st & 2nd Grade Teacher (looping)
Clover Ridge Elementary - a recipient of the School of Excellence Award by the State of Minnesota

Educator Reviews - Ernest Schiller, Iowa Teacher of the Year

Ernest Schiller
Iowa Teacher of the Year

"I believe that this Biology section could be used as a resource for advanced middle school kids, especially if the 8th grade students were taking a Life Science class. In terms of the adaptability to high school, it would fit in quite well as a General Biology course or even in an Advanced Biology class. [It] is interesting enough for most students to even want to read as a science book. And that is probably this book’s strength: having an interesting point of view in the reading, articles, diagrams, side pieces, and even the tables with pictures. I have never seen a book take on the view that it does. Highly interesting and stimulating and hopefully the students that will use this book will feel the same as I do. Very good use of FYI’s for the reader.

I do like the streamlined approach to this book. I think it is clean and neat and a great organized approach from the student’s point of view.

Of particular interest to me was the approach to a very difficult and not so easy subject, from The Cell Theory to the Punnett squares in the heredity section. It makes a good connection between the DNA molecule and the Punnett section. This is a quite unique approach and I think it a valuable approach to the reader/student and how it applies to change through time, such as with HIV. It was a good link and a good connection.

This book is a good synopsis of science from the ancient scientists with early theorists bringing a new take on the history of science approach to the study of life science. A good point of view as it “evolves" in the approach of introducing the student to the history of science and its relative importance on biology. I know of no other biology book relating the history of science to biology as this book does. And I like the approach to connecting some of the lesser scientists/biologists to the important connection(s) in blazing the way into biology as it has evolved into the importance science it is today."


—Ernest Schiller
34 years as a classroom teacher, Biology and Advanced Biology; Iowa Teacher of the Year; Excellence in Teaching Science Award; Christa McAuliffe Award
Ph.D and M.S., University of Iowa
B.S., Iowa State University

Money Smarts: Budgeting

One of the things I enjoy about working as a Student Leader in the Southwestern Advantage Program is that I get help college students save more money in a summer than they ever thought was possible. Seriously, how many college students SAVE over $5,000 in a summer? Even if a student were to make that much in a different internship, it's common to end up spending most of it by the time the fall semester gets rolling.

Unfortunately, many students have never been taught how to handle that money in a smart way. Very few high schools teach money management, and a lot of parents never cover these topics with their kids either. So, the celebratory spending begins in August and ends when the money is gone. Granted, it can be fun to spend money this way, but it certainly is ineffective for building any kind of long-term wealth (which, thanks to the rule of 72, is incredibly easy to do if you start at 19 - 22 years old).

Good news: you can start being smart with your money at any time. You don’t have to wait for a new year or a new semester to begin making good financial decisions. So for those of you who can’t seem to figure out why you never know where your money is, this post is for you.

Lets start simple: you have to budget. I know, I know, budget is a dirty word to a lot of us. It implies responsibility and discipline. Didn’t you work hard all summer in a responsible and disciplined way so you could be irresponsible and reckless with money during the school year? NO. These success principles guarantee success not just during the summer, but all the time.

I think the real reason people don’t like the idea of budgeting is because it often connotes a level of asceticism that seems quite restricting. Budgeting doesn’t have to be restrictive though. A budget can be whatever you want it to be. Being on a budget is simply setting goals for your money. Sometimes you hit those goals, and sometimes you don’t. But you at least know where you’re aiming. So let’s start simple. Here are some basic steps to get you started on a healthy budget:

Track your spending 

Believe it or not, most people in America have no idea how much money they actually have at any given time. So first, figure out how much you're working with. Next, start recording your purchases at the time you make them. Grab your phone and snap a pic of your receipt. Email yourself the amount of your purchase; edit your budget once you're back home. If you don’t think you can handle that, at least check your online statement once a week. Keep track of how much you have left to spend, and know what you have available before you swipe your card.

Determine how long that money needs to last you 

Traditional budgeting has you determining income and outflow for a month at a time. This is often effective since a lot of bills are paid monthly. However, it’s okay to get creative. I like to do a tiered budget, where I have my monthly expenses that I plan for first (rent, utilities, cell phone, internet, etc), and then a weekly level where I plan out my more variable expenses (gas, food, household items, entertainment, etc). This gives me more flexibility in handling unexpected expenses.

Set your priorities 

Figure out what must be paid first and go from there. Some people recommend giving first, others recommend saving first. Whichever you choose, you want to make sure you have your basics, such as food, shelter, and gas, covered next. Finally you can add to the less essential items however you see fit.

Assign an exact dollar value to each category 

You should know exactly how much you can spend on any given item for that time period. All of these dollar values should exactly equal how much money you have available for that month, week, fortnight, or your timeframe of preference. This is called a zero-sum budget. Any unspent money should either be assigned to savings, giving, or an expenditure category.

Be Disciplined (Know when to say 'No')

This one is the hardest of all, but if you told yourself you would only spend $25 on entertainment, and your friends want to go see a new movie in I-Max 3D that will put you over budget, don’t go. Suggest something less expensive that keeps you within the budget you set for yourself.

It’s not easy to be on a good budget, but if you stick to it and are intentional about how you spend your money, you will be both wealthier and happier in the long-run. Having money is not the most important thing in life, or will it ever make us better than our friends or neighbors. But being disciplined with a budget allows for more opportunities, choices, and freedoms than trying to make ends meet ever will. 

Jaselyn Taubel

@suuzuusii

Corporate Recruiter at Southwestern Advantage