As homeschooling becomes more widespread, families require additional support options. One Rochester mom considered her experience with online learning and as a public school teacher to create Spark Learning Pals.
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Programs
Spark Learning Pals offers programs tailored for students, teachers, and STEM professionals. Students connect with STEM pen pals through letter writing, phone conferencing, video conferencing, and field trips. When writing letters for pen pals, they must remember real people will read them, so they must ensure clear writing while also asking relevant questions that their pen pal will find interesting.
Bean credits the program instrumental to her school’s rise from Level 4 to Level 1, boasting more admissions into Abbot Lawrence Academy – Lawrence’s sole exam high school – than any other middle school in Lawrence.
Tutoring
Spark Learning Pals is a new online tutoring service in Rochester, N.Y., founded by a local mom of two, Susan Beckman. Following her sons’ struggles at school during the COVID pandemic, Beckman recognized an opportunity to provide additional assistance for homeschooling families in her community. By considering both in-person and online learning approaches, she created what she considers modern homeschooling support programs.
Student tutors interviewed in skills lab contexts emphasized their positive experiences and believed they profoundly affected students’ personality, motivation, and self-efficacy. Furthermore, these student tutors thought their work was successful because of ‘cognitive congruence’ between themselves and their students – the theory being that when both tutors and students have similar understandings regarding concepts or information, it facilitates informal and empathic dialogue between them.
The tutors also fostered a relaxed learning atmosphere and encouraged the students to be open and honest about any concerns during sessions. Furthermore, they took an active stance towards disturbances by directly addressing them openly during these meetings to create an atmosphere in which it felt safe for students to ask questions without embarrassment or humiliation.
Classes
Spark Learning Pals provides classes in multiple subjects designed to foster students’ development of math, science, and reading skills. Their courses also offer engaging activities and games designed to make learning fun! No matter if it’s a summer camp or a homeschool program that you’re searching for – Spark Learning Pals can find you what you’re looking for!
If you want to save money when making your Spark Learning Pal purchase, HotDeals provides coupons and deals. Their offers range from free shipping to buy-one-get-one events through coupons that can be applied to educational toys – but be quick, as many only last for limited times!
codeSpark Academy is an innovative coding program packed with puzzles and educational minigames for children to play, such as using blocks, props, characters, or other rewards earned during gameplay to make their video games – a fantastic way for young ones to understand programming! Plus, it’s wholly reading-free and highly visual, making it accessible even to younger ones.
Becky Beckman founded her company with an ongoing mission of revolutionizing education. A native of Rochester and former public school teacher, she took inspiration from both teaching environments to design her program that provides homeschool support in New York State with less stringent regulations for homeschoolers and greater flexibility at a more cost-effective option than what currently exists in her state.
Community
Spark Middle School in Lawrence, MA, is an innovative middle school with a big heart. Established in 2012 when all Lawrence schools were in Level 4 status (failing), its goal is to offer rigorous academics complemented by 100 minutes of physical activity per day for every child at Spark. Since its opening, its students have excelled immensely – 23 eighth-graders were accepted into Abbot Lawrence Academy — Lawrence’s only exam high school!
Beckman says she was motivated to start the company after witnessing her older son struggle in an online learning environment. Additionally, homeschooling families had to pay per class, which made budgeting for learning challenging; thus, she created an affordable monthly subscription model that gives children access to courses covering core academic subjects.
Sheree is a veteran public school teacher with over 22 years of experience who believes strongly in creating relationships between children and teachers. She’s dedicated to building meaningful relationships with every student she encounters while supporting their homeschool journeys. When not teaching, Sheree enjoys reading Dr. Seuss books to her toddler, hiking through nature trails, and collecting intriguing puzzles in her closet!
