Lisette Thurgood knew she needed to provide her son, Talmage, with a strong educational foundation before entering kindergarten, but her busy work schedule made it difficult to coordinate preschool. Then she heard about UPSTART, our easy-to-use, at-home PreK program that features more than 8,000 activities, songs and books to help children learn and retain early reading, math and science concepts. She decided to enroll Talmage.
Prior to UPSTART, Talmage couldn’t recite the ABCs. It was difficult for her family to keep a consistent reading schedule each day, so she worried that completing the UPSTART program for just 15 minutes each day would be a challenge as well. Another concern was that Talmage would not adapt to using a computer-based program because of his limited experience using technology.
Once Talmage was registered for UPSTART, he completed an age-appropriate assessment to determine his academic level and to tailor the program to his needs. Lisette then met their UPSTART educational coach who would be supporting, monitoring, and maintaining contact with them, including reminders to use the program, weekly reports, technical support and suggestions for activities for extended learning experiences at home. Lisette was also provided 24-hour online access to the UPSTART Parent Manager, which provides real-time progress reports and highlights their child’s areas of difficulty.
With these resources and support, Lisette found that maintaining an UPSTART preschool schedule was doable. In fact, her son quickly grasped UPSTART and was able to enter kindergarten with advanced skills and a strong love for learning.
