Boost Kids Review - Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Reviewed by: Dena Wood
As seen in the July 2006 edition of Old Schoolhouse Magazine:
The Boost Kids program is geared
to instill confidence in children, helping them to be
more successful in life. As the first page in the student
manual states: “It does not matter what we end up doing
in life: becoming a teacher, doctor, homemaker, or scientist,
the people that are the most successful and content have
one universal quality among them: self-confidence. Feeling
confident is one of the most important keys to a happy
life. If you lack confidence, it is difficult to have
close friendships, strong relationships with family members,
and success in your career.”
While the program is secular and focuses
on “confidence” and “success” I found the content to be
excellent. Personally, I tend to react a bit negatively
to the words “confidence” and “success” as they cause me
to envision creating future CEO’s focused only on their
own advancement and skills. If you react the same way,
you’ll be pleased to learn that this program is nothing
like that.
I consider this program a course in manners,
relating well to others, developing proper attitudes, making
good moral choices and more. It does a wonderful job of
addressing the difficult situations all young people deal
with and offering positive, constructive ways of addressing
them as well as teaching how to treat others respectfully.
In my opinion the program is ideal for children ages eight
through early teens.
Boost Kids is divided into eight lessons
and 28 topics. To use the lessons as intended your child
would read through the lesson in the Boost Kids booklet
(generally 1-2 pages), complete the fill-ins at the end
of the lesson, view the lesson on the CD-Rom taking the
short quiz at the end of the CD-Rom. The child would then
sit down with you and review the lesson using the Boost
Cards. It is encouraged that the parent uses this time
to discuss or share relevant situations they may have experienced.
In fact, it is also suggested that the parent work through
the lessons WITH the child, making it a joint learning
venture. These are great opportunities for relationship
building.
The main component of the Boost Kids is the DVD lesson.
As your child works through each DVD lesson he will take a pre-test, view
the lesson, watch a review and take a short quiz before moving on to the
next lesson. The video lessons are easy to understand and enjoyable to
watch. In each lesson a narrator introduces the topic and is followed
by clips of children acting out both positive and negative versions of
what was taught. My daughter often requests watching these clips just
for fun! The program allows for different users to work through the program
at varying speeds by offering separate log-ins and passwords.
Lessons Include:
Lesson 1: Meet and Greet
-
Greeting People
-
Eye Contact
-
Smile
-
Turn Up The Volume
-
Telephone Manners
Lesson 2: Making Conversation
-
Become a Good Listener
-
How To Handle People Who Brag
Lesson 3: Encouraging Thoughts, Encouraging Actions
-
Say Thank You
-
The Glass Is Half-Full, Not Half-Empty
-
Give Compliments
-
Accomplishing Goals
Lesson 4: Respecting Others
Lesson 5: Positive Traits
-
Have Patience
-
Be Honest
-
Don’t Let The Little Things Bring You Down
Lesson 6: Self-Improvement
-
Feel Good About Yourself
-
Don’t Be A Complainer
-
Create Your Own Identity
-
Improve Your Mood
Lesson 7: Life Is Great! Go After It!
-
Be Passionate
-
Have Fun
-
Try New Things
Lesson 8: Strategies In Life
-
Don’t Announce Your Strengths/Admit Your Weaknesses
-
Resist The “Dark Side”
-
Apologize Quickly and Sincerely
-
How To Handle Being Teased
As you can see, these are all qualities we want to see
in our children and not your average “self-esteem” type course. It really
focuses on being the kind of person you can feel good about being. For
example the Boost Card for How To Handle Being Teased lists the following
as Helpful Tips (keywords are capitalized and highlighted):
-
Remember that most of the time when someone is teasing you that person is either Not Confident in themselves or Angry at something else.
-
When someone teases you try and Rise Above the behavior by not allowing them to “get under your skin” or cause you to Change your behavior by teasing back.
-
If teasing stays constant and continues, always Talk to a Parent or Teacher regarding the situation.
I appreciate that the program often stresses an attempt
at understanding the other person’s behavior while not letting it affect
your own. This is an excellent program well worth completing with your
children. While I recognize the price tag makes this program
a major investment for some, I feel the character qualities and ways
of dealing with negative situations addressed here are equally important
(if not more so) than academics. If you have the room in your budget
Boost Kids would be a great addition to your child’s education.
Click
Here to view the article on The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
