What kids and parents love about after school enrichment classes!

How after school enrichment classes with {YEL!} help kids to THINK, LEARN and PLAY WELL!

  1. Kids are excited to attend school.

  2. They are convenient!

  3. They keep learning fun!

  4. They create friendships!

  5. They create new interests.

  6. The initial investment is low.

  7. They present another positive role model.

  Bonus: What’s Next?

The school year is up and running.  After school enrichment is too!

You’ve barely had time to get together school supplies, clean and prepare lunch boxes, get new shoes and find the perfect first-day-of-school outfit.  If you are like us, the gears shifted dramatically at the beginning of the school year.  Now we are planning soccer practice, chess classes, dance classes and parkour memberships.  It seems like a lot, but we want to give our kids a rich experience in extra-curricular activities.  It does pay off in the end.  Below is a list of some reasons kids and their parents love after school enrichment (a.k.a. extra-curricular activities or out of school time activities).

1. Kids are excited to attend school.

The top reason parents and kids love after school enrichment is it gets the kids excited to go to school.  For {YEL!} chess classes, kids love to grab their chess wallet and their chess dollars (merit points) the day of chess class.  {YEL!} STEM class students (we use LEGO® bricks) grab their favorite LEGO® Minifig or their piece de resistance LEGO® project they spent hours on over the summer (LEGO® Yoda, anyone?).  Sports students grab their team jersey, and so on and so on.  Being excited to go to school is a win-win-win situation.  The child tends to stay more focused during the school day, the teachers have the benefit of a more productive student and parents find it easier to motivate their child for the school day.

Studies have been conducted tying quality after school enrichment with a rise in test scores.  The American Institute for Research asks “Does participation in after school programs make a difference?  According to Little, Wimer, and Weiss,  the short answer is yes. . . .A decade of research and evaluation studies, as well as large-scale, rigorously conducted syntheses looking across many research and evaluation studies, confirms that children and youth who participate in after school programs can reap a host of positive benefits in a number of interrelated outcome areas—academic, social/emotional, prevention, and health and wellness. (2008, p. 2)”

2. They are convenient!

What could be better than having your child take chess, STEM, dance or sports classes in the safety of their own school and parents only have to come pick them up an hour later than usual.  Talk about a win-win!

There are fantastic off campus clubs that have chess, robotics and fencing classes in many communities, but they tend to be centered in a downtown area that could be 20-30 miles away for most parents.  So, if your child is interested in fencing, {YEL!} offers fencing classes in dozens of communities to hundreds of students each year.  If you don’t have fencing, chess, robotics, sports and dance classes at your school, give us a call at (800) 959-9261 or email us at info@yelkids.com and we’ll discuss options for your school and community.

3. They keep learning fun!

The benefits of chess are numerous and have been widely studied.  {YEL!} STEM classes using LEGO® bricks incorporate many 21st Century Learning Skills including creativity, communication and collaboration.  The importance of sports classes, fencing classes, dance or any class that gets your child’s pulse pounding cannot be understated.  In a day and age where USA adult obesity is nearing 75%, getting your child used to moving 60 minutes or more a day is incredibly important.

{YEL!} instructors implement daily lesson plans that incorporate all those benefits into our after school enrichment offerings.  Because of the robust curriculum and dynamic instructors, the student participants learn without even knowing it.  Chess stimulates the brain and makes using your brain fun.  LEGO® brick projects teach basic engineering and spacial skills all while the child is enjoying “playing” (read “building”) with LEGO® bricks.  What parent wouldn’t want learning to be fun for their child?

4. They create friendships!

Many children sign up for after school enrichment classes with a friend.  Being together on a chess team, building a LEGO® project together, being in a dance class together or being on an after school sports (flag football, basketball, soccer) team with a buddy can codify those friendships.  Not only that, building with a school mate that you don’t know as well can create a friendship that wasn’t there before.  My 10 year old son started taking chess classes in kindergarten and learned all the names of the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade chess students.  Then he would often say “hi” to them in the hall.  Those older more accomplished students also motivated my lil’ chess wizard to work harder at chess so he could beat them some day.

5. They create new interests.

Students can “dip their toes” in the after school enrichment pool (to strain the metaphor) of soccer, chess and other classes where there is a large number of beginning students in the fall.  As an example, maybe your child is excited to learn more about soccer, but your family schedule won’t allow for you to do two nights per week of practice, plus Saturday or Sunday games.  As an alternative, after school enrichment classes meet only one time per week and can introduce your child to soccer so they understand the rules, skills and team work required.  If their interest in the sport grows, then you can decide as a family whether the time is right for a traveling league.

6. The initial investment is low.

For {YEL!} classes, parents have to pay a participation fee, but other than that, everything is provided for that fee.  {YEL!} Fencing classes include all the gear a fencer needs to participate safely during class.  {YEL!} dance classes do NOT require expensive dance uniforms that may last only one year.  {YEL!} chess, LEGO® STEM classes, robotics and sports classes include all the materials needed to THINK, LEARN and PLAY WELL in any of those subjects during class time.

7. They present another positive role model.

Parents often reach out to {YEL!} teachers and share gifts and thank you cards with them.  {YEL!} teachers understand that making a difference in a child’s day is one of their greatest priorities and it is something they can “hang their hat on” at the end of each day.  Students in our classes can benefit a great deal from another positive role model that will keep them active, engaged and create the love for something other than video games.

BONUS: What’s Next?

{YEL!} lists all of our classes on our REGISTRATION WEBSITE.  Simply choose your school, school district, subject or type in your zip code to see what is in your area.  If you can’t find what you are looking for, call us at (800) 959-9261 or email us at info@yelkids.com and let’s start a discussion about bringing {YEL!} programs to your schools.