Do Families Really Own Your Products?
What Do You Mean By “Affordable?”
We provide two affordable paths to ownership. A family can buy a product outright for a one-time payment of $59.95. They get thousands of effective learning activities, for children and adults, for as many as six family members. Compare a one-time cost of $59.95 to a subscription of $9.99 a month forever; that’s affordable. Or, a family can buy 5-hour learning blocks for $4.95; that’s affordable, too. After a family buys sixteen 5-hour learning blocks, they, too, own the product and never pay additional money.
Why Don’t You Sell Subscriptions?
We don’t sell subscriptions for a number of reasons. First, you have to pro-actively stop a subscription; if you forget to stop a subscription (as most people do), you end up paying for months before you discover the problem. Second, many subscriptions make it difficult for you to stop them. Third, subscriptions go on forever; they never lead to ownership. Finally, subscriptions end when you stop making payments; even if you want to “continue” at a later date, you start all over again, having lost all your record-keeping data.
What Are 5-hour Learning Blocks?
For those families that want to make small, affordable payments, we sell 5-hour learning blocks. Each 5-hour learning block enables family members to use a product for five hours. When the five hours have been used, the product is put on pause. Whenever another 5-hour learning block is purchased, the family resumes where it left off, with all their record-keeping data having been saved. After a family purchases sixteen 5-hour learning blocks, they own the product and never make additional payments.
Who Owns a Product When an Organization Buys It?
The family always owns the product, whether the family itself buys it or an organization buys it and “gIves” it to the family.
Do Organizations Get a Discount?
Yes. Just use the Contact Us form to request a conversation and we’ll be glad to work out an appropriate discount for your organization.
How Much Do Organizations Pay?
If an organization wants to buy family plans outright, the organization pays their negotiated discount price for a one-time purchase. If an organization wants to “share” the cost with the family, the organization can pay an amount between $10-$50 and the family buys 5-hour learning blocks until together (the organization and the family) have paid $80.
How Many Products Do You Have?
We have five products Each product includes modules for children and for adults. Each product has an age-group focus:
Early Family Literacy Pre-K and Kindergarten children
Elementary Family Literacy Children in Kindergarten – Grade 5
Middle School Family Literacy Middle School students
High School Family Literacy High School students
Adult Family Literacy Adults in ABE programs
What is a Module?
Each product has a number of modules. Each module is a collection of activities (from 500-1,500) for a particular age in a specific language. Family members select a product using the Settings (gear) button.
Does Each Product Actually Have Thousands of Activities?
Yes. The “smallest” product has between 3,000-4,000 activities and the largest product has over 7,000 activities. For a literacy product to be affective, it must include all six components of literacy: phonemic awareness, decoding, reading comprehension, reading fluency, vocabulary development and writing. A product with even hundreds of activities (many so-called literacy products have tens of activities) is not comprehensive enough to be effective.
Why Don’t You Use Adaptive Learning?
There are many reasons. First, the algorithms in many adaptive software programs don’t actually work accurately. Second, the research indicates that learner control is more effective than adaptive learning. Third, adaptive learning pushes people towards “individualized” learning and away from collaborative learning; humans are social animals who learn best with others. Finally, adaptive learning prevents learners from making decisions and data-driven decision-making is the numb er one skill employers look for in their employees.
What’s the Difference Between Family Engagement and Parent Engagement?
Family engagement is often confused with parental engagement in their children’s education programs. Parents are invited to back-to-school night to meet their children’s teachers, they may be given access to their children’s gradebook, they are encouraged to communicate with their children’s teachers, but, they are not given a clear role in their children’s learning.
What is the Research On Which Your Products Are Based?
All of our products are based upon a body of methodological research. All of our research is accessible on or web site or by using this link: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/flink-2.0-fs/Files/resources/ResearchPapers.pdf
What is Family Learning Software?
Family learning software is multi-generational software. And it is multigenerational in two ways. First, family learning software includes multi-generational modules, that is, it includes activities designed for children and activities designed for adults. Second, family learning software includes a multi-generation process, that is, it encourages and supports family members of different ages to learn together.
Why is Literacy So Important?
First, literacy is important because reading and writing skills are the foundation for success in school and in life. Second, literacy is important because “functional” literacy levels in the United States are shockingly low. Over 60% of ALL American adults read below 8th grade level and about 50% of All American adults read below a 5th grade level. And the problem is getting better: almost two-thirds of all school-age children read below grade level.
What is Wrong with Edutainment?
It isn’t, that is, there really is no such thing. People claim you can combine entertainment and education, and you really cannot. Entertainment is passive; education is active. There is nothing wrong with entertainment, but it is wrong to claim that entertainment is education. Education can, and must, be engaging, but it is misleading to think it is entertaining.
Are All Activities in English and Spanish?
For young children, all the activities are in both English and Spanish. The research is clear: the fastest way for a native Spanish-speaking child to become literate in English is to first become literate in Spanish. That is why we take a Spanish immersion approach for young children. For older children and adults, we take a transition approach. All of the activities for native Spanish-speakers are in English, and all the help is in Spanish.
What If Parents Don’t Know How to Help Their Kids?
We understand that many parents are not confident in their ability to help their children learn. For them, we have a series of parent advice videos. All parents (or grandparents, or aunts, or uncles) have to do is click or tap the Parent Advice button to see and hear a parent give them concrete advice and specific tip[s on how to help their children learn…wherever they are in the product .