The emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic brought major disruptions for America’s children and families. Due to safety protocols, children had no choice but to move from an in-classroom learning environment to learning online. Many children fell behind in their ability to learn effectively and keep pace with the learning requirements of their schools. Adding to this the sense of isolation, lack of peer interactions, and increases in depression combine to form a perfect storm, putting our children at risk. Not only are they at risk in school, but they are also at risk in life. The traditional joys of childhood seem more elusive now than ever.
With the migration out of the classroom and in front of the home computer, kids have become more comfortable connecting and learning using technology. In 2021, for example, schools offered remote instruction, hybrid instruction and in-person instruction. With these trends, the opportunity to add value-added online learning in life-skills presents itself.
There are 15.3 million children attending high school (2020-2021: Source: IES/NCES National Center for Education Statistics); approximately 7 million junior and seniors (11th and 12th grade). SMBs growth plans are to fill the gap for both public and private high school students beginning with financial expert Jen Nash's Financial Strength course which is hosted on SMBs platform, plus making all the business management and entrepreneurial courses available to these students who are interested in business or business ownership.
Our plan includes offering life-skills education to the existing school curriculum:
Our Mission is to supplement, not cannibalize, the current curriculum. We plan to add value, add life- skills education, preparing both the students themselves in private and public high schools, but also the teaching staff. We will provide guidance to the teaching staff to maximize the learning objectives of our online classes. Students can take the online courses from home, then gather in their classroom for teacher-facilitated discussion, ensuring a cohesive learning environment. The value of step-by-step instruction, coupled with a community learning environment (in classroom, and teacher facilitated) will maximize the comprehension of the curriculum offered.
The accessibility of computers and internet service does not appear to be a barrier to our efforts. Research states that children under the age of 18 in the home enrolled in school have access to in-home computers and internet service. Even homes at lower socio-economic levels have both computers and internet access (83%), compared to 97% of households at higher socio-economic levels.
Hybrid learning is not going away. Nor is the need for life-skills education. SMB is focused on capitalizing on this trend and adding value to preparing high school and college students with the skills they need to succeed in life.
While our initial course offering aligns to the needs of students in Financial Literacy instruction, coupled with the movement of US-state governments to mandate high school seniors take an online course in Financial Literacy as a requirement for graduation, we see this trend continuing through state governments and boards of education. There is momentum for personal finance education becoming law in many states across the country.
23 states currently have some sort of personal finance education mandate (Source: The 2022 Survey of the States from the Council for Economic Education). And 47 states include language about personal finance in their state education standards. More states could pass legislation this year to make sure students have this knowledge before they graduate.
The pandemic stalled progress on personal financial education, but because of the changes in the workforce, the great resignation, and an ensuing recession, providing financial literacy education has become even more important for students.
SMB is positioned to provide that Financial Literacy and life-skills instruction, and our Mission is to develop curriculum, leveraging the expertise of real-life practitioners, making it understandable at the high school level.
Trends show that financial literacy among individuals is declining, with only 34% of respondents correctly answering at least four out of five questions posed by the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FINRA) on the topic. Nearly four out of every five U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck. Over a quarter never save any money from month to month. And, almost 75% are in some form of debt, and most assume they always will be.
In addition, since the pandemic, 1.2 million children have left the public school system, transferring to either a parochial school system, or are being home-schooled by their parents with support resources. The opportunity has presented itself to not only target the school systems themselves for our value-added education, but to reach parents directly through SMBs digital marketing know-how.
These parents want what is best for their children and they believe the public school system has failed them. This provides an opportunity for SMB to step in now as a value-added resource, supplementing the public, private and home-school curriculum.
Our children are living in a difficult world. Emerging data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of many children and adolescents. Before the pandemic, youth mental health was already an important public health concern. For example, among high school students nationwide, significant increases occurred between 2009 and 2019 in having persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (26.1% to 36.7%), having seriously considered attempting suicide (13.8% to 18.8%), and having attempted suicide (6.3% to 8.9%).
For many youths during the pandemic, mental health was affected by school closures, social isolation, family economic hardship, fear of family loss or illness, and reduced access to health care because of inadequate insurance coverage or medical office closures and reduced hours. Two longitudinal studies on adolescent mental health during the pandemic found increases in depression and anxiety over the course of the pandemic. In one study, these symptoms were predicted by COVID-19–related worries, online learning difficulties, and increased conflict with parents.
In another study, emergency department visits for suspected suicide were 50.6% higher among girls and 3.7% higher among boys from February through March 2021 than during the same period in 2019. To understand the impact of COVID-19 on youth mental health and to identify potential protective factors, this study examines U.S. high school students’ mental health and suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the relation between mental health and connectedness to school, family, friends, and community groups.
Public health and health care professionals, communities, schools, families, and adolescents can use these findings to better understand students’ mental health and suicidal thoughts and attempts during the pandemic and how fostering connectedness at school and with others could be one strategy to promote adolescent health and well-being during the pandemic and beyond.
SMB is well positioned to: (1) provide life-skills education that focuses on communication and interpersonal skills, self-awareness, coping with stress, problem-solving, empathy, goal-setting, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, decision-making, and more – and (2) to build a learning community online and in their classroom that can reduce the feeling of isolation and soften the hearts of young people. We must prepare them for the harsh world we live in. That preparation must start now at the middle and high school level and must include life skills. It’s no longer about “reading, writing, and arithmetic” (although supplementing these core learning areas is also a priority for SMB) …it’s about living a productive, fruitful life and becoming a responsible member of society.
If you are an educator, psychologist, healthcare practitioner, counselor, coach, author, or subject matter expert in these life skills, we hope you'll join our community of educators, bringing life skills education to middle/high school and college students, preparing them for success in real-life. If interested, please complete the form below and we'll be in touch. Thank you.
With the migration out of the classroom and in front of the home computer, kids have become more comfortable connecting and learning using technology. In 2021, for example, schools offered remote instruction, hybrid instruction and in-person instruction. With these trends, the opportunity to add value-added online learning in life-skills presents itself.
There are 15.3 million children attending high school (2020-2021: Source: IES/NCES National Center for Education Statistics); approximately 7 million junior and seniors (11th and 12th grade). SMBs growth plans are to fill the gap for both public and private high school students beginning with financial expert Jen Nash's Financial Strength course which is hosted on SMBs platform, plus making all the business management and entrepreneurial courses available to these students who are interested in business or business ownership.
Our plan includes offering life-skills education to the existing school curriculum:
- Problem solving
- Goal setting
- Critical thinking
- Communication skills
- Creative thinking
- Interpersonal relationship skills
- Self-awareness skills
- Empathy
- Coping with stress skills
- Conflict resolution skills
- Decision-making skills
- Negotiating skills
- Emotional Intelligence
- Financial Literacy
Our Mission is to supplement, not cannibalize, the current curriculum. We plan to add value, add life- skills education, preparing both the students themselves in private and public high schools, but also the teaching staff. We will provide guidance to the teaching staff to maximize the learning objectives of our online classes. Students can take the online courses from home, then gather in their classroom for teacher-facilitated discussion, ensuring a cohesive learning environment. The value of step-by-step instruction, coupled with a community learning environment (in classroom, and teacher facilitated) will maximize the comprehension of the curriculum offered.
The accessibility of computers and internet service does not appear to be a barrier to our efforts. Research states that children under the age of 18 in the home enrolled in school have access to in-home computers and internet service. Even homes at lower socio-economic levels have both computers and internet access (83%), compared to 97% of households at higher socio-economic levels.
Hybrid learning is not going away. Nor is the need for life-skills education. SMB is focused on capitalizing on this trend and adding value to preparing high school and college students with the skills they need to succeed in life.
While our initial course offering aligns to the needs of students in Financial Literacy instruction, coupled with the movement of US-state governments to mandate high school seniors take an online course in Financial Literacy as a requirement for graduation, we see this trend continuing through state governments and boards of education. There is momentum for personal finance education becoming law in many states across the country.
23 states currently have some sort of personal finance education mandate (Source: The 2022 Survey of the States from the Council for Economic Education). And 47 states include language about personal finance in their state education standards. More states could pass legislation this year to make sure students have this knowledge before they graduate.
The pandemic stalled progress on personal financial education, but because of the changes in the workforce, the great resignation, and an ensuing recession, providing financial literacy education has become even more important for students.
SMB is positioned to provide that Financial Literacy and life-skills instruction, and our Mission is to develop curriculum, leveraging the expertise of real-life practitioners, making it understandable at the high school level.
Trends show that financial literacy among individuals is declining, with only 34% of respondents correctly answering at least four out of five questions posed by the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FINRA) on the topic. Nearly four out of every five U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck. Over a quarter never save any money from month to month. And, almost 75% are in some form of debt, and most assume they always will be.
In addition, since the pandemic, 1.2 million children have left the public school system, transferring to either a parochial school system, or are being home-schooled by their parents with support resources. The opportunity has presented itself to not only target the school systems themselves for our value-added education, but to reach parents directly through SMBs digital marketing know-how.
These parents want what is best for their children and they believe the public school system has failed them. This provides an opportunity for SMB to step in now as a value-added resource, supplementing the public, private and home-school curriculum.
Our children are living in a difficult world. Emerging data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of many children and adolescents. Before the pandemic, youth mental health was already an important public health concern. For example, among high school students nationwide, significant increases occurred between 2009 and 2019 in having persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (26.1% to 36.7%), having seriously considered attempting suicide (13.8% to 18.8%), and having attempted suicide (6.3% to 8.9%).
For many youths during the pandemic, mental health was affected by school closures, social isolation, family economic hardship, fear of family loss or illness, and reduced access to health care because of inadequate insurance coverage or medical office closures and reduced hours. Two longitudinal studies on adolescent mental health during the pandemic found increases in depression and anxiety over the course of the pandemic. In one study, these symptoms were predicted by COVID-19–related worries, online learning difficulties, and increased conflict with parents.
In another study, emergency department visits for suspected suicide were 50.6% higher among girls and 3.7% higher among boys from February through March 2021 than during the same period in 2019. To understand the impact of COVID-19 on youth mental health and to identify potential protective factors, this study examines U.S. high school students’ mental health and suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the relation between mental health and connectedness to school, family, friends, and community groups.
Public health and health care professionals, communities, schools, families, and adolescents can use these findings to better understand students’ mental health and suicidal thoughts and attempts during the pandemic and how fostering connectedness at school and with others could be one strategy to promote adolescent health and well-being during the pandemic and beyond.
SMB is well positioned to: (1) provide life-skills education that focuses on communication and interpersonal skills, self-awareness, coping with stress, problem-solving, empathy, goal-setting, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, decision-making, and more – and (2) to build a learning community online and in their classroom that can reduce the feeling of isolation and soften the hearts of young people. We must prepare them for the harsh world we live in. That preparation must start now at the middle and high school level and must include life skills. It’s no longer about “reading, writing, and arithmetic” (although supplementing these core learning areas is also a priority for SMB) …it’s about living a productive, fruitful life and becoming a responsible member of society.
If you are an educator, psychologist, healthcare practitioner, counselor, coach, author, or subject matter expert in these life skills, we hope you'll join our community of educators, bringing life skills education to middle/high school and college students, preparing them for success in real-life. If interested, please complete the form below and we'll be in touch. Thank you.