Hi, I'm a mom of a six-year-old who just started Grade 1 in Toronto. When school started I kept looking for ways to be more invested in her learning. She gets homework, and I didn't want to just police it. I wanted something that felt like our ritual: learn, make it fun, keep it personal. And honestly, every suggestion I got, from school and from parent groups, was another app. I'm already fed up with her screen time. So I used my 15+ years of edtech background and built a simple learning tool for her. A printable weekly pack. Paper and pencil. Twenty minutes a day, with me sitting next to her before/after dinner time. It follows the Ontario Grade 1 curriculum and goes a step ahead of it, with a real-life skill as the weekend job. And it's built to be fun: there's a punchcard, and kids pick their own prizes. We've been doing it for a few weeks at home. She loves the prizes, obviously. But the thing I didn't expect is the confidence. She can feel she's getting ahead, and she wants more. That ambition is the part I'm proud of. I figured other parents might want the same, so I've put it online for free. I'm starting with next week's pack, which is Thanksgiving themed of course: a story about harvesting on Grandpa's farm, practising tens and ones in numbers, and a thank-you card as the weekend activity. How it works: 1. Print the week's pack all at once 2. Give your child two pages a day starting Monday 3. Mark it together and punch the card based on results. 4. Over every 2 weeks, they enjoy the prizes (which you agree with them before starting a pack) and you enjoy the productive together time and learning. There's a grown-up handbook that takes two minutes to read so you get a hang of the plan. It's a pilot I'm running, so Grade 1 only for now. If you have an older kid and think something like this would be of value for them, tell me what you'd want. I'm listening Here's the link: https://orcapods.ca

Orca Pods

A weekly learning printable pack for Grade 1 families

A weekly learning printable pack for Grade 1 families