HIPPY IS DESIGNED TO EMPOWER PARENTS.
All parents want the best for their children. HIPPY builds upon this fact. The HIPPY model creates opportunities for positive, educational interactions between parents and their three, four, and five-year-olds. Parents take active roles as their children’s primary educators.
HIPPY is particularly well suited to the needs of parents who have serious doubts about their own ability to teach their children. These doubts are often a result of the parent’s own negative school experiences. Children of these parents are among the growing pool of those at-risk of school failure.
HIPPY FOCUSES SPECIFICALLY ON SCHOOL-READINESS SKILLS & CONCEPTS.
Early elementary school curricula assume, but do not always teach, certain basic skills and knowledge. The HIPPY curriculum guides parents in creating opportunities for their children to learn the basic skills and knowledge necessary for early school success.
The HIPPY materials for two years consist of: 18 storybooks; 60 activity packets for the parents; extra enrichment materials; a set of plastic shapes; and all materials and supplies needed to complete the HIPPY activities.
HIPPY RELIES ON PARENT EDUCATORS AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS.
Parent Educators, selected from the initial pool of parents interested in the program, take primary responsibility for program delivery. They bring to the program their intimate knowledge of and immediate access to the specific community being served. With training and supervision from the professional coordinator, HIPPY parent educators become effective grass-roots educators and educational outreach workers.
A full time professional coordinator provides the leadership for each HIPPY project. The professional backgrounds of effective HIPPY coordinators are diverse: early childhood education, community education, family education, and dropout prevention. However, all share a common belief that parents are primary educators of their children and all have strong commitment to enhancing the role that parents play in supporting their children’s learning and development.
HIPPY IS IMPLEMENTED THROUGH WEEKLY CONTACTS WITH FAMILIES.
Every week a parent educator visits the home. Once a month the parents meet together with the parent educators and coordinators in supportive group settings. WEEKLY HOME ACTIVITY PACKETS PROVIDE A SPRINGBOARD FOR BROADER EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT.
The weekly activity packets are, in effect, lesson plans designed for parents with little confidence in their ability to teach. The instructions outline parent-child activities step-by-step. By guaranteeing success and offering immediate gratification for teaching efforts, this structured approach gives parents the confidence to take on increasing responsibility in their roles as educators.
The structure of the materials is for the parent, not the child. Many activities are open-ended, leaving room for creativity and joint exploration. And all of the activities lend themselves to broad generalization in children’s play and everyday family life.
HIPPY IS TAUGHT BY ROLE PLAYING.
The HIPPY activities are role played between the parent educator and the parent. This method of instruction promotes a comfortable, non-threatening learning environment in which there is always room for mistakes. The parent completes the activities with his or her child once the parent educator is gone. No one supervises or observes the parent working with his or her child.
When a parent plays the role of a child, the parent educator can tell whether or not the parent understands the activity. In addition, role playing promotes empathy for the child who will be doing these same activities during that week.