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WHAT WE DO: Our Program
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CFY's Take IT Home program is designed to improve children’s learning environment at home and to strengthen the school-home connection. Our program is structured to accomplish three goals:
  • Enhance the educational resources in children's homes
  • Improve parent-child interaction around learning at home
  • Help teachers contribute to and take advantage of a stronger school-home connection
The entry point for CFY's Take IT Home program is the sixth grade because this is the pivotal year in which (a) children begin to disengage from academics, (b) parents begin to feel less capable of helping with increasingly complex homework assignments, and (c) academic achievement begins to decline.
Take IT Home uses an application and interview process to select public schools in low-income communities and then offers families the following resources:
  • A free computer designed as a Home Learning Center. Participating families get to keep this computer upon completion of CFY's Family Learning Workshop.

  • Engaging educational software titles in math, English, social studies, and science. These titles have been identified by CFY software experts and tested by CFY students and CFY's panel of education executives from school districts across the country.

  • Educational web content at MyHomeLearning.com for the entire family.
  • Free one-year subscriptions to engaging math and reading sites worth more than $500 per family.

  • Internet access at a reduced rate in some locations. The access we provide depends on the city in which we are working.

  • Family Learning Workshops that teach parents and children how to use their CFY Home Learning Center to strengthen core academic skills. All participating families must attend a half-day hands-on workshop where they learn together on the very Home Learning Center they will then take home. Workshops are held on Saturdays at the school and are well attended: In schools that often draw fewer than 15 families to PTA meetings, each of our Saturday workshops draws more than 100.

  • Robust technical support from CFY's bilingual help desk, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Families can also bring their computer to a local CFY warehouse for free servicing.

  • Additional training beyond the Family Learning Workshops in some locations. These trainings are designed to give parents strategies for engaging in home learning activities—something research has shown improves student performance. These workshops are open to families from all middle-school grades.
Both before and after the Family Learning Workshops, CFY offers professional development to partner schools to help teachers extend classroom learning to the home.

CFY's innovative approach supports parents as learning partners, instills powerful school-home connections, and creates educational opportunities for the entire family.

Find out how your school can become a CFY school.