Over the past two years you may have seen several articles about a
wonderful program here in the Eufaula City School System that serves
parents of children 3-5 years old. You may have seen a flyer that came
home with one of your children from school or seen flyers around town at
doctor's offices, daycares, the Health Department, and various other
businesses. You may even know of someone that is or has participated in
this program over the past 6 years and yet I bet many are asking
themselves right now what is this program.
Let me give you a little more background before I give you the name or
affirm the answer you may be thinking. We are a kindergarten readiness
program which means we give parents the tools they may not have or thought
they possessed to get their children ready for their life of education. We
empower the parents with the reminder that they are ultimately their
child's first teacher and should always remain an active participant in
the educating of their child.
Deltonya Warren, our director and also the
Director of Instruction with the Eufaula City School System exclaims often
to us that "every good and perfect gift comes from above and our children
are good and perfect gifts." They are for us to treasure and it is ours to
model the things that are good that we want for our children.
Our program
takes one hour for one of our staff to deliver the materials and lesson
and then one hour a week for you, the parent, to do it with your own child
for a total of two hours a week. That is not too much to ask of any parent
to spend with their "good and perfect gift."
We have awesome group meetings once a month where we bring in the families
for a light meal and do crafts, have visits from special guests, and learn
valuable information to help us in our homes. In November we met, had
Thanksgiving dinner together and while the children played, the parents
heard from Traci Murph, Wallace Instructor, about making literacy come to
life. In December we participated in the local parade and then met for a
group meeting at which we ate a light meal, some of which was provided by
Willy T's, had a visit from HIPPY P, our state mascot, and the children
visited with Santa and did various crafts. At both of these meetings we
gave away a door prize of a Nabi Jr. tablet that could be used as awesome
presents for Christmas to their child. As an extra incentive for our
parents to keep their appointments we have a Pizza Patrol where we take a
pizza dinner to the family whose name was drawn from all of the families
that have kept all of their appointments for 4 or more weeks. Children are
getting a great jumpstart on their education and they are seeing how
important learning is to their parents by their participation and we are
giving bonus reasons to keep our families focused. 
Are you ready to check your answer? If you were thinking that we are the
HIPPY program you would be correct. HIPPY is the acronym for Home
Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. Yes, we are a working
program. Nothing of great value comes without a price. We provide this
program to our families free of charge but they work for the enjoyment
they see on their child's face. As their children excel in school they
will know they truly had an active part in that success. Don't we all want
our children to have every great opportunity to succeed? Isn't our goal to
see our children go far beyond what we ever dreamed? If you have a child
from the age of 3-5 and you want to make sure that your child has the edge
in education and success then our program is for you. We will begin in
February taking applications for next school year and if you're interested
feel free to call 687-1100 ext. 152 or come by our office on State Docks
Rd, Monday - Friday from 8:00AM-2:00PM. We look forward to working with
you.
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