Raphah Institute Launches HomeworkHelps - Tutoring Program for Children

Partnership with Hope and Home Brings Tutoring to Children in Foster Care

Colorado Springs, CO, June 5, 2006 -- Raphah Institute for Total Wellness has launched HomeworkHelps, an education support program for 1st to 6th graders. Raphah Institute has simultaneously formed a partnership with Hope and Home, an El Paso County Child Placement Agency, to bring HomeworkHelps to children in foster care.

HomeworkHelps is a one-on-one education support program for 1st to 6th graders that helps them improve their reading skills, improve their grades through help with homework assignments, and improve the quality of the lifestyle decisions they make. The program runs year-round with plans to expand it's offering in the future.

READ*WRITE*NOW

HomeworkHelps has adopted this initiative developed during the Clinton Administration as a part of his AMERICA READS CHALLENGE. This program provides ideas to use with children to help them read well and independently by the end of the third grade. It also includes activities to help improve children's reading and writing skills through sixth grade. In each session, the student reads aloud with the tutor, reads aloud alone, works on vocabulary, word attack, and comprehension, and engages in writing.

Homework Help

During this period the student focuses on completing homework, current projects, and assignments. The assigned tutor assists, providing help for the student where needed.

Life Lessons

Each week students focus on a topic that deals with making healthy, positive lifestyle decisions. The topics range from how diet and exercise can help improve grades to positive ways of dealing with peer pressure and conflicts. This is accomplished through stories, skits, and object lessons. Community professionals such as policemen, firemen, doctors, etc. also come to talk to our students about the positive impact of making good decisions.

Here's how it works during the school year.

Each term is 6 weeks long.
Students participate 2 days a week - Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday.
Each session is 1 hour and a half - 25 minutes reading, 25 minutes homework, and 25 minutes Life Lessons.
Students can participate in the 4:00pm session or the 5:30pm session.
Each student's reading skills are assessed at the beginning and end of each 6 week term.

Here's how it works during the summer:

Each term is 6 weeks long.
Students participate 4 days a week - Monday thru Thursday.
Each session is 1 hour - 25 minutes reading and 25 minutes Life Lessons.
Sessions are from 4:00 - 8:00 starting every half hour.
Each student's reading skills are assessed at the beginning and end of each 6 week term.

Here's the schedule for the next 12 months

TERM	DATES

Summer 1	June 5-July 13 (July 4th)
Summer 2	July 24-August 31
Fall 1	September 18-October 26
Fall 2	November 6-December 14
Winter 1	January 8-February 15
Winter 2	February 26-April 5
Spring	April 16-May 24

There is a tuition fee which averages around $6 per session. Parents are encouraged to attend sessions with their children. For each session parents attend they are refunded one half that sessions tuition fee.

In launching this program, Raphah Institute has simultaneously partnered with Hope and Home to bring HomeworkHelps to children in Foster Care. Caseworkers at Hope and Home have helped identify children in their agency with the potential to benefit from this program. Raphah Institute then pairs the students with their trained education support partners in one-on-one sessions. The sessions are conducted at Hope and Home's main facility.

Students can now be registered for Summer Term II (July 24-August 31)

For More Information Contact:

Raphah Institute for Total Wellness, Inc.
PO Box 16411 Colorado Springs, CO 80935
Tel: 719-237-5591
Internet: travis.claybrooks@raphahinstitute.org