PowerParenting Program (Online)
2nd Tuesday, 6pm-7:30pm - Free virtual workshop by the Family Support Center.
Explores various parenting topics, meet online and exchange ideas with other parents.
Registration is required. Email lindas@fscss.org for the link to join the class.
Call or visit online for a list of current topics.

PlayWise - Free Early Learning Workshop:
Two classes every Thursday, 9:15 am - 10:15 am and 10:45 am to 11:45 am.

Other parenting courses may be offered throughout the year. Call or visit online to find out more about current activities.

Parent/Caregiver Education offered at Hands On Children's Museum

Offers the Power Parenting Program and PlayWise for parents. Also offers other parenting courses offered throughout the year.

Programs that promote pre-literacy and language development skills in children from birth to age five with the objective of preparing them to read. Program activities are both educational and social and focus on helping participants develop oral language skills, expand their vocabulary, develop the concept of a word, have exposure to printed words and connect them to stories, develop phonological and phoneme awareness (sounds associated with letters and words), and recognize letters of the alphabet and connect them to words. Specific activities that promote early literacy development include reading aloud, summarizing stories read, conversations and dialogue, learning new words, exposure to books, rhyming and singing, imitating sounds, identifying syllables, writing and naming letters, attaching sounds to letters, and recognizing words. Counting and elementary math may also be incorporated. Programs may be formal or informal, and may include parent participation. Classes are often held at schools, churches, libraries and community recreation centers.

Early Literacy Development Programs

Programs that teach skills that enable parents to deal constructively and consistently with a broad spectrum of child rearing problems which may include sibling rivalry; school behavior and performance; poor self-esteem; shyness; drug use; sexual promiscuity; and the whole range of negative, acting-out behaviors including whining, temper tantrums, disobedience, insolence and destructiveness. Some parenting skills development programs utilize a step-by-step approach for managing specific problems and may incorporate application at home of techniques that were discussed and practiced in the classroom setting. Other programs may offer participatory family workshops which provide opportunities for parents and children to learn and practice methods for dealing with one another under the guidance of a trained facilitator. Most training programs teach the parent a particular way of talking and relating to their children that reinforces positive behaviors and communication and decreases negative behaviors while supporting the development of a relationship that is built on fairness, mutual caring and respect.

Parenting Skills Classes

Provides age appropriate information for parents of children birth to age five relating to cognitive and social/emotional skills needed to prepare a child to enter kindergarten.
Provides kindergarten readiness seminars for parents of children birth to age five.

READY! for Kindergarten offered at Children's Reading Foundation of the Mid Columbia

Provides age appropriate information for parents of children birth to age five relating to cognitive and social/emotional skills needed to prepare a child to enter kindergarten.

Programs sponsored by states, local municipalities or local nonprofits that prepare children, usually age three to five, to succeed in school. The programs are modeled on Head Start/Better Beginnings/Brighter Futures programs and are compensatory in nature targeting children from low income families or those who have or are at risk for a disability and who may have special needs. Services may include comprehensive development screenings, active learning, parent education programs, family activities, early literacy exercises, home visits and healthy snacks during the school day. In some instances, the programs are entirely home-based and focus on providing materials, instruction and support that enable the parent to prepare their child for entering school. Occasionally, the programs refer to short acclimatization sessions to make new pupils familiar with the school and classroom environment before the formal start of the school year. Some programs offer text messaging as a way to encourage parent participation in early education activities.

School Readiness Programs

Programs that offer classes for parents or for parents and their children that focus on the developmental stages of maturation from infancy through adolescence and the child rearing problems that arise with each stage. Classes may be purely instructional or may include an experiential element in which parents bring their infants or toddlers to class and observe their behavior as an example of the specific material being discussed.