After School Courses

Brilliant Minds Enrichment Programs are unique after school programs for ALL students in grades K-7. When we say "ALL students" we mean it. Every child qualifies for this program because every child is Brilliant. Our job is to help them discover their unique Brilliance while they enjoy their friends and participate in fun and engaging lessons.

We offer courses after school at schools in Broward County. Click on your school's name under Programs to find schedules, courses offered, and costs. Don't see your school? Call us to learn more about home school programs and locally organized groups.

Courses are taught on campus, after school, twice per week by education professionals in groups of 10 - 12 students. Each course is one semester long and is compromised of varying components to meet the needs of your unique child.

What We Teach

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Builds skills and strategies necessary to practice values of character education. Direct teaching and application of skills in Emotional Intelligence (EQ) boost children's abilities in empathy, impulse control, problem solving, and emotion management.The core of Brilliant Minds Enrichment Programs are lessons in SEL. SEL is the process of developing findamental skills for life effectiveness. SEL teachers teach skills that humans need to manage themselves and relationships and to work effectively an efficiently (CASEL, 2009). Learn more...

Benefits: Improves Language Arts and Literacy Skills. Increases self-confidence and self-responsibility.

Play:Recess is the ultimate teaching time in Brilliant Minds. Children are challenged to apply SEL skills in the heat of the moment on the playground. They are gently guided to recognize their self-responsibility within a conflict and encouraged to solve problems independently.

Benefits: Achieve optimal results from peer relationships. Enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Homework: Teacher circulates the room providing personalized one-on-one or peer assistance with homework. Each day, teachers review planners individually with each student.

Benefits: Strengthen communication between home and school. Professional assistance with homework.

 Life Skills:   Each course offers a blend of life skills which include nutrition, financial literacy, and leadership. Check the course outlines to see which life skills are offered.   

Financial Literacy exposes kids to budgets, spending plans, and allocating allowance into spending categories. Students set personal financial goals and learn the importance of giving.

Benefits: Upgrade Math lessons to life-long skills. Inspire responsible decision-making with money, finance and budgeting.

Nutrition teaches students Health, Science, and Math as they cook with fresh ingredients. Students gain tips for healthy eating and are inspired to become brilliant chefs. They gain experience converting units of measure, observing chemical and physical changes, and reading tables on food labels.

Benefits: Boost Science and Math abilities. Develop curiosity of healthy eating habits.

Leadership teaches students to examine leadership qualities in themselves and community leaders, set personal goals and write a plan to achieve those goals.

Benefits: Recognize and practice positive traits of leadership within peer groups. Strengthen assertiveness and self-responsibility.

What is SEL?

"SEL programming improved students' academic performance by 11 - 17 percentile points across three (scientific) reviews..." - Payton, et. al, 2008

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) : the process through which children and adults acquire the skills, attitudes, and knowledge to manage and recognize their emotions, set and obtain goals, show concern and care for others, create and sustain positive relationships, demonstrate personal responsibility, and handle interpersonal experiences effectively (Payton et. al., 2008).

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence speaks about the value of SEL.

Daniel Goleman's interview was recorded on December 10, 2007, at the CASEL Forum, an event in New York City that brought together seventy-five global leaders in education and related fields to raise awareness about social and emotional learning (SEL) and introduce important scientific findings related to SEL.

Course Components

We offer three different courses to meet the economic and time management needs of every family.  Choose between Foundations, Explorations, and Expressions to give your child the program that best meets their unique needs. each course is blend between four course components, each of which is described below: Social and Emotional Learning, Play (structured recess), Homework, and Life Skills.

Social and Emotional Learning
30 - 45 Minutes

SEL is facilitated through two research based curricula.  Social Intelligence is taught through the Second Step curriculum and Emotional Intelligence is taught through practical applications of work by Daniel Goleman, a psychologist known worldwide for his book, Emotional Intelligence, and through direct teaching methods inspired by the work of Dr. Becky Baily's Conscious Discipline.

Students practice Social Intelligence through the Second Step curriculum, published by Committee for Children. Second Step guides students through empathy skills, impulse control and problem solving, and anger management for increased success with conflict resolution and self-empowerment. Students analyze common conflicts in the third person and practice finding uncommon solutions through critical thinking. Students are guided to recognize the ways in which each of us handles experiences and conflicts differently based on unique past experiences. This awareness helps students understand the importance of working collaboratively with others and honoring the unique perspective they have to offer to a group (the Brilliant Self!). More information about Second Step can be found at Committee for Children.

Emotional Intelligence helps students control emotions through mindfulness and gives them strategies for calming the mind and physical body. Students will learn to recognize signs of stress in their physical bodies and practice strategies for releasing stress and bringing mindfulness to stressful situations. They learn how to relax muscles through a "body scan" and quiet the mind through deep "belly breathing". Students will discover that by calming the body and quieting the mind, they are provided with the energy and coping strategies needed to handle challenging situations. The foundation of this portion of the curriculum is based on the research of Daniel Goleman. You can learn more about Daniel Goleman's work and Emotional Intelligence at CASEL.

Play
30 minutes

Brilliant Minds believes that "life happens on the playground." It is here where children are given many opportunities to be curious about, play with the ideas of, and continually rediscover who they are in relationship to others. Brilliant Minds also understands that the majority of learning occurs in a context where skills are authentically applied. On the playground is where the skills in emotional and social intelligence are reinforced one on one as small challenges occur. To make this time more fun, students are directed in structured play as needed. Students engage in flag football, soccer, volleyball, and kickball. Some classes are successful with simple free time in a beautiful park, while other classes have been known to bring in their roller blades, skateboards, and ripsticks for outdoor roller rink experiences.

Homework
1 hour

Students work independently on homework during each class with access to the teacher and/or peers for assistance. All students benefit greatly from this because they receive support from students in other classes where concepts may be taught slightly differently, third graders have access to assistance from upper class students in 4th and 5th grade, and they are more likely to stay focused on homework when they see their grade level peers focused and engaged.

During homework time, the teacher circulates the room reviewing planners and checking in with each student about the days lessons. Challenges and successes with classmates, teachers, a test, a lesson, etc. are addressed. This purpose is two fold: 1. It allows students to bounce their concerns off of another adult that they respect and trust. 2. It allows the teacher to provide information to parents at the end of the day upon sign out. If your child needs extra support in a particular subject, this is the time that the teacher will offer support.

Life Skills
30 - 90 minutes

Life Skills include Leadership and Goal Setting, taught through a curriculum from the Tiger Woods Foundation; Money Management, facilitated through the curriculum Practical Money Skills.com, and Nutrition, taught through cooking fresh snacks and meals in a means that preserves the natural goodness of the ingredients and increases the amount of vitamins and minerals absorbed by the body. The Life Skills portion of the program holistically supports core content subjects of Math, Reading, and Science.

References
Payton, J., Weissburg, R.P., Durlack, J.A., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., Schellinger, K.B., & Pachan, M. (2008). The positive impact of social and emotional learning for kindergarten to eigth grade students: Findings from three scientific reviews. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.