Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)

Program Overview

The Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program is a home-based program designed to help parents become effective first teachers. In providing parents with the tools to achieve this end, HIPPY concurrently serves as a means to ready children ages 3 to 5 for success as they enter kindergarten or the first grade. Licensed by HIPPY USA, the credentialing body for HIPPY programs across the country, the BronxWorks HIPPY program has enrolled over 2,300 families with over 2,500 children since its 1992 inception.

The program uses community-based parent educators to administer curricula for three, four, and five-year olds, respectively. The parent educators meet with parents once a week to role play lessons that parents in turn administer to their children for 20 to 30 minutes a day for a 30-week period. The lessons and their accompanying activities are designed to help pre-school children develop reading, writing, listening, math, and science skills. Story books and activities packets for lessons are available in both English and Spanish.

Children are tested at the beginning of the program to assess their educational proficiency, again at the program's mid-point, and shortly after the conclusion of a 30 week cycle of activity. Group activities such as parent-focused workshops and family trips complement the home-based efforts.

Cost Info