Brightside Learning

Brightside Learning is hiring Student Success Coaches!

Think Miss Honey from Matilda 💟
Calm. Kind. A special sparkle.
Emotionally safe.
Quietly effective.
H-U-G-E impact on the lives of students.

Does this type of work speak to you?

Apply today: https://www.cognitoforms.com/brightsidelearning/jobpostingstudentsuccesscoach

Hi everyone, it’s Robin! Although I am usually a very private person, this blog is personal. I am opening up and sharing my own experience of perseverance and building my self-confidence through private yoga lessons. It has been life-changing and eye-opening, and it mirrors what we do at Brightside so closely 💟

Link in bio / comments : https://www.brightsidelearning.com/post/the-art-of-perseverance-building-self-confidence

Today, Brightside Learning officially turns 10 years old !!! 🎉 🎂

I cannot believe it, where has the time gone? Over the past 10 years, we have supported and encouraged hundreds of students utilizing our specialized heartfelt approach. I have presented numerous workshops, written countless blogs and articles, worked with wonderful and talented team members, and have met so many amazing, interesting, and inspiring students!

For those of you who do not know, building Brightside has been a true labor of love, something that I put my whole heart and soul into. I started it from a room in my home, seeing just a few students in a makeshift office I had set up. Eventually, it moved into its first real office space and was officially registered as a business in Quebec on January 5, 2015!

It has always been my dream to support students through coaching, connection, and an unwavering belief that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to! When I was a university student myself, I remember meeting with a career counselor, and explaining that I wanted to help kids and make a real difference. Her response? My dream would never be a real job, so I should do something reliable and stable like be a mailman, and then volunteer to do what I really loved. Thankfully, I was determined to make a difference, and fast-forward almost 20 years later, I have the privilege of doing what I love as my job each and every day!

​On behalf of the entire Brightside team, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your trust, faith and support in us. We truly value, respect and cherish each and every student and family!

Robin ❤️

12 years ago today!!! ❣️

⭐️ It’s been 12 years since I PROUDLY made this sound wall when I first started seeing students in my home office. I remember seeing a huge, gorgeous pre-made colorful red one online from a store in the UK. It was $100, which I could not afford at the time. So instead, I made this one!

❤️ I was so proud of my hand-made work — I had bought the letters from the dollar store and wrote out all the sounds that each one makes below it by hand.

💟 This is where Brightside came from, these are our roots. Hard work, dedication, perseverance, grit. And this is what we work to instill in our students.

By the way, I eventually got that fancy poster from the UK. I was so proud and it still hangs in our (no longer in my home) offices today 😀

I have been seriously obsessed with this podcast since I first heard it. .burton inspires children to THINK ACTIVELY and CRITICALLY.

💭 First, listen to the podcast with your child and stop to imagine what is being said, like a movie running through your minds.

➡️ Talk with your child about what you both imagined, describe it.

✍️ Stop to take a note! Bring what has been imagined onto paper!

Listening to is an amazing way for parents to help their children develop active learning skills though coaching, practicing to use visual working memory, practicing note-taking skills (for when school starts back up).

There’s also so much joy in the idea of storytelling, learning and thinking in a fun way! Enjoy!

At Brightside, we focus on making sure that every student and family feels valued, heard and understood. We work to create important connections; our methods rooted in attachment theory and emotion coaching. Once that connection exists, we get students onboard to try new strategies, be flexible, and eventually become independent learners!

Updating our training manual for the upcoming school year! If you are interested in working at Brightside Learning, apply now! ➡️ Link in bio

As I walked through the Botanical Gardens, taking in nature’s sheer beauty, using my executive function skills to be actively aware of my environment and surroundings and be present in the moment, I thought about our students and what they might be doing.

So often, the summer is used as a time to fill in a learning gap, get ahead academically, boost skills, get as much done as possible. And sometimes some of those supports are needed.

But sometimes (or maybe more often than not), when parents ask me what their child should do over the summer, I tell them NOTHING. And this is what I mean by that:

☀️ Kids will only get to be kids for one period of their lives. Let them play, explore and have fun. When will they ever have this opportunity again?

☀️ Set up structure in your household and work on building relationships and being together.

☀️ Send your child outside - play, explore, bask in the sun — go on a walk in nature & be a detective to notice as much as you can around you (by using your executive function skills for active thinking & engagement).

☀️ Help your child develop a love of literature & joy for reading! Read together as a family, make it fun, make it silly, make it engaging, use critical thinking, make games out of what you’ve read.

☀️☀️☀️ The summer is a unique opportunity for kids to re-energize, get a break from the pressure of school and social pressures, and re-connect with their parents and themselves!