Project Mindjoy- a mission for ALL children to learn and flourish

This is the story of Toni and Bronwyn and their Mindjoy learning journey…

Written by Bronwyn Hendricks (Toni’s Mom)

Lockdown during COVID19 forced us all to start the distance learning process, whether we were ready or not.

Initially I had no learning material for my 5 and 8 year old, no internet connectivity, and a then 9 month old trying to eat the made-up worksheets, compliments of Teacher mommy and HoD (Head of Department) Daddy. My days as a mom of 3 were so overwhelming.I jumped at the chance to apply for Mindjoy even though I did not know what it was actually about.

By the time Toni (8) started Mindjoy her teacher had been sending lessons daily, including on public holidays, but by then my kid was so demotivated. No contact with friends or teachers or extended family ,no park time, no pizza time or beach time. No ‘time or space to myself’ time. No end of lockdown in sight, yet.

Then we started Mindjoy! Toni quickly grew attached to her learning coach and her online classroom environment. As a family we did not anticipate that the course would be so data intensive as we had not done online learning before. We were truly grateful for the data support we got from Mindjoy and RLabs.

We got introduced to free on-line learning tools that were simply amazing like Khan Academy! Even our 5 year old started using them and was so enthusiastic that she sat in class with nearly every session even though she had not officially been signed up!

Once we got into a new rhythm in the morning I realised what a huge blessing it was to have a teacher in the comfort of our home. I could put our baby to sleep and prepare the next snack whilst the girls were safely learning in class. Mindjoy became their every day highlight. They grew confident with their social interaction via zoom and also learnt a new skill, needing to navigate through the digital learning tools.

Mindjoy has become the rainbow in our time of grey lockdown skies and I will encourage any parent to give it a try. Education is a lot more than just pushing content. Mindjoy has reminded me of that.

How you can Support:

1. Connect with a student who needs support with their learning by visiting https://mindjoy.com/fund-a-child.
2. Fund a child’s learning. R1000 funds their 2 months of learning support with the Mindjoy programme.
3. Be part of the journey. Receive updates about the student’s learning journey.
4. Share this story with your networks :)

Let’s give more children access to learning support so ALL children can reach their potential!