OUR STORY
Beginning in the 90s, kidCourses was NY-based and focused on running live courses in NY only. Our most popular course was the ABC Signs Program, a sign language program that was offered to Long Island pre-schoolers free of charge. When we tried to volunteer at a local library we were told “We don’t accept volunteers, we have to pay you” (generously). We then ran a mix of pro bono and paid courses. As a mom, it was great for Jessika to get paid for a gig where it was actually a plus to bring 2 little ones along. We were happy to offer live instruction to motivate children to be life long-learners, express their creativity, spread positivity, and just plain have fun. We had also established MathLibs® as a free online math resource. Now, with the kids all grown up and a westward move, we are forgoing live courses and instead sharing our content online at (the new and improved) kidcourses.com.
Please let us know what you think and what you would like to see next. You can comment on the blog posts, contact us, Facebook us, or Tweet at us.
ABOUT THE KIDCOURSES CREATIVE CREW
DR. ED SOBANSKI, PROGRAM & BUSINESS MANAGER
Dr. Sobanski has retired from teaching with over 30 years experience in the classroom, but continues to be involved in educational programs, recreational programs, and many volunteering activities, including coaching summer softball. Throughout his teaching career he created and led many in-school and after school educational programs, including computer initiatives (before computers were cool), SAT instruction, and many mathematics programs.
JESSIKA SOBANSKI, PMP, INSTRUCTOR / COURSE DEVELOPER
Jessika has taught students from the age of 2 through 50, from Wiggley Warmups to Organic Chemistry. She is a veteran instructional designer & educational author with a masters from NYIT. She has created many programs for kidcourses.com and flippedfilms.org, and created the popular mathlibs.org site, which scored mentions from both PBS and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Her career path was defined by opportunities as they presented themselves, and some of her interesting roles include: Multimedia Designer for NBC Universal, teaching at various LI colleges, and instructing for The Princeton Review. Her volunteering and pro bono efforts include softball coaching, e-Yearbook development, PTO, instructing youth in scriptwriting & editing, serving as a Project Manager for taprootfoundation.org, volunteering for saveamother.org, and running Pro Bono 4 Pups (Pro Bono Outreach for getFlashy.com and LoudGiraffe.com).
ATHENA DADIZ, INSTRUCTOR / COURSE DEVELOPER
Puppet in hand, Athena has been teaching since the earliest of the ABC Signs Program days. She has spent three summers teaching elementary students in Fiji, heading her own 4th grade classroom and inventing games on the fly. Artistic and multi-talented, Athena has worked in the NYC media world and has excellent camera and video editing skills. She donated her skills to film at the Bridgehampton Polo Tournament, covering the launch of a foundation to raise money for Darfur. She was also a paid intern at tutor.com and is now in college. We will still force her to be in videos for us!
JADE DADIZ, INSTRUCTOR / COURSE DEVELOPER
Jade is currently pioneering the online video efforts for kidcourses.com. She also volunteers her talents to saveamother.org. She was the 2008/2009 president of her high school International Club and is active in dance, sports, and gymnastics. She has been tutoring throughout her entire academic career and has attended media-related camps at Georgetown University, with a special focus on video and animation and iPhone app development. She is a proud alum of the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. Jade was recently hired as talent for a video production made by Transitions to Complete Education (below) and participated in Freedom’s Foundation. You go Jade!
