HISD’s Family and Community Engagement department will be hosting a recruitment event on Saturday, June 28, to hire 35 part-time home instructors for the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. The event will take place from 9 a.m. until noon at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th St., 77092).
The HIPPY program helps parents of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children prepare their preschoolers for academic success starting in kindergarten. The role of the home instructor is at the heart of the program—home instructors visit 15 to 20 parents in their homes each week and role-play educational activities for parents to practice with their children. Children whose parents participate in the free program consistently outperform their peers on standardized tests in the early grades.
“Working with the HIPPY program has given me the opportunity to share what I already know with parents and to learn new things myself,” says Melissa Hill, a HIPPY home instructor and mother of four. “It’s so fulfilling to work with parents and see their excitement watching their children learn new things, and watching them grow alongside their children. We help parents see the potential in themselves.”
To read more about what it’s like to be a HIPPY home instructor, read Hill’s explanation about how she finds joy and fulfillment by working in the program.
To learn more about becoming a HIPPY home instructor, make plans now to attend the recruitment event on June 28.
You can also apply for the Home Instructor position here.
For details on how parents of preschool-age children can enroll in the program, please call 713-556-7155.
This sounds like a good initiative, but why not motivate the parents to send their children to Pre-K instead? Teachers are well-prepared and can help the students. Just a thought. 🙂
Hi Nena,
HIPPY and Pre-K are two different programs that complement one another. Pre-K programs provide direct instruction to 4-year-olds, while HIPPY instructs and empowers the parents of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old students to support learning at home.
Research tells us that parents are the child’s first teachers, and children spend more time at home with their parents than anywhere else. HIPPY gives parents the tools to practice instructional activities with their child and also gives parents a great introduction on how to be engaged in their child’s learning for the rest of their grade school education.
We would prefer that children enroll in both a pre-k program and the HIPPY program, but due to limited availability, that is not always possible. HIPPY and HISD Pre-K are working together to ensure that parents are aware of both programs.
The Hippy Program is a Awesome Program, My Grandson is enrolled in the Program,He’s learning very well, Thanks for a awesome Instructor.And also thank you Hippy Program for awesome ceremony at Stevenson middle school.