Learn with Grandma

A not for profit producer of educational material.
Reg. number 05913133

Learn with Grandma has three principal aims.

1. To encourage grandparents to be actively involved with educating and having fun with their grandchildren.
2. To research educational, and fun, activities and resources that grandparents can do with their grandchildren (including virtual activities) and inform parents & grandparents of them.
3. A longer-term aim is to establish Grandma’s Place tea shops/ ice-cream parlours as a fun place to meet where group leaders can encourage better citizenship.

Now, in the earliest years of the 21century, more grandparents are actively involved with caring for their grandchildren on a regular basis than at any time in recorded history. The 3 main reasons are divorce, single parenthood and the necessity for two wage earners to support the average mortgage.
Fortunately grandparents now live longer, more active lives.

Conversely there are also more grandparents living at greater distances from their grandchildren and others, often for the same reasons above, who are unable to maintain regular contact instant with their grandchildren.
Fortunately the internet and telephones were invented!

Learn with Grandma seeks to help parents and grandparents by offering suggestions of educational activities that families can do together.

Learn with Grandma will be funded, in part, by 20% of the net profit of Grandma’s Stories Ltd. Donations and grants will also be most welcome.

At the back of every book published by Grandma’s Stories Ltd there will be a Learn with Grandma Section with educational material and fun activities relating to that particular story. This material will have been researched, collated and produces in an attractive format by Learn with Grandma.

Learn with Grandma will also research other educational and fun activities for the whole family and post these on www.4learningenglish.com
At a later date it is anticipated that Learn with Grandma will develop a more independent role and will be able to offer educational material independently of Grandma’s Stories and to offer a research service to others.

Valerie Wood-Gaiger MBE founded Grandma’s Stories Ltd initially because her little grandchildren Kristian and Lula live in America; Oscar and Hugo in London. Valerie lives with her dog Brock in a tiny Welsh village in the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park.

Valerie has written a series of 14 stories based on prehistory from The Ice Age to The Roman Empire. These stories have holistic educational potential and provide opportunities to teach languages; history, geography, science and more. Learn with Grandma will suggest many and varied activities based on these stories. All are designed to make learning fun and memorable. Drama and Discussion topics will provide a forum to practice language skills. Art: suggestions for field trips; encouragement to use the internet for further research and even learning to cook the food our ancestors ate will teach children where our food comes from and how it is produced.
Learn with Grandma will enable the greatest educational value to be obtained from the stories.

Grandma’s Stories Ltd have plans for further historical stories, other educational stories and a series of pan European folk and fairy stories. All will need extensive research and all will include our unique Learn with Grandma holistic educational programme.

Creating a totally independent not for profit organization to maximize the educational potential of Valerie’s stories had many advantages.

1. It can create employment, especially for mature people who find it very difficult to obtain suitable employment. We plan to recruit a team of agents, preferably grandparents, who can visit schools, help set up after school clubs and activities.
2. The educational package would enable children to gain the maximum educational benefit from the stories created by Grandma’s Stories Ltd and offer suggestions of activities that parents, grandparents, the whole family can do together.
3. It will promote language learning and greater understanding of pan – European cultural heritage.
4. It has the potential to create greater understanding of different heritage and cultures.
5. It has the future potential to offer the research and the development of educational programmes for other authors.
6. It has the future potential to create an international organization that fosters greater understanding, social integration and good citizenship.
7. It has the future potential to incorporate other activities that will further the educational objectives while creating income for Learn with Grandma.
   e.g. International School twinning could be developed.

The founders particularly like the concept of after school clubs being established as cafes, where local produce could be sold, and where all sections of the community would be welcome.

The educational material commissioned by Grandma’s Stories Ltd from Learn with Grandma will add value to Grandma’s Stories Ltd Books. This additional value will become Learn with Grandma’s income. 20% of the net profits of Grandma’s Stories Ltd will be assigned to Learn with Grandma. This will ensure that the not for Profit Company has an income that is directly related to sales and not caped to a single commissioned payment.

The educational material for the first three stories has already been created and will be given freely by Grandma’s Stories Ltd to Learn with Grandma. This will provide an initial asset for the not for profit company.

All Grandmas’ Stories Ltd books will contain this statement.
Learn with Grandma is a separate not for profit organization with educational and social awareness aims funded by 20% of the net profit of Grandma’s Stories Ltd.

Learn with Grandma will:-

1. Research and create the educational material for all new books created by Grandma’s Stories Ltd.
2. Fund the recording in English of all new books created by Grandma’s Stories Ltd and the recording in as many other languages as many be required.
   Initially, as Learn with Grandma will not have sufficient independent income, Grandma’s Stories Ltd will loan Learn with Grandma sufficient funds.

Future plans for Learn with Grandma include:-

1. Apply, to various grant-making bodies, for funds to film an introductory story about The Celts and how Wales is a custodian of a Pan European Celtic history.
2. Learn with Grandma will offer this filming free to TV broadcasters in Wales and throughout Europe. The filming can then be turned into a DVD to be marketed with the books thus creating income for Learn with Grandma.
3. It is envisaged that every story created by Grandma’s Stories Ltd will contain a Learn with Grandma educational pack.
4. Working with independent contractors an interactive CD-ROM will be created for each story. Thus offering the greatest educational value and, as Learn with Grandma will receive 20% of the net profits of Grandma’s Stories Ltd, even material not produced by Learn with Grandma will contribute to Learn with Grandma’s income.

It will very advantageous for Learn with Grandma, especially in the early years, to have an assured customer and outlet for it’s educational material by working in this symbiotic relationship with Grandma’s Stories Ltd. Learn with Grandma will be free to offer it’s educational research facilities and expertise to anyone able to commission this work.

Looking to the future when, hopefully, Learn with Grandma will be fulfilling it’s prime objectives and will have sufficient funds. The founders hope to establish local centers. While it is envisaged that these will vary according to local conditions Learn with Grandma will provide a model of the ideal social and educational center to aim for.

We would suggest that the centre be called Grandma’s – see you later at Grandma’s!

Ideally these venues would be near to schools or in central locations. The main aim is to provide a venue where parents, grandparents and children can meet and where activities can be planned that foster good citizenship. As students leave schools and colleges they would have a circle of friends who were used to working for their community and would, hopefully, take these values into their later life.

Working with local parents and grandparents Learn with Grandma would encourage young people to set up group activities for fun and relaxation and to become involved in their communities. Local people (with a team leader) would decide which local issues needed addressing.

To ensure financial self-sufficiency these venues would create and serve food. Ice cream, snacks & soft drinks. Learn with Grandma would encourage the employment of people in the difficult to employ categories to make and serve the food – thus encouraging their greater integration into society.

Learn with Grandma would encourage the use of local produce wherever possible – thus encouraging young people to have a greater understanding of their countryside and that to support local farmers is cool!

While primarily to provide a wholesome place where young people can meet Grandma’s would not be segregated in anyway. We aim to encourage social integration for all ages of the community. For Grandma’s and Granddads and those with young children. Grandma’s Ice Cream, made from local produce, would be the best in town. All sections of the community would go to Grandma’s if only for the ice cream.

This vibrant idea has great potential to educate and encourage families, children and young people to become more informed about their local community, their history and how that history relates to the world around them.