As an educator and as a mother, I’ve seen many children including my own become victimized by bullies. While many people still hold the belief that bullying is just kids being kids, with the invention of social media it takes place on a global forum.
Preston, MD (PRWEB) June 12, 2014
A new character education program on Indiegogo hopes to significantly reduce the percentage of children who suffer from bullying and depression in today’s schools while promoting a positive climate for learning. Geared toward children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, Veracity Matters is a multimedia character education program that is designed to emphasize the importance of empathy, manners and character values to young children in order to help them prepare for college and job interviews.
According to 2014 statistics gathered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 83 percent of girls and 79 percent of boys have reported being bullied, either online or in school. Attendance and graduation rates suffer as a result, as violent and dangerous conditions are not conducive to learning. Roughly 160,000 teens reportedly skip school every day because of bullying, while 1 in 10 teens drop out of school strictly because of repeated bullying.
Bullying prevention programs have been known to decrease bullying in schools by up to 25 percent, yet bullying is still at an all-time high. Veracity Matters hopes to change the landscape of bullying prevention and education. Instead of teaching children how to just recognize the signs of bullying and report it properly, Veracity Matters is intended to facilitate positive relationships through empathy, team building activities and character values.
“As an educator and as a mother, I’ve seen many children including my own become victimized by bullies,” says Bobbi Callis, creator of Veracity Matters. “While many people still hold the belief that bullying is just kids being kids, with the invention of social media it takes place on a much more global forum. There are plenty of bullying prevention programs, but there are very few programs that focus on the elimination of bullying at its source through empathy. With Veracity Matters, we hope to successfully eliminate the problem of bullying altogether with our proactive approach.”
Rather than replacing the curriculum currently taught in schools, Veracity Matters is designed to be a supplemental program. The entire Veracity Matters program is scheduled to last 28 weeks, with short lessons meant to fill in some of the down time children have throughout the day. Divided up into seven sections, the program uses high-interest themes like pirates and fairy tales to help keep children attentive and tied into the lessons. The lessons are carefully crafted to give children communication skills and confidence in themselves and build trust with others. Additionally, Veracity Matters provides them with practical strategies for dealing with stress, anger and depression. This proactive approach enables parents and teachers to spend less time on discipline and more time building a positive atmosphere more conducive to learning.
Individual teachers who would like to subscribe to the Veracity Matters curriculum will be able to secure classroom subscriptions for $99, although backers to the Indiegogo campaign will be able to take advantage of a $30 early bird price. School-wide subscriptions will be available for $2,999, but schools that pledge at least $1,500 to the campaign can receive the same subscription.
To read more about the Veracity Matters program and to find out how you can subscribe, visit http://bit.ly/VMindie. Also, be sure to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @VeracityMatter to stay up to date on news and information regarding the Indiegogo campaign.
ABOUT VERACITY MATTERS
Veracity Matters was founded by Bobbi Callis in 2014. An educator for twenty years, Callis noticed a steady decline in empathy, problem solving skills, and perseverance in her students. Callis began to focus her time and energy developing a program that would help children develop these qualities. Veracity Matters aims to give every child the skills they need to learn and thrive. To read more about the program, visit the website at http://veracitymatters.com/.