Blog

Welcome to the Way to Grow blog! Here you’ll find parenting tips, early childhood resources, and stories from home visits across the Twin Cities. We believe parents are their child’s first and most important teacher, and our home visiting model is built around that: bringing tools, activities, and encouragement right into the home. Browse for book recommendations, everyday learning ideas, program updates, and family stories from across our community.

Meet our newest Family Educator! 2500 1459 Angelique McDonald

Meet our newest Family Educator!

Meet our newest Family Educator, Courtney! Tell us a little bit about you! I grew up in Inver Grove Heights, MN. I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work with a minor in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of North Dakota. This past January I decided to move back to the Twin Cities to…

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Living Generously: CARES Act 1562 561 Jessica Waller

Living Generously: CARES Act

If you are feeling the call to help others during challenging times, you are not alone.  In times of need, Minnesotans step up!   Fortunately, Congress is also encouraging our better angels. For 2020, Congress has enacted the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act) to help reduce the financial impact of the pandemic. Included is…

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Creating a Virtual Classroom 1200 600 Way to Grow

Creating a Virtual Classroom

By Deedee Stevens-Neal, Director of Education Spring is definitely here and Way to Grow is keeping busy! Read on for an invitation to join our virtual Education is Power event, see children learning and working hard in our new virtual world, learn how we created a virtual classroom, and to get important updates on 2020 giving.…

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Snapshots: Virtual Home Visits! 1200 800 Maren Nelson

Snapshots: Virtual Home Visits!

Learning hasn’t stopped at Way to Grow! At recent home visits, kids were learning about Ancient Egypt and animals, they counted cars, and worked on color identification. We’re seeing progress every day. Great job, friends!

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Learning at Home: Alphabet Wall Game 150 150 Maren Nelson

Learning at Home: Alphabet Wall Game

This activity comes from one of our Preschool Pals teachers and is a great game for you and your preschooler to play at home together. What You Need: Cards with all the letters of the alphabet (uppercase AND lowercase) A wall you can put tape on in a room with lots of space to run…

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Your Community Needs You 1000 584 Melissa Meyer

Your Community Needs You

Our Way to Grow program is needed now more than ever. Schools are closed and parents are educating at home. Families are experiencing sudden unemployment and resource shortages. Accessing timely and necessary information in their home language is a challenge. The stress of this pandemic is adding more weight to the shoulders of families already isolated and trying…

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Way to Grow is online! 2500 1459 Melissa Meyer

Way to Grow is online!

The world looks very different today—children are learning at home, many people are unable to work, and a network of services is more important than ever. To meet the increased needs of our families and still keep everyone safe and healthy, on March 16 Way to Grow moved to virtual home visits for our families. Family Educators…

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Our Response to COVID-19 5000 2500 Melissa Meyer

Our Response to COVID-19

In the wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, top of mind is the health and safety of our Way to Grow staff, families, community partners, and neighbors. Knowing that our home visiting programming is a critical resource to our community, we have included an outline of our plan for continuing home visits while doing our…

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Living Generously: Estate Planning 4000 2786 Jessica Waller

Living Generously: Estate Planning

As snowy days of March give way to the promise of spring, it may be a good time to review your estate plans to ensure everything is in order as you intend. Changes to our personal and family circumstances may mean that prior plans are no longer current and need to be updated. On average, Americans review…

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Meet Our Scholar: Jake 2576 1534 Angelique McDonald

Meet Our Scholar: Jake

Age: 4Favorite Book: Spiderman Jake has a contagious smile that charms everyone he meets. He is very active in play and loves to run, jump, and dance around! He has a sense of humor that is razor sharp and a grin that tells you that he knows much more than he lets on. He loves…

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Meet our new Director of Education! 2500 1459 Angelique McDonald

Meet our new Director of Education!

Help us welcome Deedee Stevens-Neal to Way to Grow. Deedee comes to us from the Fraser School where she was the Director. She oversaw the large childcare center which cares for kids who have autism, mental health issues, and special needs. Deedee was drawn to Way to Grow because of our intentional partnerships with organizations around…

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Make Your Target Run Count 1024 512 Melissa Meyer

Make Your Target Run Count

We are honored and excited to announce that we have been chosen to participate in a special charitable giving campaign, sponsored and funded by Target. And you have the chance to help direct a portion of Target’s donation to us! Now through March 31, vote for us through the Target Circle program to help determine…

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