The Boost Kids program is geared to instill confidence in children, helping them to be more successful in life. As the first page in the student manual states: It does not matter what we end up doing in life: becoming a teacher, doctor, homemaker, or scientist, the people that are the most successful and content have one universal quality among them: self-confidence. Feeling confident is one of the most important keys to a happy life. If you lack confidence, it is difficult to have close friendships, strong relationships with family members, and success in your career. While the program is secular and focuses on confidence and success, I found the content to be excellent. Personally, I tend to react a bit negatively to the words confidence and success as they cause me to envision creating future CEOs focused only on their own advancement and skills. If you react the same way, you'll be pleased to learn that this program is nothing like that.

I consider this program a course in manners, relating well to others, developing proper attitudes, making good moral choices and more. It does a wonderful job of addressing the difficult situations all young people deal with and offering positive, constructive ways of addressing them as well as teaching how to treat others respectfully. In my opinion the program is ideal for children ages eight through early teens.

Boost Kids is divided into eight lessons and 28 topics. To use the lessons as intended your child would read through the lesson in the Boost Kids booklet (generally 1-2 pages), complete the fill-ins at the end of the lesson, view the lesson on the CD-Rom taking the short quiz at the end of the CD-Rom. The child would then sit down with you and review the lesson using the Boost Cards. It is encouraged that the parent uses this time to discuss or share relevant situations they may have experienced. In fact, it is also suggested that the parent work through the lessons WITH the child, making it a joint learning venture. These are great opportunities for relationship building.

The main component of the Boost Kids is the DVD lesson. As your child works through each DVD lesson he will take a pre-test, view the lesson, watch a review and take a short quiz before moving on to the next lesson. The video lessons are easy to understand and enjoyable to watch. In each lesson a narrator introduces the topic and is followed by clips of children acting out both positive and negative versions of what was taught. My daughter often requests watching these clips just for fun! The program allows for different users to work through the program at varying speeds by offering separate log-ins and passwords.

Lessons Include:

Lesson 1: Meet and Greet
Greeting People
Eye Contact
Smile
Turn Up The Volume
Telephone Manners
Lesson 2: Making Conversation
Become a Good Listener
How To Handle People Who Brag
Lesson 3: Encouraging Thoughts, Encouraging Actions
Say Thank You
The Glass Is Half-Full, Not Half-Empty
Give Compliments
Accomplishing Goals
Lesson 4: Respecting Others
Treat Others With Respect
Don't Talk About Other People Behind Their Backs
Do Something Nice! It's Addictive!
Lesson 5: Positive Traits
Have Patience
Be Honest
Don't Let The Little Things Bring You Down
Lesson 6: Self-Improvement
Feel Good About Yourself
Don't Be A Complainer
Create Your Own Identity
Improve Your Mood
Lesson 7: Life Is Great! Go After It!
Be Passionate
Have Fun
Try New Things
Lesson 8: Strategies In Life
Don't Announce Your Strengths/Admit Your Weaknesses
Resist The Dark Side
Apologize Quickly and Sincerely
How To Handle Being Teased
As you can see, these are all qualities we want to see in our children and not your average self-esteem type course. It really focuses on being the kind of person you can feel good about being. For example, the Boost Card for How To Handle Being Teased lists the following as Helpful Tips (keywords are capitalized and highlighted):

Remember that most of the time when someone is teasing you that person is either Not Confident in themselves or Angry at something else.
When someone teases you try and Rise Above the behavior by not allowing them to get under your skin or cause you to Change your behavior by teasing back.
If teasing stays constant and continues, always Talk to a Parent or Teacher regarding the situation.

I appreciate that the program often stresses an attempt at understanding the other person's behavior while not letting it affect your own. This is an excellent program well worth completing with your children. While I recognize that the $149.85 (three payments of $49.95) price tag makes this program a major investment for some, I feel the character qualities and ways of dealing with negative situations addressed here are equally important (if not more so) than academics. If you have the room in your budget Boost Kids would be a great addition to your child's education.

Product Review by Dena Wood, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July, 2006