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Speakaboos Acquires Homer to Inspire Kids to Love and Learn to Read

Speakaboos Acquires Homer to Inspire Kids to Love and Learn to Read

The name Homer holds a dear place in many people’s adolescent memories. There’s the poet who blessed literature and history with the “Iliad” and “Odyssey.” Then there’s Homer Simpson, the flawed yet devoted father in America’s longest running sitcom and animated program.

Future generations may have another fond memory to attach to the name. Speakaboos, a New York City startup that aims to instill a love for reading in young children, has acquired Homer, the developer of an app that teaches them how to read. Both teams and products will be merged under the Homer brand.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined team will number 55 employees led by Speakaboos’ co-founder and CEO Neal Shenoy, who will keep his title. Homer’s founder and CEO, Stephanie Dua will be President and COO. Deborah Quazzo, an investor in both companies, played matchmaker early last year and helped the two close the deal around the Thanksgiving holiday, Shenoy tells EdSurge in an interview.

Already the two have made an impression among kids and parents. Their apps have been featured in the top charts on the Apple app store in the education, kids and books categories, and both have nabbed awards from parents and teachers’ publications.

Both products aim to solve a similar problem, described by Shenoy and many other literacy entrepreneurs as the “reading crisis.” He recalls recent figures from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showing that just 36 percent of fourth-graders tested proficient in reading in 2015.

“Reading is the foundation of all lifelong learning and academic success,” says Shenoy. “Architecturing a solution requires cultivating a love of reading and a highly systematic approach to teaching reading through that meets students where they are and connects them to their interest. ”

Founded in 2008, Speakaboos targets young children ages 2 to 6 with a library of over 200 interactive storybooks and songs. Where Homer comes in, according Shenoy, is its focus on teaching the mechanics of reading through more than 5,000 lessons and activities. A small study (PDF) led by Susan B. Neuman, an early childhood literacy professor at New York University and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, saw gains in phonological awareness and print knowledge between pre- and post-test results among Homer users. (Our colleague gave Homer a test run back in 2013.)

Both apps are currently available separately for $7.99 per month, but the company will unify their offering under a single product for a similar price. Their primary audience has been parents but in the works are features designed for the classroom, including the ability for teachers to assign stories and lessons along with reporting tools that show a reader’s progress and topical interests.

“Our plan is to release a combined product that combines Speakaboos’ focus on getting kids to love reading, with Homer’s Learn to Read program to offer a comprehensive approach to early literacy,” says Shenoy.

He declined to comment on how many users each product had, stating that the now-combined company is currently in the middle of fundraising. Shenoy offered only engagement metrics: active Speakaboos readers spend, on average, 21 minutes per session and read roughly 56 stories per month. Homer’s users average 18 minutes per session and work through about 70 lessons per month.

Homer has raised $3.4 million in venture capital since its start in 2013; Speakaboos has tallied $25.2 million.

full well-being, IQ tests and thousands of vacancies in IT / Sudo Null IT News It is believed that living here is very cool, everything is very good with the economy, and therefore with IT. We talked to the heroine, who moved to Sweden in 2019 and will tell you why she loves this country so much, what interesting features it has and why Sweden is so eager for engineers from abroad.

A little about me: how my husband and I chose between the Isle of Man and Stockholm

My name is Rosie, I work in business consulting, currently in the position of Learning & Development Specialist. More often than not, my job is to help people freak out less, sell more, build relationships with customers, and be more efficient. My husband works in IT.

He has already been invited to work abroad, in the UAE. But, despite the high salary, we refused - it seemed unbearable to us to live in a country where it is constantly hot, dust and sand, and the entire infrastructure is focused on cars (there is nowhere to walk really). In 2019two offers came in parallel: to Swedish Stockholm and to the English Isle of Man.

Maine Maine is a very small isolated area. We realized that in a few years we would want to drown ourselves there. Both my husband and I are very restless, we love to travel, and it is important for us that it is convenient. Yes, in Maine they offered a big salary, and you could go there to earn money. But we chose Sweden and came here to live. You can’t become rich because of taxes, working as an employee, but you will never live in poverty.

How IT is in Sweden: companies, culture and interviews

There are 58,000 technology companies in Sweden. Not all of them are IT, some, for example, are medical tech, but there are also many purely IT ones. There are a lot of offices of large international companies, there are giants and startups. An interesting fact is that 33% of the world's business sales transactions take place in Sweden. Companies grow here, and then they are resold.

There is something like a “local Google” that all IT engineers aspire to get into - the Klarna bank. Working here is considered very prestigious, and many go there, to fintech. Their style of doing business is American, and this is often more familiar to visitors than Swedish. This is expressed in a faster pace of work, greater achievement.

In Sweden, it is customary to work differently: everyone talks a lot, tries to come to a consensus, consults. Sometimes it is not clear who is in charge of whom. Very high degree of independence and constant shuffling between projects. You either like it or you don't.

Even in Sweden they like all sorts of logical tests, such as IQ tests. For example, in Klarna they will not even communicate with you if you do not have a test result. Before the interview, they send a unique one-time link, if you fail, you can’t apply again for a year. In other places it is not so strict, but they also like this.

Here you also need to pass personality tests that determine your character or temperament. They have a very strict system for detecting deception - you can try to demonstrate qualities that you do not have and fail.

All these tests are taken before the first interview, right after the CV is checked. And only after them will the first stage of the interview. Or maybe it won't.

In general, the topic of character is given a lot of time here. For example, they like to hire Indians - they are accommodating, friendly, loyal, fit well into the team. But they don’t like Russians a little - they can be rude. I myself got used to the locals and unsubscribed from the tweets of Russian IT people - now they seem too toxic to me.

There is a severe shortage of IT engineers in Sweden, just like in all of Europe. It got to the point where they are looking for a hobby coder. They take those who already officially live in Sweden and know how to code at least a little. And they hire him, train him for free on fullstack, and then he works for them for a year for a minimum salary of about 1,500 euros before taxes. For Sweden, this is not enough, but for free education in practice it is very good.

In general, locals don't often go to work in IT. People here are relaxed and used to being able to live well in almost any job. And IT is still often stressful, and they go there mainly because of money. Well, or out of great love, like my husband, who, it seems, was born with a laptop. And the locals do not want to strain and know that they will still receive decently. And because of high taxes, they still will not jump above their heads.

Features of life in Sweden

I decided not to divide the features into pros and cons, but to tell them all together. What is a plus for some is a minus for others. So I will tell you my attitude and the impressions of others that I see most often.

Climate . I hate the heat and at high temperatures I turn into some kind of liquid: I can neither think nor act. In Stockholm, the climate is almost perfect for me. But people who want to live without winter at all will not like it here.

It is important for me that there is a change of seasons: summer, winter, autumn, spring. And not like in the south, summer all year round. I have a friend who moved to Texas, she's crazy about it.

In the summer it is insanely sunny here, flowers, birds, the sea. Autumn is red-gold, luxurious. It gets colder from November, the nights get longer, and from the 20th people are already preparing for Christmas. In general, the weather is the worst in November. Then - a slightly frosty winter, there are sub-zero temperatures and snow, but not as much as in Russia.

Some say that the climate here is like in St. Petersburg. But this is 100% false. Stockholm has low humidity, even after rain it drops sharply to 70%. And cloudy days are much less.

The development of society. The society here is typically European. They sort garbage, are tolerant of everyone, respect personal space. On ecology, there is a special fad here, for example, they are very careful about natural resources. Corruption is practically zero. People understand why and where they pay such huge taxes. And they keep the law not because of punishment, but from awareness of the direct consequences for life and the comfort of themselves and those around them.

In terms of tolerance, everything here is very free. But I think that's why I didn't see any vulgarity. Everything is already allowed and accepted, so no one is openly demonstrating or trying to prove anything.

A sense of style. There are no vulgar signs on buildings or some crazy architecture. At first, everything may seem miserable, but in fact, then you realize how simple and beautiful it is at the same time. It's the same with people - they dress simply and tastefully. And do not try to overly embellish the natural beauty, bringing everything to the point of absurdity.

Social distancing and queues. Swedes successfully practiced social distancing before it became mainstream. At the bus stop, people stand at a distance of 1.5–2 meters from each other. No one fits on you anywhere, does not enter your personal space.

Swedes also love queues, even where there are no crowds. For example, I went to the optician for an eye examination. I came to an almost empty room, took a number, sat down, drank coffee, and then they called me.

Childhood cult. My husband and I have children who are already students, and they do not live with us. But it is very easy to notice the attitude towards children. For the birth of a child, this country is ideal. Treatment, up to dentistry, is free of charge until the age of 21. Schools give out good tablets and laptops. Leisure is very different, you can get into any section almost for free. Everyone can afford some kind of sport or mugs.

Leveling. Even in most European countries, with the salary of an IT specialist, you feel that you live better than many. There is no such thing here - because of the progressive tax and all sorts of social things, everyone here lives about the same. There are no homeless people, outcasts, grandparents do not beg, but you will not receive any extra income either. The maximum that can be - Romanian gypsies will come seasonally, but they are not allowed to live everywhere. In our commune, for example, they are forbidden to appear.

Love for animals. There are no homeless animals here. If you met someone, he just got lost. It is expensive to take even a purebred animal from a shelter - it costs from 200 euros, and there is a queue. Plus, a veterinarian also costs a lot of money, for example, one visit to the veterinarian can cost 350 euros for an examination, analysis and a prescription for a medicine.

Animal rights are strictly enforced. They need to be walked three times a day, and I have not seen a single dog on the street in a muzzle. You can’t leave the dog for more than 5 hours - you need to take it with you to work or take it to Doggys, something like a kindergarten for dogs. And infrastructure is everywhere: booths, walking areas and the like.

And, I must say, I did not see a single nervous dog on the streets.

Specific medicine. The scheme is incomprehensible and needs to be dealt with. There is universal insurance for residents of Sweden. There, for free, everything that you spent on trips to the doctor over 100 euros a year. That is, I spent 110 - I paid 100, the insurance paid 10. Teeth are more expensive - there the state pays for more than 1,500 euros.

There is a commercial insurance, you pay from 60 euros per month. With it, you can less wait for a visit to the doctor and it is cheaper to go to hospitals for small reasons.

In general, they don't like to heal people here. If you have a cold, stay at home. But if you break your leg in the woods, a helicopter will fly for you - for free.

It's easy to be healthy here. A lot of activities, and in general people walk more and play sports. Children are tempered from childhood. They can go outside at +2 °C in a T-shirt over their naked body and an unbuttoned jacket, and they will not be scolded. Or wallow in a puddle in the fall.

You don't need a car to live. There are no inadequate distances within the city, you can walk almost everywhere. And if not, public transport is just great. Arrives on time, goes often and does not degrade human dignity.

There is also a chic bicycle infrastructure almost everywhere. From April to the end of October we ride bicycles almost everywhere, other locals too.

Difficult language. It doesn't look much like Russian or English, its grammatical structure is closer to German. It was difficult for me to study it, although there was a reason for it. Here for residents there are free courses in Swedish and English. And I ended up in a group where guys from B1 were already engaged. At first it was really very difficult, but gradually I got used to it, because I also studied at the same time myself.

By the way, there are comvux schools for adults, where you can learn anything that you missed at school.

Special attitude to human life. It's really safe here. We once visited with one person from the "fashionable" area. He said he wanted an armored door. We answered him: “What are you, crazy? You are in Sweden. There may be crime in some areas, but I don't know anything about it. We have not touched the bike left on the street.

But there is another side - here life is treated very carefully. If a thief breaks into your house, he will be judged for it. But if you hit him and twisted, you can be forced to pay for treatment or moral damage.

In general, this country has become almost ideal for me. It is easy for an IT engineer to move here, especially phDs — they are especially respected here. Doctors and teachers are also willingly allowed in, but they will have to undergo an annual certification, which is more difficult. You won’t earn millions here, and you will have to adapt to life, but the comfort more than compensates for this.

The best jobs with relocation are in getmatch telegram bot ! It is not necessary to apply for vacancies, it is not necessary to look for a job - you can use the bot as a tool to monitor the market: how your vacancy corresponds to the market. Here are here the developer found out, for example, that his St. Petersburg salary was 60% (!!!) less than he could earn.

8 Emmy Award winners | HELLO! Russia

August 25 in Los Angeles will host the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, which celebrate the best TV programs every year. Recently, the same shows have always been heard - "Game of Thrones", "Breaking Bad", "The Big Bang Theory" and so on. However, far from these multi-part films hold the record for the number of the most prestigious Emmy television awards. "Fraser", "The Simpsons", "Mary Tyler Moore" - these are the shows that are still unsurpassed. HELLO.RU invites you to get acquainted with the eight most successful television programs on the eve of the ceremony.

Saturday Night Live - 40 Emmys

Still from Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live has been on NBC since 1975 and is one of the most iconic programs in the "night show" genre. The SNL program (this is its short name) was invented by Lorne Michaels, who later created several more unique comedy hits - for example, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", "Studio 30" (one of Ivan Urgant's favorite series). SNL, of course, is on Time magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and is ranked tenth in the exact same ranking by TV Guide magazine.

"Saturday Night Live" is not your typical evening show with a regular host, rubrics and jokes. Here, each episode consists of comedy reprises and a musical number. The reprises feature regular members of the troupe as well as a guest host, who is usually a celebrity and changes each time. The SNL record holder is Alec Baldwin, who became the "highlight of the program" 16 times.

Frasier - 37 Emmys

The protagonist of the show "Frasier" "Fraser", which was on television from 1993 to 2004, was and remains the favorite series of a huge number of stars and simply fans of witty shows. The plot tells about the famous Boston psychiatrist Fraser Crane. He arrives in his native Seattle and is going to start life anew - his beloved relatives, a new job as an on-air radio psychiatrist, as well as a lot of comic situations at work and at home are waiting for him. The word "mass" here fits perfectly, because the creators had enough jokes for 11 years and many prestigious awards. The leading actors in Frasier - Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce - received huge fees for each episode. The latter, for example, earned $ 750 thousand per episode in the final season, just a little short of the Friends and Big Bang Theory record - 1 million. The producers generously paid all the actors: even the cute dog Mus received $100,000 per episode. The show is a spin-off of another successful series, Cheers, which is also on our list.