It’s happening. It’s finally happening!

Dear Friends,

I am so excited to announce that my new book comes out today! It’s called Testing For Kindergarten and it’s something I’ve wanted to put out in the world for years. For those of you that don’t know, it was my son’s learning delays that first inspired me to start Smart City Kids, the company I co-founded in NYC to help families get their kids into the Manhattan’s best schools. It was the experiences I had at Smart City Kids that inspired The Ivy Chronicles, my first book. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sam (that’s him on the left) was one of those toddlers who had an ear infection every other month. By the time he turned 3, we noticed that he wasn’t developing the way his older sister had. Eventually, we mustered up the courage to take him to a doctor who ran a battery of physical and psychological tests.

“I have good news and bad news,” the doctor told us. “The good news is…Sam’s speech and motor delays stem from the fact that he can’t hear, the result of fluid build up from all his ear infections. Physically, we can fix that.”

“The bad news is that we gave him the WPPSI – the same test he’ll need to take next year to get into school. He failed miserably. I don’t believe he can catch up.” And then came the kicker. “Mrs. Quinn, no private school in town will accept your son.”

I was devastated. We lived in one of the worst performing public school districts in New York City. With Sam’s delays, I felt he would need the small class size of a private school in order to thrive. Naturally, I called my mother. I’m lucky. My mother was a Professor of Early Childhood Education. With her guidance, she and I mapped out a program I could do with Sam at home to build the skills he would need for kindergarten. Every night, Sam and I worked together. To him, we were just playing. But in reality, each activity was selected to develop the 7-abilities he would need for testing and school.

One year later, Sam took the test again. I’ll never forget the call I got from our nursery school director a few weeks later.

“Sam’s results are in,” she said. “You’re never going to believe this, but he made the top scores in his class!”

Sam was admitted to our first choice school. Today, he’s a bright high school student taking honors and advanced placement classes. In fact, by first grade, his teachers were surprised to learn that he hadn’t been exhibiting genius qualities since age one.

The experience with Sam inspired me to co-found Smart City Kids, a company dedicated to improving every child’s chance of acceptance to the school
of their parent’s choice. While there, I taught parents how to work with their children, just as I had worked with Sam. These kids did amazingly well when they had to test in for private school admissions, gifted program qualification, and even just ability group placements in regular kindergarten classrooms. This stuff worked for Sam, it worked for countless NYC kids, and it will work for your child.

For years, I felt like I had an obligation to put what I knew about kindergarten testing out there for all parents to take advantage of and finally, it’s happening! This is the perfect book for parents with a child between the ages of 1 and 6. Even if your child won’t be tested for private school or a gifted program, it’ll teach you how to bring your child up in a way that he’s absolutely ready to tackle the academic demands of kindergarten (and yes, that’s what kindergarten is these days)! Even though the book is informational, it’s also quite funny and autobiographical (lots of bonus Karen-Quinn- bringing-up-her-kids stories included!).

I’ve also created a new website for the book with a blog that I update all the time. So, if you have a child (or if you want to read my latest ramblings), go to www.testingforkindergarten.com and sign up for my Tips. You can also sign up for a free daily test prep question you can practice with your little one. Finally, for those of you who are really into kindergarten testing, go to www.kindergartentestingwithouttears.com where you can get 8 short videos of moi reviewing all the test prep products that are out there today. The video is actually pretty entertaining. We shot it in my kitchen and you get to see the amazing view out my window. I swear, it’s not a backdrop even though it looks like one. If you look closely, you can see waves.

You can buy a copy of the book at your local bookstore or go to Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or Borders.com. I would be eternally grateful if you would do that and I promise, the child in your life will benefit. Also, if you have friends with young children in their lives, please forward this newsletter to them, or better yet, buy them a book! (just kidding, okay, not really, I’m being serious. In fact, buy them 2!)

Here’s what some moms said who read the book early and used the information with their own kids. Hope you enjoy!