IDEA Lab Kids, an after-school education franchise that specializes in S.T.E.A.M-based (S.T.E.M + Arts) programs for students ages 4 to 14, introduced a new program last month — IDEA Lab Plus. To accommodate the changing needs of students and their parents as many schools across the country shift to virtual learning, IDEA Labs Plus offers parents a “concierge service” that consists of two components: e-learning facilitation and hands-on S.T.E.A.M enrichment. The main goal of IDEA Lab Plus is to aid parents who are looking for helpful ways to coach their children through virtual learning. Now, as the brand’s franchisees begin to roll out the IDEA Lab Plus program, it is clear that it is appealing to both parents and children. IDEA Lab Plus is offered in-person as well as through “learning pod support.”

IDEA Lab Kids franchisee Kosal Chea owns and operates the ILK Ballantyne location in Charlotte, North Carolina and has seen major success with IDEA Lab Plus. “I have 19 years of experience in public education as a teacher,” said Chea. “We were looking for supplemental education for our two-year-old son and couldn’t find anything as comprehensive as IDEA Lab Kids. After discovering the brand on the internet, we loved the concept and flew out to the headquarters in Houston to discuss bringing the brand to Charlotte.” 

Chea signed on as IDEA Lab Kids franchisee in December 2019 and opened his location in mid-June. “We initially had a huge grand opening event planned for June 6th but we had to cancel due to COVID-19,” said Chea. “After a soft opening, the first two weeks were a lot of work as we started with our Summer Camp program.”

While Chea notes that the Summer Camp program was successful, a lot of parents in the area were still reluctant to sign up. Once the announcement came about remote learning and IDEA Lab Plus, more and more parents started calling. 

“We pivoted from summer camp to full remote learning for families with IDEA Lab Plus in mid-August,” said Chea. “With our remote learning support program, some kids come for two days, some come for five, and we help with their Zoom calls, help them access their assignments and help them with tutoring as needed to get their work in. In addition, we’ve extended our hours to fit in with the school day, which means we have more opportunities to teach our S.T.E.A.M.-based curriculum in between Zoom classes. Once students are finished with their online classes and independent projects, the center offers supplemental projects in areas like coding, robotics, drone engineering, culinary arts and visual arts. We are able to offer one to three S.T.E.A.M lessons per day and integrate that with school classes.”

With parents signing up for IDEA Lab Plus on a monthly basis, Chea’s center has seen every single family return for October. “We’ve done a bit of marketing, but the program’s success has mostly been through word of mouth,” said Chea. “With social distancing, we’ve decreased our capacity so we can keep kids six feet apart, and all five of our classrooms have been filled everyday. The parents of our community have been extremely grateful to have a place where kids can come and interact with their peers safely, and they have been recommending us to their friends and neighbors.”

As a parent himself, Chea notes that his primary mission with IDEA Lab Kids is to serve families and strengthen his community, and IDEA Lab Plus has played a primary role in his ability to do so during COVID-19. “It has been so gratifying to create this service, and kids love the environment of being with other kids and being able to take breaks and socialize with hands-on projects like cooking, baking, visual arts, robotics, 3D printing and more,” said Chea. “Having a variety of options to intrigue kids and get them interested in remote learning has been great, and we’ve seen a positive response from the students, parents and teachers.”

Looking ahead, a lot of the center’s families have children returning part-time to school in November and are already reserving spots for IDEA Lab Plus on the days when the children would be home. 

“This has been a challenging time for everyone, and it is important that we all work together to support each other,” said Chea. “We opened our center in the middle of a pandemic, and this has certainly been a learning experience. Now, parents trust us with the safety of their loved ones, and they know we take their safety very seriously. Even though it has been hard work, it has been incredibly satisfying to provide kids with a strong educational experience during this time and to provide parents with a service that makes their lives a little easier.” 

Each of IDEA Lab’s 20 locations will tailor its programs to best align with surrounding school districts’ curricula to fit the ever-changing needs of the community. Students will be enrolled into small learning groups — or pods — based on age, grade and school district. 

“Our schools have parents who need support and who are struggling to keep up with their children’s virtual learning and their own work-from-home commitments,” said President of IDEA Lab Kids Devina Bhojwani. “We launched this program to help alleviate some of that extra stress for parents as well as to help get students out of the house and into a safe, school-like learning environment. As everyone navigates the challenges of virtual learning, IDEA Lab wants to be there to offer as much support as we can.”

The startup costs for an IDEA Lab Kids franchise range from $160,500 to $373,000. The franchise fee is $35,500. To learn more about franchising with IDEA Lab Kids, visit https://www.franchise.idealab kids.com/.