BRAIN IN A BOX COULD BE HIT TEACHER DEVELOPS GAME FOR HOMESCHOOLING CHILDREN.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Games that teacher Monique Todd had parents make out of three-by-five cards to help their children with school lessons are going onto store shelves and into classrooms.

A chance meeting with an educational-book publisher turned Todd's doctoral dissertation subject into nine games called Brain in a Box -- packaged like children's board games but geared to help kids learn the skills needed to pass new national- and state-standardized tests.

``I thought, there's got to be a way to make this more engaging,'' said Todd, a Westside Union School District teacher who helps parents homeschool their children. ``Everything that was standards-based was a workbook page. Kids were getting burnt out.''

Carney Educational Services of Glendale, a 12-year-old educational book publisher and provider of tutoring, online classes and other services, recently released the first Brain in a Box game for second-graders. Games for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders are due out in December.

School districts have begun ordering the games - Todd gets $3 of the $29.95 price - even before they reach store shelves.

School districts plan to use them in after-school programs as well as in classrooms, where teachers can work with pupils who need extra help while letting others play the games, knowing that they are doing something that will help them learn the skills expected of them.

The second-grade box has 11 games, including picture cards to teach multiplication, modeling clay to make geometric shapes, plastic coins for learning to use money, stickers to form a picture, then write a story about it.

Each game is geared to that grade's national and state tests.

Over the 14 months Todd worked with Carney on developing the games, the firm brought in artists and other experts to help.

The effort impressed Todd. She attended meetings at which the discussions were about how to shape game cards to fit little hands and what colors of modeling clay would be most fun.

``They said things like, If we're stepping on your vision, just stop us,'' she recalled.

Among the cartoon children on the second-grade box top is a dark-haired teacher in front of a chalkboard: That is supposed to be Todd.

Todd thinks it is unlikely she ever could have sold her games to a publisher by knocking on doors.

Instead, it came about because publisher Mike Carney is a neighbor of one of Todd's master-degree students from Santa Barbara-based Field Graduate Institute.

Carney came to Leona Valley School to sell her workbooks to use for the Westside homeschoolers and ended up signing her up as a consultant to his firm.

``It just took off,'' she said.

Todd grew up in the Antelope Valley, one of seven Knittel children, and her education was completely local. She went to St. Mary's School in Palmdale and graduated from Paraclete High School in Lancaster in 1990. She attended Antelope Valley College, then earned bachelor's and master's degrees through Chapman University's Antelope Valley program.

After a year teaching at Antelope Valley Christian School, she went to work at Westside Union School District's Leona Valley School. After one year there, she has been working the past eight years in Westside's homeschool program.

Todd is a mother of four children ages 5, 9, 12 and 14, who are homeschooled. Her husband Jason is a manager at a Valencia aerospace company.

She expects to make her presentation for her own doctorate before an institute panel next spring.

``Before I defend it, it will already be sold,'' she said.

Brain in a Box is available at www.carneyed.com.

Greg Botonis, [phone]

gregory.botonis(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Westside teacher Monique Todd sold her educational game, above, to a publishing company.

(2) Game cards are just the right size for little hands.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer