CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Six-year-old Lauryn Vernon and her 9-year-old sister Taryn are bringing new energy to education.
In June 2021, the Chesapeake sisters created The Learning PEARadise (Play, Explore, use Art, and Read). It's an online education program that motivates kids to learn while having fun.
"Some kids don't know things, but me and Taryn help kids learn," said Lauryn.
"We want to incorporate what we do every day, what we listen to, and put it in with something that will help us learn and that will educate us," said Taryn.
Their weekly YouTube videos, geared toward elementary school-aged children, cover a range of topics, from making volcanoes to getting ready for the COVID-19 shot.
The Vernons bring a special perspective to the platform as a military family. They moved to Chesapeake last year from Okinawa, Japan.
The girls started taking classes through Virtual Virginia during the pandemic and wanted to bring what they learned to life.
"We get to make the crafts, and we get to teach them how to," said Lauryn.
"I love to explore," said Taryn. "And I'm able to teach my little sister and I'm able to teach everyone else about all the things that I have learned."
Now, they want other kids to be inspired to do it, too.
"I hope that they learn that you can do anything and you know things," said Lauryn.
"I hope that they're excited not to just learn but to also be able to see someone that's their own age do all these amazing things, have these great experiences, and they're able to do these experiences too," said Taryn.