The Importance of Inner Listening in Education
Inner Listening helps children build empathy, resilience, ethical clarity, and purpose. This reflection shows why education must nurture conscience and self-awareness, not only academics.
We create resources to help every child fall in love with learning.
Explore ProductsOur Journey
Five Decades in the Making
The story of Heart Bright Learning didn't begin in a startup. It began in classrooms, writing workshops, schools as design studios, and living rooms — built year by year through work that was always, at its heart, about inspiring children so learning would be delightful.
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1968
While Jon is in graduate school in curriculum design and counseling, Little, Brown and Company publishes his first children’s book, Beautiful Junk: A Story of the Watts Towers, about how creativity can transform anger into art.
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1969
Jon is invited into the schools as an author to share Beautiful Junk, while integrating reading and writing instruction. He discovers that children are more engaged when he personalizes stories to feature students by name. He invites them into the creative process by helping them tell their own stories and encouraging them to illustrate and revise his own.
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1972–78
Initial Service Offerings
Karen joins the Minnesota Environmental Science Foundation, Inc. as a Curriculum Specialist and Workshop Instructor. She authors several publications, including:
• Introducing Environmental Learning on Wildlife Refuges
• Give Earth a Chance – Six stories including Dirty Air, Trash Is Taking Over, Troublesome Tailpipes, Sounds & Silence, Pesticides Are Perilous
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1974
Jon teaches reading and writing in Los Angeles, implementing the models of the Poets in the Schools project and the National Writing Project. He learns that teaching models are more effective and joyful when they encourage self-expression and give children models to inspire their own learning.
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1976–78
Karen serves as adjunct faculty at St. Cloud, St. Thomas, and Carleton College, teaching Environmental Education to classroom teachers.
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1976–79
Jon develops the Artist-in-Residence Reading Project, a classroom-focused R&D Curriculum Design Lab serving under-resourced schools in Los Angeles, funded by foundations and local, state, & federal agencies. It becomes a district-wide model.
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1978–79
Karen joins the Southeast Alternatives Project, Minneapolis Public Schools—a federally funded experimental network of innovative school models for national replication.
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1979-84
Karen joins the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) as Courseware Designer and Instructor, becoming manager of a team producing 36 educational software titles annually. Award-winning products include The Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and Mind Puzzles (recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children).
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1981-83
Jon pioneers using word processing in writing and reading and for curriculum design to foster collaboration and achieve continuous improvement of classroom resources. His work leads to founding The Writing Notebook—a journal on using word processing to support curriculum design.
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1984
Karen and Jon partner to co-found Humanities Software, producing process-based learning resources and training programs. Jon does writing workshops across the country. Apple, IBM, McGraw Hill & others feature their work. The company is acquired by Renaissance Learning in 1999.
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1999–Present
Jon continues writing children’s stories and poems, and Karen develops experiential and process-based instructional materials to support these works. This leads to the creation of Heart Bright Learning (HBL).
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2000
Jon writes several papers on personalized learning that lead to the first national Personalized Learning Conference at Harvard, sponsored by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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2001
Karen authors The Oregon Trail Companion Guide, which provides instruction so students can create projects related to The Oregon Trail simulation using digital tools.
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2003–Present
Jon and Karen form software development alliances with educators and developers in India to create inspiring educational resources available globally. So far, they have produced Tortoise Teaches Rabbit to Read, Poetry for Fluency, and Fables for Social Emotional Learning.
What We Create
Early Literacy
Our materials inspire children to explore reading as meaning-making and self-expression, not memorization. We anchor early reading in the words that matter most to children— their names.Tortoise Teaches Rabbit to Readintroduces how reading works, whilePoetry for Fluencybuilds confidence and a love of language through playful rhythms and rhymes — together supporting structured practice within contexts that are engaging and meaningful for children.
Social-Emotional Learning
Our SEL fables are short, resonant, and rich with meaning — inviting children to explore empathy, resilience, and identity. The stories integrate vocabulary building, guided discussion, and creative activities into the instructional practice, teaching valuable lessons that stick with the child better than worksheets or drills.
Why HBL?
We started Heart Bright Learning because we believe that learning should be a joy, not a chore. When children fall in love with learning, everything else follows.
What HBL makes?
Evidence-based, heart-centered learning materials that help children grow — as readers and as people. Our resources support the whole child — the curious mind and the growing heart.
What HBL makes?
Resources that help children grow — as readers and as people
Our evidence-based, heart centered learning materials help children discover the joy of reading and self-knowledge, deepening their engagement with each other and the world around them.
- Our early literacy materials give young readers a strong, joyful foundation
- Our SEL fable series helps children engage with themselves and others through curiosity and expression
Our resources support the whole child — the curious mind and the growing heart.
Tortoise Teaches Rabbit to Read lifts early literacy from memorization into a sky high journey of discovery. You will love how this approach makes unlocking the reading code delightful for you and your students.
Poetry for Fluency playfully builds natural scaffolds to show children how the code works. It gives kids the thrills of learning to read by exploring good writing.
Featured Blog
Featured Blogs
How gliders became models of scaffolding learning
Using the balance-bike metaphor, this post argues strong curriculum scaffolds through the ZPD—building prior knowledge, structure, and safety—while AI helps map gaps, dependencies, and next steps.
Why the Stop&Talk Process Deserves a Place in Every SEL Story Lesson
This post shows how discussion starters can deepen story reflection beyond simple answers—helping students explore feelings, motives, and choices while building SEL through inclusive, thoughtful dialogue.