FAQs

I am a fully credentialed teacher with over 30 years of experience in teaching reading.

I also have extensive training in reading intervention.

With the assessments I give, I am able to find out what areas your child struggles with and become laser focused on their needs and strengths to help them improve much faster than they can with other options.

I am able to close the reading gap a full year in 8-12 hours of instruction. 

I am actually not a tutor.  With my 30 years of experience, working with over 5,000 children teaching over 15,000 classes, I have created a learning program to help discover your child’s exact reading level so that they can enjoy reading right away, uncover the hidden blocks that may be making reading difficult for your child, and create a learning plan with laser focus for the best and fastest result.

The tuition for my program is $1,197 for 12 weeks of individual instruction.

I also have a small group learning program that is $597 for 12 weeks of instruction.

Sylvan learning centers claim that they can close the reading gap a full year with 36 hours of instruction.

They charge $50 an hour, you are not guaranteed to get a credentialed teacher, and they do not give fully individualized instruction for that hour.  Their program consists mainly of worksheets.

In the end, Sylvan costs $1,800 to close the gap one year.

With me, it would only cost about $597 – $1,197 to close the gap a full year, depending on whether you would like 1:1 instruction or a small group of 3:1.

Even though Sylvan charges less per hour, it is going to take them three times the amount of time that it will take me. 

First, Sharon starts with a free assessment for each child to find out where their strengths are, and where they struggle.

After she assesses the child, she chats with the parent and lets him/her know what she is noticing.  

She comes up with a customized plan for your child that will bring them up to grade level quickly and then she meets with your child weekly.  

Every 3 months Sharon reassesses the child to find out what gains have been made and what changes need to be made to the instruction to continue to improve their reading.

The length of our sessions is determined by a few factors.

1.    Child’s age
2.    Child’s attention span
3.    Schedule

Most children in Kindergarten to 2nd grade work best In 30 minute sessions.  

For kids in 3rd grade on up more can be accomplished in a 60 minute session.

Some kids who are in 3rd through 6th grade and have ADHD do better with 30 minute sessions than a full hour session.

Sometimes, the students’ schedules and my schedule have unique needs that determine whether a 30 minute or a 60 minute session would be better.

Common signs: Preschool

• May talk later than most children
• May have difficulty pronouncing words, i.e., busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower
• May be slow to add new vocabulary words
• May be unable to recall the right word
• May have difficulty with rhyming
• May have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name
• May have trouble interacting with peers
• May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines
• Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than in other children
• May have difficulty telling and/or retelling a story in the correct sequence

Common signs: Kindergarten through fourth grade

• Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)
• May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
• May confuse small words – at/to, said/and, does/goes
• Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including:
  • Letter reversals – d for b as in, dog for bog
  • Word reversals – tip for pit
  • Inversions – m and w, u and n
  • Transpositions – felt and left
  • Substitutions – house and home
• May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ – x / =)
• May have trouble remembering facts
• May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding
• May be impulsive and prone to accidents
• May have difficulty planning
• Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.)
• May have trouble learning to tell time
• May have poor fine motor coordination

Difficulty with reading

• Difficulty learning to read
• Difficulty identifying or generating rhyming words or counting syllables in words (Phonological Awareness)
• Difficulty with hearing and manipulating sounds in words (Phonemic Awareness)
• Difficulty distinguishing different sounds in words (Auditory Discrimination)
• Difficulty in learning the sounds of letters
• Difficulty remembering names and/or the order of letters when reading
• Reverses letters or the order of letters when reading
• Misreads or omits common little words
• “Stumbles” through longer words
• Poor reading comprehension during oral or silent reading

Difficulty with written language

• Difficulty putting ideas on paper
• Many spelling mistakes
• May do well on weekly spelling tests, but there are many spelling mistakes in daily work
• Difficulty in proofreading

Difficulty with oral language

• Late in learning to talk
• Difficulty pronouncing words
• Difficulty acquiring vocabulary or using age appropriate grammar
• Difficulty following directions
• Confusion with before/after, right/left, and so on
• Difficulty learning the alphabet, nursery rhymes, or songs
• Difficulty understanding concepts and relationships

From HTTP://WWW.READINGROCKETS.ORG/ARTICLE/DYSLEXIA-BEYOND-MYTH

This answer is going to vary based on a few factors.

1.    Learning speed
2.    Dyslexia
3.    Consistency

I am able to bring a child’s reading level up one full year with only 8 to 12 hours of instruction.

So if your child is two years behind and you schedule one-hour sessions each week, your child will be at grade level in six months.  If you choose to do two hours of tutoring a week, then it will take only three months.

This schedule varies if your child has dyslexia, because it depends on the severity of the dyslexia which can range from mild to severe.

Other factors which can affect quick progress is learning speed.  Some kids just need more repetition than others.

In these cases it may take a bit longer, but not too much.

Another factor is consistency.

Sometimes life gets in the way of students being able to show up for their tutoring sessions.

If students miss too many sessions, then it becomes harder to help them to improve.

The more consistent we both are, the better results your child gets.

Yes, I do in home tutoring.

When students live by me they have the option of doing tutoring online or at my house.

My priority lies in what is best for each individual child and for your family.

Yes, I offer summer tutoring.

I work all year long and work hard to tailor a summer reading program specifically for your child.

Summer is the time of year where kids might suffer from summer reading loss if they are not consistently reading.

It is important to me that my students do not miss out on this prime time to improve their reading and be secure in reading for the following school year.  

This is why I have created and stay committed to a strong summer reading program.

I’m an elementary school teacher who started tutoring kids online because I wanted to be more available for my own 3 children.

I was looking for a way that I could incorporate my passion of teaching kids with having a flexible online business.

As my oldest daughter was growing up, we spent a lot of time traveling to dance classes, voice lessons, and theater rehearsals.  I knew that parents are busy and would benefit from having some of their children’s classes online in the comfort of their own home.

As a public school teacher, I know that it can be difficult for one teacher to meet the needs of 28-24 students at one time, and we can make progress more quickly working one on one.

Unlike the school schedule, kids can go on vacations and travel and still work consistently on their reading skills without losing valuable learning time.