Miss Betsy's Place tutoring studios are conveniently located
in Midlothian and Powhatan - Virginia
I offer Lessons in Phonics, Reading, Reading Comprehension,
Spelling, Writing, and Penmanship
Kindergarten thru the 5th Grade
Lessons are tailored for the individual needs of the child!
Parent's First Consultation
The first intake consultation with parents is about the child's educational needs; it's gratis and runs about a half an hour. Information is confidential and follow-up is important.
Once I begin tutoring...
I'll teach a concept with materials until there's a thorough understanding. To insure mastery, there will be some "practice work" sent home, which is simply to practice what was taught in the lesson! It's very important for children to use what they have learned in order to become proficient!
I have found that schools using the Whole Language or Balanced Literacy approach to reading have failed to get all of the children to become proficient readers! The idea being, children practice "reading" little Take Home Books over and over, again and again until they've memorized the books. This is not actually reading! The schools require children to also memorize words from Dolch Word Lists for spelling tests, but then days later, they're forgotten! Unfortunately, children are rarely required to write anything in school. I encourage my students to write using what they've learned. While writing they're sure to use their encoding skills and spelling generalizations to produce their best work. They also learn how to go back and proof read their work!
I'll teach a concept with materials until there's a thorough understanding. To insure mastery, there will be some "practice work" sent home, which is simply to practice what was taught in the lesson! It's very important for children to use what they have learned in order to become proficient!
I have found that schools using the Whole Language or Balanced Literacy approach to reading have failed to get all of the children to become proficient readers! The idea being, children practice "reading" little Take Home Books over and over, again and again until they've memorized the books. This is not actually reading! The schools require children to also memorize words from Dolch Word Lists for spelling tests, but then days later, they're forgotten! Unfortunately, children are rarely required to write anything in school. I encourage my students to write using what they've learned. While writing they're sure to use their encoding skills and spelling generalizations to produce their best work. They also learn how to go back and proof read their work!
Along with academic skills, I also help students hone and harness their Executive Functioning Skills! These are important
skills needed for success!
Many of the students I've tutored have either gotten off to a slow start, or were functioning well below their grade level. With my upbeat, comprehensive, one-on-one tutoring, two to three days a week, these children catch-up and do extremely well. See the Testimonials page...