Online Tutoring to Support Reading Development

I think (hope!) that one of the thing readers of my appreciate about Children’s Books Daily is that I rarely recommend a product or service and I don’t do paid advertising.

And so it is with Optimise Learning – individualised online tutoring for primary and secondary students. It’s a service I have used and have loved and this post is not sponsored.

Co-founder Tracey Hand is a former teaching colleague and she is one of the most outstanding teachers I have ever seen in a classroom. In fact I respect her wisdom on all things reading so very much that I asked her to write part of the chapter ‘Reading Difficulties and Differences’ in my book, ‘Raising Readers’.

With coronavirus meaning so many of us are now working and managing home based learning for our children, I felt the time was right to share a little of what Tracey and her team offer, as so many families around the world are needing some extra support right now.

Family members and friends who have used Optimise Learning have nothing but praise for the team – I think it is perhaps hard to get ones head around how individual one-on-one tutoring might work but this time of home based learning is the absolute best time I can think of to give it a go!  All the classes are run online, the kids pop headsets on, which blocks out the background noise and off they go. Before covid19, both girls (plus an enthusiastic cousin) regularly participated in the free online Times Table Tune Up sessions (pictured below).

While home based learning is a happening, Optimise Learning is offering its regular individual tutoring for Prep to Year Twelve students, plus small online group sessions and online student workshops – including free early literacy sessions for Prep students and free Times Table Tune Up for primary school aged children.

A close friend is an ongoing client and here’s what she has to say: 

Tracey is one of the most brilliant teachers I have ever come across. My daughter was a reluctant reader, and we engaged Tracey to work with her. She has not only improved my daughter’s engagement and fluency in reading, but she has built up her confidence as a reader, and as a learner. She loves her sessions with Tracey, is fully focused, and always happy afterwards. Tracey’s experience and wisdom has also been beneficial to us as parents navigating school education for the first time, reassuring us that children learn in different ways, pointing and affirming the potential our daughter has, and what we can do at home to optimise our daughter’s learning. I am so, so grateful to her.

During Covid19, both my son and daughter have benefitted from participating in free weekly sessions generously offered by Optimise Learning, to focus on early literacy skills for my son in prep, and times table training for my daughter.

Optimise Learning gets the best out of your children, regardless of how they learn.

Optimise Learning Online Services

• Offers students unique and individualised learning experiences.
• Provides an opportunity for students to learn free from other distractions.
• Provides students with the time and opportunity to practice, consolidate and extend their knowledge and skills.
• Allows students to progress through curriculum content at their own pace.
• Provides an opportunity to review concepts, to ensure they are thoroughly understood by students.
• Can encourage students to develop effective study habits; to learn, how to learn.
• Can and has improved student achievement, and marks at school.
• Can improve a student’s confidence in themselves as a learner, which can assist them to develop a more positive attitude towards school and learning.
• Can provide gifted and talented students with the challenges they need to develop their unique potential.

Have you ever wondered what is happening inside your child’s brain as they read? You can read more about this here and I’ve asked Tracey to write a blog post for us about supporting your child in their reading development so stay tuned!