Thankful for Being Able to Be OnLine

Finding Humor in On-Line Tutoring 

Here’s another story that made me smile with pride in this crazy time. 

Last week on Tuesday evening, I opened Zoom to begin “Phillip’s” tutoring session. Phillip is one of my young third graders. It was his first full week of virtual school.  

I asked him, “How’s school going on the computer?” 

In an extremely frustrated, yet polite voice, he answered, “I have been on this computer for 6 hours already today. Now I have another hour on the computer with you. I wish I could come to your house!” 

“I wish you could come to my house too!” 

“Seven hours is a long time to sit at a computer!” he firmly stated. 

“Yes, it is,” I sympathized, “but think about what it would’ve been like for me if COVID had happened when I was little. 

“We didn’t have a television.” 

Phillip gasped at the thought of not having a TV. 

I continued, “Can you imagine not having a TV to watch shows or movies in the evenings?” 

“No!” Phillip thoughtfully exclaimed.  

“All day I would have only had my little brother to play with.  

“Oh, and, of course, we didn’t have a computer either.” 

“That’s terrible!” 

“I wouldn’t have been able to Facetime with friends. I wouldn’t have been able to do any kind of schooling. The days would have been long and boring. I would probably have had to do a LOT of cleaning.” 

After a very long pause filled with deep thinking, Phillip slowly uttered, “Should I be thankful?” 

“Yes, I believe so,” I lovingly but firmly answered. 

“Oh, my,” was all he could say. 

After another LONG pause, I gently asked him, “Should we start tutoring now?” 

“Yes!” he enthusiastically replied with a smile. 

I smiled to myself. This sweet, young boy is so mature.

This certainly is a difficult time for everyone. Each of us is affected by it differently, but we’ll get through it together with patience, thoughtfulness and love. (Silent Elephant “e” helps too—giggles!)

If you are questioning whether you’d like to join the ranks of Silent Elephant “e” tutors, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

Answering Your Questions About Tutoring

Your Questions about Tutoring Answered 

To answer some questions that might be bubbling around in your brain about joining our Silent Elephant “e” community of tutors that are changing lives, let me tell you a little about my tutoring business. 

First question: “What does your tutoring day look like?” 

One of the perks of this job is that you can set your own schedule! I regularly tutor Mondays through Fridays, but on occasion I have tutored on Saturdays and Sundays. On some days, I begin tutoring at 9 A.M; on some days, I finish tutoring at 9:15 P.M. I create my own schedule around my family and other projects I’m involved in.  

Presently I am choosing to tutor 48 hours a week because I love tutoring and I have students who really need the systematic, multi-sensory teaching that Silent Elephant “e” provides.  

My full-time schedule is absolutely my choice because I’m my own boss. Silent Elephant “e” is my personal at-home business. I could tutor less hours, but the time flies by as I’m having so much fun watching my students realize how smart and capable they are and seeing that spark in their eyes when they learn something new.  

I personally love tutoring from my home when possible, as I don’t have transportation issues: slow traffic, being out on icy roads and sidewalks, and loss of teaching time while driving.  

Now, of course, because of COVID, I have completely transitioned to tutoring online using Zoom and have been over-the-moon happy with the continued success of my students. This opens up our ability to tutor from anywhere. I presently am tutoring children in three states. 

You might wish to tutor at a student’s home or a public library. I do not recommend tutoring at a coffee shop. Most of my students struggle with attention issues and would find it extremely difficult to focus outside of a quiet environment. 

Personally, I’m charging $35 an hour. If I did the driving, I would charge more. Check with other tutors in your area to determine your fee. One note: I do not charge for the first hour, because I want that time to be used as a relaxing time to meet my new student, to meet my student’s parents and to enjoy getting to know each other. Children truly begin to relax during this time and are much more comfortable the next time we meet when I want to begin assessing them. 

Since it is MY business, I have the freedom to take time off when I want. As my students’ progress is so strong, I am not worried about taking a week off. I know when I return, their skills will remain strong, and we will move forward. Also, because Silent Elephant “e” is ensuring that my students are progressing, their parents are relaxed about my taking time off. 

It’s a win, win, win – for my students, their parents and me.  

Second question: How do you find students to tutor?

I volunteer at my neighborhood school and have met many teachers there who refer their students’ parents to me. I am listed as a tutor with surrounding school districts and with the International Dyslexic Association.  

In the beginning, I only had a couple of students, but my business organically grew to full time because the success of my students got around and more people began to request me.  

Third question: How much will you invest to begin a Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” tutoring business. Here are the details:  

The full program cost is $2217.

This is what you will receive when you purchase:

·       Your teacher’s copy of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, A Phonetic Reading Program for ALL Learners of Any Age Particularly Dyslexic or Struggling Readers containing over 1800 pages of instruction in 14 user friendly spiral bound books

·       Over 100 instructional videos that I created so you can have an at-your-fingertips reminder of how to teach the lessons

·       44 colorful posters

·       The picture book My Awesome Grandma 

There are a few other materials for you to make or collect before beginning tutoring:

·       Magician hat

·       Elephant hand puppet

·       Magic wand

·       Tiny star wands: 1 doz. pink, green, blue, silver

·       1 set of cat toy mice

·       1 individual hand-held mirror (check the Dollar Store)

·        Make twenty-one 1” colored copy paper squares; three squares of each of the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and brown and laminated them

·       Plastic zippered bag to store the 21 squares

·       Copy the 6 game boards from Part 1and laminate them

·       Pocket folder per student

·       1-3 oz. paper cup per student

·       Box of 8 Crayola colored pencils per student

·       Two boxes of 8 Crayola water markers

·       Copy the 6 paper masks from Part 4 and laminate them

·       Set of orange, tactile, glittered construction paper letters for consonant digraphs for Part 4 

There you have it!

You will be able to start your Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” tutoring business for a little more than $2217. 

To quickly enhance your teaching of Silent Elephant “e” and to support you in setting up your business, purchase my 9-hour virtual personal workshop for $1000 or get a group of friends to take the workshop together and share the $1000 cost. You’ll have FUN learning together! 

That’s not much to start up a business and, as I have shared with my own tutoring business, that amount is easy to recoup in a very short time.  

Fourth question: What if you have already purchased Silent Elephant “e” and want to take the workshop?  That’s an easy answer, just contact us and we’ll get you in.

Last thought from some happy parents:

“It’s hard to describe how much this program has helped our daughter with her reading. In the relatively short time, she has been working with this program we have gone from taking hours of fighting and struggling to read books below her grade level to a girl who is comfortably reading books at or near her grade level and actually starting to ask to read to her younger brother. We could not be happier with the results so far and excited to see how much further this will go.” Kristina and Derek

If you are questioning whether Silent Elephant “e” is the comprehensive reading, writing and spelling program you’d like to purchase, feel free to contact us. We will also gladly answer any other questions you may have.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson 

We Created A Workshop Just For You

We Created A Workshop to Make Sure You Know Exactly How Silent Elephant “e” works -

Your Success is Importance to Us  

With the goal of ensuring our children’s and students’ success in mind, I designed a comprehensive 9-hour online workshop so I can effectively instruct you on how to teach Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” right from the comfort of your own home.  

You will learn how fun and easy it is to ensure that your children and students are thoroughly and systematically learning phonemic awareness and phonics quickly while having fun – even electronically. 

During our 9 hours togetherl (click here for details), we will cover everything you need to begin teaching anyone from preschoolers to adults to read, write and spell with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, A Phonetic Reading Program for ALL Learners of Any Age Particularly Dyslexic or Struggling Readers! 

With Silent Elephant “e”, everything you need will be at your fingertips. You’ll have the textbook, posters, picture book and videos as your incredible teaching tools with precisely sequenced, step-by-step, easy to follow directions guiding you to ensure the success of ALL of your students at their personal pace. During the workshop, we will cover how I use all of these components to ensure the success of my students.  

It’s important to me that you know the quality of the program you will be learning and teaching. Let’s review some of my Silent Elephant “e” data. 

These are some of the outcomes you can expect with students of all ages with all types of learning differences:

·       Progress one full year in reading with every 2 months of instruction with just two one-hour sessions per week

·       Advance to their age-appropriate grade level in 4 months (some in as little as 2.5 months)

·       Advance 4.5 grade levels with 6 months of instruction

·       Master Part 1, Phonemic Awareness within 3 months.

Just think—because you will be teaching your kiddos every day, not just two days a week, you could double their learning and progress! 

More data that makes my heart sing:

·       Our Silent Elephant “e” students’ lives begin to change immediately. ALL students begin to experience success right away. Even within the first couple of weeks of tutoring, profoundly dyslexic learners and struggling learners begin to feel differently about themselves and begin seeing themselves as able and successful readers, writers and spellers.

·       In the last eight years, 9 of my students have successfully exited out of Special Education! I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: this is unheard of! 

This short workshop will take you from:

“I’m not sure how to teach reading, spelling and writing.

What if I mess up?

What if they don’t learn?”

To:

“This is doable.

I have the tools.

I have the knowledge.

I CAN successfully teach reading, writing and spelling while having lots of FUN.

My children and students will become successful readers, writers and spellers.

I KNOW where to go for support.

I’ve got this!

What a relief!”  

When you have completed the workshop, I will certify you as an instructor of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”. 

You will be able to confidently and easily teach not only your own children and students, but you will be certified to tutor hundreds of children and adults. You can begin your own tutoring business from home! 

Click here to see our workshop page.

Last thought—I always want to be available to promptly answer your questions, but if I’m tutoring, I’ll refer you to my editor and colleague Nina Henson.  She taught with me for twenty-five years. She knows Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” in her sleep!  

You can email me at silentelephante@gmail.com or call me at 208-859-4406 or call Nina at 208-860-3125 or email her at nina_henson@yahoo.com.

We look forward to helping relieve some of the stress of this time by helping you relax and achieve success in teaching reading, writing and spelling using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” with every child your heart touches! 

You are in our hearts and our minds. You are important to us! 

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones Nina Henson 

“Don’t worry, Mary! I can help.”

Now is the Time To Be a Silent Elephant “e” Tutor! 

Yes, now is the time!  

It is THE time for educators to reach out to children and adults (yes, adults too) through video communication technology such as Zoom to teach reading, writing and spelling using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, A Phonetic Reading Program for ALL Learners of Any Age Particularly Dyslexic or Struggling Readers. 

I never realized how grateful I would be to be able to teach children from a computer screen! When I had to tell the parents of my students I could no longer invite them into my home for tutoring, I was so downhearted. I was worried my kiddos would lose ground in their learning. I was saddened that I would not be seeing their sweet faces and watching their eyes pop in an “a-ha” moment.  

Then my son suggested I just take my tutoring online using Zoom. I had never heard of Zoom and was a little unsure. Within one day, he had me all set me up to tutor 19 children! I was back with my kids watching their smiles of learning! 

I am so grateful for this fun learning experience. Everyday I appreciate seeing delighted smiles on my beautiful students’ faces! I’m so happy to hear their joyful voices when they say, “Hi, Mrs. Jones!” I know they can see and feel my love for them in my eyes and in my voice! 

Homeschool educators, here is my thought for you at this time when your friends, neighbors and relatives may be juggling more balls than they ever thought they ever would and feeling great stress in their lives—reach out to them and offer them your expertise at this time.  

Since you already teach at home and know how Silent Elephant “e” supports you in making sure your children learn, I encourage you to think about how you could teach your children and other people’s children together using Silent Elephant “e” on Zoom or another platform.  

This idea burst forth into my brain a few days ago as I was teaching one of my students, “Carol”, an “ou” lesson in Silent Elephant “e” on Zoom. Carol’s mom, “Mary”, appeared on the screen close to the end of the lesson time. Mary’s face was showing her stress. “I’m sorry to interrupt your teaching time, but I really need your help! 

“Carol’s second grade teacher sent a note telling parents that they need to teach their child how to spell words with “ie” and “ei” in them. 

“I tried to teach Carol the best way I could, but after a half hour of struggling with both of us becoming extremely frustrated, we were almost in tears.” 

“Don’t worry, Mary! I can help.” I comforted her.  

“I can teach Carol how to spell words with “ie” and “ei” using the fun “ie/ei” lesson in Part 12 of Silent Elephant “e”. We’ll have lots of fun, because each of the six rules has a silly song to sing! The songs will definitely help Carol remember how to spell the words. 

SO, YES!

Homeschool educators you are an extremely valuable resource to your neighbors, friends and relatives right now. Reach out to them!! They will love, love, love you! 

AND, oh, classroom teachers, my heart goes out to you!

I know that you are deeply missing your kiddos.  

I also know that many of you have babies, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children of your own that you suddenly have to care for and teach while teaching your students on-line. 

I know too that you are so concerned that you are providing the best educational environment, the best educational instruction and the best educational practice materials for your much-loved students and your own much-loved children. 

With Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” you can rest assured that you are teaching lessons that are researched based using Structured Literacy. You will be able to use direct instruction to explicitly teach phonemic awareness, phonics, orthology, morphology, semantics and syntax while pulling in your students’ background knowledge. Further, Silent Elephant “e” will guide you to meet the individual reading, writing and spelling needs of both your classroom students and your own children you are now teaching.  

Silent Elephant “e” is powerfully effective for ALL learners K-Adult —especially those with learning differences such as:

-Children with Dyslexia

-Children with ADD or ADHD

-Children with Speech and Language Disorders

-English Language Learners

-Children with Autism

-Hearing Impaired Children

-Children with Down Syndrome

-Children with Dyspraxia

-Children with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)

-Other Learning Differences 

Silent Elephant “e” begins with phonemic awareness as the basis for understanding reading and how it “works”. Upon mastery of phonemic awareness, children are prepared to succeed in phonics, the most effective way to teach reading. Phonics rules are taught in a progressive sequence that builds one phonics skill upon another. Each multi-sensory lesson engages the “whole learner” through active participation using stories, puppets, plays, magic, food, drawings, writing, and games enabling students to make sense of the abstract rules of phonics through fun, engaging and memorable lessons. 

To make it even easier, all lesson plans are precisely organized with step-by-step “cookbook” directions. All lessons have at least three carefully designed practice papers that you can email to the parents of your kiddos to ensure that your students have plenty of practice to reach mastery of the skill you have taught. 

I am so thankful to be able to tutor my students using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e!  

And I am SO thankful that I now understand how easy it is to tutor online with Silent Elephant “e”. Six months ago, I would never have considered it and now it is a wonderful success.  

I still get to see their beautiful smiles and the sparkle in their eyes when they reach that special “Oh, I get it!” moment.

 We still give each other “high fives” and “fist bumps”—just on the computer screen now! Giggles!

 We give each other “computer hugs”! And yes, those “hugs” feel good, because we know they’re filled with LOVE! 

I still am a valuable part of their lives. My kiddos know I care about their education. They know I love them!

If you are questioning whether Silent Elephant “e” is the comprehensive reading, writing and spelling program you’d like to purchase, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

We Tutor Successfully From Anywhere

As We Now Know, We Can Successfully Tutor From Anywhere!

And Everyone Still Loves Tutoring! 

A couple of months ago, an older eight-year-old brother (whom I also tutor) came along with Mom to pick up his younger six-year-old brother.  

“Hi “Steven”, it’s good to see you!” I called out.  

He returned a, “You too, Mrs. Jones!” accompanied by his bright happy smile. 

“I bet you came along just to get one of my delicious chocolate chip cookies. That’s why everyone comes to tutoring,” I kidded him. I always give them a chocolate chip cookie at the end of our tutoring sessions.   

“Oh, no, Mrs. Jones. We come to tutoring because we love you!” 

Talk about melting my heart!  

“Oh!” I exclaimed as I gave him a big bear hug. “That makes me feel so good! I love you with all of my heart too!” 

I thought of Steven as I was virtually hugging one of my kiddos this last week at the end of our tutoring session on Zoom.  

I truly miss physically hugging all of them, but the children and I still feel the love! I can see it in their eyes at the end of each session; I know they can see it in mine. 

Last weekend a parent texted me to say that her husband had been furloughed from his job for a year, so regrettably they would need to end tutoring. I called her right away. 

As soon as “Amy” answered, I exclaimed, “I love tutoring “Maggie”! I want to keep tutoring her. She’s making so much progress and is feeling so good about herself.” 

I could hear and feel the conflict in Amy’s voice as she shared, “Yes, she is feeling so much better about herself! Just yesterday when she had Zoom time with her teacher and classmates, her teacher asked the children to share what they were doing that was making them proud of themselves.  

“Maggie told everyone she had just finished learning 700 words (the Fry List) in tutoring, and two weeks ago, she finished the caterpillar and train games that helped her to learn to hear ALL of the SOUNDS in WORDS!”  

I was so proud of Maggie for being so confident that she shared her success with her teacher and classmates. She had just passed Phonemic Awareness Assessments Part 1 and Part 2 with 100% accuracy! There’s no question that she now hears every sound in every word. 

Amy continued, “Maggie went on to tell her teacher and classmates that her tutor said she was going to BLAZE through phonics now even faster than she was learning it before! 

“She is so proud of herself!” 

I said, “Amy, that’s exactly why we cannot end tutoring. We can’t stop just when Maggie is feeling her success and is poised to become a strong reader. You do not need to pay me. Just please let me keep tutoring Maggie.” 

I could hear Amy take a long deep breath and relax, “Oh, Linda, I cannot thank you enough! We’ll pay you just as soon as we can.” 

“Please, don’t worry about paying me,” I replied. “It’s my honor and privilege to teach Maggie! I’m so excited about her progress. I can’t bear the thought of her not getting to continue on in her success. 

I love all of you, and I’m sending you all BIG HUGS. I’ll see you Monday.”

This is one way I can help my kiddos and their families at this time.

My students’ successful future is very important to them and to me.  

I can’t bear the feeling of them not succeeding because they aren’t able to pay for tutoring at this time.

If you are questioning whether Silent Elephant “e” is the comprehensive reading, writing and spelling program you’d like to purchase, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson

The Perks of Being A Silent Elephant “e” Tutor

The Perks of Being A Silent Elephant “e” Tutor 

As you know, Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is the program that teaches learners the way they love to learn. It is systematic, language-based, multi-sensory, and FUN! It’s fun for learners and teachers! It engages the whole learner and accelerates ALL children’s learning, even if they are dyslexic or have any other learning difference. Learning to read, write and spell with Silent Elephant “e” is a given.

If you are considering purchasing Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, now is the time.

When you have Silent Elephant “e”, you have all of your step-by-step, thoroughly researched lesson plans at your fingertips and with the online 9-hour workshop you can relax and know you will truly be ready to enjoy teaching with Silent Elephant “e” as right before your eyes you watch every child having fun rapidly and easily learning what just a short time ago, they struggled with.

Here’s another bonus!

When you purchase Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” and become a tutor, you will have our support as you set up your business and begin tutoring.

Further, I will share:

·       What I have learned about becoming and being a tutor

·       My tutoring agreement form letter that outlines my expectations for parents and for students and my goals for my students

·       My form letter that I give to parents at the end of a school year showing their child’s progress as demonstrated by their child’s recorded assessment results

·       The opportunity to be a member of a closed Facebook group to answer questions and learn from each other on a weekly basis.

·       What I have learned about the tax advantages of having a home-based tutoring business.

(See our workshop page) 

I whole-heartedly love tutoring each and every one of my students with Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”! 😊

As the saying goes: “once a teacher, always a teacher” is true for me. I can’t think of anything more rewarding to do in my retirement years than tutoring my students! I love them all and am so proud of their progress! I would love it if you would read some of their parents’ testimonials on my website.

AND, MY FRIENDS, I HAVE TO END WITH THIS:

If YOU became a tutor, WE would be one step closer to fulfilling my dream to help ALL children become confident, successful readers, writers and spellers! This is a very exciting thought!

Get together a group of friends who are interested in becoming a Silent Elephant “e” tutor to share the $1000 cost of the 9-hour on-line personal training class. Have FUN learning together!

If you are questioning whether Silent Elephant “e” is the comprehensive reading, writing and spelling program you’d like to purchase, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson