About Me
Learn about my students, tutoring sessions and approach to Barton.
Hi, I’m Shanna.
I am a homeschool mom and a certified Barton Tutor. I use the Barton program to help students reach their full reading and spelling potential.
My promise to parents and students is that we will move “as quickly as we can and as slowly as we need to.”
About My Students
My students generally find reading and spelling challenging or laborious. They range in age from early elementary school through high school. Some meet with me via Zoom from the comfort of home, while others meet with me while they are at school. I work with public-school, private-school and homeschooled students.
In order for students to be successful with Barton, Barton’s student requirements say students must be at least 5 and in kindergarten or higher, speak and understand spoken English, and have an IQ of 71 or higher. The Barton program is not a good fit for students with a receptive or expressive language disorder.
About My Tutoring Sessions
Tutoring sessions are one-to-one for a minimum of 50 minutes, twice a week. Sessions take place on a regular schedule and continue through the summer. A typical session includes phonological-awareness drills, fluency drills, sight-word practice, and reading and spelling both real and nonsense words in the Barton lesson.
Screen first. Build from the foundation.
If the student is ready for Barton, we generally start with Level 1 and follow the Barton sequence from there. The program is explicit, multisensory and cumulative. Most students, regardless of age, start in Level 1 so those foundational skills are secure.
If the student does not pass the Barton screening, we can decide together whether additional screening is needed or whether Foundations in Sounds would be an appropriate precursor to Barton Level 1.