Beacon Learning

Spelling isn’t about guessing… it’s about knowing what to do next.

If your child gets stuck when adding endings like -ed or -ing, it’s usually not because they “forgot." It’s because no one showed them the pattern.

These 3 rules do most of the heavy lifting:
• Change y to i
• Drop the e
• Double the consonant

Instead of telling them to try again… give them a process.
👉 “What rule do we use here?”

When kids have a checklist, spelling becomes something they can figure out — not something they have to memorize.

Save this so you can use it during homework

Beacon Learning
Academic Therapy and Tutoring
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Mount Pleasant, SC

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Many kids are told to “sound it out.”

But sounding out a word actually requires 3 important skills:
• knowing letter sounds
• blending the sounds together
• reading every letter in the word

Part 3 is the step many kids skip.

Instead of reading every sound, they look at the first letter and guess.

Examples parents often see:
horse → house
went → want
from → for

There are 4 TIPS in this post to try when you are reading with your child this week.

When kids learn to read all the way to the last sound, guessing starts to disappear.

Save these 4 tips to practice at home.

Many parents are told to tell their child to “sound it out.”

But sounding out words actually requires three separate skills.

Kids need to know:
• letter sounds
• how to blend sounds together
• how to look at every letter in the word

Blending is the step where kids push the sounds together smoothly to form a word.

Example:

m / a / p → map

Without blending, kids often say the sounds but still can’t figure out the word.

Save this to practice blending with your child at home.

Part 3 coming next.

Beacon Learning
Dyslexia Therapy

Many kids are told to “sound out words” before they actually know letter sounds well enough to do that.

Strong readers first learn:
• letter sounds
• how to blend sounds
• how to decode words

That foundation makes reading possible.

First, we teach letter(grapheme) sounds. We start with consonant sounds. Be sure to clip consonant sounds. For example, t sounds like /t/, not "tuh.' M sounds like /m/, not "muh."

If we don't teach grapheme sounds first, it encourages readers to just guess. Guessing is not reading. Once readers know a few consonant letter sounds, they can start practicing blending the letters together.

Follow us for Part 2 of How to "Sound it Out": Blending Sounds
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Beacon Learning
Dyslexia Therapy
Mount Pleasant, SC

Summer Reading Camp Intensive at Beacon Learning

Small-group structured literacy instruction for students with dyslexia or reading challenges.

Students receive 10 hours of targeted instruction in one week led by a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Therapist.

Rising Kindergarten–6th grade

• Explicit phonics and decoding
• Reading fluency development
• Reading comprehension and writing
• Skill reinforcement and progress monitoring

Now enrolling:

June 8–11
June 15–18

Small groups (max 5 students per therapist).

Located in Mount Pleasant.

Message us or email to reserve a spot.

Spots are limited.

If reading more fixed dyslexia, it wouldn’t exist.

Dyslexia is not an effort issue. It’s a language processing difference.

Without structured, explicit instruction, struggling readers often develop coping strategies like guessing or memorizing words.

Progress happens when we teach the brain how to connect sounds to letters in a systematic way.

If your child is working hard but still not progressing, it may not be about effort. It may be about instruction.

Beacon Learning
Academic Therapy & Tutoring
Mount Pleasant, SC📍📚

Flexible learning options at Beacon Learning 💙

We meet your child exactly where they are to help them reach their fullest potential!

Our services are available:
- At our learning center
- Virtually, nationwide
- At your child’s private school
- At a 3rd-party location

✨Ready to support your child’s growth? Visit our website to sign up today!

✨ Meet Our Team: Meagan ✨

Meagan is our executive functioning coach with a degree in Psychology and certifications in Human Resources and Project Management. With over a decade of experience supporting individuals, she helps students to stay focused, organized, and confident.

Her coaching blends accountability with practical strategies to bring structure into students' everyday life.💡

🔊 Phonemic Awareness at Home!

Helping your child hear and play with sounds in words doesn’t need to be complicated. Try these simple strategies:

1. Sound It Out: Stretch words like hat → /h/ /a/ /t/ and have your child repeat each sound.
2. Sound Swap: Change a sound in a word: hat → change /h/ to /b/ → bat.
3. Sound Removal: Take away a sound: hat → remove /h/ → “at.”