Learn With Joy

09/12/2026

2026-2027 September - May Schedule

09/10/2026

This year, my goal is to promote literacy across the board for students. I am seeing more deficits in students’ reading, writing, and comprehension every year because students are being exposed to less full sized novels and more short passages and expected to gain skills with out the exposure they need. In short, many students are being taught how to take a test, not how to think about a complex story with character development, new vocabulary and complex structure and syntax.

Studies show that students who are read novels (not even reading the novels themselves!) increase their reading level EVEN WITHOUT ANY INSTRUCTION ON COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES.

In this study, 44% of students included were a grade level behind OR MORE. By the end of the study (12 weeks later, when their teachers had read them two complex novels) the students had gained, on average, 16 months in reading level.

We need to be reading to our children and we need to be talking to them about what we are reading.

Poorer adolescent readers are often regarded by teachers as unable to read whole narratives and given short, simplified texts, yet are expected to analyse every part in a slow laborious read-through....

09/08/2026

We will be hosting a dumpling squishie giveaway raffle for all Learn with Joy students on October 31st.

Earn an extra raffle ticket by reading or listening to The Wild Robot by Peter Brown during the month of September or October.

With a library card and the Libby app or Hoopla, you can listen to the audiobook for free!

08/27/2026

You need to read to your kids.

We are experiencing a literacy crisis in the U.S., and in many places, it’s only getting worse. There’s not a significant difference between children who CAN’T read and children who DON’T read.

And children who don’t read can’t write well.

Written language is more formal and essentially a completely different language than conversational English.

Much of our spoken language is not in full grammatically complete sentences. How then, do we teach children to write a complete sentence without exposing them to thousands of grammatically complete sentences structured in different ways?

We can’t.

Children. Must. Read. Books.

What if my child is not confidently reading entire chapter books yet? Do I have fantastic news for you! Having a book read to you lights up the same brain pathways as reading the book yourself. Your children are learning and gaining just as much by YOU reading to them, or listening to an audiobook, as they are by reading to themselves.

Here’s a couple books that Theo and I have loved.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: In true Roald Dahl fashion, the farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean are a nasty bunch, and the witty Mr. Fox likes to outsmart them and steal from their henhouse to feed his family. It’s a disgusting and delightful story and you DEFINITELY shouldn’t read it to your kids.

The One and Only Ivan: Ivan is a gorilla and a bit of an artist. He’s learned a thing or two about life in captivity but he’s made a few friends along the way and one day he gets a chance to make a big difference in the life of a new friend.

08/25/2026

The beauty of Orton-Gillingham instruction is that EVERY student can become a successful reader!

I’ve had a 100% success rate in my third grade students passing the third grade reading guarantee. This is because nearly 100 years of research in reading education all points to the same strategies and methodologies - an Orton-Gillingham approach.

Over the last two years, 15/15 of my third grade students passed this test because they were given the time, skills, and confidence to master phonics, morphology, grammar, and writing skills before moving on.

Every single student deserves to be taught to read in a way that that can learn best!

Our goal is to make a research driven curriculum available for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents.

08/24/2026

You need to read to your children.

We tend to think of bedtime reading as part of a routine for three, four, and five year olds, but bedtime reading for six, seven, eight year olds, and beyond is where the magic happens.

Children who are beginning to decode STILL deserve to hear good stories! By hearing more complex chapter books during these formative years, they build an innate understanding of story structure/plot, character development, vocabulary and more formal grammar that we use in writing.

Even advanced readers, who are reading by themselves, benefit greatly from stories that are *just above* their reading level.

These are some of the books that my eight year old and I have read (and loved!!) in the past year.

Mysterious Benedict Society: We’ve read four of the five books in this series. These are long, complex stories about an exceptional group of young children who are on a secret mission to save the world from something…. Mysterious.

Hatchet: My son is obsessed with this one, and we are currently reading the book that comes after - Brian’s Winter. A 12/13 year old boy is on a plane that crashes in the Canadian wilderness and must survive on his own with only a hatchet (and his wits!).

Because of Winn Dixie: This is a heartwarming story about making friendships. And there’s a very lovable dog with a lot of personality (who, spoiler alert, does *not* die at the end, thank goodness!).

08/21/2026

2026-2027 school year is open for scheduling!

Reserve your spot through email: [email protected]
Or call/text: 330-503-1272

08/09/2026

Now available on Teachers Pay Teachers:

Propaganda Detectives: In the Wild!
Help students become critical thinkers and savvy consumers of information with this engaging propaganda techniques resource for grades 4–8! Students will learn to recognize and think about ad hominem, ad nauseam, appeal to authority, appeal to fear, appeal to prejudice, bandwagon, and the black-and-white fallacy through relatable examples, discussion, and real-world application.

Propaganda Detectives: In the Wild!Help students become critical thinkers and savvy consumers of information with this engaging propaganda techniques resource for grades 4-8! Students will learn to recognize and think about ad hominem, ad nauseam, appeal to authority, appeal to fear, appeal to preju...

07/05/2026

What an AMAZING June we’ve had!

I will be adjusting/filling spots in my August schedule soon - if you are interested and not signed up, send a message and I will get back within a week or two. (Hey, it’s July, and July is family month 😂)

I DO have a few virtual spots in July. These are for *older* students (3rd grade +) because virtual learning can be difficult. These virtual spots can be used to focus on reading, spelling, or writing. Send me a message if you’d like to know what I have open.

Looking forward to showing off my clean/organized classroom in August!

05/22/2026

Gas is expensive, but kids still need to be reading over the summer!

Introducing VIRTUAL reading groups for the first time ever! Message me if interested!