Our Programs

Multisensory English Grammar

Students use colored blocks that represent the eight parts of speech. They build sentences, manipulate the blocks for style, and analyze their own writing by recognizing color patterns. Developed especially to help dyslexic students, but certainly effective for all types of students, this innovative program has helped students of all different ages to learn grammar in a multisensory way. Visit www.linkingblocks.com.

Multisensory Math

Students learn basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, decimals, and algebra by manipulating colored rods. We primarily use the excellent Math- U- See program. Visit  www.mathusee.com.

Phonics, Reading, & Spelling

Students learn phonics, reading, and spelling with the Wilson Language System. We found Wilson Language after trying several other programs with our own child with dyslexia. Rockford Tutors has now used Wilson Language successfully with students for twenty-three years. We also have incorporated some of Nanci Bell’s Seeing Stars methods of instruction into our reading and spelling instruction. This program teaches “symbol imagery” which helps students to lock specific phonemic (letter/sound) patterns into their long-term memory. Visit www.wilsonlanguage.com. and www.lindamoodbell.com.

Reading Comprehension & Fluency

Many children find it difficult to move from decoding individual words to reading whole passages. A child may be slow or labored in the process. Read Naturally is a reading fluency program that can be done a few minutes a day. By practicing oral reading with a mentor (e.g. a parent), a student can quickly develop speed, accuracy, and confidence in his reading.  www.readnaturally.com.

In order to understand what one reads, he must be able to recognize and derive meaning from the printed words. To enhance this process, those words should create a picture or movie in one’s mind. Some students read but remember very little or only parts of the material. We teach the V/V method (visualization and verbalization) developed by author and educator Nanci Bell, and we find this to be a vital tool in developing good reading comprehension. Visit www.lindamoodbell.com.

A student must also move beyond creating mental images of what he has read. He must think critically about that material and be able to find the main idea, draw conclusions, or determine an inference. We encourage developing those higher order thinking skills through the time-proven program of the SRA Specific Skills Series. This program features nine different skills which are practiced for reading comprehension.

Writing / Composition

For instruction in writing, we use a series of templates and checklists that show students how to plan, arrange, write, and revise their ideas. While helping students learn different types of structure from the simple paragraph to complex reports, our program also teaches effective stylistic techniques such as adding quality adjectives or adverbs or a variety of sentence structures. See www.linkingblocks.com.  

Handwriting

Author and educator Dr. Brenda Murphy has masterfully designed a unique method for teaching print and cursive handwriting, and we have used her program with success for twenty years. For example, by using beach imagery such as a wave or a tidal wave, a student learns to associate writing strokes with the image of waves. This is penmanship that really works!  Visit www.sailawaylearning.com.

Literary Analysis

This course introduces students to the key elements of literature such as setting, character development, plot, theme, and conflict. Each of these is examined as it appears in works of literature. The students also
learn to research the author’s life and times and how that impacts the author’s writing. Then the students use their knowledge and understanding to write about the literature. We use Adam Andrews valuable resource, Teaching the Classics, for this course. Visit www.centerforlit.com/teaching-the-classics.