Bright Idea Reading Tutoring

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Introduction: First of all, it is all via Zoom. This means that busy parents don't have to travel back and forth from tutoring sessions with their child. Second, it is all one on one with a reading specialist. Joanne is not a college student that just received her teaching license and has decided to tutor in the meantime. Joanne has 18 years experience raising reading levels and can do it in just 8-12 hours of one on one instruction. Other institutions promise to do this in 32 hours. I love connecting with the students that I work with. At first, the students have had a bad experience with reading and are not comfortable doing it. After working with me for just a short period of time they warm up, let go of their belief system that they can't do this, and they shine. To see their smiles and their confidence increase is the greatest joy in the world to me. I have student's parents that have told me that they never want to stop utilizing my services. Of course, I do have to let my students shine on their own once they have the skills that are needed to work independently.

Overview

Hired 2 times

Background checked

1 employee

14 years in business

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This pro accepts payments via Credit card and PayPal.

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Reviews

Customers rated this pro highly for value, professionalism, and responsiveness.

Exceptional 5.0

10 reviews

100%

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Michele S.

Jan 26, 2018

I found Joanne Kaminski when my son was struggling in reading in 1st grade. He had an author and teacher visit his school. He brought her book home and it said she was a Reading Tutor via Skype. So, I contacted her and have been with her ever since. My son has what they now call "Reading and Writing Disorder" which includes dyslexia and any function the brain has to complete to read or write. He also has ADHD and some eye problems. Although she usually can teach a person to read fairly quickly, we both knew that it was going to be much longer for my son to learn to read. He is now in 7th grade. He has come a long way. I remember having chills when he first really started to read and I believe that Joanne had a huge part in that success. I stopped working with Joanne for 1 year as we were having some financial issues and even with extra help from school he began to fall behind again. Very quickly, Joanne had him back at the level she left off at and he is now excelling. She has tried numerous things with my son, like "Speed Reading". Something you would not think he would pick up on, but it has helped him tremendously. He typically skips the smaller words and the speed reading allows him to do that and still understand what he is reading. She has done research to try to find other ways to help him also. Some things have worked and some have not but it has been so nice to have an expert try to figure out how to help him on a weekly basis. Working with Joanne Kaminski has been wonderful. She is very prompt, flexible, and fun to work with (my son will sit there attentively for an hour straight and not get out of his chair). She is very kind but firm and the best part is that he really enjoys working with her. She is worth many times her weight in gold. I highly recommend her!

Corie C.

Jan 26, 2018

How did you find me? I was able to connect with Joanne Through a family member. What was your child struggling with? My child need help with becoming more fluent with reading. 3. What have the results been? It has been very rewarding watching the benefits. Amazing results 4. What was it like working with me. I would recommend her for anyone struggling with any part of reading

Kris T.

Jan 27, 2018

I am really happy with the progress my sons, 10 and 8, have made with Joanne. We live in Japan where they attend Japanese public school so although we speak English at home, both boys were behind in their reading skills, especially my youngest boy, who was also very resistant to reading. I knew I needed help to get them reading more so I googled online reading tutor and Joanne’s site popped up. We quickly set up a time for her to meet my sons. She was so personable and encouraging. They really enjoyed the first lesson and all subsequent lessons, even though they are at 6am due to the time difference. Both boys have improved so much in 8 months: the oldest has gone from a 1st/2nd grade level to a 4th grade+ reading level; the reluctant youngest went from a pre-k to end of 2nd grade level where he actually wants to read chapter books. They are much more confident with their reading too. Both boys still struggle with English vocabulary and comprehension because their schooling is in Japanese, but Joanne continues to help them build these skills. I would highly recommend Joanne to anyone whose children are struggling with reading.

Thumbtack Customer

Sep 12, 2016

From Facebook

My son has been going to Joanne for over a year now. He was placed in a remedial reading group. He works with Joanne twice a week, an hour a session. First off, he enjoys the work that Joanne gives. But most importantly he scored a 3 on his ELA test and has tested out of remedial reading and is currently in an on-level reading program. Joanne has always been optimistic about his reading progress, and she has had a significant impact on his learning. She goes above and beyond with her pedagogy as well as collecting and comparing data. I honestly couldn't imagine my son performing above average in ELA, not to mention all in one year! Joanne's dedication and hard work is directly correlated with my son's amazing success.

Mary R.

Jan 27, 2018

We found Joanne through my moms group. Several people have used her and they highly recommended her. Our daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy at the age of 2 and has short term memory loss because of it. Every seizure she had, wiped her memory out. So we had to go back to the basics each time she had one. She has been seizure free for 2.5 years. She needed the extra help in reading and sight words. We've been working with Joanne for almost 11 months. She has helped our daughter from pre reading levels to level I. Her school teacher has commented several times how far she has come and how she is becoming a very confident reader. We've had such a great experience working with Joanne. She's come on vacation with us so our daughter doesn't have to miss a session. She's flexible with the sessions if we need to reschedule because of school event or a family situation comes up. It's been a pleasure working with her. She's instilling the love of reading in our daughter so much that she is asking to go to the library to get more books to read....something she hated to do before working with Joanne!

Credentials

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Joanne Kaminski

FAQs

What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
Whenever I work with a new student I do a free assessment to see where the child is performing. This gives me an idea of what your child's strengths and weaknesses are. I then come up with a customized plan so that I can close the gap for your child in the quickest amount of time.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I am a member of the National Reading Association which has a local conference and a world wide conference. I not only attend these conferences, but I also participate in them.
How did you get started doing this type of work?
I became ill and needed to leave the school system. I was in and out of the hospital for a pain that I was having in my side. I decided to take a year off and figure out how I was going to stay home with my children, take care of my health, and work from home. After a year, I decided to start tutoring online. Since I have made this decision in 2010 I have had no health issues and I am able to help kids all over the world reach their reading goals.