Something That Makes Savvy Reading Special

As you know if you’ve been around here for a while, our second daughter, Ani, had a challenging time learning to read.

After more than a year of Savvy Reading, she went from struggling to even stay at grade level to getting top grades in every category of language arts and qualifying to test for the accelerated program next year.

But the best part to me isn’t that she’s learned to read.

The best part is that she KNOWS she can do hard things. She knows that if something is a challenge for her at first, she has the skills to tackle that hard thing and keep going until she conquers it.

When she came home this fall with a report card of straight 4s (the equivalent of an A), she knew she’d EARNED those and that these weren’t flukes.

When we got the email from her teacher informing us that she’d qualified to test for the district’s accelerated program, I almost burst into tears when I told her and watched her grin nearly split her face in half.

Savvy Reading didn’t just give her reading skills – it gave her LIFE skills.

I think about it like food – you can trick your child into eating vegetables by pureeing spinach into a smoothie or cooking shredded zucchini into a brownie and they’ll get some nutritional benefits from those vegetables.

But they aren’t learning to love vegetables or feel comfortable eating them.

There are plenty of educational programs that talk about how “your child won’t even know they’re learning.”

And there are, absolutely, benefits to learning like this.

But what makes Savvy Reading special is not only that it is fun and engaging and teaches reading skills, but it also teaches kids that learning can be engaging and interesting and that doing hard things can be incredibly rewarding.

They aren’t getting tricked into learning – they’re discovering how incredible learning can be and that they are absolutely capable of learning and improving.

And THAT is life changing for a child.

We get hundreds of messages about Savvy Reading for the parents of readers and over and over again, a common theme is the incredible amount of confidence that their child has gained – that they’re no longer afraid of a challenge, that they no longer feel like they’re dumb, and that just because something doesn’t come quickly and easily doesn’t mean it will never come at all.

Here’s a message I got from one mom:

Just have to tell you my 3rd grade daughter who started with Savvy in the 1st grade class in September just finished reading her first chapter book all by herself! And she could tell me what it was about!!!! She’s been struggling to read for a while. She desperately wanted to read like her friends and pretended to for a long time. She’s doing so well and catching on so fast I’m tearful with gratitude for Savvy. Her self confidence has increased tremendously and she’s happier. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The gift of reading is priceless.

And here’s another one:

My daughter hated zoom classes but has loved logging in for Savvy every morning. Her teacher is fantastic and keeps the class moving at the perfect pace. Such a great investment and we have seen our daughter’s reading skills and confidence take off since starting this program! Can’t recommend it enough!

And one more just because I can’t help myself:

I’ve messaged you before but my 1st grader started with Savvy from the beginning. He was barely at grade level and was struggling after being out of the classroom. I cannot even begin to tell you how much he has grown and improved under Savvy and Ms. Woods. It is literally night and day. He is reading AND spelling all the time now. He put a ton of books on his Christmas list and he helped me bake a cake today and read the recipe all by himself. He tells me now that he loves to read all the time now and reading of any kind prior to Sept was a STRUGGLE. We couldn’t be happier with what Savvy has done for him!

I’ve seen the same thing with my second two daughters.

After Savvy Reading launched Star several grades ahead in reading, she’s tackled learning Mandarin Chinese this year with gusto, and frequently comes home telling us it’s her favorite part of school. She’s not afraid of things being hard and she knows that, if she keeps working, she’ll eventually master it.

And it is so fun for me to see Tally, who started Savvy Reading just as she turned four at the beginning of the year, have the patience to work through beginning books of her own – she doesn’t get easily frustrated because she’s had so much practice learning and working through the task of reading with Savvy and she doesn’t give up when something doesn’t come immediately.

It’s my favorite thing to see Savvy Reading not just solve reading problems for so many kids, but also give them skills that they continue to use in all aspects of their life as they learn at school and at home.

If Savvy Reading sounds like it might be a good fit for your child, use the code JANSSEN25 for $25 off every month of your subscription.

And, of course, if you have any questions about Savvy Reading, let me know in the comments and I’m happy to help!

Photos by Heather Mildenstein