5 Ways GoPeer Helped My Struggling Reader

My fourth child is bright. She’s sweet and sensitve. She can cook dinner for a family of 7 without help, care for our menagerie of animals with confidence, and even take a turn watching her baby sister. She’s mature for her 7 years and has quite the sense of humor.

She’s also a struggling reader.

I’d like to blame covid, and part of me does. She was definitely one that did not excel at online learning. She’s easily distracted when looking at a screen. She spent almost her entire first grade year sitting at our kitchen table doing worksheets that made no sense to her and attempting to pay attention to her teacher (who was a first year teacher herself). And while we did what we could, with 5 kids at home, and during the crapstorm that was 2020 learning, a lot of skills that should have been mastered basically slipped through the cracks.

When the 2021 school year started, I knew we’d have some catching up to do. What I didn’t know was how much. And THEN, my husband and I realized there were important, foundational reading skills that were completely missing. When researching what a struggling reader was, I came across this checklist :

• Inability to identify rhyming words or complete familiar rhymes despite frequent repetition and practice
• Struggling to sound out words and/or string sounds together
• Laboring over a word despite seeing or reading it several times before
• Guessing or making up words when reading
• General disinterest in words and letters
• Resisting reading aloud
• Delayed speech

Other than the last point (the child was talking in full sentences by age 2), every single one of those bullet points were checked. The first 9 weeks of second grade had her (and me occasionally) in tears. Books that used to be her favorite were now avoided. She hid her spelling lists in the bottom of her backpack. She cried when forced to read out loud for her “required” daily reading time. And of course when Mommy (read: me!) or Daddy tried to step in and help/tutor, it just got worse. My husband gets frustrated to the point of yelling or walking away and my heart just breaks and I tend to let her off the hook and say, “We’ll try again later.” But later never comes.

We had hired a tutor during the spring of 2021 and loved her. But when school started back up in August, our schedules just didn’t mesh. And to be perfectly honest, I was relieved at the one less thing on our calendar. (Plus, back then, I thought just returning in person would probably fix things.) I didn’t exactly try real hard to find a replacement tutor either, but it was clear after our 9 week teacher conference that’s what was needed. But golly, just thinking about one more “errand” being added to an already packed family schedule made me cry again.

Then I heard about GoPeer.

And yes, I’m totally plugging this company. But y’all. I don’t have to go anywhere because the tutoring is all online. Last year I wouldn’t have even considered it, but now that they’re back to school in person, having a zoom option isn’t so bad. Tutors are college students from all over the country who attend various Ivy League and accredited universities. We were matched with a student attending Columbia University (hello smart person!), and who, ironically, is from Tennessee. GoPeer is basically an uber for tutors. You have Wyndy for babysitters, Uber for well, rides. duh. And food. AND NOW WE HAVE GoPeer FOR GETTING OUR KIDS TUTORS. All the praise hands.

Here’re 5 ways GoPeer helped my struggling reader:

1. The amazing tutor really connected with my child
2. She built her confidence — which translated to other classroom skills
3. The lessons presented made sense to her
4. She practiced things she knew and then practiced things she didn’t know
5. It wasn’t a parent telling her what to do, so she really listened

While I still do believe in-person learning is best (even traditional tutoring), GoPeer was honestly the next best thing to discover for our family. It fit into our schedule. It could be implemented on the go using my cell phone. It was easy to communicate directly with the tutor and schedule sessions. AND, the question everyone is asking — how much is it? ONLY $20/hour! (Plus you pay through the service, not the tutor directly!) This really does fulfill their mission of making high-quality tutoring accessible for all students.

Get a FREE trial of GoPeer today:

• sign up at https://gopeer.org?code=citymom20

• use code: citymom20

• this special link and code will give anyone who signs up a $20 credit starting out and receive a free 7-day trial. (remember, $20 will get your child (2) 30 minute session or 1 full hour! Just for signing up!)

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More Details about GoPeer:

• 1:1 online tutoring experience with advanced classroom experiences built into the platform using verified and experienced tutors

• Easy chat, interviews, and scheduling all in the app or online

• GoPeer connects you with the perfect match for your student using the parent’s specifications. The parent chooses the tutor based on their specialized age range and needed subject.

• Over 150 subjects to choose from, including enrichment subjects, for students K through 12th grade.

• You can have a tutor online with your child within 5 to 30 minutes of signing up! (No, really! You choose when you need a tutor and an available one will be presented to you!)