Savvy Learning Frequently Asked Questions.
You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers.
Schedule
Yes. Classes run from morning to evening, and we will work with you to place your child in a class that works for your schedule.
Yes! We can work with you to create a cohort of similar-level learners who meet online.
Providing a solid foundation in reading and math is no small task. We recommend 6-12 months as the minimum amount of time it will take for Savvy Learning to help most children 1) build a strong foundation of reading and math capabilities, 2) develop a lasting confidence in their reading and math skills, and 3) realize a love of reading and math that comes from positive, engaging experiences over time.
When you see progress, our recommendation is to continue with Savvy Learning as far as we have an available curriculum for your learner’s level. The investment you make now in their reading and math abilities and confidence will compound over the years as they use those skills to become capable, self-driven learners.
Savvy Learning’s curriculum is built with 3 sessions per unit as the core. It’s okay if your child cannot attend all 4 sessions every week. Repetition is built into each unit, so learners have multiple exposures to new topics.
Savvy Learning is a year-round program with the most common US holidays off and two holiday weeks off. The monthly pricing was set with these holidays in mind, so instead of lowering the monthly price for holidays, including in November and December, all months are slightly lower in price than they otherwise would be. Savvy follows a school calendar in the sense that the program recognizes the holidays listed below. However, we will meet your reader at the appropriate level rather than being confined to a specific grade level in a given year.
Here are the holidays Savvy Learning takes off: Labor Day, Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, New Year’s Day, MLK Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day.
Curriculum, Content & Delivery
Savvy learners are grouped by ability rather than age or school grade level. If your child is ready to learn at a first-grade reading level, select first grade.
Yes! Well-qualified, experienced teachers design our curriculum and each of our lessons to align with Common Core State Standards.
Yes! While Savvy lessons are engaging and fun, the scope and sequence for each level are systematic, and new material is taught explicitly. Phonological awareness and phonics instruction are vital components, with a focus on the word level. Learners are taught the mechanics of decoding and practice this while reading the text. Fluency and reading comprehension are also included in each lesson.
Coaching sessions are held via our web-based platform that includes video conferencing, slides, and interactive elements.
Not all children learn to read quickly and automatically. Savvy Reading is an excellent program for struggling learners, learners who may have dyslexia, and learners who have decided that reading is not enjoyable. Savvy’s curriculum is built on explicit and systematic instruction and draws from the Orton Gillingham method. Focusing on the sounds and matching letters that makeup words allows struggling readers to begin to feel successful in reading. Savvy is also designed to bring fun and enjoyment back to the forefront of learning to read. Fostering a love of reading is so essential as learners begin to understand how to decode words and start reading more fluently. Savvy does both!
We have not built our initial curriculum and lesson plans with English Language Learners (ELL) in mind.
Savvy groups are leveled by skills typically taught in a specific grade, but our learners are grouped by ability rather than the age or school grade level. We have a placement assessment you can work through with your child that helps us find the right level. Once that is completed, we seek confirmation from you that the level sounds right based on your experience with your child. Once your child is enrolled into a group at the right level, we will provide additional support to be sure it is the right fit.
Curriculum for Savvy is designed by teachers with professional degrees, using the Common Core standards and the Orton Gillingham approach while incorporating the Science of Reading to create a scope and sequence at each level. Each level builds upon the next while including a spiral review of the skills needed for Savvy learners to become proficient and confident. The curriculum includes instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension. A core component of the Savvy curriculum is not only creating research-based lessons and units but also ensuring the sessions are engaging and fun for learners.
Our math lessons are created upon the foundation of the Common Core taught through Evidence-Based Math Instruction. The focus of each lesson is on the gradual release of responsibility, allowing learners to build confidence in their approach to solving equations. This is accomplished by coaches teaching problem-solving strategies explicitly through visual representations using CRA (concrete-representational-abstract) methods. In each lesson, learners will review concepts from previous units and the previous day. This ensures that each learner is exposed to concepts multiple times. Plus, if your child misses a session, they will have the opportunity to practice the missed concept several more times in the upcoming days and weeks.
At the end of each lesson, learners are given real-world problems to solve that connect with the skill learned that day. Learners are encouraged to use their creativity in solving these problems. Through coach and peer interactions, learners can verbalize their thinking and deepen their understanding of the concept taught that day. Engagement is critical for Savvy Learning. Each lesson has games and activities incorporated into the lesson so that learners have the opportunity to practice skills while having fun at the same time.
All reading material is presented in our online format as text that coaches and learners can access together.
We recognize that reading and writing are essential to well-rounded literacy. The focus for Savvy Reading is on reading, and other than some simple activities such as writing letters or words as part of some reading lessons, our curriculum does not currently focus on teaching writing in addition to reading.
We are not yet set up to fully support and help special education students. We hope to offer this in the future.
Coaches
Yes. Please see the page on our site entitled “Our Coaches” to learn more.
We provide coaches with the curriculum and content for all coaching sessions. Coaches are trained on Savvy’s values, curriculum and content, safety and session management, rules and procedures, and our online platform.
All of our coaches have teaching experience and teaching certificates or other strong and relevant credentials.
Once your child is enrolled in a class, you will receive information about your child’s new coach, including education and a summary of relevant experience.
Learners
Savvy is for anyone learning to read or conquer math, whether they’re struggling, at level, or ahead of their grade level. No matter the situation, we work to build skills, confidence, and a lasting love of reading and math, which everyone should have!
Yes. Our Savvy Reading Pre-K/Kindergarten levels cover all of the basics.
Individual coaching sessions (instead of a group) may be the right fit for an older learner. We have coaches who can cater the content and coaching to help older learners gain the skills and confidence they need.
Generally, we recommend you wait until your child is at least 4 or 5 to enroll, primarily to ensure an adequate ability to focus and engage with a cohort of similarly aged children.
This could be a perfect fit for the kindergarten level. With young children, you will need to gauge whether this online format with other children (possibly a year or two older than them) will be a good fit.
When you enroll, there is a Placement Assessment you can work through with your child on our website that helps us determine the appropriate grade level for your child. Coaches will be continually monitoring and assessing learners to ensure they are at an appropriate level with a group that makes sense.
For Savvy Reading: Pre-k to 6th-grade level. Our earlier levels focus heavily on phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and sight words, with fluency and comprehension built into each lesson. As the levels progress, readers learn more complex phonics patterns and automaticity. In levels 3-6, the emphasis is on fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and word work (e.g., syllabication, prefixes, suffixes, tricky phonics patterns with multi-syllable words).
For Savvy Math: 1st-5th grade levels.
Parents
Savvy is intended to be a standalone program where a coach fully engages children during a fast and fun 25-minute session. Most parents will not need to be involved. Of course, we hope you read with your child consistently on your own, but Savvy’s curriculum is standalone.
Membership & Financial Questions
Can we upgrade or change membership levels (i.e., start monthly and move to an annual subscription)?
Yes. You can always move from a month-to-month to a long-term plan anytime. The pricing will change starting the next full month. You can also change from an individual to a group plan or group to an individual plan within the same time period. For example, you can switch from an individual annual plan to an individual group plan at any time.
The month-to-month plan can be canceled anytime. Long-term plans, which are discounted due to the long-term contract, can also be canceled, but there will be a cancellation fee based on how long you have remaining in the contract.
It would be amazing to have a scholarship fund to support learners whose families can’t afford Savvy’s regular price. We are looking into how to make this happen. If you would like to sponsor a scholarship, please contact support@savvylearning.com.
Absolutely. We welcome international learners!
Yes. At checkout, there is an option to pay upfront. You can also reach out anytime to billing@savvylearning.com to pay the remaining balance upfront.
Yes. An annual plan is a contract between Savvy and you – the parent/custodian. You can decide when and if to switch learners under one plan.
We are working to qualify for state funds to pay for homeschool programs.
