About Libby Powers
I don’t want your child to bond with me. I want them to bond with you.
I’m Libby Powers — a former elementary school teacher, a homeschooling parent, and a phonics educator who has spent decades watching what happens when children are finally taught how reading actually works.
How this started
My own daughter was struggling — and I knew why
I was trained in phonics in the 1980s, and I watched my students succeed because of it. Reading made sense to them. Words were patterns, not mysteries.
Then the schools shifted away from phonics. When my own daughter started school, she began to struggle — even though I knew she was fully capable of learning. I knew what she was missing because I had taught it myself. The school just wasn’t teaching it anymore.
So I brought her home. I homeschooled both my daughter and my son — and with my son, I had to adapt the program entirely. He was an active learner who needed physical movement to retain what he was learning. I modified the curriculum to meet him where he was, and it worked.
When I returned to teaching in public schools, I saw the same gap everywhere. The curriculum wasn’t designed to help students make up foundational reading skills. So I started adding phonics back in on my own. The more I added, the more my students succeeded. That pattern never stopped being true.
Over the years I became a requested teacher — parents would ask for their child to be in my class. Not because I was entertaining or easy, but because their children were learning. They were bonding with learning itself. I taught them how their brains work, and that changed everything. When a child understands why a word works the way it does, the shame of not knowing lifts. And shame is a heavy thing to carry into a classroom. It doesn’t help a child succeed or grow — it just gets in the way.
That is still the heart of everything I do. Remove the shame. Explain the system. Watch what happens next.
What I believe
Nobody is bad at reading. They were just never taught the rules.
Reading isn’t a talent. It’s a skill built on a system — and that system can be taught. When children struggle, it almost always comes back to gaps in foundational phonics. Not laziness. Not a learning disability. A gap in what they were shown.
I also believe that parents are the most powerful teachers in a child’s life. Not tutors. Not specialists. You. The person your child already trusts completely. My job is to give you the tools and the confidence to step into that role — and then get out of the way while you and your child do the work together.
“I don’t want your child to bond with me. I want them to bond with you.”
What learning looks like here
No shame. No judgment. Just answers.
Learning Without Judgment is built on one simple idea: everyone deserves clear, patient, respectful instruction — without being made to feel behind, broken, or less than.
The method
Rooted in the Spalding Writing Road to Reading
The Reading Foundations Reset is built on the Spalding method — one of the most research-backed, systematic phonics programs available. It teaches children not just to memorize words, but to understand how the English language works. Patterns. Rules. Structure. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it — and neither can your child.
Ready to get started?
Tell me about your child and I’ll help you figure out if this program is the right fit.
Fill out the intake form →No shame. No judgment. Just answers. 💚
Learning Without Judgment 