Amy’s Schoolhouse moves to DeKalb

DeKALB – Having to relocate and start over somewhere new can be a daunting task for anyone.

Whether it’s a new job, school or community, there’s a lot to take into consideration.

Amy Peura said making the move from Sycamore to DeKalb was made easy by her late last year.

Peura, the owner of Amy’s Schoolhouse and a former DeKalb School District 428 teacher, said the decision made all the more sense to move her K-12 tutoring business out of the Sycamore-based private tutoring center EdUcate.

“All my connections are here, and we live in DeKalb,” Peura said. “I love being close to all my teacher friends, too. It’s really nice to have the support from them, too.”

Amy’s Schoolhouse first set up shop at 122 N. First St., Suite C. in downtown DeKalb in December.

Peura said she already is seeing the gains from the decision that she has made.

“I looked at my roster back in the fall, and I was like, ‘75% of my students live in DeKalb anyway,’” Peura said. “A lot them were students that I had in third grade who are now in geometry. They need help with geometry, so their third grade teacher is now their teacher for math. … Even the ones that live in Sycamore, a lot of them came with me.”

Peura added that she often gets referrals from teachers and principals, not to mention social media.

The new space allows Amy’s Schoolhouse to expand in ways that her previous location did not.

Peura said she envisions inviting other tutors to set up shop at Amy’s Schoolhouse, enabling multiple private tutoring sessions to take place at the same time.

“I can invite my teacher friends here, too, which is what I’ve what I started to do, as well,” Peura said.

Peura said that as a tutor, she may be able to spot when a certain student is at-risk or struggling sooner than a teacher who is instructing a classroom full of students.

When asked if the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence in today’s world could complicate her job as a tutor, Peura said she’s not worried about it.

“If a kid doesn’t know a skill, they can’t hide behind a computer with it,” Peura said. “I can see if they don’t know. That’s what we’re going to work on. It’s actually probably easier for the one-on-one aspect. I can see what a kid can and can’t do. You can’t fake it when it’s just the two of us.”

At Amy’s Schoolhouse, Peura said it’s all about family involvement and games.

“That’s really my big focus,” Peura said. “My son is 6. He can multiply and divide. Long division he can do. That’s a fourth-grade skill. He can do it. He’s learning fractions. He can read chapter books. I didn’t do flash cards with him. We played a lot of games.”