Things to Share. ;o)

http://www.cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1037





First this article ^, which was a very interesting look at unschooling.





Then this one...


http://www.10news.com/news/15274005/detail.html





about a retired teacher who says he never learned to read in school. He says, "I believe that illiteracy in America is a form of child neglect and child abuse and the child is blamed and they carry the shame, if we just teach our people how to read we'd give them a fair chance,"





I do agree that it may be a form of child neglect, but I think child abuse is going a bit far.





People who don't have books in their houses, people who don't read to their kids, people who never read themselves...not reading to a child is IMNSHO ; ) very, VERY neglectful....unless, of course, you have one of those kids who hate to be read to. ; )



On a group I'm on, there was a really, really good post about it, and I LOVED her "take" on it...



"The John Corcoran Story From a Home-school Perspective



One of those things for me was learning that a college educated man named John Corcoran taught school for 17 years while carrying a dark secret, he couldn't read! As soon as I heard about his story on our local news station I ran to my computer and typed in his name. What I found was a website dedicated to his foundation and his advocate for literacy that contains his story. As I read his story I learned of how our great public educational system fails to notice the class' illiterate; even going as far as humiliating a child....



While the years of his "education" has all of the makings of a good case against our public school system, I am rather drawn to the storybehind the story. How can a person with his experience in the public school system and who is completely illiterate have a passion to teach; and of all things English Grammar? The answer lies within his other passion, his true passion, "to prevent children from enduring what I had to endure". Talk about making lemonade out of the lemons that life dealt him. Although, at times, the pressure seemed to great to handle Mr. Corcoran pressed forward and continued on in his journey to reach out to the "at-risk students" whose "bodies showed up, but their minds were shut down" that he felt could be reached.

....



As a home educator who has always been posed the question, "how can you teach your children without a degree" I will proudly tell the story of John Corcoran who taught for 17 years without even knowing how to read. His story has truly been an inspiration for me, a home educator who sometimes lacks confidence in my ability to teach my children because of those who feel like one must reach some level of "education" before they can teach anyone else anything." (Brandy Z.)



I particularly liked her ending paragraph.



Although I haven't had anyone question my ability to teach my kids yet, since they're getting older, I'm pretty sure it's coming. This will help me articulate answers to those nay-sayers. ; )