Life, Interrupted

A study from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is showing that those polled feel parents are mostly to blame for the state schools have gotten into. Their reasoning is interesting. Here's the article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-education-poll-blaming-parents,0,1949319.story

At a loss for what to do, if you are poor like me and have limited time for your little ones?

Read to them. That's what a local library is for. Kids generally want to hear favorites over and over, so you only have to check out the limit on books when you visit. Keep a separate recyclable grocery bag as a book bag -- pick the distinctive one of your stash, so the books stay together in the house. They ALWAYS go back to that bag after reading. Test your kids out on books at the library first, so you don't buy books that are not their favorites. Tell people who want to buy gifts for your kids that they need books -- and give them names, if special ones are wanted.

Your children will not thank you when they can't get the education they need, or the job they want, because they slowly slipped behind starting in their youth. My mother read to us. When she couldn't read enough to satisfy me, I taught myself to read. If your child loves to learn by the time they go to school, that love can survive even a year with an uninspiring teacher.

It's not a solution for everything, but it's a start.

If you want to send an email to Governor Rick Perry about his current preferred SBOE chair removing Jefferson from a group of important people who influenced history, there's a boilerplate email about it over at www.billwhitefortexas.com .

Just sayin'....