Volunteer Work

This year I decided to come out of my box. Many changes have been made so far in the last two months and I feel great. I decided to volunteer once a week at our local elementary school and to help our third graders with their reading and English. Last Wednesday was my first volunteer session with these kids and that is all I needed to realize that our children today need help! Basically, all I do is sit with them while they read aloud to me and if any mistakes are made, get them to go back and figure out how to correct what they have read. I walked away after my first session kind of sad that so many of these kids are struggling with basic reading skills and am now determined to be there for them every week. Literacy is crucial to survival in our world. Our children are becoming more and more illiterate and are growing up to be less that what they could be. Everyone will pay for this in one form or another. The illiterate adults pay for their shortcomings with shame, bottom line wages, anger and resentment. The rest of us pay by inheriting a smaller, less capable work force that directly affects our economy and lifestyles. I won't get into anything more complicated here, at this time, because I am on my way out the door to go and have an impact on this problem, one third grader at a time.