Where do we Go from here?

Lately I've been thinking about the importance of early childhood education. Early childhood was actually my education emphasis in college, but really the only reason I chose that was because I thought I wanted to teach kindergarten and I needed that certification. Even though I know that ages 0-3 are extremely critical in a child's development I never gave it much thought. I actually assumed that in reality preschool or kindergarten on were really the most important, after all school is where they are really learning everything, isn't it? In some ways that statement is true. Preschool or kindergarten is where a child typically has their first exposure to traditional school. But the language exposure a child has had before ever stepping foot into a classroom will predict how well they will do in school.

I have been amazed at the lack of vocabulary many of the students I work have.

• Children of welfare mothers heard an average 620 words per hour from their mothers
• Children of working class mothers heard an average 1250 words per hour from their mothers
• Children of professional mothers heard an average of 2150 words per hour from their mothers

Low income children enter school at a disadvantage. This will affect not only their ability to read, but their ability to comprehend what they are required to read. Early childhood education is so important for all children, but especially low income children. Unfortunately, besides Head Start, there aren't many preschools that are free. And preschool can be downright expensive. And in reality the kids who attend Head Start will still likely start kindergarten behind their middle and upper class peers. What do we do about this? I wish I knew. I think what we have been doing, keeping low income families housed together in the ghetto or projects, isn't working. We must live together in community. That's really the only way we can become a support system for those who don't have access to one.

In his speech "Where Do We Go From Here," Martin Luther King Jr. said "... the Movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here..." Why" "...we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society."

Individually we can't change our society. Individually we can change how we treat others. But just think what kind of difference the Church could make if we took on the needs of the poor here in America, in our own towns. Maybe our church budgets should include a specific plan for a specific part of town. The church could start an after school center or a food pantry, but not at the church, in the targeted neighborhood. Over Christmas break we had a chance to visit The Common Ground Community in Shreveport which does just that. I'd link it but their blog is private. It was so neat being there. A group of forty somethings took on very poor section of Shreveport and have created a bright spot in the neighborhood. They bought a house and have turned into a place for community meals, worship, tutoring, and more. We may not be capable of changing the world, but if we are a willing vessel, we could change someone's world.

MLK parade pics

On Martin Luther King Day we had the opportunity to participate in the parade in Atlanta. Martin Luther King is definitely a person I need to study and learn more about. I think for most of us, including me, Martin Luther King Day is just another holiday off of work, and that is sad. MLK believed in justice for all, not just for blacks, but for the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the widowed, the abused, the least of these, whatever their racial identity may be. We have a long way to go. My neighborhood is proof of that. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."











Mission Year Team Members from Atlanta

Way To Go!

I'm gonna brag on one of my little guys Kendarious. We have been working SOOOOOOO hard on short vowel sounds and sight words. He has an extremely hard time staying focused. He keeps a folder of things we are working on at his desk in his regular classroom. In his folder is his stack of sight words that we practice every day. His teacher told me today that she saw him pull out those words and practice them BY HIMSELF instead of bothering or talking the friend that sits next to him. (this was after he finished his work) Now this may not seem like anything, but this is HUGE!!!! His behavior and lack of attention can make for extremely long days in the life of his teacher. I was so happy to see that not only did he want to paractice those words, but that he did it without ANYONE telling him too!!! His focus today when we worked together was probably better than it ever has been before. I'm not sure if it was because of the positive reinforcement or because he is gaining self confidence. Sometimes I get overwhelemed from working with these kids. It is so encouraging to see a glimmer of hope. Makes me remember that what I do is important. Way to go Kendarious!

Everybody look at me cause I've got a baby goat

La Grange was just too big for us. Now we live on a farm with these cute baby goats!
Actually we visited Jubilee Partners last weekend. Jubilee is part farm, part Christian community, and part refugee camp. Jubilee is made of up of about 12 people that live there all the time, volunteers, and refugees. Jubilee has a huge garden and most of their food comes from what they grow or raise. I think Jubilee houses about 5 refugees families at a time. The UN sends refugees to Jubilee as a sort of transition into American life. There they attend English classes, and learn how to do basic things like grocery shop, that we take for granted. A cool fact that our neighbors, the Mohammads that I have written about before, lived at Jubilee when they first arrived in the US.


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Just imagine all these chickens running towards you. It happened to me.

Surprise

Today we had the best surprise in the mail! Thanks Adam, Carissa, Lillian, and Evelyn. I love the card and the cookies! You guys are the best.

Snowflakes

Since LaGrange gets about as much of a winter as Tyler we decided to make snowflakes so it would at least look like winter. Last week we had a girls night with our house and the women in Alterna. Margareta happens to be a snowflake extraordinaire and tried to teach us how to make awesome snowflakes. We had such a fun night spending time together and making some pretty cool snowflakes.

So I wish I could say I made this but I didn't.

Seriously, how cool are these.

Boys

Many of the kids in our neighborhood live in homes without fathers. Many people in our neighborhood work shift jobs. They aren't always around to be with their kids after school. I'm sure many parents are too tired and exhausted when their kids get home from school. As a result, kids are left without supervision.

There are so many boys in our neighborhood around the ages of 10-14ish. Two days ago we were driving and stopped to say hi to a couple kids we knew. Thank goodness we did. When we rolled down the window we realized they were cursing at each other and close to getting in a fight. Ben and Dustin each took a kid and got them away from each other. Why is it that boys have the need to solve their problems through fighting? Maybe it's what they see at school. Maybe it's what they see at home. Maybe it's what they see on TV. Getting angry is normal, controling your anger is something you learn.

A group of boys have started coming over after school looking to play sports with the guys in our house. Thankfully, we have a soccer ball, football, and some baseball equipment and an empty lot next to our house! There is such a need for male role models in our neighborhood. Because of our current location we have many opportunites to be Jesus to the kids on our street. Yesterday Ben and I went to birthday party of one of the boys who regulary comes to our house. He is in one of my reading groups at schools. I had really been wanting to visit with his family and the party allowed to visit with with mom and grandmother. I learned a bit more about him which helps me in being his teacher. It was also a great opportunity for Ben to hang out with the boys.

My prayer is that we continue to take hold of these opportunites and not let them pass us by.

Three Kings Pics

These are a few pictures from the Three Kings Party we celebrated Jan 2.

Report card time

So my service site this year is an elementary school. For much of the day I work on reading skills with a small groups of students. While I love the flexibility of not having the same kids all day, it can also be frustrating to not have the same kids all day!!! It's harder to establish a rapport with them, plus I don't see their actual grades or test them.

I work with about 7 third graders every morning on reading skills they need to pass their state exams. We do everything from fluency, to phonics, to test taking strategies. For the first part of the year I basically created my own lessons according to where I felt they needed instruction. Reading a-z has been an extremely helpful resource to me. Report cards went out yesterday and I am so happy to say that most of the kids in my group had their reading grade significantly increase! I can't tell you how good that makes me feel. When you only see a group of kids for an hour a day it's harder to monitor their progress. It's good to know that what I am doing is working!

I do miss having my own classroom though and I am kinda hoping that's in my future for next year!

Stuff Christians Do

Isaiah 1: 13-15, 17

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;

Prayer, quiet time, church, Bible Study, care group, donate money to some cause, a mission trip here or there.

These verses from Isaiah really struck me last night. I have often been discouraged because I didn't feel like I was doing enough Christianese things. My quiet times were erratic at best, going to church was kind of a chore, I never got around to sponsoring that Compassion Kid, I don't like women's conferences or for that matter any type of church conference....
My faith was basically a giant to do list. If I did enough "Christian things" I didn't feel as guilty.

But the thing is God didn't create us just to go church and become a better person. I think we spend so much time on the importance our personal relationship with God, that we forget about the world around us. Of course I think it's important to have a personal relationship, but it's more than just having a quiet time for 30 minutes in the morning.

Most churches have activities going on almost every day or night of the week. I feel guilty every time I hear of another conference happening at the church because I know I won't go. Once I tried going to an weekend women's retreat with my church and had to leave early because I couldn't take it. Earlier this year we read a book that made the observation that sometimes Christians make terrible neighbors. I have to agree. We spend so much time doing things for and with our church we forget about the people around us. I think it is important to be involved at your church, but chances are when you look around you will only see people that look and think like you. Is that truly a reflection of the Kingdom of God?

In these verses God is telling Isaiah he is weary of all the meaningless so called righteous things we do. That is a relief to me. Not only am I weary of church things, God is too. But God doesn't stop there, he tells us what we should be doing instead.

17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

In the words of Jessica Thompson God wants us to "get off our bench." This year for me I want to stay off the bench. I think Mission year has been a step. But it's a continuous process. Sometimes we have to intentionally put ourselves in places where we can seek justice or encourage the oppressed. It's not always easy or comfortable but to me it makes my faith real.

Thoughts

It was great going home and visiting friends and family for the past two weeks. On Friday when we got into town I visited St. Gregory and saw many of my students and families from the past years. The hugs and the squeals I received when I walked in were the best Christmas present I received this year. St. Gregory is a world away from my new Unity family. It's sometimes hard to believe that schools can be so different. I have had the privilege of working in two very different settings. Parochial to public, affluent to Title 1. I am constantly comparing my former students to my current students. The differences of the academic abilities of the two groups are staggering. Granted, I work with kids that are working under grade level, but still. I am constantly asking myself why is this. Why were my first graders able to write better sentences than my third graders here. How is it that there are third graders who can hardly add simple addition facts on their fingers? I wish I knew.

It's been observed that the educational achievement of one's mother is the number one predictor of a child's success and achievement in school. The teen pregnancy rate here in Troup County is higher than the national average. These young moms aren't necessarily bad mothers, it's just that they are kids themselves. The question is what do you do? I think what many of us is judge. We can come up with a list a hundred pages long describing why: laziness, drugs, welfare, our Christian" nation values are being rejected, we have turn our backs on God... But haven't we ourselves turned our own backs on God by ignoring those who suffer around us.

We move away from the "bad" parts of town. We put our children in private schools. While trying to insulate ourselves from any appearance of evil, we have forgotten about those who don't have that luxury, the ability to move on to something better. But imagine if instead of moving away to private schools, we partnered with and joined those schools with the neediest kids. I think it would make a difference in our public schools. . Maybe instead of moving away from the "bad" neighborhoods we need to move back in. Just think what could happen if your family could become a role model for some of these extremely young families. Think about the opportunities a stay at home mom would have living in an neighborhood with young mothers, young teen mothers. Kids need role models, but sometimes parents do to.