Hey Deanna,

Your article hit particularly close to
home this week. Particularly the education
of our children. I remember when my boys
were young and the schools were teaching the
"New Math". My wife and I were called in by
our boys math teachers and read the riot act
for teaching them the multiplication tables
on our own. The teachers explained to us
that it was counter productive to thier
teachings. Well, we stood our ground and
continued to teach our sons good basic math
skills. We purchased books other than
those provided by the schools and ensured
that both boys were solid in math. Today,
both boys are doing well financially and
each has a group of machinists running a
room full of CNC machines under them
machining parts for Mercedes Benz. Their
biggest complaint is how challenging it is
to get the workers to carry thier load with
the limited math skills the average workers
have. Our school system at work. We live
in South Carolina and our school system
rates at the very bottom of the charts. The
answer has been to hire more out of state
administrators and throw more and more money
at the problem. The result is, we still have nearly the worst records in the country
but we pay more for the "priviledge" than
almost every other state. The "Time" factor
you mentioned spent with the kids can make
a tremendous difference in your childrens
future. It did for ours.

Almost two years ago, we took in our
Goddaughter. She had been diagnosed as
being bipolar, had been removed from school,
and her doctors wanted to put her in a
state mental institution. She was a
cutter and very much on the dark side. We
introduced her to Christ through our church
youth groups and found a mentor who could
address her religious questions and challenge her dark beliefs. We went to see
her former teachers and were able to tutor
her to a level that allowed her to reenter
the school and continue her education. In
just over a year, she had accepted Christ,
been baptised, and is an honor roll student
in the school she had been removed from.
She recently moved back in with her family
and is doing very well. Throughout this
ordeal, many FAOL members placed us on thier
prayer list and offerred support. We are
firm believers in the "Four R's". Reading,
ritting, rithmetic, and religion. It's
what works for us. I realize that not
everyone is of the Christian faith. But
whatever your faith or beliefs, you will be
hard pressed to find a more worthy use of
your time than our children. We can all
make a difference. It's a difference that
you can take pride in and a legacy that will
live on when we are gone. Warm regards, Jim