Great new blog design! Great post on a great topic! I don’t necessarily agree that you have to be a parent to be a great teacher. It’s more a function of maturity and (as you said) patience. The ASCD newsletter had a nice piece about America’s love/hate relationship with education last year. Educating adults, educating children is a moving target. It is dynamic as our society changes. I believe the problem is a devaluing of education and a growing disrespect for teachers.

I totally agree with you re: multiple barriers faced by parents with learning challenges. If one thinks about the adage “show by example,” they’re already left out. I was one of those who was not “read to” as a child, but the Philippines is different to the U.S. with regards to extrinsic motivational culture and educational values. Growing up, there was NO question that I had to excel or go to college–because we all do. As you know, Filipino families would sell their homes to send their children to college. In the u.s., especially in the failing schools in urban communities, such climate of motivation doesn’t exist. And you’re right, the parents care, but they have such mammoth issues to deal with on top of their children’s education. I’m glad to hear about your “Alpha Friends Workshop.” I’d like to know more about it, how it works, etc. Maybe there should be a partnership between educated mothers and the adult learners in my class. Thanks for sharing Ver.

Anyways, in trying to come up with ways to help empower even the least-educated of our parents, I’ll be teaching an “Alpha Friends Workshop” (Alpha Friends being the way our kids learn their letter sounds) for those with children in Kindergarten and 1st grade. My hope is that this will give the parents a tool they need to help their children–even if it’s only in a very small way–with their homework and reading. Even as I’m typing this, I know it sounds hopelessly naive, but I also realize that there’s only ever one way to begin, and that’s at the beginning. Or, as you put it here: at home.