Those little lessons you really wish you had

I can't tell you the number of times I have seen posts on social media ranting about how important life skills are not being taught.  We could begin a debate that could go on for eternity but pointing fingers and placing blame is not going to change opportunities people have missed out on in the past.  Luckily there is a solution, its FREE, easy and at your finger tips!  I have discovered GFC Learn Free, a fantastic website that has easy to follow lessons on everyday life skills. The only thing you need is the ability to read and internet access and if you don't already have those you can get those FREE too simply meet one of my Literacy Volunteers at any public library.

The GCF Learn Free website is a product of Goodwill Community Foundation and for ten years they have been providing content online to help people better their lives.  They offer lessons in easy to follow tutorials on topics that matter most in the 21st Century.  The needs of education have changed drastically over the last few decades and nearly everyone could benefit from gaining new skills.  If you are curious about how their website works poke around the lessons or take one of their technology classes,  who couldn't use some extra information about Internet Safety or Windows 8?

I plan on incorporating some of these lessons into my adult literacy program here in Schuyler County.  I think some people hesitate to join Literacy Volunteers as learners because they did not have a good experience in traditional school and aren't enthusiastic about repeating that experience but learning as an adult is much different.  My tutors meet with learners 100 hours in year, only 2 hours a week.  That is certainly not enough time for us to tie you to a chair and force you to learn to read Moby Dick or War and Peace.  We really just want to help adults gain literacy skills that are needed in their life. That is EXACTLY what this website is offering.

Classes are divided into five catagories:
Living in the Online World
Technology Basics
Microsoft Office
Essential Skills
Work and Career

I enthusiastically encourage you to check out these FREE classes if you are a life long learner, parent, educator or a home schooling family.  Its often said that you get what you pay for but with this site what you get is priceless!

A Favorite Fridays - www.k12reader.com

For those of you I have yet to meet, let me introduce myself.  I am a Program Coordinator for Literacy Volunteers of Chemung and Schuyler County.  My focus is on Schuyler County, a group of small villages hugging the south end of Seneca Lake.  While our community is famous for Watkins Glen State Park and award winning wineries, we are infamous for keeping our problems like poverty and illiteracy a secret.  This fall I committed myself to growing the Literacy Volunteers program here.

We serve people who need to improve their Basic Literacy Skills or learn English as a Second Language.  We can also offer tutoring support to adults who wish to further their education but need extra help reading and studying material needed to pass a class or obtain a certification.

When I get a new Basic Literacy learner I administer  a TABE test to pinpoint the grade level at which a new learner is skilled.  Today I am using a fantastic website, www.k12reader.com to print lesson materials for 2 learners on completely different levels.  Lessons and material can be found for learners from a kindergarten level all the way through tenth grade.

One of my learners is working on a 1.3 grade level.  Her goal is to be able to use Facebook to communicate with her children and grandchildren but she can not read or write responses to their posts.  For her I will be using their spelling lists which are based on word families at this level such as -un family (bun, gun, fun, run, etc).  I will also use the reading lessons that compliment this word list.  It will use the Dolce sight words and add focus words to provide a story that I will be able to assess for comprehension.

Another learner is working at a 3.9 grade level.  His goal is to get a better job.  He does not currently hold a driver's license which is a requirement listed in many job descriptions.  I will use the third grade spelling lists to start his lessons but this will be a much quicker process because he already has many skills in phonics and word decoding.  I will spend much more time with him in the 'Reading Skills' section.  We are focusing on Reading Comprehension, so he can read and understand study materials such as the Driver's Manual.  We will also use many of the Context Clues lessons so he will learn to find meaning in sentences even when he comes across a word he does not know how to decode.

These are examples for just two of my learners.  I highly recommend this website to find lessons for your learners at any level.  This is one of the best FREE websites I use!