My Background

I will quickly go through the beginning for you, so you have an idea as to my qualifications to factually speak on the subject at hand. Many people would have you know they are, "experts," but have never really been in the proverbial trenches. I have, and there are ways you can actually do the research to find this out.

While still in elementary school in Mentor, Ohio, I was tapped by my fifth and/or sixth grade teacher, I am not positive when I started this, to go down to the 1st grade classroom and help them as a tutor. I did this for one or two entire school years, helping the little kids with their phonics or doing grading of some sort. I was also crossing guard of the year, as voted by my teachers, in the sixth grade, which allowed me to go on a free trip to Washington DC. That was a HUGE vote of confidence for a Mama's boy crybaby from the suburbs (though I was born in East Cleveland), but it definitely opened my eyes. I think, that the first night away was the last time I was worried about being away from home. I was never homesick again afterwards.

Being a teacher's pet allowed me to gain access to things most people didn't even think of. While my best friend had our fifth grade teacher wrapped up like a Christmas gift, I had the sixth grade homeroom goddess. I was just sneaky enough, and curious, to look at things that were not really my business, in the guise of looking for something else of course. In fact, I found our intelligence test scores one time. Although I hate to admit it, my best friend, she still is to this day, had a score about three points higher than mine. I scored at 128 and she was at 131, putting her at Genius level and me just below at Upper Above Average. I told her and she has never let me live it down. Anyway, since I found that out I kept it in the back of my head. In fact, it has pretty much ruled my life since then, because I refuse to let people talk down to me just because of their perceived knowledge or position. So the reason for the above is to let you know that I have worked with kids since I was a kid AND that I have innate intelligence. Oh, I also babysat a low functioning mentally retarded neighbor boy when I was 11 and 12, which was my introduction to Special Education.