Children, Families, and Literacy

• A child who comes from a non-reading family is eight times more likely to drop out of school without graduating.
• The most significant factor influencing a child's achievement in first and second grade is whether the child has been read to at home before beginning school and whether he has seen his parents reading.
• Parents want to help their children succeed in school. Up to 25 percent of families just don't know how.

What is Family Literacy?

Family literacy is a family education model that collectively addresses the needs of parents and children.

Family literacy builds on the parents' desire to see the quality of life of their children improve. The family is a child's first source of information and the primary model for how a child learns. The more children know about the nature and purposes of reading before kindergarten, the more teachers have to build on in their reading instruction. Unfortunately, far too many parents lack the skills needed to help their children succeed in school.

Family literacy improves the skills and educational level of parents and children while promoting enthusiasm for learning in the home.

This initiative, provides a supportive environment for families to work together to promote mutual learning. Participating families engage in individual and shared activities that:

• Reinforce and enhance what the children are learning in school
• Promote literacy and learning in the home
• Help parents develop basic English language and literacy skills

• Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes
• Adult reading/writing
• Computer-assisted learning
• Parent education workshops
• Children's book giveaways
• Homework help and child care for children
• Interaction activities for parents and children
• Field trips
• Free child care and Family dinner

This project is a collaborative effort with our volunteer ESL teacher, Leslie Prokop, and the staff of the Main Street CDC. Participants register and commit to two evenings a week for ten weeks Fall, Winter and Spring.

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