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The Personal Me
I come from pioneer stock. My parents joined a colony of agricultural homesteaders the government sent to Alaska in 1935. My older brother was 3 months old when they landed in Palmer, Alaska. I was born there several years later.
I've spent a lot of my life moving around, living in many different parts of the United States. I love to travel. My pedal foot itches for the gas pedal.
I am the mother of 2 adult daughters, both of whom have tutored for me in the Reading Clinic at various times. The girls are both out of the home now.
I live in my business. My home is almost totally given over to a tutoring business. Students and tutors fill all the spaces that would normally be used as my living quarters.
My life is filled with many and varied interests. Reading is naturally at the top of the list. I go into withdrawal if I do not have at least 3 unread books ready to read. I listen to a lot of cassette books, too, while I'm doing boring work such as folding clothes, washing dishes, or even curling my hair. They know me by name at the local library.
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Activities I Enjoy
I maintain a large organic garden and fill up 2 deep-freezes every year.
I have always enjoyed needle crafts and find my creative juices speed up when I sew. I also knit, crochet, embroider, do needlepoint, and quilt. With my present busy schedule, the needle projects seem to be getting less and less attention.
The Entrepreneur
Somewhere back in the back of my mind, I've always wanted to teach reading to those who were struggling to learn. I'd read about the Adult Literacy programs, but never could afford to be a volunteer. Anytime I worked, I had to be earning a living. One day a friend told me about a special phonics program being used in a tutoring center in North Carolina. I wasted no time in getting my training and opening my own tutoring service.
I'd never run this type of a business before. My training and experience was all in the teaching field. I had to learn/earn my MBA on the job. I opened the Reading Clinic in June of 1986. I live in my business. Actually, the Clinic takes up most of my home and I camp in the back bedroom.
We have students coming to be tutored who are as young as 4 years old and as old as 70. While reading is the primary subject we tutor, math comes in a close second and we work with just about any subject that people have need for better skills. I hire tutors to help me and have 4-7 employees.
Then, in the summer of 2003 I studied and finally applied for Non-Profit status for the Reading Clinic. We are now happily learning how to write grants for scholarship funds.
All the Books in Me
There are so many books inside me I will never live long enough to get them all out. The more I write, the more new ideas pop up, clamoring to be let out.
These first books were called Color Book Readers and demanded my time until I got them written. My tutors at the Reading Clinic stood in line to get the first chapters as we copied them on the copier. Kids were reading the pages as fast as I could get them written. I wrote the 5-book set of readers in about a month. The workbooks came a bit slower. The new Teach Your Child To Read, Tool Kits use all the original Color Book materials and much more. I've also written articles on Survival Techniques, Alternative Healing, Study Skills, and too many other things to even list here.
I have the beginnings of a whole set of books based on my own early childhood. I'm about as hyper active as they make 'em, so I got into everything when I was little. One day, you will be able to read all about it, too.
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The Computers in My Life
I got my first computer in 1988. It was a little Mac Plus and I thought I was in heaven. (20 mg add-on hard drive, would you believe it?!) Reading is one of my best skills, so I was able to take the manuals and teach myself whatever I needed to know on the computer. I'm still teaching myself new programs today.
I now use a slightly newer Mac and also several PC's running Windows. This web site is my own design and I have done it myself, learning to use web-design software as I go along.
I also maintain many other PC's that my tutors use with their students. One of those PC's is an old 386, still running DOS. So, I have a small working knowledge of several platforms.
Citizen of Both Worlds
Over the years, I've tried to give back to my community some of the things I've been blessed with. The local public library has been able to make use of my computer literacy. I help train their staff in the use of the library computers. I also adopted several shelves at the library and go in every week or two and make sure those shelves are all straightened and in order. I've been a guest speaker at one of the local colleges, introducing Freshman to better study skills. I worked closely with my high school alma mater, doing seminars for the staff and students. I give phonics workshops to teachers and parents.
I've served in many capacities in my church, including teaching in adult and in children's divisions, being a deaconess, and in other leadership offices. I consider my daily walk with God and my citizenship in heaven to be the most important part of my life. What I do in this world is only relevant as it relates to the next world.
What's Coming Next?
Check out my newest adventure into Just Plants.
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