Project L.I.F.T. ( Learning Is Fun Together )

Once during a student conference, an older grandmother, who knew first-hand the importance of an education, was concerned about her granddaughter’s progress. I’ll never forget her looking into my eyes and saying, “First, we learn to read, then, we read to learn.” Some twenty years later, I still hear her voice repeating those words to me.

Over the years, parents had often said, “I do not know how to help my child learn to read and I’ve forgotten how to do the math.” At that same time, I was teaching Adult Basic Education and GED classes at the local community college. I worked with adults, of all ages, who for some reason had not been successful or had quit school. Grandparents wanted to know how to read to their grandchildren and with the loss of manufacturing jobs in our area, many came seeking the skills they lacked to find a new job.

Every adult I taught had a story about their “school years.” Most were embarrassed to admit that they could not read the newspaper, balance their checkbook, or write and spell correctly. Each wondered how their lives might have been different if learning had been easier for them. These men and women soon became my heroes.

One day it hit me! They were once children, too. How could their adult lives have been different? I could hear the grandmother’s words in my head. First, we learn to...

MFLC opened in 1997 as an alternative to franchised learning centers. For students to be successful, I knew it was time to get back to “basics” and I knew that their entire family must be involved in the learning process.

I must admit, I often wonder how my life along with the lives of the families we have helped might have been different if I had not met that wise grandmother so many years ago.

Jean McCauley – Founder/ Director