Just being “lunatic fringe” doesn’t mean I’m wrong…

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Three Letter Words.”

As long as I am trying to respond to today’s post without using three letter words, I think I will employ this same venue to address a regular post that I have planned.    (Ha! thought I’d be tricked into using this word “utilize” which I hate.  My BFFs vocalize that since I tend to hate everything, they tend to be correct.)

Up to this point I am afraid  my writing is stilted, also awkward.    Sorry about that, I didn’t make this rule.

[Also, a caveat is that I hereby state:  three-letter words herein definitely slipped by– tend to be accidental brain-editing.].

What I want to write about is further exploration of yesterday’s post about re-arranging, also generally spruce-up, my blog.  I have been, in past times, an active member of what is called “Grammar Police.”  As a card-carrying member I have been sworn to uphold certain rules of speech.  1. Spelling. 2. Punctuation. 3. Clarity–or Making Sense.

Spelling is a bugaboo in English language.    I won’t speak to other languages, although  I have been told that Spanish is largely free from mis-use of vowel pronounciation. Letter  A is ” ah”  regardless of position.  If this is true, which I admit to being unsure of  factually,–it is darn good planning on whoever achieved Spanish grammrar rules.

I once made a poster-size chart of 21, that’s  TWENTY-ONE, different pronounciation uses of  Letter “I” (or maybe “E”…in many cases both…purpose of lesson used both in conjunction to produce an “e” sound.  Long “e”, that is.)   Unfortunately that chart disappeared years hence, although those kinds of facts tend to live on in my brain’s filing cabinets (also known as  cardboard boxes.)

This chart involved a newspaper article I wrote which explained a teaching tool used by local schools, known as Initial Teaching Alphabet .  Three of my five children learned to read (also write) by this method of reading instruction.  I hear some “ah-ha!–just three instead of five?”  Oldest learned elsewhere in a different school district; other enrolled in mentally challenged school where they refrained from teaching reading at this time.

I want to elaborate by saying I found this method to be excellent.   Altough  I admit to being a loyal member of “lunatic-fringe” minions in many issues, it needs to be said that I found myself in very good company…school people as well as “furriners” such as reportedly Royal Family kids (remaining obscure until I re-check my facts) that became readers through being taught with Initial Teaching Alphabet materials.

As an added incentive, my post will include a dynamic illustrated story called: PLEECEMAN JOE, written by a first-grader using some special characters.  Absolutely, shamless exploitation!

That is a whole different blog post…those even vaguely interested should consider themselves hereby invited to stay tuned.