Kate Dyer-Seeley  

uke couldn’t love school or Maestra Bainter more.  Spending five minutes in his classroom is jaw-dropping.  The entire class is rattling off Spanish phrases, rolling they’re “R’s” and laughing in delight when the wrong transition song is accidentally played (in Spanish of course).  This is the way we should all learn language.  It’s natural, innate.  [...]

here’s an old song my mom used to sing to us as our Bluebird troop leader.  It went something like, “Make new friends, but keep the old.  Some are silver and the other gold.”  Little did I know it as a ponytail-clad first grader, but that simple song with its easy rhythm is a proverb [...]

echnology love it or hate it, this one just might buy us another few years of believing…a direct message from Santa with an insider’s view of the North Pole.  Need I say more?  Happy Holidays 2009 style!  Portable North Pole (PNP). 

here are many things I love about Luke’s budding Spanish.  I particularly enjoy listening to him babble in a string of Spanish syllables in the tub each night.  He won’t perform on command, and who can blame him?  But, when he thinks we’re not listening his little “r’s” really roll.  More than anything I appreciate that his [...]

he steady sound of beating drums and soaring symphonies have been blasting at our house for the last couple weeks in preparation for dun, dun, dun-dun-dun-dun: Star Wars in Concert.  That’s right, Luke donned his Halloween costume a little early, spent hours meticulously crafting posters with cutouts of Yoda and Boba Fett, and stayed up way past [...]

ast week when Luke and I went to our local library to retrieve his summer reading prize, I happened upon a stack of Dick and Jane (yep they’re still in circulation)books.  On a whim I grabbed a few from the pile and added them to our check-out bag.  I didn’t bother scanning them, as I [...]

When I first began writing, I attended a workshop taught by the award winning poet and memoirist Judith Barrington.  I had read a number of her books and was thrilled when I learned she was teaching a workshop on the craft of memoir writing.  Her class didn’t disappoint.  And, I learned one invaluable lesson that has stuck with me as my writing has [...]

can’t say that prior to having Luke I frequented parades.  That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good parade every so often–I am a full fledged America after all.  My toes will tap to the beat of brass band booming by.  It’s simply that having a preschooler lends itself to more parade viewing.  
Last year Luke and [...]

he holiday classic, The Polar Express, chugged into town last night (well technically Hood River but that doesn’t sound as festive).  At a time when holiday traditions are lost in a sea of big box stores and tech savvy kids who email annotated wish lists to Santa, our bumpy ride over rusted tracks just might [...]

ll right parents it’s time for a wake-up call, ditch the flashcards, the text books, grab your kids and get your silly on!  America is losing ground in the global market in everything from the value of our dollar to advances in technology, but now even our preschoolers are lagging behind.  Why?  Experts in early childhood education cite lack of play.  [...]