I Wish I'd Learned Spanish #BilingualPlus
Bilingual Tips, School
“Agua,” my mother said to me as she held out a glass. She refused to release it from her grip until I relented, but I walked away with a dry mouth rather than say the word “water” in Spanish. I was about 5 years old and quickly learned…
3 Kid-Friendly Summer Activities
Resources, School
Maybe you’ve enrolled them in some summer camps at the museum or your church. Maybe they spend the day at Buelita’s house. Or maybe they are driving you loca as they sit around whining that they are bored…or worse, they stare like zombies…
7 Homeschool Survival Tips For Busy Moms
Resources, School
When you are a mami, being organized is helpful. When you are a homeschooling mami, then being organized is mandatory.
I’d like to say that I’ve really got it all together and that every day runs smoothly. But I don’t like to lie.…
Teaching English, Latina Style
Bilingual Tips, School
My tenth-grade students sat in the darkness, their eyes fixed on the grainy black and white photograph magnified on a screen in front of the classroom.They considered the four figures frozen in time: a man with an insouciant grin, a woman…
3 Keys to Your Child's Academic Success
Honor Roll, School
What is the key to academic success? That seems to be the million-dollar question right now in America. Recent studies show that out of 40 countries around the world, American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science. The average rate…
Are Parents Always the Best Role Models?
Honor Roll, School
Last October, my colleague sat with a boy of 16 and his mother for a required parent-teacher conference. The boy had failed his first quarter and was presently failing the second. When my colleague broke this news to the boy’s mother, she…
A Child's Education Begins at Home
Bilingual Tips, School
I didn’t mean to become Mommy Maestra. I sort of fell into it when my husband and I found ourselves in a bit of an educational dilemma.We’d recently moved to rural North Carolina from Texas after my husband accepted a new job. With two…
5 Facts About Dyslexia
Resources, School
According to The International Dyslexia Association, “dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and…
How Much Should You Trust Your Child's Teacher?
Resources, School
Karina Quezada knows what can happen when a parent places too much trust in their child’s teacher. In her native Mexico, a teacher berated Quezada’s eldest son for writing with his left hand. Later, in Houston, another teacher used her…