Kate Weidenbach, a third-grade teacher at Minneapolis' Tuttle Elementary School, appealed to her son's passion, baseball, when the fifth-grader was assigned to write a poem, ordinarily an odious task to a kid who ate and breathed sports.

"I said, 'Stop thinking about poetry; just tell me what you feel like when you are playing,'" Weidenbach said.

"He told me some of those things, and I said, 'Tell me every color you see when you're playing baseball, and when you breathe in, waiting for that first ball, what's that feeling?' When he was done, he produced some of the most beautiful poetry about how he felt when he was playing baseball. ... It was gorgeous."

A world of learning

Kit Wilhite, director of youth and family programs for the Science Museum of Minnesota, likes to point out that the world around us is one huge learning opportunity. There's science in the thunderstorm bearing down on your neighborhood, in the flowers growing in your garden, in the birds that frequent your feeder. Math comes in when measuring is done for cooking and when figuring out what to do with accumulated allowance money. You might know this already, but Wilhite's key point is this: Don't make a chore of these learning events; weave them into the fabric of daily life. That results in less skepticism and gives those teachable moments some staying power.

Getting other kids involved helps, too. If a neighbor child starts rattling off state capitals, your own kids might want to get into the act. And sometimes knowledge is more palatable when it doesn't come from on high.

"Well, of course Dad knows the state capitals; come on," Ginsburg-Block said. "But if it's someone closer in age, well, 'Look, she knows state capitals!' That can be very helpful in learning."

You're the parent

Sometimes it's all right to lay down the law.

"One of the things parents might have lost in the shuffle is their right to parent," said Kathleen Brown, principal of Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria. "I don't need to be a friend to my child. ... So yeah, 'Today what we're doing is sitting here and reading, and I'm the parent,' and yeah, maybe it's because I said so."

Talking over current events can work, especially if it strikes close to home. Spee has no trouble engaging her children in conversation over the news of the home school district -- Rochester -- especially with teacher layoffs and big cuts in store this school year.

Some educators dislike the notion of awards or privileges for homework or reading assignments done well. But Marianne Norris, Minneapolis schools executive director of teacher and instructional services, thinks there's a place for making deals, or "contracts," with your kids.

"Let's say the child enjoys cars," she said. "Maybe the parent will say, 'There's an auto show coming up. ... Let's make a chart and we'll track how much reading you do,' and if the child reads 30 hours by the time of the auto show, they'll go together." Norris warns of contracts that are too vague and long-term; they can easily be ignored or forgotten.

At the library

On a day shortly before school started, some real experts gathered at Richfield's Augsburg Park public library. Eight-year-old Alex Putnam was exploring the world of Harry Potter. The books are a challenge, but Alex decided to tackle them because "other people told me it was fun." How would he advise parents who want their kids to read more? Parents should get their kids interested in books that have television counterparts.

"Like Rugrats," he said.

Most of the Zilka family -- four girls, two boys and mother Ann -- were there availing themselves of everything from science fiction, to history, to Nancy Drew mysteries. The Zilka kids have always been read to by their parents, and they read to each other. Fourteen-year-old Katherine, the oldest, noted that her mom often livens up her readings to the family by using different voices for the characters.

"That really kept our imagination going," she said. Younger sisters Rose, 8, and Abby, 10, found books on tape to be a good entry point to reading.

Katherine had another tip for holding an audience. "I'd say start reading a book, then leave it at a climax, then have them finish it."

Nearby, 8-year-old Katelyn Erickson also offered a bit of advice.

"If it's too hard for them, maybe they should pick out an easier book," she said.

There's some consolation amid the mix of failures and successes: You have plenty of company.

Spee said she often commiserates with other parents who are disappointed that their learning strategems haven't worked.

"We share our frustrations and ideas and success, and then share our frustrations again," she said. "Sometimes, as a parent, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one with the same frustrations, and that maybe I didn't do such a bad job after all."

-- Norman Draper is at ndraper@startribune.com .

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