Meet Mrs. Dee

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Mrs. Dee has worked and learned with young children (infants to age 7) who are neurotypical, neuro-divergent, and have special needs in home-based, center-based, and school-based learning environments.

Mrs. Dee integrates the whole environment - both indoors and outdoors, and in the home and out in the neighborhood, when considering the best learning opportunities for young children. 

A bird can teach us about relationships and ecosystems. A prickly pear cactus can teach us about nutrition and attention (ask Mrs. Dee to share her funny-yet-pokey story with you!). A growing garden can teach us about science and patience. A postal worker delivering mail to a neighbor can teach us about kindness and geography.

A young child's world is magnificently supported when we allow nature and place to weave with our learning experiences.

Mrs. Dee has sat on the board of First Things First Arizona and Natural Start Alliance. She considers it a privilege to work with many networks and organizations that advocate for early childhood learning and development. 

Mrs. Dee sits on these boards and offers her time to make sure that her tribal college students and her young learners have a voice in policy, cultural, and educational changes.

When Out Back Learning temporarily closed due to the pandemic, Mrs. Dee wanted to continue serving young children and their families. Mrs. Dee has been a writer since she herself was a child and so, writing Sweet Potato & Mud Pies, her first children's book, came through her with such clarity and inspiration. Picture Day is her second children's book and evolved out of a desire to expand awareness of diverse hairstyles and foster a sense of play and joy in children and adults.

She is writing a multi-book series called Adventures of Destiny and Worm with Sweet Potato & Mud Pies and Picture Day as the first books in the series.

Mrs. Dee is beginning her sixth year as an Early Childhood Educator Professor at Tohono Oʼodham Community College. She has supported adults who are aspiring educators, new educators, and long-time educators increase their foundational understanding of early childhood education.

Mrs. Dee loves visiting students while they are in their early learning classrooms and observing what they are choosing to implement from their college classroom. She seeks to support every single student in reaching their professional goals.

Mrs. Dee partnered with a fellow Arizonan nature-based early childhood educator, Kyla Maciosek, to bring Southwest early childhood educators the inaugural Nature Every Day Summit, a professional development opportunity specifically geared towards Southwest nature-based learning. 

So much current nature-based learning professional development comes from regions beyond the Southwest and doesn't match the specific issues that affect Southwest educators. Mrs. Dee and Kyla committed to offering a summit that meets Southwest educators exactly where they are. The first summit took place June 8, 2024 with a great turnout; thank you for joining us, Southwest educators!