First Day of School

8th Grade!

She is attending Treasure Valley Math & Science Center again for half the day (Biology, Geometry and Earth Science) and then Les Bois for the rest (Choir, World Studies, Orchestra and PE/Health).  She is on the tennis team, and prefers playing doubles.

3rd Grade!

He gets to pick up Hyrum from Kindergarten every day.  Said his teacher is the BEST because she gave MOM homework on the first day of school, not him.  He didn't really care for the homework on the second day of school, though.

 Kindergarten!

August 27, 2012 was Hyrum's best day ever!  He started school!  Interestingly, he has said that every school day since has been his best day ever.  I hope he continues his enthusiasm for school.  Wearing his backpack starting at 9am (when school starts at 12:30pm) can be dropped, though.

Happy Mother's Day

A few weeks ago, when I was teaching Joy School, the unit included an art project of the children drawing a portrait of their mom as a gift for Mother's Day.  To demonstrate to these 6 adorable 4 & 5 year olds, I decided I would draw a picture of my mom.   I thought they all turned out so cute, I just had to take a picture of them all together.

Can you tell which one is me and which one is my mom?

I have had a good experience teaching Joy School and am really glad that my neighbor introduced the program to me.  Sometimes it has been quite stressful to prepare the lessons, but it has been so rewarding to be one of Hyrum's teachers!  And it has been great to be involved with a group of women who want to take an active part in teaching their children.  We get to break for a year and then it will be Leo's turn to sing "O Boy, I Got Joy".

Last Day of Summer and First Day of School

On Tuesday, we celebrated "Building Day." Together, we (Roderic, Hyrum and I) worked on separating the Lego sets and then building them. (Sabrina was at her final exam for Pre-algebra at the start, and didn't participate when she returned.)

Roderic's patience ran out quicker than mine, so he went to play with the sets, break them a part and rebuild. Roderic really likes Legos. He currently says he wants to work for Lego when he grows up so he can continue to play with them.

Can you believe our builder is so cheap that he expects me to help? Well, he isn't. I just thought it would be a fun diversion from Lego building. And it was. Sabrina took the photo, trying to have John out of the shot to make it look like I was doing all the work. There were 2 other guys lifting it at the same time. I felt like I was a part of the barn raising scene in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" but without the fighting, or the singing.

We have some exterior walls! The plan is to get this section covered with a roof before tearing of the rest of the existing roof for our addition.
John took this shot and emailed it to Ryan with the caption: Malauna demonstrating proper nailing technique on the addition

Those nail guns have quite a powerful kickback. I put in 2 nails.

School started on Wednesday this year. With Sabrina going to Junior High this year, we're going to have to change our routine for morning family prayers. ie. We'll have one family prayer at 6:15am with Sabrina and parents and have another one at 8:15am with the boys and parents.

Sabrina only had to go to Les Bois on the first day of school, since it was early release. Treasure Valley Math and Science Center (TVMSC) does not operate on days when the junior high school has early release. Since she had no class at Les Bois until 4th period, she got to sit in her "homeroom" class for the first 3 periods of the day, listening to the teacher give her "Welcome to my class rules and routines" lecture. Then she got to listen to that same teacher in 5th and 6th periods when she actually had her. She said it was quite boring. In the future, when she doesn't have TVMSC, she's going to stay home until 4th period starts.

Both Roderic and Sabrina woke up happy and excited for the first day of school. I got to ride bikes with both of them. I was the only parent out on a bike with Sabrina, but there were a lot with Roderic. I hope the bike-riding weather keeps up through the end of October!

May Madness!

The end of school craziness has begun.


On Thursday, Roderic performed with the First and Second grades in their annual Spring Concert. The theme this year was patriotic. Roderic got to learn "You're A Grand Old Flag", "America the Beautiful", "My Country Tis of Thee", "The Star-Spangled Banner", and "Yankee Doodle". The kids did a great job.

On Friday morning, Sabrina played cello in the orchestra and then sang in the choir during the Orchestra Band Choir concert. During lunch, she played violin and cello with a couple of ensembles for the volunteer luncheon.


On Friday night, Sabrina played violin with EHO in the Boise Music Week School Night Gala. (No pictures, but you'll have to take my word that the music was awesome!)


On Saturday afternoon both Roderic and Sabrina played in the Boise Bench Studio's violin recital. Roderic played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star variation B and Boil 'Em Cabbage. Sabrina played the duet part for most of the students throughout the recital and played Gavotte in D major by J.S. Bach as a solo.



Here is Roderic playing his solo. Sabrina's solo didn't get recorded due to operator error.

100th Day of School and then President's Day

In First Grade they have all sorts of celebrations. Like Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, the 100th day of school, Valentine's Day, President's Day, Dr. Seuss' birthday.

100 seems like such a large number, especially to a 6 year old, so to celebrate the 100th Day of School, he got to do a worksheet to help grasp what 100 is.

I can eat 100 crums (crumbs). {Cookie and Cake crumbs preferably.}
I can hold 100 LEGO. {As long as they get put away afterwards.}
I can run 100 mils (miles). {Not all at once, though.}
But I would never want 100 pupees (puppies). {AMEN!}

For President's Day, he filled out a booklet on what he would do if he were president. The underlined words are Roderic's responses.

If I were President, the first thing I would do is mac lose (make laws).
If I were President, I would eat chickin (chicken).
If I were President, I would travel to Uootuoe (Utah).
If I were President, I would have a pet cat named Fluflee.
If I were President, I would pass a law that teflfoones (telephones).
If I were President, I would help Bagpaprs (Bagpipers).

School Days

Hyrum is attending Joy School this year, today was his first day! With 6 children in the class, I'll be teaching every 6 weeks. I'm excited for him to have his own school to attend. He is even more excited than me. Last night it was all he could talk about. He even made up a song called "I Love Joy School".

Hyrum's goal for this school year: Learn to play the drums (said as he's playing air drums)
My goal for Hyrum: Learn to write his name


Roderic is one happy kid, ready to start First Grade! He has become much happier over the summer. He still has some issues about respecting the personal space of others. During the last few weeks, he has decided that he CAN read with the family out of the Book of Mormon, although he only wants Mom's help on the big words.

Roderic's goal for this school year: Wants to be a really good listener
My goals for Roderic: Learn to tie his shoes [and swim trunks]; learn to ride a 2 wheeler


It is hard to come to terms with the fact that my baby is now in 6th Grade! And what a great girl she is. A month ago she decided that she should play her violin for 20 hours before the school year started, which was an hour a day, 5 days a week. She met her goal, so now we're in the planning stages for a party!

Sabrina's goal for this school year: Run a 9 minute mile
My goals for her: Keep a tidier room/desk; budget for school clothes

First day of School August 25, 2010

The Chaperone

When we first moved to Idaho 9.8 years ago, I remember thinking that I couldn't wait for my baby to be in the 4th grade so I could learn some Idaho state history. Well, time flies; my baby is in the 4th grade, learning Idaho history and teaching some to me.

Ever since Sabrina started school, I wanted to be a chaperone on a field trip - even more after Sabrina came home from the all day field trip to Zoo Boise/Julia Davis Park in the first grade when she was so excited to have sat next to the "chapperphones" on the bus. I finally got my oportunity last week when her class went to Bown House. Bown House was constructed in 1879 by Joseph Bown and family. Boise School District purchased the land that the house was built on for another elementary school and decided to renovate it to use for field trips. The house has 6 rooms in it that show off different aspects of life in 19th century Idaho. Farming, School, Kitchen, Parlor, Geography/Oregon Trail, and History/Newspaper.

In the farming room the kids got to play a game where they picked crops to plant, purchase tools that would make cultivating plants easier, pick a part-time job for Ma and Pa to do in the off season.

In the school room, there was a real live school marm with all the rules that you see in Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables. The students totally joined in the role play. In this picture, you see Sabrina having her penmanship looked at and the teacher is doing a "hygeine check" which was look at their hands and behind their ears. She was very shocked to see pink nail polish on one of the girls. They read from a reader, did math problems on a slate. Sabrina says it is hard to write in cursive on a slate.

In the kitchen, they got to pump water, churn butter (pretend), slice an apple (and then eat the slices, yum) and roll out biscuits (made out of play dough).

In the parlor, they got to dress up in period clothes. The kids were surprised that they would only have 2 pair of clothes to wear during the week. One pair for Monday-Saturday and one pair for Sunday. The girls got to work on some quilt blocks; all of them could look in the Bown family bible, and play with a moon spinner or a Jacob's ladder.

In the Geography room, they answered questions about the Oregon Trail and played a game. Mr. Bown came west first, to get rich in the gold mines, but when that didn't work out too well, he decided to move his family to Idaho to farm and make money selling stuff to the miners. In order to get back to Iowa for his family, he traveled from Boise to San Francisco to Panama to New York. I never realized that was an option I figured you'd just go backwards along the Oregon Trail.

In the Newspaper room, they learned about events that happened during the lifetime of Joseph and Temperance Bown. Like gold strikes, communication advances - Pony Express, telegraph, telephone; electric lights, automobiles, airplanes.

What a fun morning! Next time I'll have to stay at school with Sabrina and eat lunch with her.

School Days

Sabrina started 4th Grade last Monday. When we first saw her and asked her how her first day of school was, she replied, "Awesome! awesome! and double awesome!" (She REALLY likes school.) Her teacher is Mr. Targee. He is single. He is my age. He has taught 4th grade at this school for the past 8 years (his entire career). After meeting him at 'Back to School Night,' I think he is going to be just what Sabrina needs. He has passion about learning and wants to ignite that passion in his students. He doesn't believe in homework for the sake of having homework. He doesn't believe in worksheets (i.e. busy work). He believes that now is the time to teach students pride in their own work. If a child did their very best work on an assignment, they should be happy with the grade given (even if it's not an A -- I may have problems with that). Here's to a great year in 4th Grade! Oh, and new this year, she gets to ride bikes to school with next-door neighbor, Emily, and down the street neighbor, Spencer, who are all in the same class.





Roderic is attending Ms. Stacey's Preschool this year. He was excited to buy his school supplies. He liked it when she came over for a 'home visit' to let him meet her. However, yesterday, when I announced that it was time to pack his backpack, he said, "I don't want to go to school! I just want to watch 'Bob the Builder!'" When I told him he needed to eat his lunch before going to preschool, he said, "I don't want to go to school!" After lunch, I asked who was ready to go to preschool, he replied, "I am! I am!" with his hand raised. (Hyrum also replied, "I am!" What a parrot.) In the van driving to preschool, Roderic said, "I don't want to go to school! I just want to play at a friends house!" When we pulled up to the preschool, he quickly unbuckled, opened the door and started running for the door. I had to hold him back to get some pictures of him! He told us afterwards that he had fun. They sang a cat song and watched an ABC movie. And one of the children in his class celebrated his birthday with cookies and a bag of treats. Now today, he said, "Mom! I missed preschool!" Nope, he only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And if starting preschool isn't enough milestones for one day, he pooped in the toilet for the FIRST time last night! Wahoo!!!!!!!!







You can see him looking out the window, waiting for Ms. Stacey to open the door.
Then, he's off! (Ms. Stacey said they had to wait until they got to their cars to open
the birthday goodie bag.)
) Roderic and Clara