Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten!

OK, I'm a little ahead of the game here, but today we went to the library and I happened upon this really cute picture book called Mom, It's My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum. It's all about a little boy starting school who is so excited and he is the one reassuring his mother who is pretty worried about her little boy going to the "big kids' school". At the beginning, she is shown as this tiny little person, so worried about this big event and then when she picks up her son, she's drawn to regular mom-size. I guess for some kids and moms, this is a role-reversal but when my children started school I don't remember doing much reassuring. And I was the same way. My dad loves to tell the story of how he went to wake me up on the first day of school and I was sitting there on the bed, already dressed, hair combed, ready to go. I don't remember it myself but knowing me, I'm sure I was thrilled to finally be going to school.

Me on my fifth birthday. I'm not sure why my eyes look that way--they look fine in the original! And the picture was in color, too. The subtleties of scanning escape me, I guess...

In a few weeks my youngest child will be starting kindergarten. It will just be half-day and I'll still get her for most of the day but it's the beginning of a different era in my life. 18 years ago my oldest child started kindergarten. He was so excited to start school and I was excited for him. Kindergarten is such a cute age. But I do remember thinking that here he was finally getting to be a lot easier to take care of and NOW he was going to school. I'm a little more protective of my youngest, especially with her health issues.

Here is my oldest hugging his younger brother on his first day of school. Aren't they so cute?

That book, along with some other books, have started me thinking about school experiences and I want to do a bunch of posts about that. You would think that by now I would have this all figured out, but what really is the purpose of school? I'm beginning to realize that different schools have different purposes and goals. So perhaps my question should be, what are MY goals in educating my children? Since my oldest is now 23 and less than a year from college graduation, maybe it's a little late to be thinking about it! Actually I have been thinking about it, maybe just not in enough detail. And I did work pretty hard to teach my oldest son a lot of different things. And I'm so proud of the person he has become. But I still have quite a few children that need a good education so I have plenty of work to do!

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Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River. This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize. This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night. It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania. However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet. I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy. Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all. She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate. Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in. Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios. She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities. One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not. Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable. Wha...

Hansen Family Plot in the Provo Cemetery

On Memorial Day this year, our family went to the Provo Cemetery, as we do almost every year. We spent some time at the Hansen Family plot which contains the grave of my 2nd great-grandparents, Peter and Mary Hansen. They both emigrated from Denmark with their spouses to Utah. My grandfather lost his first wife Ane to cholera on the plains outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, along with three of his little boys within a very short time--about one month. It's a sad story but it's also one of admirable resilience. He brought his one surviving son, Jorgen, to Utah. He married his second wife Maren (Anglicized to Mary) some 9 years later in Utah She had been married before but lost her first husband at an unknown date. I wish I knew more about her but she left very few records, although I could do more research! Peter and Maren had 6 more children together. The youngest two were twins, Enoch and Ephraim. Ephraim is my great-grandfather and is buried in California. He is the father of ...

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