Back to school

Ahhhhh, the first day of school! This summer has been way too short and yet I'm always excited to get the kids back in school, in a routine. The girls had a great year last year so we're hoping for a repeat. Abby has mrs. Alba-Kuwahara who just had a baby and won't actually be teaching until sometime in October. Her teacher right now is Miss Correa who was a student teacher in her class last year so she knows her and she's excited to have her teaching. Sabrina has Mrs. Matsuo. They're both doing great so far. Sabrina's reading has really taken off just like the other kids and I'm constantly amazed by how well she reads. I wonder sometimes if it doesn't have something to do with our scripture reading and the hard words she's had to learn to read scriptures.

We went to their Open House at school last week and the girls were so excited to show off their classrooms and things they've been doing. We got a surprise when we went to Sabrina's class because on her desk was a letter telling us she had been selected as the Good Citizen of the Month for August for her class. Her teacher had waited to tell her so she could surprise her while we were there. She was so excited and we're really proud of her. She's a smart little girl, but more important, she's kind, helpful, obedient and a good friend.

We had some moments of stress a few weeks ago when Abby came home with an assignment to create a "culture board". It had some specific things like recipes, writing, music that were representative of your culture. We were perplexed. What is her culture? Thinking back on our ancestors, they come from so many different countries, I wasn't quite sure what to do. After much discussion, and looking up the definition of ethnic culture, we decided that she was a Utah Mormon and that's the theme we went with. We used I am a child of God as the song, her grandma's apple pie as the recipe, we had pictures of her on a horse, playing in the snow, wearing a pioneer bonnet. It turned out okay but in looking back I think I would have picked out things from some of the different countries her ancestors are from. In looking at the other kids' boards at the Open House, several had multiple countries their ancestors came from and they used stuff from some of them and put up flags to represent the different countries. It made me think though about where we come from and I'm grateful for the vast heritage we come from. While it might have been nice to have it a little more simple (the kids who were Japanese had it much easier!) it's fun to look at all the different countries our ancestors came from. It makes me want to learn more and maybe do some family home evening lessons on it to teach my kids where we come from.