Kathy writes "school days"

June 18

Well I think we’ve proven what we always guessed . . . we probably would have been the first family on the wagon train group on the Oregon Trail to bite the dust. Fred got sick the day after we landed and I got sick six days later (and we actually have food, shelter, and several layers of clothing).

Though I have to say one thing I didn’t anticipate was no heating. I assumed there was no air conditioning but somehow I never factored in the lack of a heater (we do have a water heater though).

Besides this minor glitch we are adjusting pretty well I’d say. The boys started school this week. Monday was a holiday- sort of. They call it Freedom Day but then the government changed the day they celebrate it and everyone was very confused whether it was a holiday or not. Most of the banks and businesses were open but some schools were closed.

Tuesday, David started school and enjoyed it but thought the grade they put him (standard 4) was a little too challenging. It would be the equivalent of 3rd grade except it is in the middle fo the year as they start in January. The encouraging part about it is that he has the best teacher in the school. Ethan started on Wednesday and is going to be an in 1 day and out student. He thought recess was too long- 30 minutes of “football” and an one and half hour of lunch and recess, and classroom time was too slow and kids just shouted out answers. He seemed to find this disconcerting. My thought was there are only nine students wouldn’t that lead to a somewhat informal discussion?

Final assessment- Ethan . . . no school; David . . . loving it and making friends (his teacher had them jumping to see who could come closest to touching the classroom ceiling- David and a girl named Hydra were the finalists with David winning. Now he’s telling me they arm wrestled too). You can see how David might fit into this scenario.