What is life like on an averege day in CDA? (Nampa: rent, theater)

[Snowangel]

So say for example there is a family with young kids. Describe their day to day living situation...
Including
school life (teacher-parent involvement)
After and during school activities (what sports are big up there)
family outtings that are popular
church life
you get the idea right....I think I would love some local families to share their interests and points of view
Thank you
LA

[Sanddawgg]

I'll try to answer your question, although I actually live in Sandpoint, about 45 miles north of CDA. We usually get to CDA once or twice a month for shopping.... We moved here with two kids from So Cal a few years ago... I think that in CDA you will find quite a bit more parental involvement here then in the bigger metropolitan areas of California... at least that is my experience in Sandpoint. As for school/afterschool activities, they really go by seasons. Right now, being winter, it gets dark quite early, and temps are generally at or below freezing, and any after school activities would most likely be indoors. Of course with the snow, there is always sledding, building snow forts... We have season ski passes for Schweitzer and spend most weekend and holidays skiing from early Dec-early April. In my opinion, if you don't have a passion for some sort of winter sports/activity, the winter would be a bit hard to take, as it can get to be quite dark and long. Snowmobiling, snow-shoeing, cross country skiiing... are some things that are popular up here. There are also a lot of arts/crafts activities that go on since the region is quite popular with artists. In the fall and spring, the days are longer, though there can be quite a few rainy, overcast days.... soccer is quite popular with leagues in both seasons... biking and hiking are things that we spend time doing... There are several lakes around and fishing is always nearby. People tend to get outside here a lot more in what would be considered indoor weather in California. The summers here are amazing. Long warm sunny days that are perfrect for enjoying the lakes... the short winter days are made up for with long days. The sun sets quite late in the evening. We usually take the kids swimming a few days a week. Basketball is also big here in the summer... of course football in the fall... indoor volleyball...
Churches abound with Awana and other youth activities available... by the way, there are many many families here from California and many other states... you'll be fine... The people here are very friendly for the most part, and have always treated us very well....
hope this helps...

[Snowangel]

Any one else? have any ideas?

[mejaka]

I live in Hayden. I volunteer extensively in my younger kids' schools, and keep up with my high schoolers through a cool internet system called ParentConnect (that emails me when they fail an assignment, skip a class, or require discipline). The teacher-parent involvement at my children's gradeschool is extensive--there must be two hundred parents with personalized volunteer badges. I've done everything from run the copy/lamination office to work on reading support. I enjoy a lot of trust from the teachers, which is nice.

My kids aren't sports types. My eldest is on the Viking Thunder Drumline, which was begun independently by a student and is still student-run. My next has been in MathCounts and is now on Scholastic Team. I have friends with kids in soccer (one on a championship team), football, baseball (high school has a baseball team! YEAH!), track and cross-country. There's a swim team. There's also lacrosse at the high school. All common sports are well-represented. On top of that, you've got fishing, kayaking, snowshoeing, wakeboarding, skiing--really, everything. Everything.

Family activities--there's the Schweitzer passes, Silverwood theme park passes, and an indoor amusement and water park. My family is on a tighter budget. We spend the summer swimming and boating at the lake, and in the winter we play indoor games, have snowball fights, and rent movies. There's a LOT to do here, esp. if you are into winter sports. There's also community theater and free concerts--in Spokane there's a free kids-oriented concert every Saturday.

There's a spectrum of churches here, and you can find one that suits you. I'm LDS, so my church life is pretty much like any other LDS person--but there's everything from New Life avant-garde Christianity, to Buddhism, to Judaism, to more conventional Christianity, to some more fundamentalist Christians (think dresses and long hair on women). There is very little conflict, in my opinion--much less than Pocatello where we previously lived, and WAY less than in, say, Nampa.

It's a great place for kids. Mine all love it here.