Eleven

Where have the last eleven years gone? It is so hard to believe that my Sage Landon is eleven years old today. He may be extremely small for his age but he makes up for it by being the most loving, creative, kind kid I know. He is all about things being fair,  he gets so upset when he see's an injustice. He loves and lives for Scouting and is so excited to be a REAL Boy Scout.

he loved all of the camping gear he got for his birthday but was NOT happy with a prank gift of Oatmeal.

Sage's Birthday Cake

 Trying out Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans

 We celebrated at Corvette Diner

 A week before his actual birthday we celebrated with friends at the Minion Movie

He's going to be starting sixth grade soon and I am definitely NOT ready for him to grow up. I know that he growing into a fantastic young man. He is my miracle and I will forever be grateful that he picked me to be his Mom. Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Where Did You Go?

Wow... life has been crazy busy and has not slowed down enough for me to get my thoughts written down. Homeschooling this last year was crazy and at times I thought it would do me in. I am glad to report that we all survived although, just barely.

The beginning of 2015 brought a switch of job locations for Robert and Sage earning his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts. We then spent 5 months in hell looking for a house. I don't recommend it if you want to keep your sanity.

Aurora turned 8 in February and was baptized with her friend Keenan in April. She started Girl Scouts and Activity Days.

I am working on overcoming my social anxiety and learning other ways to deal with it besides medication. So far every medication I've tried leaves me feeling like a zombie and takes away my ability to care about things like housework. I've recently discovered an herbal remedy that seems to be helping to relax me.

Lydia finished another semester of college and now has just one class left before she earns her Associates Degree in Deaf Studies.

In May we ended up having to replace my Mom's car with something more reliable. In addition to our Mazda MPV we are now the proud owners of a Honda Pilot.

The kids finished the 2014-2015 School Year and will be going into the 6th and 3rd grades. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing!

Sage will be turning 11 this Friday the 17th and will officially be a Boy Scout. He is so excited and cannot wait until he is 12 so he can spend more time with Robert camping and earn actual Merit Badges.

Aurora's Baptism

Aurora was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. We are so proud of the choice she had made and cannot wait to see her testimony continue to grow.

 The cupcakes we served that Becky and Savannah helped me decorate

My Beautiful Baby Girl

I just can't seem to get over how much she has grown.

Aurora Turns 8!

Today, my baby girl turned eight! I can't believe how fast the last few years have gone by.

Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent with my family on the hill. I seriously don't know what I would do without my amazing family especially these two. 

 The kids jammies

 Christmas Day was a very simple low key day. it was nice to relax and spend time with my little family.

Thirty-three

Thirty.... What?!? Today I am thirty-three. Sage and Aurora insisted I answer the 20 questions that I make them answer every year.

1. What is your favorite color? Pink
2. What is your favorite stuffed animal? Sidney the Lamb and Hayden the Rabbit
3. What is your favorite fruit? Raspberries
4. Favorite T.V Show? F.R.I.E.N.D.S
5. Favorite food? Rubio's Fish Tacos 
6. Something I can't live without? Hayden's ring
7. Favorite game? Uno 
8. Favorite snack? Buñuelos from El Indio
9. Favorite animal? Beluga Whales
10. Favorite song? The Right Stuff- NKOTB and When You Say Nothing at All- Allison Krauss
11. Favorite book? Heaven is Waiting - Stephanie Nielson
12. Best Friend/s/? Robert, Mom, Lydia, Aurora, Marissa, Juniper, Diane
13. Favorite Cereal? Cinnamon Toast Crunch
14. Favorite thing to do outside? Swimming
15. Favorite Drink? Vanilla Coke
16. Favorite Holiday? Christmas 
17. Favorite Movie? Pitch Perfect
18. Favorite Breakfast? Créme Brûlée French Toast
19. Favorite place to visit? Disneyland
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Grandma

Fifteen Things

I came up with this list last week and thought I would share.

Fifteen Things All Homeschool Mom's Will Understand

1. Kids who demand your attention before a sufficient amount of caffeinated beverages has been consumed. (In our house it's a small cup of coke and my depression and anxiety meds)

2. When someone suggests that teaching is an easy job.

3. Trying not to laugh when a student says something hilarious but completely inappropriate.

4. When your kids are giggling and you have no idea why.

5. Non-teachers and Public School Teachers telling you how you should be running your homeschool.

6. When your kids find you on Facebook or Instagram.

7. Bidding farewell to your evenings and weekends. They are spend checking your lesson plans and making sure you have everything you need for the week.

8. The first Monday after a school break.

9. When your kid asks you a difficult question that you definitely don’t know the answer to.

10. The complete loss of your privacy, and, at times, your dignity.

11. Waking up early in the morning, even on weekends and holidays. It's engrained into your brain and there is no getting rid of it.

12. Trying not to catch the flu from your kids.

13. Getting the flu and teaching that day anyway.

14. Explaining to your friends why you won’t hang out with them in the evenings. I am way too tired from doing my teacher duties on top of wifely/motherly duties.

15. Trying not to cry in front of your kids when your struggling child finally gets their head around the thing you’ve been trying to teach them all year.

Literature Unit's

This year our main focus for Sage in Language Arts is Literature. We are using the Literature Unit Studies form Confessions of a Homeschooler. Sage picked out 6 books, one for each learning period. I am beyond proud of the choices he made. He could have picked easier kiddy books but he chose to read books that most kids don't read until late middle school or even High School.

Living Reference Books

In addition to our Social Studies and Science Curriculum we will be using what we call "Living Books" to help us review and study more about each subject.

 Social Studies

Our Fifty States- National Geographic

United States of America Talking Puzzle- Melissa and Doug

Science

The Incredible Machine- National Geographic

Atlas of the Human Body- Robert's College Anatomy Book

Reference Folders

Since we longer have a dedicated school room and no where to hang anchor charts I had to come up with an idea so the kids could still access them if they had a question or needed a reminder. After a few hours the Reference Folders were born.

 This one holds Math and Language Arts anchor charts.

This one holds our fold out World and U.S. Map and State 

Anchor Charts that we will use with the Road Trip U.S.A 

curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

2014-2015 First Day Pictures

While the first day of School isn't for another 2 weeks, I decided to go ahead and get pictures out of the way. I cannot believe that we have a fifth grader this year, just one more year of Elementary School for Sage. Aurora, my baby is in Second grade, I cannot believe how fast they are growing. I am beyond blessed to be able to keep them home with me.

Serious 

 Silly

2014-2015 Classroom

While I still don't have everything done, I have done all that I can for now. The Homeschool charter that we homeschool through still has the majority of the curriculum and I should be receiving it next week sometime. Thankfully, school doesn't start until after Labor Day.

I have been working very hard to get this part of our home ready for the year and with a severe back problem it has taken me much longer than I would have liked.

We will be using our kitchen/dining room for school this year

This cart hold our supply caddy, Library book basket, math manipulative's, and cubby's for misc. things

This dresser has definitely seen better days but it serves it's purpose well. The middle drawer on the left hold the teacher's manuals, my lesson planner and all of my things. The middle drawer on the right holds construction and art paper.

The top left and right drawers hold Sage and Aurora's mini white boards, writing paper and still have plenty of room for their workbooks for each subject. There is also a basket for them to put their finished work in so I can grade it and log it onto their state required individual learning logs.

The bottom left drawers hold extra crayons, pencils, pens, index cards, notebooks and lined paper. The bottom right holds art supplies.

Thankfully both of the kids are old enough to not need posters and calendars on the walls. my project this week is to make a reference binder for our anchor charts so if they ever forget or just need a reminder they can look it up easily.

I am linking up with the iHomeschool Networks 6th Annual Not Back to School Blog Hop. Click {HERE} to see other great homeschool spaces.