Wow, I"m back. It's been awhile... from being completely sick with this last pregnancy through January and trying to reconnect with life in February, getting thoroughly back into homeschooling in March, family visiting all of March, relaxing in April, and starting May I feel that it is time to, once again, document and journal this adventure that we have embarked upon.

From the last time I blogged, I feel amazing physically and way more confident regarding homeschooling than ever before. We have been enjoying so much together. Jay is moving steadily along in his SSRW and can read Boxcar Children books on his own, if he wanted. We have completed, so far this school year, The Boxcar Children, Surprise Island, Mystery Ranch, Yellow House Mystery, and are in the middle of The Woodshed Mystery and Charlotte's Web. They are both enjoying Charlotte's Web and I really want to complete it before we see the movie in theaters. I enjoy books way more than their movie counterparts and want to instill that into my children early on.

We completed Saxon 1 and were very happy to be done with that. Now, instead of moving Jayden on to Saxon 2 we have brought in many different kinds of math games and this really cool math workbook that uses real world problems to solve. Some of the math games we are playing is a domino game that focuses on adding and counting by 2s, a clock game, money games, some really cool computer websites that you can click on subtraction or adding to reinforce what has been learned. Also, Rat a Tat Cat, Go Bananas, Go Nuts and Number Chase. All games that really make learning math fun!

This week and the past couple of weeks, we have been learning all about Canada, made a Canadian flag. read about different activities that happen in Canada as well as many different kinds of animals and minerals that can be found there. The boys have found this all to be quite interesting and I am looking forward to finding some truly authentic Canadian recipes to end our unit on Canada.

Austen is really focused on writing and is using SSRW kgd edition. It is so sweet how he just sits down, colors, cuts, and wants to write the letters all by himself! He is such a smart boy and I am so proud of him. Tonight, after our Wed night routine, he was telling a friend of mine that he got sick. Confused, I asked him, " When did you get sick Austen?" and he looks at me with a perplexed look on his face, standing there with a Gila Monster shirt and sweet little shorts and says in his husky voice, " I jus talkin' bout las year" with his hand moving up and down. I love that boy!

For next school year, which will just transition right into the summer, my goals are to continue to focus on SSRW with the boys, finish our math games and advanced learning workbook and move onto Saxon 2, focus on fun science experiments. I have some really cool books that are all based on experiments that can be done in the kitchen. Also, to continue with our world geography study. I found something called Passports, where you can pay $11/month and the will send you passport stamps, info about a particular country , post card, etc.... I am contemplating whether this is something I want to sign up for or just recreate myself. Also, I want to focus much more on Spanish. For someone that is fluent in the language, I struggle with out to adequately teach my children the "idioma" . Also,with Jay turning 6, I would like to start piano with him, focus more heavily on history which I believe that Konos History will play a role in this......oh my, there is so much I want to incorporate....engineering activities from a blog that I found, way more bible, art, etc...

Homeschooling is amazing...now that I have done it a year, I cannot even imagine sending my child to a school that would dictate what curriculum would be used and how it would be taught. I am so thankful for living in a country that gives parents that power to chose for their child. Thank you God!