Our Latest Sensory Boxes

Spring Has Sprung and Ocean Fun are our two latest sensory boxes. I have changed my set up a bit and I am finding these to be much more user friendly.

As you can see we have lots of scoops and funnels and pots to plant things in. There are magnifying glasses and bugs galore. The dirt in this box and the sand in the other are made from a mix of wheat flour and baby oil. You just dump in a bag of flour and work in oil till it is the desired consistency. It feels a little like wet sand. I adore it because it holds shape for building castles and cleans up so easy. It also smells wonderful.



Our Ocean Fun box is half "sand" in the form of flour/oil and half aquarium rock. I got a piece of coral from the aquarium section of Walmart and some sea creatures and buckets from a discount bin at the craft store. I also got a tube for added fun.


I used to use a shoe box sized tub in an attempt to keep them on the table top but it was not working for us. Little hands got frustrated in such small spaces and the tubs ended up spilling. Also with so many kids in the house they all inevitably want to play and there is just not enough room for that in a small box. I upgraded to three large thin tubs from Walmart. They are just what we needed.





I found these adorable monkey rugs at Target in the dollar section. I bought four and put them around the tub. The rule is you pick a spot and stick to it. everything in the tub stays in the tub. Period. Spills are ok and inevitable. The box is about exploring and fun, but no throwing or dumping allowed. Also no taking the toys elsewhere to vanish into the abyss.

Our New Classroom

Our new house has a big room off the kitchen that was perfect for a classroom. It has huge built in bookcases that go from floor to ceiling. It is bright and sunny thanks to a sliding door that leads to our backyard.

I planned and planned this room so it would function as a inspiring learning environment. What we ended up with surpassed my expectations. We all love this room. In fact we could probably do away with the rest of the house. It is so amazing when your classroom is your favorite room!!!

This wall is made up of the largest and smallest "EXPEDIT" units from Ikea. They are perfect size for storing all of our learning tools and keeping then visible so we remember to use them! I did not have a red and black theme in mind when i started it just developed over time and I love the way it turned out. It is so inviting and vibrant.

All of our manipulative's are labeled and in hands reach so the kids are putting them to good use and remind me to use them as well.


I got these inexpensive file holders at Office Depot. They are the perfect size to hold all of our centers and lapbooks and our "Letter Of the Week" that we love, from Confessions Of A Homeschooler.

Our table is really two tables put together. They are small table tops from Ikea with red metal legs attached. The chairs I got from our school district. If you homeschool the property control staff at your school district should be on speed dial. I have gotten chairs, tables, desks, rolling carts, projectors and more from them over the years for pennies on the dollar. It has been a huge budget saver. These chairs were an ugly blue. I paid $2. each and spray painted them red to match my decor. For $15.00 I got 5 beautiful chairs!

You can just make out our easel and reading corner in the back there. We have big red throw pillows we use for reading time and the easel gets a ton of action every day!



This is our calendar area and white board for our "All About Reading" and "All About Spelling" We also have our map displayed here for our Geography. We use a combination of "Little Passports", "Expedition Earth" and my own creations. I use the Little Passports only to introduce the country. It is not a school quality curriculum in my opinion and I was disappointed when it arrived on my doorstep. It has very cute items in it but the information is fluff. I immediately ordered Erica's Expedition Earth program and as usual have not been disappointed. We have made it stretch two years and we love it!

Each side of our calendar area is bordered by those built in's so we use them as book cases and for our computer. Wyatt does research for his history and geography projects and his Teaching Textbooks math program on the computer. My little ones do learning games for reinforcement and typing practice. We all do the homeschool version of Rosetta Stone Spanish here as well.

I made this little clock for the wall out of a $3.00 clock from Walmart. I saw the idea somewhere on Pintrest and fell in love. It is a great tool for learning to tell time.

Our sight word wall was also a Pinterest score. We all high five our sight words a few times a day. It just feels good!

So there you have it. Our favorite room. I even study in here!

San Diego

The last few months have been filled with upheaval for us. Daddy went on the road and we do not get to see him everyday anymore. We moved to a new house. Revamped school and I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. We have been very busy and had a few bouts with some gnarly illnesses. So, when Daddy called and asked if we wanted to come to San Diego to visit him and our extended family, we jumped!

My sister and her husband have a boat and we were fortunate enough to be invited to go out deep sea fishing for the day. What a fun adventure.

The kids were so excited. They had never been out in the open ocean in a boat before.

The baby was happier with Daddy in the cabin at first.


But after awhile she decide it was ok to lounge with me and soak up the California sun.


The bait fish proved to be way more fun than the actual act of fishing.

The kids decided to try to catch birds instead.





Anna decided she had no fear and was running all over the boat which caused me to be terrified and enjoy exactly zero relaxing in the sun!



Wyatt decided to be king of the world and had an absolute blast seeing how far he could hang out of the boat.




It was an amazing day and we were so blessed to get to experience it! Thank you Captain Matt.

The Beach

What a wonderful thing it is as a parent to watch your children experience the beautiful earth we live on. To see them wonder at God's creation. To see pure joy on their faces and sand on their feet.




There is no toy or T.V. program or video game that will leave the lasting memories that time well spent will. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be home with my children. To teach them myself. To watch them grow every step of the way.

Reno Children's Museum

My prayers have been answered Reno has a children's museum. Wait, it gets better, the family membership is $85. and for once in my life with a big family that covers all of the kids in your household! I was ecstatic!


The Da Vinci Corner has a clear canvas and arts and crafts area. Ava shut the place down and talked the assistants out of extra supplies to take home so she could keep crafting.

The Under The Stars exhibit is like camping outdoors at night. There are tents, gear and wildlife to touch and explore.
You can go fishing and dance in a digital stream too!
Playing in the 80 foot long model of the Truckee River is a huge hit.

So was climbing in the clouds although it gave me claustrophobia.

The Nevada Stories exhibit was interesting too with a ton of information and hands on learning about mining, the railroad and local Indian culture.

There is a lot more to see so we will be going again and again with my membership. The kids had a ball and the environment was clean and relaxing.

Christmas Tree Hunt

Our good friends invited us to go with them to cut down Christmas tress. I am normally opposed to cutting our own because I am a tree snob. The last time we cut one down it became the garage tree and I went and bought the perfect tree on a lot anyway.

We love our friends though so the chance to spend time together hiking in the snow was to good to pass up.

My beautiful daughter is a tree snob in training and said no to her fair share of picks this year. We finally found a absolutely beautiful tree in the worst location.

Jake was left to climb into the cluster of trees and chop it down.

As everyone was settling on their family tree our German Sheppards decided to get in a fight to the death. It was very random as they had been playing nice for hours up till that moment. Their female "Sara" growled at my male "Gator", and it was on. Thank goodness for David's cool head and mad dog skills. Gator had a death lock on Sara's neck and would not let go. Even after she submitted. He was set on killing her. David is a fit of super human strenght lifted both dogs over his head and body slammed Gator to the ground. After several more body slams and some serious domination Gator was David's new best friend. It was a tense moment to be sure and it will always be remembered around our Christmas tree.

*Note to self, up David's "street cred"*

When we finally got the trees down, hauled out and back to the house we realized how huge it really was! We had to cut it in half! I have to admit though it was the best tree we ever had. If not for the tree itself, for the memory of the hunt.

This is Mr. Dominant as soon as we walked in the door. his masculinity in question he opted for some cuddle time.

How Much Wood?

How much wood can a lumberjack chop if she has never chopped wood? A LOT!

After a few years of buying cords of wood to heat our house in the winter, we decided to pull tags and cut our own. Neither Robert or I had ever felled a tree much less chopped and hauled cords before. So we packed up the kids, the dog, some lunch and headed to the mountains.

I have to say it was a blast. I know I am a bit odd but I just loved it. It was so invigorating working out doors. The excitement and danger of felling trees was a huge contrast to the usual homestead work I am used to. It was thrilling.

Poor Rob couldn't get the chainsaw away from me. In actuality, it was all we could do to get it all done. It is amazing how much muscle it takes to get that power saw through a tree.

The kids loved it to and ran and played tag in the trees all day. Dirt, sticks and woodland flora are very underrated as playthings and I think boxes of sticks, dirt and pine cones might just be under my Christmas tree!



We hauled 6 foot logs home and I spent the next two weeks chopping and stacking 5 cords of wood.

The wood shed was packed so I had to make a second stack on the side of the house. I get all excited everytime I see it.