Thank you so much for taking the time to type out your experience. So glad to hear it works for you.

Wonderful. Thank you for the link.

Hi there! I'm looking into different healthcare options for our family. Does anyone have experience with Samaritan Ministries? Have you had difficulties with finding providers who will wait for payment? Have you ever had people NOT send you their share? How was it handled? How do medications work? I have a son who gets an allergy shot a month. Am I correct in understanding we would pay for the shot (approx. $60) but the members of SM would cover the remix (once a year $1800) Has it been a good experience for you? Thanks!

Thank you for this info! It's fantastic to see many of you mentioning great areas to live. It eases my anxiety a bit.

Thanks so much for the links! I know what my day is going to consist of. :)

Thanks for the yahoo info.! My membership is pending. :) I have found a few places on craigslist in Playa Vista that are reasonable. We've been told that the best way to find a place to rent is to just drive around, look for signs, and call. We're looking in to staying in temp. type housing when we first get there so we can be more sure of a place and not be locked into a lease.

Wow! So much information! Thank you! We will be renting an apartment as buying a house isn't an option yet. Really appreciate your insight as far as neighborhoods go. We have been told that a particular street could be a safe place to live but a few blocks down it's not. Checking them out during all times of the day is a great idea. The largest city I have lived in is Nashville and that isn't too big. This is definitely going to be a change. SO excited about being near the beach! Oh...thought of another question...What areas do we want to avoid as far as hearing LAX traffic? Thanks! :)

Thanks for your input. Family friendly is a must for us. I'll check out the metrolink. Fortunately, he'll be able to work from home a bit except for June-Aug.

Hey there! There is a VERY good chance we will be moving from N. CA to LA (Westside...Santa Monica, Culver City). Currently we are signed up with a charter school in our area and are looking to sign up with Sky Mountain Charter School once we are there. However, are there others I should consider? Co-ops? I'd love for the boys to be able to attend classes...not just enrichment type classes like gymnastics and theater because we'll have that covered. What about active homeschool groups that offer park day, field trips, etc.? Also, any other information you could give about the area would be lovely. The job is in Santa Monica, but unfortunately we won't be able to afford to live there. :( I've been looking at Culver City/Palms area. Would the commute be awful from Manhattan/Redondo Beach area? I've read that Hawthorne and Inglewood should be avoided...is that true? Thanks so much for your insight!

My boys and I really enjoyed A Pioneer Sampler by Barbara Greenwood. There is a narrated story as you follow a pioneer family from 1840 throughout their daily life and then it goes into detail about specifics such as milking, dying wool, threshing, storing corn, etc. There are directions for activities and projects as well. The illustrations are lovely. ETA: We also enjoyed Sign of the Beaver and Once Upon this Island.

NOEO Chemistry was a favorite here! Loved the book selections and the experiments were a lot of fun.

My boys, who are avid readers of history, didn't like the books too much, BUT we got the videos from Netflix and they are fantastic!

Hey there! I'm looking to use History Odyssey vol. 2 Middle Ages with Human Odyssey or the Oxford Press series. Does anyone have a schedule they are willing to share that has matched the topics up? I realize that it probably took hours to do so I'd be willing to send cookies or pumpkin bread. :001_wub: Thanks! Brittney :001_smile:

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We enjoyed Patty Reed's Doll. After we finished reading it, we went to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento and saw the doll. It was pretty cool.

I am not sure about being able to take classes at the ps, but you can sign up with a charter school and receive $$ for classes, supplies, and curricula as long as it is non-sectarian. You'll have to meet with a certified teacher periodically and take standardized tests, but if you aren't opposed to that sort of thing, I would encourage you to look into it.

:iagree:We are enrolled in the same program and it could not have been a better choice for us. My boys have been able to take classes they never would have been able to if it had not been for the funding. I feel blessed to have the options. My adviser is a believer, homeschools her own child, and does not push the PS agenda on me. She knows better and does not believe in it. Granted, not all advisers are like that. There are ways around standardized testing if you don't want to do it. The school frowns upon it and will try guilting you into it, but there are ways around it. For me, we do it, but we don't prepare for it in any way. I'm not concerned with their scores.

If you decide to go to Sutter's Fort, be sure to read Patty Reed's Doll before you go. It's a true story of her family's journey West and her doll is preserved in the Fort! My boys thought it was cool to see it. Old Sacramento is pretty cool, but FULL of kitchy shops. Try to schedule a docent to talk with you at the Wells Fargo bank. It was the final stop of the Pony Express. There is also an underground tour you could look in to. The Railroad Museum is great and they offer rides on a steam train weekends during the summer. :001_smile:

My plan so far: History/Lit/Geography/Projects: TOG Y2 Dialectic; but we're going to start the year off reading Augustus Caesar's World by Foster since we won't get to Rome this year. Science: Apologia...Swimming Creatures Math: TT6-7 (partly), Math Mammoth for reinforcement, LoF for fun Language Arts: MCT Town (we're behind a bit), throwing in some R&S grammar, IEW Theme Based Writing, Phonetic Zoo (spelling), Wordly Wise Vocabulary, Editor in Chief Bible: The Picture Smart Bible (NT)...I think. Art: a hodge-podge of stuff Outside Activities and Classes: Drama/Acting classes and hopefully cast in a play, Carpentry, Lego Engineering, Tennis, Public Speaking, AWANA, and some others I can't think of now.

I wish! I'll be hitting the double digits. :svengo: Thanks for the birthday wishes!

We're taking the day off to celebrate! :001_smile: (It's my birthday! :party:)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang State Fair Bedknobs and Broomsticks (there is "magic" in it if you don't want to expose your kids to that sort of thing) Mary Poppins

We school at the kitchen table, which is actually in the Living Room since our apartment is soooooooo small (594 sq. ft.). It was important for us to not feel like we were living in a school so we have all of our books and supplies in stackable cabinets with doors. I needed it out of sight in order to not be in "homeschool mode" all day long. We also have two large-ish bookshelves in the boys' small room and another bookshelf on one side of their large closet.

Hey there: I am signing my ds 8 up for the MARR next year. Could someone point me to or send me the list of books that are scheduled in the lessons? I know they are optional, and I am pretty sure we are opting to do them. I'd like to start collecting them now. Thank you! :001_smile:

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