Same with us. Our parish in TN was one of the first to leave. Now I live in the same town as Caraway in CA <waving HI!> and there are NO ACNA churches nearby. She isn't kidding when she says "We live in a very liberal area. There are LOTS of UU type church experiences. We do not have any local churches with that grand traditional feel or sense of history." Needless to say, we haven't found a church "home" yet and we've been here for almost 2 years. Anyhow, Caraway...if you happen to be at park day on Friday, we can chat more about it then. I may have a few ideas for you. If not, I'll get a hold of you another way! :001_smile: Here is the site to a Reformed Episcopal Church we have visited a few time.

Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts. Ben is resting in the arms of Jesus now. Please continue to pray for Steph and Dave as they make arrangements and try to adjust to life without him being there.

My first grader liked: Louis Pasteur Marie Curie And ALL of Jean Fritz's books All of the D'Aulaire's books too

We LOVED working through Super Science Concoctions this past year. Great experiments with easy explanations. *I* learned a lot too!

:grouphug:

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and good thoughts. :grouphug: It has been quite a rollarcoaster of emotions for them. Dave (Ben's Dad) specifically asked for prayer for him and Steph as they try to continue to stay strong and positive. He talked about "letting God work in His own time". Their faith is strong, but they have their weak moments. Yesterday, Ben *finally* responded to some of the neuro tests. He coughed a bit and even twitched his arm. That was quite encouraging! Thanks to those of you who have posted on their carebridge site. I know those messages are encouraging them! I'm flying out there next weekend and will *finally* get to hug my cousin in person! :001_smile:

We're signed up through a charter school in CA. It has given us many opportunities to do things, learn things, and use things we may otherwise had never had the chance to do, learn, or use. Some people think it's "selling out" to the PS system, but it's a good opportunity for us. Especially having to live on a grad. student stipend. In exchange for... *meeting with an accredited teacher every 3 weeks (she comes to my house) *taking the standardized test (which is possible to get out of) *completing a writing assignment the school sets up (also possible to get out of) *piecing together a very simple portfolio of the boys' work We get... *a large amount of money to use for curricula (secular), supplies, games, books, activities, supplemental items like Discovery Streaming,ect. *to participate in great classes (fencing, rock climbing, drama, art, Latin, swim lessons, ect) *to attend plays and musicals and visit museums. I lucked out and got a great adviser who believes in homeschooling (she is a homeschool mom herself!) and does not push PS standards on me AT ALL. She supports my decisions 100% and leaves me alone (I like that!). Like I said, it's a great situation for *us*.

:grouphug: Fireworks sound like a great way of honoring his life! :grouphug:

Thank you, again, for praying for my family. They are overwhelmed with the amount of people praying for them! :001_smile: He had surgery yesterday to put a tube into his head/brain to drain fluid to help relieve some of the pressure. They were able to do an MRI last night and discovered he had a stroke in the left side of his brain that affected the right side of his body and his speech. Due to the swelling, which is supposed to peak today or tomorrow, they will not know the extent of it. As I am typing this, they are trying to take him off some of his meds to wake him up to do some more neurological tests. He is still not breathing on his own. If you would like to receive updates and see pics of this sweet boy, you can visit his caringbridge site. I know they would appreciate "hearing" a message from those who are praying! :001_smile:

Benjo Update: They didn't do the neurological tests today. Doing minor surgery & putting a tube in to drain fluid which will relieve pressure. Then they'll do a MRI. Dr's say it'll be 5-7 days before they really know the extent of damage (or lack of!) Keep the prayers coming. Miracles happen in small steps or giant leaps...we'll take either! **Thanks, again, for praying for my family!**:001_smile:

He made it through another night! Here is what my cousin posted on FB: "Ben is going for another CT Scan now. He has had 3 and each has shown some improvement. So pray that this one would be more of the same. His swelling went down a little but it tends to rise when he goes for these scans, pray for comfort and peace during the scan and that he would continue to respond to the medicine they give to help bring the swelling down. Thank you for pray for us through this nightmare." And this: "Keep praying. The swelling in his brain is up so pray for some relief of swelling. The doctors say that peek swelling is 3-4 days- we are not quite at two. So continue to pray for a miracle as only God decides what happens with my baby Ben." I am really worried about my cousin, too. The hospital they flew him to is little over an hour away and she left her other 3 kids with friends/family. Her oldest is 6 and diabetic so I know she is worried about him. She has a 4 yo and just gave birth 2 mo. ago and is nursing. Thank you all for lifting my family up! The prayers have been felt! :grouphug:

Steph. Her 22 mo. son, Ben, is in critical condition after finding him tangled in a mini blind cord. He is in a drug induced coma and is not responding to the neurological tests. They are having a bedside prayer vigil at 9 pm central time tonight. Please join me in praying for a miracle! Thank you.

:grouphug: I am so sorry to hear this.

We school the 3 R's 4 days a week, leaving Friday as more of a "fun day". We school year round, but summers are a lot lighter...mainly math, reading, and fun projects. As far as when we take off, I can't really say. We take off whenever we feel we need a break...like this week! :001_smile: My dh is in grad school, so we kind of follow his break schedule. We don't take off lots of time all at once, but more like a few days here and there. We really need the routine, but are able to be flexible...make sense? For instance...We traveled to WA for Christmas so we took two weeks off. We didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving, so we just took off that Th and F. Didn't take a week for spring break, only a few days. This summer we will be visiting my family in IA for a month, but we'll still do math and phonics. This week we have family coming and it's my ds's birthday, so we are taking the whole week off. We just take breaks when we need to!:001_smile:

Same here. There are 4 of us in what we call our "Little Tiny Baby Pretend House"...594 sq ft. student housing. It's tough, but we make it work. Our books (dh is an English PhD student so he has a lot too), supplies, ect have taken over everything, but the key for us is to make it not visible and to rotate our current items with items we don't need at that particular time. We have a large storage unit with doors (for our current curricula/books) in our living/dining room as well as a large open book case for our more "prettier" books. The boys have a bookcase in their room and 1/2 their closet (its quite large actually) is homeschool storage containing a bookcase (quiet time activity books, books/curricula we aren't using, games, ect.) with a 3 drawer plastic "dresser" on top (math manipulatives, nicer art supplies, logic/card games). I also have a filing cabinet in there full of items I have printed off, school files, ect. The top of the closet has shelves that I have stored more books and stuff. In the kitchen is a large dresser that holds all of our craft and every day art supplies. Drawers are filled with paint supplies, paper, google eyes, markers, ect. And finally, there are baskets scattered throughout the "house" that hold books. Hope this helps!:001_smile:

Just wanted to bump this up. We did it last year and I just registered again for this year. :001_smile:

I have a third grader now who does some subjects with his younger brother. We "school" 4 days a week leaving Friday as our "fun day". We get our work done before lunch and tend to go year round, taking breaks when we need to. Here is what our weekly schedule looks like: History: 2x week, alternating with science. Lots of read alouds, projects, notebooking, narrations, and a book he is assigned to read every week. Science: 2x week, alternating with history. Lots of read alouds, experiments, narrations, and notebooking. Math: every day, 2x a day. We do this first thing in the morning, learning a new concept or reviewing an old one. We're using MM Blue series and usually do two pages in the a.m. Later in the morning, we do another page, play some of our many games, and/or read a "living" math book. Spelling: every day Writing: We're using IEW. Mon. watch video with me. Tues. work on keyword outline Wed. write rough draft Thurs. edit with me and write final draft Fri. work on final draft if needed Grammar: every day Handwriting: every day We just started using HWT cursive. Reading: He reads ALL. THE. TIME. :willy_nilly: Fun Day Friday: Artist/Picture Study Composer Study Art Instruction/project Finish history/science projects park day with homeschool group Activities: Fencing 1x wk Drama 2x week (play rehearsal) AWANA 1x week

I'll have a second grader next year working on some subjects with his fourth grade brother. We do a four day school week leaving Friday for our "Fun Day". We also pretty much school year round taking breaks whenever we need (sometimes that is a month in the summer though!) Here is what his schedule will look like...probably: History: 2x wk, alternating with Science. I am piecing together our American History study using Homeschool in the Woods TT Early 19th Century cd as a spine. We'll read, do narrations, complete projects, and add to our notebook. Science: 2x wk, alternating with Hsitory. I am piecing together my own Human Body unit as well as Earth science. We'll read, do narrations, complete projects, and add to our notebooks. Math: Every day, 2x a day. We start our day with math and then do some more later in the morning. Not exactly sure which one I am going to use as a spine, but we'll use Math Mammoth Blue Series and RS Level D. We do a couple worksheets, play games, and read math books. Language Arts: Every day. I have had to revamp his whole language arts as I believe he is dyslexic. We'll work through ABeCeDarian Level B and read the I Am Sam books. This will include spelling too. We'll also continue WWE and FLL. Handwriting: Every day. Handwriting without Tears cursive. Friday Fun Day: Artist/picture Study Composer Study Art Instruction Finish History/Science Projects Math Games and Math Reading Park Day w/homeschool group Activities: Either gymnastics or fencing AWANA

I had tears this morning because they WANTED to do more! :001_smile: I keep hearing things like: "Oh boy! This is fun!" "I can't wait to learn all of the letters so I can write my work in cursive." "This isn't school work!" Yay! So glad I decided to can trying to correct their manuscript writing and just start teaching them cursive the HWT cursive font!

Most of the games I can think of right now are for math since that is what we are spending a lot of our time playing. Some of our favorites include: Zeus on the Loose Count Across Count Down Math Noodlers Sequence Dice Cubes Snap it Up! Some others: Stratego Chess Monopoly Yatzee Boggle Battleship This site has a lot to look at with great descriptions. :001_smile:

One Small Square books Super Science Concoctions :001_smile:

I LOVE how you have your kids narrate their week! What a great idea! :001_smile:

Mine is up. We did a fun project inspired by Monet's water lilies I saw in the blogosphere. Can't remember whose blog though. :blushing: Link in siggy... Hope everyone has a great weekend! :001_smile: ETA: The great project was blogged about here! She has a lot of great ideas!

In a word...YES!!! :thumbup:

I had ds9 doing RS Level C and we stopped around lesson 70 or so. He didn't have his subtraction facts down at all and I didn't "get" how I was supposed to teach them. Ds 6 just finished Level B so rather than have him start Level C, I switched both boys to Math Mammoth. I purchased the Blue Series and we just finished Subtraction 1 and moving into Add & Sub 2A next week. I am so glad I did. They both have a good grasp on the add and subtraction facts through learning the facts families. We've also been playing LOTS of games...Zeus on the Loose, Count Down, Count Across (our favorite this week), ect. that cement those facts. Oh, and the free version of Timez Attack is going to make multiplication a little easier. Don't get me wrong...I am a HUGE fan of RS. I will probably continue with Level D and supplement with MM next year. Or may continue with MM and supplement with RS. I don't know. :confused: Anyhow, I know I didn't answer your question about C building on D, but I hope our experience helped in some way. :001_smile: