Could this adorable boy be your son?--more info added

Philip

Look at that smile!  How adorable and handsome!

This awesome young man needs a mother and father to love him unconditionally and forever.  Phillip’s special need is a spinal tumor and scoliosis.  He is in a wheelchair, paraplegic and incontinent.  The more important part is to remember how special this young man is.  His Chinese name is Li Rui, from Hanzhong orphanage, his birthday is June 7, 1999, and he came to us in September of 2009 after having a surgery on his back.  He came already speaking English and continues to improve with each class.  Phillip loves legos, transformers, fried rice and fried chicken.  He is loyal to his friends, is a good brother and a natural leader.  He loves back rubs and snuggling on the couch.  His smile is contagious and he is competitive.  His upper body works fine, He can change diapers on his own, feeds himself, bascially he can do everything with his hands like other people do, he can shower himself, he can't bend over nor move from one place to another on his own, he needs help to put on and take off his brace

  Philip's time to find a family is running out.  He's already 11 years old and if he isn't adopted by the time he turns 14, he will never know the love and joy of a family to call his own.  His original orphanage has not done his adoption paperwork, but they have told SFCV that if a family comes forward to adopt him, they will do his paperwork!  Please search your heart and see if you might be this young man's family.    If you have any questions or would like to adopt Philip, please contact me and I'll put you in touch with the SFCV liasons. 

Not Back to School Blog Hop: School Room week!

This week, we're sharing a glimpse into our homeschool rooms at the:

This is a hard one for me.  Although we have plenty of rooms for a school room, I don't like school being separate from life.  Life is learning and learning is life.  

Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

(Charlotte Mason)

That said, this is our FAVORITE room of the house:  our sunroom!  During most of the year, we have a fabulous view of the outside.   During the winter, we snuggle up in front of warm cozy fire and read. 

If you pass through the door at the far end of the sunroom, this is the "room" you'll walk into 

(and NO, it's not always this neat):

 I don't know if it actually qualifies as a room.  It's about a double wide hallway at one end and single wide at the other.  We had these shelves built to hold our supplies from year to year.  I have been going through them and trying to get rid of things I know I'm not going to use (as in I have held on to them for years and still haven't used them!)  The more I get into Charlotte Mason, the less hold textbooks have over me and I'm able to prune the shelves.


We also LOVE being outside when the weather is bearable.  Sometimes we sit under the cabana to the left, butour favorite thing to do outside is to spread a blanket by the swingset (far right) and swing and read and listen to audio books.  This is also our view from the sunroom!



We are trying to sell our home and move to our BLR house.  We sometimes spend weeks there and so school comes with us.  This is our home school room there.  Sorry this picture was right after it was built, so it's lacking some character!

and our outside classroom at the river!

So where do you homeschool?

What "curriculum" am I using this year?

I know this is a popular topic, one that every homeschooler goes through yearly!  I love that I have settled into the Charlotte Mason philosophy and that my school years seem to get easier and easier to schedule.  Books and lots of them!  Don't feel overwhelmed when you see the quantity of books we use.  We don't use them every day and we may not even use the whole book (that is OKAY!)                           

After you check out our year, hop on over to 

Not Back to School Blog Hop:  Curriculum Week  

to see what other families are using!

This chart shows each child, the subjects, and what they're using:

Subject	Connor	Jacob	Shaoey & Grace
Bible	One chapter a day	One chapter a day	Bible story a day
Devotions	Streams in the Desert	Streams in the Desert for Kids	ABC Vible Verses
Bible Study	Preparing for Spiritual Leadership	Increasing in Wisdom	------------------------------
Scripture Memory	Simply Charlotte Mason                               Scripture Memory pack	Simply Charlotte Mason                               Scripture Memory pack	ABC Vible Verses
Literature	Read and narrate independently	Independent Reading	Learning to read
Math	Saxon 8/7	Saxon 6/5	MUS Primer
Language	Analytical Grammar	Jr. Analytical Grammar	Language Lessons for Little Ones
Spelling	SpellingWisdom2	SpellingWisdom1	------------------------------
Copywork	SpellingWisdom2	SpellingWisdom1	------------------------------
Dictation	SpellingWisdom2	SpellingWisdom1	------------------------------
Writing			------------------------------
History	Module 4:Famous Men of the                              Renaissance and Reformation	Module 4:Famous Men of the                              Renaissance and Reformation	------------------------------
	American History                                               Module 5 or Beautiful Feet	American History                                               Module 5 or Beautiful Feet	------------------------------
Science	Nature Journal &        Apologia General Science	Nature Journal &        Apologia General Science	Nature Journal
Poet of the year	Robert Browning	Robert Browning	Robert Browning
Composers	Liszt, Schubert, Verdi,                                                 Brahms, Debussy, Shostakovich	Liszt, Schubert, Verdi,                                                 Brahms, Debussy, Shostakovich	Liszt, Schubert, Verdi,                                                 Brahms, Debussy, Shostakovich
Artists	Michaelangelo, Ansel Adams, Vermeer, Homer, Picasso	Michaelangelo, Ansel Adams, Vermeer, Homer, Picasso	Michaelangelo, Ansel Adams, Vermeer, Homer, Picasso
Hymn Study	Hymns for a Kid’s Heart	Hymns for a Kid’s Heart	Hymns for a Kid’s Heart
Latin	Latina Christiana	Latina Christiana	Songschool Latin
Logic	The Fallacy Detective	The Fallacy Detective

This one shows how often we do each subject:

Subject	Times per week
Bible	Daily
Devotions	Daily
Scripture Memory	Daily
History	Daily
Literature	Daily
Math	Daily
Copywork	Daily
Language	Daily for 11 weeks
Spelling	T/Th
Dictation	T/Th
Writing	1 x week
Bible Study	1 x week
Nature Study/Science	1 x week
Poetry	1 x week
Composer	1 x week
Artist	1 x week
Hymn Study	1 x week
Latin	1 x week
Logic	1 x week
Art	1 x week
Missionary Stories	1 x week
Book of Virtues	1 x week
Parables From Nature	1 x week

And lastly, this is what this term (6 weeks) looks like, what we HOPE to accomplish.  This is just a guide.  I have learned that it is ok to not get to it all.  It can always be reevaluated, moved back, or dropped if it's not working for us!  It serves us, not rules us!  (Sorry for the extra space.  Green is my 12 year old's independent work, and red is my 10 year old's.)

	Week 7                 Aug. 2-6	Week 8                 Aug. 9-13	Week 9             Aug.  16-20	Week 10                Aug. 23-27	Week 11                                  Aug. 30-Sept.  3	Week 12                                Sept.  6-9
Scripture Memory             Daily	SCM Scripture Memory System          M  T  W  T  F	SCM Scripture Memory System           M  T  W  T  F	SCM Scripture Memory System          M  T  W  T  F	SCM Scripture Memory System          M  T  W  T  F	SCM Scripture Memory System          M  T  W  T  F	SCM Scripture Memory System           M  T  W  T  F
History:                             Middle Age, Renaissance, Reformation, & Epistles                  Daily	Read/Narrate/BOC                  70                                 71                                   72                                        74                                  73	Read/Narrate/BOC                                                  75                                76                                   77                                        79                                  78	Read/Narrate/BOC              80                                 81                                   82                                        84                                  83	Read/Narrate/BOC              85                                 86                                   87                                        89                                  88	Read/Narrate/BOC                90                                 91                                   92                                        94                                  93	Read/Narrate/BOC             95                                 96                                   97                                        99                                  98
Monday                                          Latina Christiana	Lesson 5	Lesson 6	Lessson 7	Lesson 8	Lesson 9	Lesson 10
Monday           Artist           Ansel Adams
Tuesday                   The Book of Virtures for Young People	The Sword of Damocles      p. 104	The 10 Commandments       p. 107	A Time to Talk           p. 113	Childhood and Poetry p. 113	Damon and Pythias  p. 115	Hellen Keller and Anne Sullivan p. 118
Wednesday                                         Logic--Fallacy Detectives	Lesson 6:                 Ad Hominem	Lesson 7:          Genetic Fallacy	Lesson 8:                 Tu Quoque	Lesson 9:               Faulty Appeal to Authority	Lesson 10:        Appeal to the People	Lesson 11:          Straw Man
Wednesday Missionary Stories with the Millers	Ch. 24       Raymond L. Bush	Ch. 25           Ralph Palmer	Ch. 26         Roman and Amanda Mullet	Ch. 27             Alvin Schlabach	Ch. 28 Alvin Frey	Conclusion  Ralph Hartman
Thursday   Composer	Schubert	Schubert	Schubert	Schubert	Schubert	Schubert
Thursday                Art	Lesson 6	Lesson 7	Lesson 8	Lesson 9	Lesson 10	Lesson 11
Friday                 Nature Study	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal	Journal
Friday                Hymns For A Kid’s Heart	Amazing Grace	The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want	Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart	Take My Life and Let it Be	America the Beautiful	Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
Friday                  Poetry	Favorite Poems Old and New	Favorite Poems Old and New	Favorite Poems Old and New	Favorite Poems Old and New	Favorite Poems Old and New	Favorite Poems Old and New
Bible & Devotions                       Streams in the Desert                 Daily	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F	One chapter and devotion                    M   T   W   T  F
Bible Study for Connor                           Spiritual Leadership:  A Bible-based Study for Young Men                     1 lesson/week	Lesson 7	Lesson 8	Lesson 9	Lesson 10	Lesson 11	Lesson 12
Connor’s Math                                          Saxon 8/7                                    Daily                  (2 days/lesson)	L. 52, 52, 53, 53, 54	L. 54, 55, 55, 56, 56	L.57, 57, 58, 58, 59	L. 59, 60, 60, Investigation6, 61,	L. 61, 62, 62, 63, 63	L. 64, 64, 65, 65
Connor’s History Reading                  Daily                               -------------------Magna Charta          &                               In Freedom’s Cause	M:  p.55-61                     T:   p. 63-68                     W:  p. 69-76                          Th: p. 77-85	M:  p.87-99               T:   p. 100-108                     W:  p. 109-115                      Th: p. 116-121	M:  p.122-130              ------------------            In Freedom’s Cause                    T:   Ch. 1                   W:  Ch. 2                       Th: Ch. 3	M:  Ch. 4                   T:   Ch. 5                      W:  Ch. 6                           Th: Ch. 7	M:  Ch. 8                   T:   Ch. 9                      W:  Ch. 10                           Th: Ch. 11	M:  Ch. 12                   T:   Ch.  13                    W:  Ch. 14                          Th: Ch. 15
Language                    Analytical Grammar                   Daily for 11  weeks	Unit 7                        M  T  W  T  F	Unit 8                        M  T  W  T  F	Unit 9                        M  T  W  T  F	Unit 10                      M  T  W  T  F	Unit 11                      M  T  W  T  F
Spelling/Dictation                      Spelling Wisdom2                         T/Th	Ex. 31, 32	Ex. 33, 34	Ex. 35, 36	Ex. 37, 38	39, 40	Ex. 41, 42
Bible & Devotions                       Streams in the Desert                 Daily	One chapter and devotion                    M    T    W    T    F	One chapter and devotion                     M    T    W    T    F	One chapter and devotion                    M    T    W    T    F	One chapter and devotion                    M    T    W    T    F	One chapter and devotion                    M    T    W    T    F	One chapter and devotion                      M    T    W    T    F
Bible Study for Jacob  Increasing in Wisdom  Daily	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F	One page/day           M  T  W  T  F
Jacob’s Math                                           Saxon 6/5                                  Daily (2 days/lesson)	15, 15, 16, 16, 17	17, 18, 18, 19, 19	20, 20, 21, 21, 22	22, 23, 23, 24, 24	25, 25, 26, 26, 27	27, 28, 28
Jacob’s History Reading                  Daily              --------------------The World of Columbus and Sons	T:  p. 5-10                   W: p. 11-13                  Th: p. 14-18	M:  p.19-20               T:   p. 21-23                    W:  p. 24-28                    Th: p. 129-35	M:  p. 36-40               T:   p. 41-47                 W:  p. 48-51                  Th: p. 52-55	M:  p .57-59                T:   p. 60-64                 W:  p. 65-68                    Th: p. 69-75	M:  p. 76-78               T:   p. 79-81                   W:  p. 82-86                    Th: p. 91-94	M:  p. 95-100             T:   p. 101-104                   W:  p. 105-109                 Th: p. 110-114
Spelling/Dictation                      Spelling  Wisdom 1                         T/Th	35, 36	37, 38	39, 40	41, 42	43, 44	45, 46
Language                    Analytical Grammar                   Daily for 11  weeks	Unit 4--5               M  T  W  T  F	Unit 5--6                   M  T  W  T  F	Unit 6--7                   M  T  W  T  F	Unit 7--8                   M  T  W  T  F	Unit 8--9             M  T  W  T  F	Unit 9-10            M  T  W  T  F

(Sorry, I know the last column is cut off, but I think you get a pretty good idea of what we hope to get done.)

We do 6 week terms with 3 weeks off.  These are pretty flexible.  For example, we should be back "at school" today, but we have friends visiting, so we'll start our second term next week.  Friendships and relationships are an extremely valuable part of life!  

God bless!