Saturday, January 10, 2009

New year and new update

Please forgive me for not posting on this blog as regularly as I should. I must admit, I was having a great time celebrating Christmas and the New year with my family, and just got lazy. But things have returned to normal, the kids are back in school and all the sparkling Christmas lights and decorations are put away for another year; as are all the calorie-laden candy and cookies, hopefully!

Dave has been making a weekly trek to Cedars Sinai, and we are ecstatic to report that all is going extremely well. He saw Dr. Stanley Jordan last week, who is the head of the transplant program and the pioneer of the anti-rejection method used on Dave prior to surgery. A genius of a man! His take was that most organ rejections occur during the first two months after surgery. Dave's official two month marker will be 1.18, and ironically that will also be our 17th wedding anniversary!

He is now going to LA once every other week.

Dave has been enjoying his time off to recouperate. I have had to restrain myself from giving him a list of projects these last two weeks, since he is looking and acting so well, again. I have a verrrryyyy long list. :)

While we are so blessed to live in an age where there are so many medical advancements, we do give all credit and glory to our heavenly Father! He has blessed us so greatly!!

Thank you, once again, for your continued prayers and love.

Happy New Year!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Home Schooling Stats

I thought this was an interesting article, sent to me by a friend. ....and yes, we are just a little bit "strange". :)

More Students Make Themselves at Home
A new report from the Department of Education's National Center for Statistics says that homeschooling is growing so quickly that it can hardly be called an exception to the educational rule. Since 1999, the number of students taught at home has increased by a whopping 74 percent! As the population of homeschoolers swells, so too do the positive results. According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), homeschoolers continue to earn higher marks than their public school peers. Dr. Brian Ray of NHERI found that on average, children who learn at home score at least 15 percent higher-and in some instances 30 percent higher-than the K-12 public school average. But academic achievement isn't the only reason families favor homeschooling. The most popular motive for educating children at home, according to the DOE's survey, was concern for the negative influence of public school. Eighty-three percent of parents also cited "a desire to provide religious or moral instruction." As a homeschooling parent myself, I understand the desire to give children an environment that affirms traditional values. The government has eliminated God from the classroom and too often replaced Him with an anti-life, anti-family curriculum that misses life's deepest meaning. Also, more and more parents are finding that homeschooling better suits the educational needs of their children. It's low-cost, time-efficient, flexible, and conducive to creativity. FRC is considering the possibility of providing online seminars for homeschooling families. If this would be a helpful tool for your family, please let us know by emailingcorrespondence@frc.org. Additional Resources WorldNetDaily: Homeschooling goes boom in America