We used to do college interviews for many years and one question we liked to ask is: Do you think you had a hardship or challenges you had to overcome? What was it and what did it teach you?

I completely believe that alcoholism is a personality thing which is probably genetically determined as I believe all personalities are. That said, I don't need to protect the children who don't have that personality. My oldest two don't fit the bill. In fact, even though my oldest could and did have a beer or two in Europe where he was legal, he hasn't been drinking here where he isn't. My next older doesn't like the taste or the smell of alcohol. I still have to watch the youngest. I was on medication that prohibited alcohol but I am hoping to change it (not because the alcohol but because I have been getting very sick on it to include hospitalization). DH does drink various things and we cook with alcohol too. We model responsible drinking by no one getting drunk, by having normal behavior while drinking, and by never drinking and driving. No one on my side of the family was an alcoholic and one person on my husband's side. My dh says he knew there was a problem there way before the drink. It generally is a problem of no stop button.

MY dd took one class, honors psychology, when she had just turned 15. She is taking two one credit field geology classes now and she will be 16. SHe didn't get to take a class in spring semester because we moved to VA and she was not ond enough here. SHe is taking so little because she is already taking 6 credits at home and co-op and is involved in debate, soccer, 2 choirs, and probably volunteering too.

I agree about the foreign language. THat one is important for college. I think the music lessons can count for a credit or a half credit depending on time. WHy are you trying to do seven credits in a year/ Most kids take six. My dd will be taking more this year but she is super driven and one of her half credits will take basically two full days.

I call someone who is not of the normal polytheistic religions a pagan or else anyone who considers themselves a pagan. Thereby, I don't call Hindus pagans but do call various tribal polytheistic beliefs pagan. It isn't any type of hate word or derogatory word.

I always get the cart put back or in a very safe place like on the sidewalk near the store or behind barriers or else I have the store clerk or someone else take it. We are military so if we are there, the baggers do it. IF I am at Safeway or someplace like that, either I do it or more usually if I have kids, they do it. They have been doing it since they were about 7 or 8 so it has been at least 13 years since I had to do when I had kids in the car. Oh, I am handicapped and still do it (I am not in a wheelchair but do have arthritis affecting my feet also).

My older one did EPGY Algebra, Jacobs Geometry, tried FOerster's ALg 2 trig but didn't go all that far with it, and then did SAxon Advanced Algebra. He probably was only starting using ADvanced ALgebra (which he started more than half way through) when he took his SAT and ACT, He scored in the 700s on the SAT and I don't remember the ACT score but it was fairly good. The main deal is that he was a competent mathy person though not his strongest area. He did it when he was 15.

I started out using BJU Chemistry and she did about a quarter of the book with that. THen we switched to the Chemistry Self Teaching Guide. At first, I had to teach her anyway. She is now teaching herself and is understanding it well. She likes the self teaching Chemistry because it has questions and problems after every little point. She can't get distracted and lost.

I tend to discuss math, science, history and not literature. I love to hear people discuss and analyze literature but I am sadly lacking in that quality. Give me a math problem, a bill, or an issue to discuss any day.

I haven't bought an ALg 2 or Alg 2 trig program for my dd yet. SOmeone on a list suggested going on a website that has sample math videos and having our kids pick. I haven't done that yet but did notice that the Ask Dr. Callahan program was cheaper and did do both Alg 2 and Trig like I expected a program to do versus Chalkdust which is more expensive and has only ALg 2. My dd did Algebra 1 with the Jacobs book and while that is not Alg 2, it seems to go into Alg 2 territory more than many other books. She did very well in that. Any opinions?

I see that you wrote that she is medicated for ADHD. When was the last time you changed either the dose or the medication? I ask becaue it sounds like the medication isn't working well. My ADHD girl is doing very well now that her medication has been adjusted. Her ninth grade year was problematic both from the ADHD point and from her having a seven month long headache. She has now been on one medication for almost a year and it is working well and everything is even better since we added something for her for her hormonal issues.

Yes I would. I already register at state level so what is the difference? WE are military and our medical records say we homeschool too. I am proud of being a homeschooler and my students doing so well.

Please don't feel so badly about your daughter using textbooks. My youngest is a very by the book child and much more interested in science. Last year we did Calvert school and the one thing she really liked was the fact she had textbooks. SHe likes the accountability, she likes the regularity of it. I have devided not to fight it since I know she needs to concentrate on math and science. I try to find good textbooks and then I use talks with her to bring in more opinions or a different perspective. If you are fine with BJU's perspective, I recommend it also over ABEKA. Much more interesting.

This is why so many employers look at the reputation of the school and almost all graduate schools do. I do not think that Caluclus in required in high school. I do think that to be a competitive college student and go to a good school, you do need to be finished with pre-calc and be ready to take Calc. Do you need to take Calc? That depends on the school. SOme let hum majors take science instead, some have remedial classes in Algebra, some like community colleges are dumbed down, some take statistics or some alternate math class. But for the majority of social science, and physical and biological sciences, you need to take calculus in college. How much depends on your major- more for physical sciences, less for poly sci. However, if you are serious about getting ahead in your field, I would strongly suggest a year of even the easiest Calc for anyone in social science or bio science. So much of advanced research is now mathematically based and it is easier to learn at 18 then after college when you are struggling in grad school. In fact, the people who couldn't complete their MA in criminal justice were invariably those who didn't have the math skill for heavy duty stat. Do I think that a sixteen year old who is starting dual enrollment at cc needs Calc as a first math at that college- no. But I have now decided that I am crossing out colleges from my dd list if they do allow so called college algebra for math requirement foir anyone other than a hum major. At the college my dh and I attended, everyone except certain kids with math problems took calc and those ones had some kind of remedial class and they were very few in number and all were hum majors like English or some other language. The lowest level class with Algebra in its title was Linear ALgebra which was a more advanced class than Calculus.

I have three children and won't have any more natural children. I believe that this was God's plan for my family. He knew that not only that I have several chronic illnesses, but in his infinite knowledge, He knew my children would each one have serious medical problems that I would need to address and take care of and that more children would have lead to big problems for them, for me, or for the whole family. In His infinite kindness, He lead me for a much earlier age to have older interests that I get to do now as my children are older. I haven't had many regrets about more children.

I know that some of the laws are stupid. I had light, tall children at infancy. None of them made it through 12 months facing the back because they were too tall. They didn't weigh the weight but they were too tall. In terms of boosters, when we were using one of our cars, we couldn't get two boosters and one teen in the back. Now the older one was 8 or 9 but she went without a booster. We then put her in the middle so she wouldn't have the belt snapping her neck. At some point, my youngest grew too wide for her booster seat even though her weight wasn't there yet and neither was her height. She was nine then and I had to have her stop using it. We used pillows for a while till she grew a bit. THe youngest is now 100 lbs. and 5'1 so we are fine now. I am sorry but the parents who let their kids crawl and climb in the car are probably neglected parents outside the car too. Like that lady who had been drinking and smoking pot and drove her minivan the wrong way on the highway up in NY. SHe died, kids died, other car's passenger's died, and I don't think car seats made a difference since the car burned I believe.

I gave my daughter too much freedom last year and she is still working on finishing the year. SHe is a hard worker and doesn't goof off much but I will institute more general deadlines this year. Anything that had a deadline she did meet.

I wasn't disturbed by it and neither were my two older children. They were both 14 or 14 when they read it.

We don't have that problem but what I think is the problem is not the curriculum per se but not getting enough math before college to go into Calculus (which is the first class I consider College Math). Of all the major curriculums, I think they all either go through pre-calc or higher or else explicitly state that you will need to switch for more math.

Hi all, QUestion time for everyone-I am a INTJ married to an INTP. My career field before homeschooling was law enforcement with my degrees being in economics and Criminal Justice. My dd almost 16 is unsure of a career and since she is an INTJ too, I thought I would find out what other INTJs did before homeschooling. Oh and since there are so few of us percentage wise in the world, I thought we might commisserate too.

Literature is certainly enough for an English credit but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have writing too. Some people like to have a composition class for English one year and a class devoted to literature another. Presumably, if you are homeschooling and in charge of their education, you can make sure the child is writing in other classes like history in the year they don't have writing. This year, my daughter will be getting one credit for literature and another for an outside writing class she is taking. Both are considered English classes.

If you use a math tutor, make sure it is one who is good with people who aren't math people. Most people who become math tutors do so because they are great in math. In fact, they are so good in math that they may not understand what your child is having problems in. I remember when in sixth grade, a nun decided that since I was good in math, I should teach a girl who wasn't any good in math about decimals. To me, decimals were extremely easy. I couldn't wrap my head around what her problem was. I am just warning that there are tutors out there who are great at tutoring advanced kids but would not be a good fit for struggling learners.

Haven't decided yet. I am sure we will start by the Tuesday after Labor Day but may start sooner. I am still waiting on some material and we are going on a vacation/college road trip starting this Friday.

I would really recommend checking websites for cell phone coverage for the area you live in and any areas you plan to visit. We chose Verizon because we got the service when we were living on a Florida island. THe other carriers didn't have good service at all. In fact, I would have to laugh about the cell phone commercial where the lady has to go out by the trashcans to get service since that was us with our first service. Fortunately for us, Verizon still works and we don't have a contract and hope not to get one in case we move to an area it doesn't work.

If anything, I have become more normal as I aged and the longer I homeschooled. That is because I had old interests as a teenager and young adult and kept those interests. Now I am closer in age to people who hold the same interests (book clubs, birdwatching, gardening, going to museums and classical concerts, etc). I was always well received by the olders and continue to be so. But I am about as counter counter revolutionary as you can get. Boy Scouts, 4H, swim and dive, soccer, campaign for major party candidates, vaccinate (except Gardisil for now), etc. etc. We are really normal in the area of town that we live in and the church we attend. Its funny because I am sure we could move to some other places and be weird. But in this neighborhood and area, we are normal. Nobody bats an eye at all about homeschooling- rather they tell me that their friend, sister, cousin, etc. homeschool.