I know the "Commended" students hear from NMS around the end of September. Somewhere I read the semifinalists hear from them at the beginning of September. Has anyone heard from them yet? Thanks.

Update: Stevia and Truvia gave my daughter heart palpitations. She had to get off them completely. Now she drinks the raspberry tea without any sweeteners and her heart is fine. Please be careful with these sweeteners.

As far as I can tell there are 4 types of acne: 1) White heads (this type does not leave scars) 2) Black heads (this type does not leave scars) 3) Lighter color red with nothing on the peak. (this type usually happens on the forehead and does not leave scars) 4) Darker color red with nothing on the peak. (this type usually happens between the cheekbones and ears, along the hairline and leaves small craters or holes in the skin after it is healed). The herbal raspberry tea has gotten rid of type 1,2,4 and (90% of type 3). Currently my dd doesn’t have any acne. I calculated that the tea costs $1.40 per month in addition to 8 gallons of distilled water ($1/gallon) = total of $9.40 per month. My dd and ds are very happy with it.

This post is dedicated to all the teenagers who have tried every acne medication under the sun with little success. My herbalist friend recommended Raspberry Herbal Tea which cleanses the liver. She says dairy foods such as cheese should be reduced or eliminated from a teen’s diet because cheese is a mucus producing food. After eliminating cheese and reducing the intake of ice cream, my dd’s skin improved somewhat. We noticed a tremendous difference after she started having the Raspberry Herbal Tea. The dosage is 3-4 cups per day. At first I was making it too strong and her heart was beating irregularly. Then I started to make it according to the directions below and her heart is doing really well. This is an herbal tea; you cannot buy it in the grocery stores. To order, call AmeriHerb at 1-800-267-6141. The name is Raspberry leaf c/s double cleaned (Rubus idaeus). One pound is $4.20 and lasted over 3 months. It is an inexpensive solution to acne problems. By the way, I do not own stock in this company, I am merely testifying to the fact that it is working for us. Here is the recipe: Bring 1 gallon of distilled water to a boil (distilled water is void of chemicals and minerals and absorbs the nutrients and healing components of the Raspberry leafs much more than the regular tap water. Tap water absorbs 3-5% of the strength of Rapberry leafs, whereas distilled water absorbs 50-70% of Rapberry leafs.) Turn off the heat. Pour 1/3 cup of Raspberry leafs into the hot water and stir. Let it sit for 30-45 minutes. It can sit longer if you wish to strain it after it cools off a bit. Strain leafs from the water. I use 3 packets of Stevia (in the raw, 0 calories) and 3 packets of Truevia (0 calories) as sweetener while the tea is warm. Pour it into a jar and keep refrigerated. Drink 3-4 cups per day (You can start gradually and work your way up to 3-4 cups/day). If you don’t want to make 1 gallon at a time, then use 1 teaspoon of Raspberry leaf for each cup of distilled water. There are 16 cups in 1 gallon of water. Currently we are using expired, 3-step-Proactive (on Ebay) and Neutrogena Acne Stress Control (from Walmart) to manage the stubborn acne. The tea has reduced the number and size of Acne on her face. We use less medication as a result of the tea. I read somewhere that it takes 6-9 months for the acne scars to go away. The red raspberry-leaf tea is high in a number of organic (natural and healing) minerals and vitamins and is a fine herbal liquid food for the body. This contains the wonderful nitrate of iron which has remarkable blood-making and regulating properties as well as astringent and contracting action on the internal tissues and membranes. It also contains pectin, malic and other organic acids, calcium, and potassium chloride, and sulphates. The tea is caffeine-free. I hope this is helpful.

My daughter has been swimming full-time (year-round) with a local swim team. Should I include it as 1 credit per year on her highschool transcript? If I were to give her 1 credit, for one year, should I do that for all four years? Thank you for replying.

How much does a Latin or any other academic tutor charge per half hour? Is it better to hire a graduate student as Latin tutor or would an under-graduate student do? Thank you in advance for your replies.

Letter of recommendation for National Merit Scholarship – does it have to be an academic letter of recommendation? Or can it be from a non-academic person such as a swim coach? I need to make a decision to sign up my dd in an online class or cc class, if the letter needs to be an academic letter of recommendation. Or maybe I can hire a Latin tutor. What do you think? Thanks in advance for your replies.

Just in case you get bored with your graphing calculator, take courage, my 13 yr old son has invented something exciting to do with it. He programmed it so that he can turn on/off the TV, change channels, switch to DVD/VCR player and run multitude of functions there as well. What will be next? The garage door opener? I won’t be surprised if someday he calls me to the living room and shows me how he turned on/off TV with the GD opener. Did your child do anything like this?

My friend's son was a National Merit finalist and recieved not only the NMSQT scholarship, but also received a full ride to his #1 college choice. He has taken both SAT and ACT many, many times because he needed to improve his scores and his NMSQT scholarship depended on his SAT and ACt scores as well as PSAT score.

Warriner's English Grammar and Composition is excellent and indepth. I use the 1977 edition. The older the better.

Thank you Lynne, It helps to know Apologia works! We will continue with Chemistry and Biology. After Biology, my son wants to move unto Advanced Biology and Marine Biology. I feel much better knowing that your son was well prepared for college. For AP Biology and AP Chemistry, does he need to complete the Advanced classes? If I recall correctly, that's what your son did for AP Biology. Didn't he take it after completing Apologia Advanced Biology? Thanks for posting this.

I absolutely agree with Laurie4b. If he is a fast learner, self motivated student, then he will be doing most of the work on his own. My 10th grader is doing most of the work on her own. She and I work on SAT and ACt preparation using Princeton Review's Cracking SAT and ACT. I check her exercies and tests. She does the rest. That's the way she likes it. A good score on the PSAT will open the door to all kinds of scholarships. A good score on ACt and/or SAT will open the door to many universities. You don't even have to worry about AP exams. Not everyone takes them. AP exams will save your son time and money in college, but they are not a necessity. I do believe that your son could do well on AP's if he chooses to go that route. For foreign language, my daughter does Artes Latinae on CD-Rom. I check her tests. I am not her Latin teacher. For example for French there is French in Action (many have spoken highly of it in highschool forum). A mother does not need to know French in order to grade french tests. The answer key will lay it out clearly. You can really do this. Be encouraged and go for it.

This morning one of the neighbor children, 13 yrs. old. rode his bike to another neighbor's house to play. When got there he laid it down on the driveway behind the neighbor's SUV. An hour later the neighbor lady told the boys she was going to the store. Before she backed out, she looked into the rear view mirror and didn't see anything. She looked into the side mirrors and did not see anything. When she left, she backed over the bike. The back wheel is bent out of shape, the frame appears to be fine. The chain holder or revolver is bent a little. The back wheel is not spinning. The Bike might be around $500! Should she pay for the damage? Thanks.

You might want to check these out: Potter's School has Greek and Hebrew along with many other languages: http://registration.pottersschool.org/w/771.jsp Veritas Online Academy: http://resources.veritaspress.com/Scholars_Online/Scholars_Online_Graduation_Requirements.html

Yes, I know it's pricey. However, once I realized that it is good for 8 years and how many standardized tests she will be taking, then I decided to make life a bit easier on all of us.