You know your child and situation better than anyone else, so if you feel like they should take the PSAT, then go for it. Personally, for my kids, I'm having them do SAT prep books and taking practice SAT tests, which are still a full test, but they don't count. I figure they will take the actual test for real at least a couple of times.

I went to James Stobaugh's sessions at the convention this summer and his advice was to skip the PSAT, unless you think your child may possibly score high enough to receive a National Merit Scholarship. Instead just prepare for the SAT by taking sample tests, etc. There are SAT prep books out there. He recommends having your child do a sample test every couple months.

Thank you so much for the advice! This gives me more to consider in preparing my ds for college. I'm a homeschooler of 3 and my student athlete is my oldest, so this is all new to me and I'm a bit intimidated. I'm trying to make it possible for my son to have as many college credits done ahead of time without taking away his elligibility for scholarships, and I don't want to put him through a rigorous workload if some of those classes won't even transfer to whatever college he attends. There are so many factors. Any other input is appreciated!

My son is a sophomore and plays baseball for the public high school in our district, which is a large school with a great baseball program. He has always played competitively and I expect that he will eventually be offered baseball scholarships. I would expect community colleges to want him and possibly more major universities. Right now, I want to plan ahead for college, but feel limited because I don't know for sure if he'll get baseball scholarship offers and if he does, what schools will be offering them to him. I've heard that we should pick a handful of schools that he's interested in and then find out about their admission policies. We could do that, but I feel like the chances that those will be the schools to offer a baseball scholarship would be slim. I'm also wondering about dual enrollment. If he takes community college classes now, will that disqualify him for a baseball scholarship in the future? Have any of you have to plan around a possibility of a sports scholarship? I feel like we're not going to be able to plan much for college options until the last minute when we'll know if and who offers a scholarship. Has anyone else had to plan for college while keeping a possible sports scholarship in mind? If so, I'm all ears!

Looks like this would be very helpful to many! I hope it happens! I know I would come here more often if it were easier to find posts on the questions I have!

Thanks to everyone who had some honest input. (I could do without all the posts about drinking and halloween, but anyway...) The hard thing for me is that there are many people out there who are way smarter than I am who have opposing views on things like this. As I read through the posts I realized that basically, there is just a lot that I don't know and it does spark my interest. The discussion about starlight and time got me wondering. I also think, like one poster said, that this sort of question is probably much better in a formal debate forum where there are rules to the dialogue. I'd love to hear people dedicated to this field debate on the topic of the earth's age. In retrospect, probably a better question for me to ask would be... why does Story of the World date the nomads at 7,000 years ago. Quite honestly, I would've expected the author to be one of those who thought the world was about 6,000 years old. History books are not written in such a way as to always explain how they date things (on either side of the debate), and so I wonder how Susan Wise Bauer dates the nomads at 7,000 years ago.

My boys just went through Mike Snavely's "Evolution or Creation" book, which teaches that the earth is about 6,000 years old. Today we were looking at Story of the World (Ancient Times) and it says that the nomads were around about 7,000 years ago. I find both authors reasonably trust-worthy, and I'm not very well-read on the subject to know what the right answer is. Anyone have input?

I was planning on getting Rod and Staff English 8 for my 8th grader. He's been using Rod and Staff since 4th grade. I've LOVED Rod and Staff English, but looking through the grade 8 book, one can't help but notice how repetitive it is. I think repetitive is good with grammar, but it gets to a point where it's too much, and I think 8th grade may be that point. Can I just stop doing grammar/ English now? I AM planning on starting Write Shop, so that will keep my 8th grader sharp (I hope) and help him put all those English lessons to use. Do kids need to know grammar for placement tests (SAT, ACT)? Obviously, they will need to write well, but I mean... will they need to answer questions about demonstrative pronouns, prepostitional phrases, etc?

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I have to admit that I'm a bit worried about having my children prepared for college. I'm a fairly laid-back type of individual. I love teaching them and they are bright kids, however administrative type stuff is not my strong suit. So the thought of providing an impressive transcript is a bit daunting. You've been a big encouragement though and I plan on frequenting this board more often so I can keep learning and get the job done.

I have a 7th grader and am concerned that as he is nearing high school, I am preparing him well. It's hard for me sometimes to not have a direct comparison between him and his peers. If you can share with me what your 7th grader's schedule looks like that would be wonderful. Thanks!

I am a homeschool mom of three children, the oldest being a 7th grader. I would like to homeschool them through high school. What challenges does this pose for getting into major colleges? Do they all accept a transcript made by mom? What do community colleges require? I'm thinking of having them enter a community college early and then transfer to a larger college after they've earned some credits, however I really know little of the specifics. If anyone has been through this and can tell me how I can prepare for this, I'm all ears!

I just have to say that I am so tired of politicians in leadership who blatantly step all over the constitution. The tenth ammendment clearly states, “The power not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.†They've already stepped over these bouncaries with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs. (By the way, I think Democrats were in office when all of these were formed and they've all been disasterous economically.) There should be no debate in the first place as to whether the president can choose to forgo the Constitution. I think that when there is an issue to be dealt with, it always should be done in such a way as to be in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of America.

Below is an article from msnbc this morning. Why is Obama saying that the bill needs to be passed urgently if it doesn't even get coverage for the uninsured until 2013. This bill has massive consequences, shouldn't we give people some time to at least read and process it? Seems like the big rush on passing it is manipulative to me. Medicare took one year; reform to take decade Even if bill is signed this fall, uninsured won't get coverage until 2013 updated 2 hours, 22 minutes ago WASHINGTON - President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare law on July 30, 1965, and 11 months later seniors were receiving coverage. But if President Barack Obama gets to sign a health care overhaul this fall, the uninsured won't be covered until 2013 — after the next presidential election. In fact, a timeline of the 1,000-page health care bill crafted by House Democrats shows it would take the better part of a decade — from 2010-2018 — to get all the components of the far-reaching proposal up and running. The moving parts include a national insurance marketplace overseen by a brand new federal bureaucracy — the Health Choices Administration.

For those in this thread who are pro-choice. Can you tell me at what week after conception you think the woman no longer should have the choice to have an abortion and why? Or if you think it is fine as long as she is still pregnant?

One note to those debating whether to do a church youth group or not. I don't think this is a black and white issue, but rather and issue of conscious. If you do not have a clear conscious about it, then I wouldn't get my child involved in it. There are different parts of the body of Christ. We don't need all our children in the same group situation. God may be preparing your child to be a certain part of the body and another child for another job. Your child may be an arm and another may be a leg. I think parents need to look at their own child's strengths and weaknesses, their desires and gifts, and then make a decision based on what will best prepare their child to be used in God's kingdom. I would also talk to your child about it. If they are preteens or teens, then they should start to gain more repsonsibility and have more input in these sorts of decisions. If you aren't crazy about the youth group, you can always form something else that may minister to other youth as well.