Well....this really puts a different spin on my thoughts. Thank you, ladies, so much! She is passionate about her music, but not to the point you are speaking of. I think we will plug along, strengthen her academics, and see what I can come up with in a year or so. She might have a stronger opinion by then. I liked what her sister planned with her double-major. It just made a whole lot of sense. I'll need to give dh some more time. Blessings, Stephanie

I say she's not a stellar musician, but she is one of the better students. Take her out of our community, and she is just another fish in the ocean. That said,I think she has potential if she chose to continue applying herself. Timing issues: Early graduation would be - next year dual-enroll, then graduate HS and then 3 years at college Regular - junior year dual-enroll, graduate senior year, and then 3 years at college Stephanie

n. And if you rush through and do JUST a music degree, especially a performance one, you'll end up with one of the least marketable degrees out there. This is also what also concerns me. Why go into mega-debt for an undergraduate degree in music performance when she could possibly get her undergraduate degree free at this college and then go into debt for graduate school? Blessings, Stephanie

Thank you for your thoughtful and reasoned responses. We do live in a smaller university town (University is 10,000). The professor that teaches violin at the college teaches here and travels to a large city where he also has a studio. He is the best teacher for my daughter and a true friend. As far as socializing....I really meant the parties and sororities, etc. She already participates in master class and ensemble class at the college and has several college friends who along with her older sister (who is a double major in violin and middle school education) go out and socialize small-scale, play in public, and do the Starbucks thing, etc. I am certainly not against this. When she takes Spanish I in the fall, I certainly will encourage her getting together with like-minded students to speak Spanish. The idea of starting with another degree or classes is very interesting, because this is exactly what her older sister did. But she knows she wants to teach math and history too. Elizabeth hasn't a clue. She is relying on me for advice. But her sister and her violin professor think that she would be wasting talent not getting the proper violin instruction sooner rather than later. In other words, she would be better off concentrating on perfecting her violin skills THEN if/when she wants, get another degree or emphasis. I see validity in this, but I still waffle. Blessings, Stephanie

I need some thoughts concerning my 5th daughter who is freshmen in HS this year. She plays the violin and wants to major in music performance in college. Her current teacher is the violin professor at our local university. He has taught her for 5 years and only wants to teach her for 3 more years. That puts her in college, but we and she have serious reservations about going into big-time debt for a violin performance undergraduate degree. She isn't a stellar player, so while she could get into a conservatory or music school, she won't command a much of a scholarship. Our local university would mostly likely give her a full-ride and she would live at home. However, her professor knows that she wouldn't do well with him for another 7 years. So we are thinking of graduating her from high school at 17 (junior year). My reservations are plenty. Secondly, she isn't a stellar student. I haven't spent near enough time with her, getting her prepped for this step although she is quite capable. I will just need to commit to working with her more for the next 1.5 years. Dd would CLEP enough credits for a year at this college or near so, so she would get her degree in 3 years. If we graduated her next year (2014), she would be with this teacher 4 more years (her sophomore year, 1st year college, 2nd year college, and 3rd year college). If she graduated at the regular time, she would have 6 years(sophomore year, junior year, senior year, freshmen, sophomore, and junior year college). She would be living at home and our rules would be: no socializing as a college student until she was 18 (maybe last semester of what would have been her senior year in hs). As a 16 (she would take 2 classes only) and 17 year old, she would be treated as if she were still in high school. The college music program is not extensive. She already plays weekly at the college master class and ensemble class. She could play in the orchestra, but we have chosen not to allow her to do so at this point because it is too time-consuming. She running enough as it is. Blessings, Stephanie

I have a 6 year old who needs a computer player for chess. I'm schooling his older siblings. Any suggestions? I can't seem to find any worthwhile CD computer games. But the Einsten computer game from BN gets very poor reviews. Thanks! Blessings, Stephanie

I have had 4 kids so far do Jacob's Geometry. Three of them went onto college with math degrees. But all of them were poor at geometry. Was the text the lack of understanding, my teaching efforts. I don't know. Anway...dd (#4) needs a solid semester review of geometry to up her geometry understanding and ACT score. She will revisit geometry in college (because she is going into middle school math education), but temporarily, we need to ACE the math section for a scholarship opportunity. Is there anything like "ACT Geometry for Dummies"? The ACT math books just don't have enough for her to cement the concepts. Thanks! Blessings, Stephanie

My son took the Bravewriter Class for the SAT writing 4-5 years ago. My hope is that that particular class was not prepared for writing (some 7th graders, etc. not ready for timed writing. But this class was sorely disappointing at $150. She had kids peer edit and the comments were "great work", "liked your topic". The good point was that the kids could read each other's papers and she did have some great points to offer. However I have yet to find an on-line writing course that works for writing.I also bought the book and found it better than this particular class. Blessings, Stephanie

My baby is 14 months old and if I get a breast infection, she fights nursing so much too. But this is part of the problem. A 14 month old has opinions. She could forget about nursing during the afternoon one day and cling the next. So the supply and demand tends to get off balance. But maybe close the door to your room, draw the drapes, and then nothing else seems "exciting". I hope you are well soon! Blessings, Stephanie

This does not sound like thrush. But if everyone is sick, I come down with at least mastitis AND maybe the illness they have. So sometimes it is just our bodies way of dealing with the germ. I have had chronic mastitis for 23 years....gup...you read that correctly. My oldest is 24 and my youngest is 1. Antibiotics is not the answer. You will just set yourself up for thrush. Drink lots of liquids and really rest, rest, rest. Hot bathes, compresses and get the baby to nurse non-stop. I cut out everything in the way of drinks and food for the baby/toddler until I recover. The baby is part of the solution. Blessings, Stephanie

Thanks so much! I think we have found a few penpals! Blessings, Stephanie

I have been homeschooling for 19 years. In the beginning, the homeschoolers in our area were above average in goals academically. Now, I am seeing the opposite. In fact, several families let their kids get so far behind that they had to send their kids back to school. Two families sent them to a private school where tutoring was available because the kids were that far behind. It's sad. What started out to be a great movement is quickly disintegrating. Our coops are great "fun" for the younger crowd. (Fine). But nothing with academic rigor for the middle grades on up - when parents might REALLY need it! It is sad, frustrating, sad, and more frustrating. Blessings, Stephanie

My daughter is looking for a penpal. She is 10 years old, living in MO. She is a middle child of 9 children. I have her write letters on occasion for her English assignment, but her current penpal has only written once in several months. Any takers? Blessings, Stephanie

We also used: The Romance of Physics by Irwin The Secrets of the Universe by Fleisher Books by Friedhoffer - Feynman - Six Easy Pieces Blessings, Stephanie

Thank you for the responses! One issue is that he does have a nearly full scholarship now based on his ACT score at the university where he is taking 2 classes. He could get more if his ACT score was one point higher....basically incidental fees and books. But his tuition could be fully paid for. So that is really not a motivator. I am going to take the computer out of his room. He never has had internet access, but still a lot of goofing off goes on anyway:glare: He needs more follow-through. I guess I was just trying to get out of doing "it all". I just feel a bit overwhelmed with schooling the other children too and I was hoping to rashly see another option. Blessings, Stephanie