He said, "In school, you don't have friends. You have acquaintances." He was amazed at the superficiality/fickleness of "friendships" at our local public high school. On the other hand, at our state's residential arts school, my son made many true friendships that I'm sure will last a lifetime. My homeschooled son has always had only one good friend. That's really all he needs. When his first best-friend moved, it took a while to find another, and he was miserable in the interim. Try meetup.com for groups in your new town that share interests with your son. We found an airsoft club in our area that way.

My son takes the SAT Subject test as a validation of "mommy grades." He generally scores in the 600's, which, if you read college confidential, is an embarrassing, "must re-take" score. I did a little research, though and found some colleges offer advanced placement or even college credit (UT-Austin was one that offered credit, as I recall) for scores in the 630+ range. Some colleges will accept a 600+ score on an SAT II in lieu of a science/lab credit on the high school transcript. My son is taking the SAT-II after regular (not advanced or AP) classes, so I'm quite pleased with his scores. He can always retake them if wants to. I would definitely advise taking the subject test after each relevant course. Try not to schedule more than one subject test a time. And be sure to use a prep book w/ practice tests to get an idea of what the test will cover.

Our local H.S. gives credit for classes it can specifically match to its own course offerings. As such, I have been careful to read the "Course Planning Guide" for our local school system and try to match core course descriptions. One thing that's tricky is that some public high schools in our city offer courses that our neighborhood H.S. doesn't. My older son (who went to public school) took Japanese for 2 years and although it's offered at some high schools in town, it's not at our neighborhood school, so my son wouldn't get credit for it! I've been very careful since then to make sure that my homeschooled 15 y.o. has transcript entries that would transfer (in case of emergency).

We have used General, Physical, Biology, Physics, Chem and Adv. Chem. The experiments are easy to do and they don't require expensive supplies. The explanations in the text are clear and Dr. Wile is available by email for support if you need it. We emailed him several times with Adv. Chem. questions and he replied within 24 hours.

I thought he was a linguist, not polymath (whatever that is). Things are pretty peaceful, if you don't live in Africa or the middle east. There is the potential for a lot more violence than ever, though. Albert Einstein said (paraphrased),"'I don't know what the next war will be fought with, but the one after that will be fought with sticks and stones."

No problems here. It's very convenient. Sandra

He'll be 18 this month and he doesn't want to drive. Consequently, he doesn't practice. I'm afraid that he'll finally get his driver's license at 21 or 22 (after college) out of necessity, but still, he won't have much practice. Will he be a better driver at 21? I doubt it. I think experience is the key and he won't have that.

I have been anti-drum ever since. Needless to say our drummer-neighbor played at all hours of the day and night. Noise is something that has no concern for privacy or property rights. Be aware that it's a LOUD instrument and all your neighbors will notice that your son has drums. Even if your son plays in the basement (like my neighbor!) or someplace you think is somewhat soundproof - it's not. Unless I lived in a remote area without neighbors, I would limit practice times to daylight hours. I'm sorry for this cautionary post, but I think that sometimes we don't realize how efficiently sound travels.

It's where I get all the news!

He had both ingrown nails taken care of with surgery about 4 years ago. The podiatrist removed a thin sliver of nail + root on the ingrown side. Now his toenails are narrower, but he is ingrown-nail free! Occassionally another toe gives him trouble, and that's a sign for me to check his shoe size. (My son once wore shoes until they were 1.5 sizes too small w/o complaint. He said they "fit fine", so I had no idea they were too small until we happened to be in a shoe store, trying on shoes.) After the ingrown toenail experience, I buy only New Balance shoes with an SL-2 last for him. They have a high toe-box. He has worn New Balance 880's until they stopped making them....then he wore the 881's.....now he's wearig the 882's. The podiatrist says shoes are key to preventing ingrown nails (as well as cutting toenails properly).

I gave him the name, address, and SAT code of the school to send scores to. He said there was a space to write the name, city and state of the school. That's all. Why don't they use the SAT code? I don't know. It's funny that the college board doesn't standardize its test-sending procedures.

Toastmasters is for adults, but Gavel Clubs use the same materials/same format. We started a Gavel Club in Charlotte several years ago. http://www.freewebs.com/charlottegavelclubs/startagavelclub.htm

Yes, it's warm in Hawaii, but very cold at the top of Haleakala. As I recall it was about 50 degrees (which doesn't sound cold when you're used to it, but once your body gets used to 80 degress, 50 feels freezing!)

Pineapple, plums, peaches, pears...etc. When my kids were little, pear juice on the baby food aisle always did the trick. (I think it was Beachnut brand.)

My boys have frequent nosebleeds, especially in the winter and during allergy season. Their pediatrician said that he, too, suffered from nosebleeds as a child. He recommended using a q-tip w/some neosporin on the end to gently swab the nostils. He said vaseline would work ok, but for some reason neosporin works better. My boys have tried this and it works. They only do it during bouts of frequent nosebleeds.

I would keep the drinking laws as they are with an age minimum of 21. I would leave our driving age at 16. I'd like to redefine "adulthood" as 18 or 21 -- whichever age the parent decides. For example, if a child is in college and is not self-supporting, then they should not have rights/responsibilities of an adult. Specifically, they should not be permitted to enter into contracts (e.g. credit cards/student loans/etc.) If a parent is paying for college, healthcare, etc. then the parent should continue to have access to records and medical info.

15 years old 1. Age of child Grade 10 2. Grade (K-12) 7 hours 3. How many hours does the child spend on school work 8:30-6pm 4. What time 1.5 to 3 hours 5. How many hours does the child spend on math 5 6. How many subjects is the child studying? 8 7. how focused is the child during school time? 8 8. how comfortable is the child's study space?

It's a great book!

The decorator interviewed us about our color preferences and then she came up with a plan for the living room/dining room/den/kitchen. We implemented some of her suggestions (like the can lights in the kitchen) and she worked as the general contractor to get the work done. We're very happy with it. Other suggestions (like spending $10,000 on furniture!) we did not do. Or her suggestion to take down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room --No way! My husband plays trumpet and I need as many doors as possible between his horn and my ears! (He plays well, but the trumpet is a loud instrument!)

If their circulation numbers are high, they get more resources from HQ. So, by all means, keep checking out books!

I don't buy stoneware. Someone gave me a pizza stone as a gift and I used it a few times and threw out my back! It's very heavy and that, combined with bending to put it in the oven, spelled pain for months. I never used it again.

My son was accepted to NCSSM and I'm wondering if there are other homeschoolers who have had a child go there for 11th and 12th grades. Any opinions? It seems like a good opportunity ...the only drawback is that my son wouldn't be accumulating community college credits. I've read some posts on College Confidential that have me thinking twice. For those who are not familiar with NCSSM, it's a public boarding school, focusing on science and math although I've heard it's strong in humanities, too.

We've used the Apologia General Sci, Physical Sci, Biology, Physics, Chem and Adv. Chem. I recommend it.

Our dealership charges $40 to diagnose the problem. If yours does the same, you could pay the $40 and then take it back to the independent shop you use.

Go ahead and get a Twin XL. I wish we had done that for my son. He was plugging along at a regular rate, regular size and all of a sudden he shot up to 6'1". He's only 15 and still growing. I think we'll use our rebate check to buy him a longer bed. I've heard Memorial Day sales are the best time of year to buy mattresses. Any advice on what brand has the longest XL twin? I've read that Twin XL mattresses can vary from 79-83" long.