In NC, the name we choose for our homeschool can't be changed. Think long term. Which name sounds most like an elite, academic academy? To me, Longbourn or Pemberly sound best. Pemberly Academy. That's my vote!

"Maxed Out" is a documentary with heart-wrenching stories about college kids and credit cards. One student, a National Merit scholar, signed up for multiple cards -- initially just to get the freebie t-shirts and other incentives offered by the credit card companies. He committed suicide after running up huge balances on the cards. Another mother has a similar story about her daughter. The parents question why the credit card companies extended so much credit to students who had only part time jobs.

I know nothing about Munchkins, but I looked at them on Google images and they remind of dachshunds. I wonder if they'd be prone to back problems like dachshunds? We have two cats. One is persian-esque with long black fur. I have learned NEVER to get another cat with long fur...when she has digestive problems, poop sticks in it. She sheds everywhere. Yuck Our short haired tabby is no problem. When we were first married, my husband and I bought two pure-bred cats. One died before the age of two with cardio myopathy. The other died of FIP. Neither cat lived past 2. After that, we chose "free to good home" kitties!

I use Cat's Pride -- it used to be sold at many stores, but now I can find it only at Wal Mart. I never smell the cat box. If you have choice, the single cat formula works better than the multi cat formula (even if you have multiple cats - we have two). Our Wal-Mart used to sell both, but now carries only the multi-cat litter. It costs a little under $6 for 20 lbs.

This is what we got - our car has roof racks, but according to the website, they aren't necessary. http://www.roofbag.com/

I bought an old lab coat off ebay for about $8. It's nice because it's long and covers a lot!

I know the answer is probably "yes", but did you have to pay $3000 for a failed implant? Another question.....what do they bridge to with a back molar? There's only a tooth on one side...I thought you needed a tooth on either side.

It's funny. 7 years ago when I had the root canal, I asked my endodontist about options. When he mentioned losing the tooth, he said, "but that's an awfully large gap to have," and when I look in my mouth, he's right. Gee, that's a big tooth! Fast forward to yesterday. He said he had the exact same thing happen to him this year - root canal, crown, crack, lost tooth. Yes, the dentist himself! He didn't have an implant - he has an empty spot. But he said that you can have an implant done at any time if you change your mind. There's no rush. With that in mind, I'm still leaning toward trying to live without it. If he doesn't see a crack and thinks it can be retreated, I'll do that.

I recommend this site. http://www.visionover40.com/ The "discuss" section is interesting. I've been happy with my lineless bifocals from Costco. Since I turned 40, I've had 3 prescriptions with the reading portion getting stronger and stronger. (About once every 3 years.)

I am so sorry for all your dental problems -- it sure puts things in perspective for me in that it could be a lot worse. The endodontist said it would be $3000 for an implant "by the time you're done" -- meaning with the crown and other work that would required. From all the posts here, I'm leaning toward just having the tooth pulled if he finds a crack.

When the endodontist told me I might lose that tooth, I cried. It made me feel so old. Then he told me about his volunteer work in Nicaragua and how no child over the age of 12 had a full set of teeth. Sobering. I'm glad to hear from so many of you that a back molar is no big deal.

I had a root canal done in my backmost molar about 7 years ago. It's infected again and the endodontist thinks the tooth might be cracked. If so, there's nothing he can do. (He's going to dig around in the tooth next week to see if he sees a crack.) An implant would cost $3000 .... or I could just live without that tooth. Any ideas/experience?

I own this salad spinner and it's one of my most-used, most-appreciated kitchen items. I buy the 6-packs of Romaine at Costco and use the spinner almost daily to wash/dry our salad for lunch and dinner. http://www.amazon.com/Oxo-Good-Grips-Salad-Spinner/dp/B00004OCKR I would also ask for new cookie sheets because my are warped.

I agree. I don't drink tea but I have it on hand for guests. And speaking from experience (sort of related), I LOVE coffee and people often get me coffee as a gift but I can't stand flavored coffees and guess what I usually get.... So I agree with the recommendation to avoid flavored teas.

I don't know what they were thinking when they adopted the policy tenure. How was that supposed to improve anything? Tenure is a handicap for schools. What other workplace grants tenure? Part of the reason we're homeschooling today has to do with a teacher who had 30 years of service. She was my son's kindegarten teacher. "Do you know what your son said to me? ...... I don't care to do puzzles." "Well, that's right. He doesn't like to do puzzles." "But he has to do them! He can't just stay in the writing center. He has to visit all the centers. I had another one like him -- from a Montessori school -- but I broke her of that." (This same teacher told my son (the one now in art school!) to color the Indians red on a Thanksgiving coloring sheet. My 5 yo son asked, "Why did she say that? People aren't red." She also put a big red X when he colored pears red. I don't think she paid attention in the grocery store.) Broken children and misinformation with impunity. No, teachers shouldn't have tenure and some definitely shouldn't be teaching at all!

Kapla blocks are simple and don't look very exciting at first. In the hands of a creative builder, however, they're amazing!

I agree with you that some online high school courses can be more rigorous and worthwhile than community college courses. But I think there are several different views of college including "a degree is a degree" and it doesn't matter where you get it. In that case, building credits at CC is efficient and helps financially. There are many state schools that are like CC - not rigorous - and transfer of the credits shouldn't be a problem. The level of work expected will be similar and the student will do just fine. Having a son who wants to be an artist has given me an appreciation for "how can we earn college credits cheaply and quickly." He wants a degree for no other reason than it's so expected/necessary for ANYONE nowadays who is not in a skilled trade. We're paying out of state tuition and I'd love for him to take CLEP tests or get ACE credit -- especially for the non-art courses he needs like sociology, ethics, and math. So, I can appreciate why homeschoolers would want to earn maximum college credits during high school. And I think the students aspiring to competitive colleges will do what they need to do to get in. They'll research at College Confidential and learn what scores they need...what volunteer work...AP courses, SAT II, etc.

For the EPGY Geometry course, the tutor was excellent and invaluable. My son couldn't have done it without the tutor! I've looked at college admission requirements for homeschoolers and some specifically mention EPGY courses (positive connotation). The Franklin Olin College of Engineering, for instance, has EPGY highlighted in blue. http://www.olin.edu/admission/home_school.asp My 16 yo son was accepted to the NC School of Science and Math. I believe having EPGY courses on his transcript helped. The English courses are expensive but worthwhile -- although it might be easy to get into EPGY, successfully completing the coursework is another matter. From what I've seen in Geometry and English, it's college-level work.

We bought rucksacks from Rick Steves about 20 years ago and we use them all the time! One of our best purchases ever! It looks like they've renamed the bag and it's a little squarer than ours, but in spirit this is it. http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&theParentId=8&id=346 My husband and I each took a rucksack to England - our "one bag" each. It was a 10 day trip. We did laundry once. We also used the rucksacks on a week-long trip to Paris. Again, one bag each worked fine.

I highly recommend puchasing a stereo microscope. We purchased one many years ago and we still use it every once in while! It's great for looking at mushrooms, rocks, leaves, bug wings, etc. Who wants to mess with slides? It's so much more fun to bring something home from a walk in the woods and put it under the microscope for a better look. It's very kid-friendly. On the other hand, we had a telescope and after one summer, we never used it again.

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html Check out the link above for general information. We found a small Christian school in town that administers AP exams to homeschoolers. Not every school offers every exam, so you have to hunt around ahead of time. Some of the exams are less common (the economics ones in particular) than others. It costs around $85-90 per exam (I can't remember the exact amount.) Exams are taken in May and scores come out in July.

From what I've heard, colleges like to see AP courses on the transcript. It doesn't matter them if you take the AP exam or not. Even if you take the AP exam and qualify for college credit, you can still take the introductory college course. For instance, my son is taking AP Chemistry this year. He HATES chemistry and doesn't plan to major in anything that would require more than an introductory course in it. For that, he'll apply his AP test scores (if they're good enough) and hopefully not have to take Chemistry at the college level. On the other hand, he might want to take the introductory Government courses in college and not use his AP test scores to skip this level. It will be up to him. Colleges don't mind if you take their class rather than apply your CLEP or AP credits. You only get credit for the class once though. So if you take it in college it's like forfeiting the credits earned through testing. Regarding Subject Tests: Some colleges are inflexible about requiring Subject tests, and that's why I'd recommend taking them -- just in case you need them. Your reasoning is sensible, but sometimes college admission departments aren't. As far as listing a class as AP on your transcript, I think you have to have your syllabus approved by the College Board for that. I'm not sure of the process. We used PA Homeschool Classes which were AP approved.

Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace for the Next Generation is a DVD video course. There are supplementary exercise on his website for this program.

Don't forget to schedule SAT Subject Tests. These cannot be taken the same time as the SAT, so you need another date set aside for those. I'd recommend taking one a year from 9th grade on. Many schools don't require the subject test, but some do and you don't want to get caught having to take 3 or 4 in one year. In NC, the ACT fulfills our annual testing requirement. Likewise the SAT along with SAT Subject test scores does. So the ideal schedule, for me, would be 9th spring semester: AP, ACT and an SAT Subject Test 10th spring semester: AP, ACT and an SAT Subject Test 11th October PSAT; spring semester AP, SAT and an SAT Subject Test 12th (as needed, depending on college choice) ACT or SAT and an SAT Subject Test plus AP. I added an AP exam each May in the list above, assuming your student would start taking AP classes in 9th grade.