As a long-time nurse, I would recommend nursing, of course! I went into nursing because it was familiar (my mother was a nurse), and I loved anatomy. 23 years later, I still love nursing... the career has changed over all this time... this year I changed to more of a sideline nursing position as homeschooling requires more time... which is why I highly recommend nursing. The field is wide open for many positions with a nursing degree. Also, I would recommend an RN program as my hospital now requires only RN degrees, no LPNs. Nursing requires compassion, independence, critical-thinking skills, stress-management, time-management skills, patience and a love for people! It is very stressful and very rewarding in a strange mix. HTH

I would recommend an evaluation. My MD recommended the earlier, the better, as most speech problems become habitual, which then entails overcoming the habit. I called the local ps administration, drove to our nearest ps 3 x week for 20 min. You do have testing and some 'hoop-jumping"to do, but once that is over, ds enjoyed the lessons and they helped tremendously!

We are completing our 4th year of homeschooling. I plan (and hoping for kid cooperation!) to do science this summer. I just could not seem to fit my favorite subject in and do it justice, this past year. Sadly, I am even giving up Coop next year, mainly because I feel that not enough was accomplished with a 4-day school schedule and part-time work schedule. I finally had to admit that I am NOT superhuman!

Mine is our homeschool name "boys & books academy"... shortened.

We had 2 labs who were six months apart. The one which had health problems all his life died and the healthy one completely fell apart within 48hrs... suffered some kind of neurological event, would fall over when he put his head down, difficulty balancing... it was grievous to watch. Both were 12 at the time.

Thank you all for your thoughtful advice... I like the idea of identifying spelling words from his readers, it would make it real for him. I will also look into Megawords. Knowing myself, I'll probably do alittle bit of everything you've advised... so I don't miss out on any good thing! Thank you!

Ds has completed the Spellwell workbooks, so now we need another program... What Spelling program do you recommend for a 6th grader who is a great speller and likes workbooks? Thank you,

I backed out of the carport with a back door open... on the vehicle I have waited 10 yrs to own... owned it less than 8 mos... $1600 damage to replace the door. At least my ds wasn't hurt since he fell out when I changed gears to go forward... that gave me the perspective I needed... all I care about is that he is OK... and insurance will make the cost less painful...

Miranda, with nicknames... Mindy or Mandy, was going to be our girl's name, but, we had only boys!

We have the Pinewood Derby tomorrow, then race home in time to catch a local book warehouse sale! Church on Sunday... plan for next week's activities/ school. Read a good book in the evening!

I have been homeschooling for the past 4 years. I like the security of having legal assistance ready if ever needed. I am looking for an organization other than HSLDA.

Does anyone have any experience with Homeschool Legal Advantage (HLA)? We are just looking for a Christian organization as "insurance" for hs legal support. Thank you

Born in 1964, graduated hs in 1982, college in 1986, married 1991, still married with 2 dc- 1999 + 2002

Our 7 yo gets $2/ week if he does all his chores. Our 10 yo gets $3/ week for doing his chores (required to do more than 7 yo). They are welcome to not do their chores or partial completion, but then they can expect not to get fully reimbursed.

I pay $14.50 per half hour for private piano lessons here in VA.

We supplemented with age-appropriate Sonlight books. For my 4th grader, I chose corresponding books according to the book descriptions written in the catalogue. HTH,

We have 2 boys in what I call a "Christian Boy Scouts" program developed by the Assembly of God denomination. It is called Royal Rangers. If you are interested in an organization with merits and badges similar to the Boy Scouts, but which also encourages/ rewards Biblical values, then you may be interested in this. Here is a link: http://www.royalrangers.ag.org HTH,

I am an RN with BSN working part-time and have worked as a med/surg nurse at our local hospital for the past 25 yrs. Just recently, the hospital required that all LPNs must get their RN degree within the next 1.5yrs, pretty difficult to do... Just want to encourage your dd to go for an RN program... the work environment is changing in hospitals... I wouldn't be surprised if entry-level nursing jobs may require a BSN in the near future. BTW, many AD RNs I work with are in school as they work, in order to acquire the BSN. I had no prior medical experience before college, so the nursing clinicals were difficult for me, but I went all the way thru a BSN program and have felt very glad that I did... Maybe she could do an externship or even volunteer over the summer at a local hospital or doctor's office? Programs like these have helped many nursing students gain confidence and experience. It is very difficult to work as a nurse and go to school at the same time, especially with the possibility of marriage and family during the post-college years. HTH,

I have used the free printouts from this site: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/siteindex.shtml

When we did our states study for 3rd grade, I printed the state flag and worksheets on cardstock from this site: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/ Then my son summarized the most important/ interesting facts and wrote the nickname. etc under or beside the flag. I then printed, cut, pasted the flower/ bird/seal from Encarta encyclopedia along the bottom of the page. Then I printed out pages from various online state historical pages, printed pictures... (bit of a scrapbooker here) as additional pages... I also cut up past "Country" magazines and we pasted them onto cardstock for pretty scenery from some states.

I am new to that site and was hoping to find other homeschool bookshelves... http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/members_books.php?m=eWdIQSthTUVuMms9 Thank you,

Thank you, freeindeed. I have used both of those websites for lapbooking ideas and templates, which may be what we will continue doing.

Books written by Will Hobbs (describe the Yukon Gold Rush days): Jasons Gold, Down the Yukon, Far North

We used Sonlight LA this year, old LA 1 (2004) and new LA 3 (as in 2008). I even changed curriculum halfway thru the year and continued with LA 3 anyway. I found that SL LA is mostly developing writing skills... Often the assignments were writing descriptive paragraphs, use of adjectives in a specific way, etc more like putting grammar to the test... Brainstorming, analyzing word usage, outlining, organizing thoughts and then writing paragraphs with a theme from a SL book weer all included. It was not difficult to adjust for different books for the latter part of the year, but it is helpful and I would not recommend it as a stand alone. SL LA 3 was more conducive to adjustments than maybe LA 4 would be... I understand the higher LA programs are more intertwined with the readers than LA 3 and lower. HTH,

Looking for opinions and advice for using literature studies while studying Ancient History, especially for a 5th grader... Would like to know length of time involved in the study and your favorite company? Do they increase critical thinking or would lapbooks do the same thing, ie: manipulate information? Thanks,