What's in Practical Homeschooling #64?

FEATURES

• Mandatory mental health screenings: best-selling author B.K. Eakman warns about a truly BAD idea that threatens us all
• Buying and selling used curriculum: here's how to do it right
• How to create your own homeschool. yearbook
• Teen homeschooler goes on a mission trip to Africa
• "Day at Our House" diary from a Kansas farm family and a multiracial adoptive family

SUCCESS STORIES

• Homeschooled boy writes book about how to build battling 'bots
• Miss Maryland Pre-Teen is homeschooled!
• Homeschooler wins the federal Junior Duck Stamp Competition
• Two homeschooled students are winners of the Idea of America Essay Contest

COLUMNS

• NEW COLUMN! M.I.T. graduate Bill Pride explains why colleges yearn for students proficient in science and math, and what moves homeschoolers should make to take advantage of this
• Janice vanCleave, the Science Lady, explains how flies walk on the ceiling.
• How to get a preschooler ready for handwriting. By Melissa Morgan, co-author of Homeschooling on a Shoestring
• Why and how you should get to know your state legislator. By education expert Sam Blumenfeld
• A legal view of the proposed mandatory mental health screenings. By Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Counsel Christopher Klicka.
• Help for developing fluent handwriting. By Michael Maloney, founder of the Quinte Learning Centers in Canada and winner of the Canada Post National Educator Literacy Award.
• The fun and educational value of dressing up. By Kristin Hamerski, Miss Alaska National Senior Teen-Ager 2004, winner of the Spirit of Youth Award, and First Lady Volunteer of the Year 2005.

NEWS

• Where to rent educational DVDs
• New SAT prep courses
• The Physics Talent Search
• Where to find academic summer camps

HOT PRODUCT REVIEWS

• Learn writing while putting together your family's history
• Become a "fallacy detective"
• Learn the basics of accounting . . . while still in high school
• A money management tool for kids
• A colorful set of games that teaches music theory to beginners
• A history series that's set in stone . . . literally!
• A guide to teaching history through literature

SPOTLIGHT REVIEWS

• Online middle-school and high-school courses with a great interface
• Computer software that teaches geometry and algebra . . . with style!
• A 100-year-old collection of history books that tells the story newer textbooks don't

PLUS...

• Contests for subscribers
• Envelope Gallery of homeschooled kids' art
• Ads with special offers