What's in Practical Homeschooling #68?

FEATURES

• Meet Miss California -- homeschool graduate Dustin-Leigh Konzelman!
• Learn about a new way to "go medieval" -- an official league that battles with safe foam weapons
• What provides an Ivy League education at a state college price? We take you inside the Honors College phenomenon.
• Is your student's writing ready for college? Learn how to make the jump.
• How to run a super story contest that gets the kids in your support group REALLY motivated to write!
• "Day at Our House" diaries from a mom with a preschool and twins and from a homeschooled teen.
• Winners of our first Map Contest -- lots of pix!

COLUMNS

• Practical Homeschooling publisher Mary Pride shares some thoughts on the recent trend to allow homeschoolers to participate in public school extracurricular activities
• Inventor Frank Armbruster explains how the "Alpha Bravo Charlie" military alphabet can make life easier when teaching phonics
• Ten minutes to save what you can from your house -- what to pick? Mary Biever shares what her family learned while living through fire and weather disasters.
• Home School Legal Defense Association Senior Counsel Chris Klicka reveals how homeschool grads have successfully overcome employer prejudice while seeking employment after graduation.
• Homeschool success story Austin Webb has a perfect 1600 score on the SAT. He was named the top all-around National Merit Schola. He's a Presidential Scholar, was accepted at multiple top universities, is the receipient of a $10,000 research summer scholarship BEFORE he even started college . . . I could go on! This time he explains how to "turbo charge" your high school academics to prepare yourself for big scholarships.
• If the prospect of teaching or learning Advanced Math (pre-calc, analytic geometric, and trig) strikes fear in your heart, let M.I.T. graduate Bill Pride show you have non-math-whizzes can handle this subject.
• Inexpensive art and crafts activities that bring academics to life for preschoolers, by Melissa Morgan, co-author of Homeschooling on a Shoestring
• Education expert Sam Blumenfeld shows how schools taught important subjects 100 years ago . . . you'll be shocked at how "dumbed down" today's schools are in comparison
• Learn how to measure and improve your child's vocabulary, from Canada Post Literacy Educator of the Year Michael Maloney.

NEWS

• A handy . . . and free . . . online dictionary
• Good and bad news about the Army and homeschoolers
• Free online Bible quiz
• Essay contest with prizes for budding journalists
• Compete for up to $1,000 and share your vision of the future
• Free online course for teachers (including homeschool parents) in how to increase student motivation

HOT PRODUCT REVIEWS

• A great unit study resource -- guide to historical fiction and folktales by era and location
• Educational games for almost every school subject
• 101 easy games from a play therapist
• "Three Blind Mice" in Latin
• Punctuation puzzles
• A college course on argumentation (one of the components of debate) that you can watch at home on DVD

SPOTLIGHT REVIEW

• God's Design science series

PLUS...

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