What's in Practical Homeschooling #88?

FEATURES

• How the American states' looming adoption of national, and soon INTERNATIONAL, educational standards could impact homeschooling in America
• "My Educational Trip to China." How a homeschooled girl, her mom, and two grandmas turned a vacation to China into a homeschooling course for credit. BONUS: Includes the actual course contract they created, PLUS link to the full text of her vacation diary online!
• The co-founder of National Black Home Educators, Joyce Burges, shares a typical day in her life. BONUS: Her daughter, Candra, contributes some thoughts on the recent USA Today article which mistakenly claimed "Parents who homeschool children increasingly are white, wealthy, and well-educated." ADDITIONAL BONUS: Where online to find the ACTUAL government statistics about homeschooling.

COLUMNS

• Chemistry with "Gummi Bears"? Best-selling science author Janice VanCleave shows how!
• Don Aslett, the world's #1 cleaning expert, delivers his top tips on how to give your home a clutter smackdown!
• Homeschool author Joyce McPherson relates how her family and others made history come alive when they created a chapter of the National History Club
• Melissa Morgan, co-author of Homeschooling on a Shoestring, has dozens of great (mostly free) resources for started toddlers learning about history - family style!
• Education expert Sam Blumenfeld inspires new homeschool graduates with thoughts about their future
• Jeannette Webb, recipient of the Presidential Scholar Distinguished Teacher Award and expert at getting kids into top colleges, explains how to fill out the dreaded "Guidance Counselor Recommendation" as your child's personal guidance counselor
• Pioneering homeschool author, and Practical Homeschooling publisher, Mary Pride explains why it's NOT good to be always busy

NEWS

• Should every 4-H animal be microchipped? Find out what the public thinks.
• How to rescue your sons from overdosing on female hormones - from their water bottles!
• California budget crisis - partial solution that involves homeschoolers

SPOTLIGHT REVIEWS

• Yes, you can teach physics at home. You might know about textbook-based courses, but how about this 50-DVD set of classroom lessons?
• Physical fitness WITHOUT expensive equipment or gym memberships? By walking? We review Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home DVDs.

MORE REVIEWS

• New York State Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto's new book chops up the public school style of instruction and spits it out in tiny, quivering chunks.
• Take the "sting" out of learning geography, grammar, and arithmetic facts with these singalong DVDs.
• The online world is becoming trickier to navigate each day. This book of safe practices can both catch you up and help you prepare your child for safe 'netting.
• Electric guitar lessons for kids, on DVD, taught by a GRAMMY award winner and top studio musician
• Fun game teaches human anatomy
• Two books help young boys learn to grow up into young men.
• What to do if you meet a charging rhino, and other vital survival facts, are found in this book.
• What is a "Thomas Jefferson Education"? Our reviewer checks out this book, which claims to have the answers.

PLUS...

• Amusing cartoons capture the funny side of homeschooling
• Contests for subscribers with awesome prizes! BONUS: See a previous issue's winning essays on "How I plan to homeschool when I grow up."
• Reader writes to remind us of MORE ways to pay for college
• Envelope Gallery of kids' art
• Ads with special offers