Binding of the Blade Series

Does your family enjoy fantasy and science fiction? Do you have trouble finding new quality Christian literature? Try the Binding of the Blade series, for young adults, written by L. B. Graham. I've been reading through the series, and enjoyed the believable characters, dragons, and almost breathtakingly beautiful writing.

Check out the link for a free sample chapter, and let me know--what do you think?

Update for Why Homeschool College?

I see I gave you a broken link in my last post—to my own web page on Homeschooling College! Well, they say you do get your mind back, after your kids are grown up, so maybe there is hope for me yet, eventually. Here’s the corrected link: http://www.eaglesnesthome.com/unit.htm#topic5

We certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, and we’re prayerfully considering these issues regarding college for our family. Is there really an agenda in mainstream education to change the hearts and minds of Christian youth against the hearts of their fathers? Decide for yourself. See books such as "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth" and "Freefall of the American University."

Read more about the issues surrounding Christians in college, and the college at home option, at http://www.patriarch.com/college@home.html . Need to see more specific details about the often decadent modern college culture? Check out examples at http://www.collegeprowler.com/about_the_guides.asp. Parents—you can check out what you’re getting for your money. As the site puts it, “College Prowler has quotes from students about drugs on campus, Greek life, diversity, campus strictness and many other categories that don't usually pop up in traditional college guides. These quotes and categories are here to provide a helpful assessment of what's really happening on each campus.”

Are public middle and high school textbooks accurate and unbiased? Check out your kid’s textbooks:
Educational Research Analysts:http://www.textbookreviews.org
American Textbook Council:http://www.historytextbooks.org
Textbook League:http://www.textbookleague.org

All the more reason to consider Homeschooling high school and even college. You can save money and time, and pick your choice of textbooks. You can give your child a range of views, instead of the often unbalanced, one-sided liberal university view that has become prevalent.

Here are your weekly freebies:
Free downloadable educational e-book, How to Succeed as a Student,
http://www.zen40585.zen.co.uk/ .
Free Directions on how to make your own play clay, http://www.armhammer.com or 800-524-1328
Free Hunt Lettering Charts for learning the art of decorative handwriting,
http://www.speedballart.com
Learn Photography (count it as a high school level elective?) with 365 Days to Better Pictures, from Kodak, http://www.kodak.com , 800-599-5929
Learn Sewing basics (Home Economics) from http://www.sewing.org
Free educational newsletters and publications for students and people with visual challenges, http://www.navh.org
Developmentally Appropriate Practices, http://www.naeyc.org

Many thanks to http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/01/carnival-of-homeschooling-week-3.html , for including this blog in their Carnival!

Why Homeschool College?

Homeschooling is usually a better option than public schooling—this applies to high school, and even to college!

What—homeschool college? Is there really such a thing, and if so, why would we want to do it?

I can’t think of any place that works harder to change the values of young people than a public college. And they charge you for the privilege! Freshmen in particular receive tremendous pressure to toe the politically correct ideological line.

Homeschooling College can save you thousands of dollars, by testing out of classes and taking AP, CLEP and DANTES tests.

In most cases, Homeschooling College can get you college credit that is worth just as much as credit you get at a public college.

You save yourself a lot of time and aggravation. You can tailor make your college education, just like in lower grades.

Most young people can be ready for college level classes before the age of eighteen. Once you have enough college credit accumulated, you will be able to enroll in a university, if you wish, as an adult learner—which means you might not have to take SAT, ACT, or entrance exams. Even more important, you will not be burdened with the all too common poor quality, biased freshman courses.

If you are high school age, pick your favorite subject, and start studying at a college level. What are you waiting for? If you like homeschooling, you might love Homeschooling College.

Check into non-traditional methods for reducing college costs and graduating early. Look into ways students have received college credit for life experience such as extensive unit studies, portfolio evaluations, internships, travel, and ministry work. For information on credit for prior learning and life experience credit, check out http://www.nationalponsi.org/ and http://www.collegeispossible.org/ .

For more information on how you can homeschool college, investigate the free and inexpensive resources at http://ww.eaglesnesthome.com/unit.htm

Why Homeschool: Participating in the Carnival of Homeschooling

Back to Homeschool; Challenged by Sound?

We're baaaack, after a nice long Christmas vacation. I guess we're ready to do school again, because the transition back into our homeschool routine went well.

I've been looking for help with auditory sensitivity in our youngest child, and I ran into a freebie you may enjoy. It is a free sample mp3 from a program for electronic auditory stimulation to help with sensory integration disorders. Download the Aiken Drum song here, at http://www.vitallinks.net/MP3/AikenDrum.mp3. It was enjoyable listening, whether you are challenged by sound or not.