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Messages from PA Homescschoolers:

Programs for Homeschoolers at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts! - Claire Marcus 8/20/2010 (0)

Facebook Group with Secular Focus - Jessica 8/2/2010 (0)

Abby Sunderland is part of a family of homeschooled adventurers - Howard Richman 6/15/2010 (0)

Cyber-school grad Dustin Holub of Sunbury riding amateur rodeo circuit - Howard Richman 6/6/2010 (0)

Magazine

What to expect from my online course-- a letter from our AP US Government & Politics online teacher
Rachel Califf, 8/25/2010

Rachel Califf has been leading AP US Government with PA Homeschoolers AP Online for many years-- and earlier she was a PHAA homeschool high schooler who took part as a student in many of our classes online! She is a graduate of Grove City College, and a mother of three little ones. This article should be of interest to all families involved in having their students taking any online class-- the points Rachel brings up fit for many situations.

For eleven years, I’ve taught AP United States Government and Politics online through PA Homeschoolers. My greatest challenge and my greatest joy is encouraging students to engage with their peers in discussions about current events and political ideas that can be controversial in nature and inspire very emotional responses, particularly among teenagers who see the world as very black and white and who have yet to hone their diplomatic approach. It can be a challenge sometimes to teach students to be civil in their discourse.

Each year, I hope and pray that my students emerge from the course with more than just good grades. I pray that they will have grown in understanding and knowledge, in integrity and in maturity, and in stewardship over their God-given skills and gifts. That, in the years to come, they would go out into the world and impact it for good.

Toward these ends, and for the sake of class cohesion and success, I post a message to our class site outlining my expectations for the year. I’m sharing several excerpts from that message for the benefit of parents and students who are considering or have enrolled in an online class this fall. You will get a sense of both the broader sweep of my expectations and hopes for students and the day-to-day skills that help students succeed in the online and distance learning environment, as well as the developing of relationship between an online teacher and student. I hope that you will find this glimpse into online education an edifying one!

***

My dear Students!

I want us to have a successful year together and I have found that clear communication is the first key to that outcome. So, in the interests of a successful year, and transparency, there are some things that you should know about me and about the upcoming class. I believe these will help you to form accurate expectations and to understand what I expect of you in return.

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Comments: 1

Carnegie Museum of Art Homeschool Classes for Fall 2010!
Juliet Pusateri , 8/24/2010

Hello Fellow Homeschool Partners and Educators!

I want to share our program offerings at Carnegie Museum of Art for homeschool students during the fall semester, 2010. You may register online through our website at cmoa.org, or by calling Program Registration at 412-622-3288. The program information is listed below. Please pass it along to anyone who may be interested.   

Carnegie Museum of Art is located at:
4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213

Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.
Thank you,
Juliet

Juliet Pusateri
Lead Educator, Children's and Family Programs
CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART
pusaterij@carnegiemuseums.org
412.622.3214 
_______________________________________________________

HOME SCHOOL CURRICULUM
at CARNEGIE MUSEUM of ART
4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA  15213

Creative classes taught by artist educators develop artistic skills and an eye for art.
All materials are included. Call 412.622.3288 to register. Read on for more details on each class offered....

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Comments: 1

How To Be Mentally Healthy Despite Being a Young Adult-- PHAA commencement address, Western PA Ceremony, June 24, 2010
Dr. Joseph Strayhorn, 8/23/2010

Dr. Joseph Strayhorn, a wonderful homeschooling father from the greater Pittsburgh region, was our Western PA PHAA Graduation Ceremony commencement speaker. Unfortunately, the sound system at the lovely Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead PA was not working effectively that evening, and I know that many of you attending missed Joe's wise words-- and we also felt his important message would be helpful to a broader audience, especially in this season of homeschool grads heading off to college or the work world. Joe is a psychiatrist who is very interested in mental health research and especially focused on discovering ways to help young people learn about gaining sound psychological skills. He has also developed an innovative daily phone tutoring program to help at risk children gain both academic skills and new tools to tackle life's challenges in positive ways. His daughter Jillian graduated through PHAA from homeschooling this year, and will begin her freshman year at Cornell University, and his daughter Emily will continue on with high school homeschooling in the family's new home in Ithaca NY. I've had the honor of serving as their homeschooling evaluator during their many years in Pennsylvania, and wish them all the best in their new home.-- Susan Richman, PA Homeschoolers Editor

Congratulations to you graduates, and congratulations to your parent-teachers. I’m greatly honored to be able to address you on this happy occasion. 

            Many of you are headed now to college; all of you are headed to young adulthood. The stage of life you’re entering can be a thrilling and very happy time. But like all other stages of life, it has its threats to mental health. This address is entitled how to be mentally healthy despite being a young adult.

According to a recent (American College Health Association) survey, 43% of college students reported that at some time in the academic year they had felt so depressed that it was difficult to function. 10% had seriously considered suicide! About 2%, one out of fifty, had actually attempted suicide! Suicide is the second most frequent cause of death among college students, second only to accidents.

According to another survey by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 31% of college students met criteria for alcohol abuse. Moreover, there were about 1.3 million yearly alcohol-related injuries or assaults among college students, out of a denominator of about 17 million college students. Alcohol related accidental deaths are even more prevalent among college students than are suicides. 

For  those young adults who do not go to college, the suicide rates are even higher than for those attending college. The chance that serious mental health issues will affect one of your peers, if they don’t affect you yourself, is very high.

For most young adults, there are four challenges to mental health that I have time to talk about. These are: disrupted sleep rhythms, an alcohol promoting culture, difficult work environments; and the disruption of social support systems. Let’s discuss these one by one....

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Comments: 0

Still room in some of our Advanced Placement online preparation courses! Sign up now!
Susan Richman, 8/22/2010

Many of our Advanced Placement (AP) online preparation courses are now filled-- but quite a few still do have room. These online interactive classes help strong high school students be well-prepared for May 2011 Advanced Placement exams-- and we can enroll homeschool students from all over the nation (and even homeschoolers living abroad!).

Here are the classes that still have a few last spots open for the coming school year....

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Comments: 0

Our Fall Testing Schedule is now up online-- ready for you to register!
Susan Richman, 8/4/2010

We now have our annual PA Homeschoolers Fall Testing Schedule up online here on our site-- just click the link above and you'll get to all the info. We hope we can serve you with this comfortable way to meet this testing requirement. My husband Howard and I have years and years of experience testing groups of homeschoolers in PA, and testing days run smoothly and we make every effort to run a professional day where parents and children feel very welcome. 

Remember, homeschoolers in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade need to take an achievement test from the list established by the PA Dept of Education-- the TerraNova test that we use in our testing service is indeed on this list, and our Fall Testing meets all testing requirements for the year. No need for testing in the spring if you take part in our Fall Testing days.

Also do check out some of the past articles....

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Comments: 0

Help in Preparing for the SAT Essay -- Our Online Course!
Karen Boyd, 7/27/2010

Karen Boyd has been leading our PA Homeschoolers SAT Essay Prep class for a number of years, building on her work with her own two always-homeschooled children (now adults), and her many years serving as a home education program evaluator in Pennsylvania. She also served on the Board of Directors for PHAA (Pennsylvania Homeschoolers Accreditation Agency) for many years, helping guide the organization right from the beginning and always giving wise counsel. I love Karen's 'email signature quote': "Writing is thinking on paper.” William Zinsser    

Please consider registering your high school student for my four-week class on writing the SAT Essay.  This class helps students prepare for the  essay portion of the October SAT.  However, students who will be taking the SAT at future dates are welcome to join us.  

Students from coast to coast and from four continents have found this class to be helpful in many ways.   First, it provides practice and guidance in writing a timed essay.  Many students report that it helped them feel confident about taking the SAT. The class provides accountability and other people to comment on their writing....

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Comments: 0

Thinking of having your high schooler travel abroad?? Did you ever think about....
Eileen Lenz, 7/25/2010

Eileen Lenz is a homeschooling mother from the Greater Philadelphia region-- and her oldest son Isaac has taken part in many of our AP Online courses and is in our PHAA diploma program. Enjoy this look at the unexpected surprises that can happen when we send our kids off on summer adventures abroad-- I know these stories will help you avoid similar problems! And I hope many of you post about your own kids' summer experiences abroad on travel/study programs or missions programs, where unexpected 'surprises' came up-- and how you handled them. AND I know we'll all hope that Eileen posts a comment below to let us know if Isaac gets his box of nuts and seeds she mailed off! And for further info on this particular summer study program, see www.goabbeyroad.com

Several years ago at the PHAA High School at Home Conference in Carlisile, PA, I heard Peter Van Buskirk speak about college admissions. He said, 'Make the summers count'. Last April, as my oldest son completed his junior year of high school I urged him to do just that, make the summer count. After several weeks of research Isaac and I found the Abbey Road Program in Florence, Italy. At first I thought the program was too expensive but when I considered the costs of organizing a 5 week cultural immersion the expense seemed justified. Besides, the program looked amazing. Students and staff would live together in apartments overlooking the markets of San Lorenzo. Isaac could study studio art as a major and minor in film.

Also there would be weekend excursions to Siena, San Gimignano, and Cinque Terre. Isaac has been In Florence for 3 weeks. He's having a great experience but there have been surprises.

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Comments: 0

Dancing with Cinderella.... when our homeschoolers move on into the wider world
Denise Boiko, 7/21/2010

Denise Boiko and her husband Ron homeschooled their two children from K-12, with their daughter Julie (Stanford University '10) now in an MD/PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh and their son Steve returning to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles this fall as a sophomore engineering major. Denise is the author of a new 400-page book, Homeschooled & Headed for College: Your Road Map for a Successful Journey, which details the entire college preparation and application process for a homeschooler. The book is available on her website www.HomeschoolRoadMap.com.

            One of my favorite songs these days, reflective of the life stage I am in after 16 years of homeschooling and now having both my son and daughter in college and grad school, is “Cinderella” by Steven Curtis Chapman. In case you're not familiar with it, this sweet, moving song describes a daughter, at various ages, asking, “Daddy, dance with me!” It spans the years from her preschool days as she prepares to attend an imaginary ball at the castle, to prom time with that special young man, and finally to practicing for dancing at her wedding. The father declares in the refrain,”So I will dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms...” He goes on to reflect that he knows what the Prince in the fairy tale never realized: that “all too soon, the clock will strike midnight, and she'll be gone.”

            Well, I'm a mom, not a dad, and our daughter Julie reminds me more of Marie Curie than of Cinderella, but just the same, that refrain is all too real as it runs through my mind and heart these days. Julie recently graduated from Stanford University and headed off to the great state of Pennsylvania to attend medical school at the University of Pittsburgh....

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Comments: 3

Summer Fun & Fitness Ideas-- for the whole family....
Susan Richman, 7/12/2010

I was browsing about online this morning, and came upon a program that USA Today is running this summer-- it's their Family Fitness Challenge, where families are encouraged to do unusual and different activities together... like trying hoola hooping, making a funny dance video of themselves, going on an overnight camping trip (even to the backyard!), and more. The article I read had some great quotes from psychologists who pointed out some truths that many of us homeschoolers have known... that kids can sometimes be in TOO many structured activities, involving lots of driving and chauffeuring, lots of stress over getting there at the right time, having the uniform all ready, practicing in between official practices, and more. Though many of these are wonderful activities, it's also nice to have a *balance* of less structures times, when kids can, well, just play. And when parents can join in the fun without feeling they have to be looking at the clock or the rearview mirror in heavy traffic... So I thought homeschooling families might love these ideas from USA Today-- see this link:

www.usatoday.com/news/health -- and you'll see the feature.

One point hit home with me--

And when you break out of the ordinary, the experience may end up "an entry in the family scrapbook," says Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia and former president of the American Psychological Association. It's the coming together to try something new and different that underlies the bonding phenomenon, he says....

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Mega Study Tips Link-- including a link to a PA homeschool dad's blogsite!
Susan Richman, 7/6/2010

I just received a nice email tonight from Cate Newton, a woman who works with the very interesting website www.GuideToOnLineSchools.com -- this site covers info on colleges that offer online courses and degrees, and a whole lot more. Cate had noticed our articles here on test taking skills, and thought our readers might be interested in their compilation of the very best 'study skills' and test-taking strategy sites online from various colleges. I was impressed with the links-- and these ideas are from major universities such as Penn State University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, James Madison University, Dartmouth College, and many, many more-- and there are also article links to the College Board, news magazines, and therapists who helps clients deal with test anxiety, and more. It's a treasure trove-- I think all homeschoolers with high school kids will find something very useful here. Cate wrote:

My interest in study skills sparked an article we just published on our website, Guide to Online Schools, here: http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/tips-and-tools/study-help . I noticed that there was an absence of quality resources for students, especially in the realm of study guides. So we found the best note-taking, test anxiety and general study tips resources on the internet and compiled them into an all in one, easy to navigate article. The article would be a great addition to your resources. I hope that you and your students find the resources helpful. Let me know what you think.

I was really delighted when one of the links in this huge compilation was to the blogsite of Dennis Jerz, an associate professor in the English department at Seton Hill University in Greensburg PA-- because just yesterday I'd met with his wife and 6th grade son for their homeschooling evaluations!....

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Comments: 1

Homeschoolers and 4H-- some new programs related to the sciences!
Amber Shollenberger, 7/1/2010

Editor's Note from Susan Richman: I was delighted to get this note from Amber Shollenberger, one of our PHAA homeschool grads-- it's always exciting to see what fields homeschoolers move into in their lives. Amber and her older sister were both very involved in 4H during their growing-up years, taking many state awards for projects with sheep and wool especially-- so I loved hearing that Amber is now working fulltime for the national 4H office.  

Dear Dr. and Mrs. Richman,

I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was a 2005 PHAA graduate. Both my older sister, Ashley (2000), and I graduated through PHAA ceremonies in Harrisburg, PA. I went on to obtain my B.A. from the Penn State University in 2009, and today I work for the National 4-H Council in Chevy Chase, MD (right outside of Washington, D.C.).

I am contacting you today to see if there if there are any opportunities to connect homeschoolers in Pennsylvania with 4-H, specifically with 4-H National Youth Science Day (NYSD)....

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Comments: 0

How Do I Prepare My Child for AP Calculus?
Susan Gilleran, 6/27/2010

Susan Gilleran will be leading AP Calculus with PA Homeschoolers for her 5th year, and her classes always get rave reviews from students. She earned a BS and secondary teaching certificate in Mathematics from Wayne State University, and an MBA from Lawrence Technological University. She taught high school mathematics before moving to the business world at Ford Motor Company for 30 years where she was an Information Technology Manager.

This will be my fifth year teaching the AP Calculus course for PA Homeschoolers. I have also completed two five day College Board summer institutes. One of the institutes was dedicated to teaching AP Calculus AB and the other addressed AP Calculus BC.

I am often asked the question “How do I prepare my son or daughter for AP Calculus?” It’s an excellent question and a common dilemma. I decided to use two of the most well prepared students, a brother and sister, who took my BC class as an example of a path to follow from first grade through pre-calculus. Then I’ll give some extra suggestions for pre-calculus alternatives.

I asked the brother and sister’s mother if she would share the choices she made for her son and daughter’s math classes. Here’s what she had to say....

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Comments: 4

Constituting America-- website and contest encouraging students to read the Federalist Papers
Susan Richman, 6/22/2010

Note from Susan Richman, Editor: I received this email from the 'Constituting America' program, which is sponsoring a special contest for students right now-- deadline in two weeks! Even if you don't have the time right now for taking part in the contest, do check out this great site on active reading of the Constitution and the Federalist Papers-- the site has an active 'blog' section, daily videos, and much more. I'm sure these resources will be very valuable all through the school year as you help your kids learn about our government and its foundations. Let us know if you take part!

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Comments: 0

Participating on a team in the Lego Robotics competition
John Cahill, 6/20/2010

[7th grade John Cahill participated on the Beaver Botics, a mixed team of school kids and homeschooled kids that competed in Lego Robotics competitions during the 2009-2010 school year.]

Six weeks of robotics, building, programming, etc., happened to be the most fun I ever had in an educational project. Two times a week for two hours each day for six weeks we met before the final competition. I, with four other teammates, constructed three robots and wrote eight programs for our three robots to perform in the competition....

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Comments: 0

Perks for Parents! Surprise blessings of the homeschool journey
Susan Richman, 6/18/2010

[Reprinted from Issue 107, Winter 2010, of the PA Homeschoolers newsletter.]

I’m getting set now to chant a new Torah portion in our synagogue in a few days—in Hebrew, reading from an actual parchment scroll. This is exceptionally challenging to do—especially as I didn’t start learning Hebrew till the year 2000, at age 49. And why did I have the courage to take on this daunting task at that point in my life, a time when some adults would think studying a whole new language would be totally out of the question? I had the guts to do this because I’d already helped all of our four kids learn French during our homeschooling years.

And I was one of the worst French students in my high school class, too.

This is what dedicated homeschooling can do for you—it can truly open up whole new learning adventures not only for our kids, but for us as parents....

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Comments: 2

Enrollment Climbing in PA Cyber-Charter Schools
Howard Richman, 6/16/2010

According to the most recent statistics (for 2008-2009 school year), enrollment in Pennsylvania Cyber-Charter Schools has continued to grow as shown by the graph below:

The biggest five cyber-charter schools that year were PA Cyber, Agora, PA Virtual, Commonwealth Connections, and PA Leadership, as shown in the following graph:...

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Comments: 4

Program for July 16 2010 High School at Home Conference
Howard Richman, 6/14/2010

Pennsylvania Homeschoolers Accreditation Agency
High School at Home
15th Annual Conference
Friday July 16, 2010
Hotel Carlisle, Carlisle PA

(schedule as of 6/14/2010, subject to change)

 THEME: Gaining Vision, Gaining Tools

8:45-9:00 Registration and snacks in main ballroom....

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Comments: 1

AP Art History-- A Multidisciplinary Approach to Educational Growth
Mary Lanctot, 6/8/2010

Mary Lanctot has been leading our AP Art History class on line since our youngest daughter Hannah took the course her senior year, back in the 2004-2005 school year -- and I warn you, this course was so involving and intriguing that Hannah continued with art history studies in college, and eventually ended up majoring in fine arts with a focus on painting (along with sociology, and work in Judaic studies ... but don't worry-- she also has a fine fulltime job for the fall, after just graduating this May!). Mary is also the mother of three always homeschooled young people-- her youngest is graduating from her high school years now. Mary is a dynamic, encouraging, and very motivating teacher-- highly recommended!  -- Editor, Susan Richman

 It is difficult for me to speak quantitatively and rationally about the discipline of art history.  I can effuse enthusiastically at length, or offer up brilliant and beautiful masterpieces that literally take one’s breath away.  But even these attempts at communicating the depth and breadth of this potentially life-changing curriculum fall far short of revealing its true power. 

As a college student, I was a passionate academic being.  Every semester when the thick, newsprint course catalog came out (along with the requisite thrill of choosing next term’s offerings), I would gawk in joyful paralysis at the resplendent array of opportunities, giggling at the sheer volume of possibilities—a newly-born gourmet standing with only a single plate at the mother-of-all buffet-tables.  I changed my major nearly every semester.  How could I possibly decide between literature, religious studies, history, anthropology, psychology, art…?  Even though, I promise you, I read the course booklet as thoroughly as any of its editors; not once had I stopped and perused the art history offerings. 

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Comments: 0

Why Take AP World History?
Gloria Harrison, 6/5/2010

Gloria Harrison has taught online AP World History for eight years through PA Homeschoolers AP Online. She graduated from the Translators & Interpreters Institute in Portugal in 1969. Having traveled with her diplomat parents since the age of three, she went to school in a different country every three years on the average, thus immersing herself in the language, geography, culture, and history of those countries. She married a U.S. Navy serviceman, and continued her travels for the next 25 years. In all that time, they were stationed in the United States only once. She continued to take a great interest in the countries they lived in. She currently lives in southwest Pennsylvania with her two cats.

WHY TAKE AP WORLD HISTORY?

I've been teaching AP European History with PA Homeschoolers for the past nine years and AP World History for the past eight.  Yet I never cease to be surprised that I end up with about half the students in World History than with those in Euro.

In a way, that is an advantage both for me and for my students.  I have more time to spend one-on-one with the World History (generally known as WHAP) students, via email or message board discussion.

Still, why do so few students actually take AP World History?  Perhaps because their perception (and that of their parents) of it is inaccurate? ....

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Comments: 1

Teaching Mary Science....
Becky Laughlin, 6/3/2010

Becky Laughlin has just completed her 10th grade year of homeschooling, and is now one of my evaluation students. I was so delighted to read this major paper of hers this year, sharing about how she planned out her younger sister Mary's science program for the year. This was a fabulous leadership project for Becky-- and a wonderful year of very active science learning for Mary! I wanted others to be able to learn about this family 'co-op' program-- you just may have a very skilled teacher to help you out with your younger kids living right under your own roof! Becky also received a credit for learning about teaching this year-- Susan Richman, Editor PA Homeschoolers

     This summer we decided that I would take over teaching science to my little sister, Mary, for the year.  The main book I used was from the elementary Apologia series.  Although half of the book was on birds, it also covered flying bats, flying dinosaurs, and insects.  In addition to the zoology book, we used a wide variety of books and videos from our home and local library.  Doing such a variety of projects and activities made it easy for me to enjoy teaching a subject I love anyway, and it showed Mary, who started the year thinking all subjects would be hard and boring, that science can be quite interesting and even fun. 

     We did a variety of experiments and activities that where suggested in the zoology book.  One example was called the pup experiment.  The point of this experiment was to show how hard it is for a bat to find her one baby among hundreds in a dark cave.  For our experiment, Mary only had to find one scent from around twenty.  We gathered cotton balls, put some different scents on them, and then Mary picked one to be her "pup".  I blindfolded her and she had to sniff each cotton ball until she found the one that was hers.  Mary sniffed her "pup" several times before she decided it was correct....

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Comments: 0

Make Foreign Language Learning a Full Part of Family Life--f rom early on!
Christine Pritt, 5/24/2010

Christine Pritt is a busy homeschooling mother of six children, living in Maryland. Several of the family students have already graduated from homeschooling (one moving on to Harvard!), and many of her older children have taken part in our AP Online classes over the years. I was always amazed to learn of the high level of foreign language ability all the Pritt kids had-- they were often taking multiple AP foreign language exams, doing extremely well on all of them. I wondered what the Pritt family 'secret' was-- and I was delighted to find out how Christine learned right along with her children, by starting early and immersing them in a world of active language listening and learning. I hope this article inspires many of you to think 'outside the box' about language learning-- and to gain confidence that you too can help your children really develop enjoyment in gaining this window on the world. And if you might be wondering what 'French comics' her kids might be addicted to-- you might want to take a look at this linke to a TIME Magazine article on the creator of the very popular Asterix cartoons http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1931169,00.html . My kids loved these when growing up  learning French, and we had them in both book form and in video cartoons. I had to laugh, too, when Christine mentions that all of their 'kids' films were in foreign languages, as I remembered how my own daughter Hannah's first introduction to The Lion King cartoon film was via the FRENCH dubbed version she received as a prize for her fine showing one year in the National French exam for the early elementary level! (see www.frenchteachers.org/concours for info on this great program)

Many aspects of homeschooling have brought us pleasure and joy, but none so much, I think, as learning foreign languages with our children. 

Some people think our success in teaching our children languages is due to our own backgrounds, but this is not true.  I spoke a little German before I homeschooled, but I never really learned the grammar until I taught my children.  Anyone can do this with consistency, patience, and most importantly, interest.  Learning with our kids is one of the best fringe benefits of this job!....

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Comments: 0

Learning from Giving
Tracey Earhart, 5/20/2010

[Reprinted from Issue 104, Fall 2008, of PA Homeschoolers magazine]

The above photo shows Hannah Earhart delivering food

From the beginning of our homeschooling, serving our community was a natural overflow from our many projects we had done with our church. It just made good sense to us, to have our kiddos involved in community service projects as young as possible. There were lots of opportunities. Local churches take turns supplying the volunteers in our community through a ministerial alliance. Helping at the local food bank was one of the areas. Our oldest son and his younger brother filled boxes and handed out food and unloaded supplies- he was in 4th grade, the younger was in kindergarten. We did that several times a year. That was 14 years ago. As time went by, we even took the very youngest along usually in a back pack.. Once when our daughter was just about 2, she sat up on the table with an older lady from our church and helped to put the soup into the boxes of the recipients. Having a young bright face- pacifier and all – handing them their soup and saying ‘tank you’ , brought smiles and laughter to everyone. The volunteers encouraged our children, and happily assisted them, while those in charge of the food bank delighted in seeing " youth’ in their midst- knowing the next generation was learning to serve the needs of the community at such an early age. Our three children helped to serve a thanksgiving dinner at the local Salvation Army. At 4 years old- our youngest was more than capable of delivering a turkey dinner with a huge smile. It made a beautiful difference for the recipients. Many times the recipients have come by to tell me, or the staff, how glad they were to see the kids helping. It warmed their hearts....

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Appeals Court Upholds PA Home Education Law
Howard Richman, 5/18/2010

[Reprinted from Issue 104, Winter 2008-2009, issue of PA Homeschoolers]

In the Spring of 2004, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) began filing suits in Pennsylvania state courts on the behalf of homeschooling families under Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Protection Act (RFPA) of 2002. The idea of the initial suits was to open up an alternative to the compulsory education law that would apply just to religious homeschoolers.

However, when writing up the court case, HSLDA decided to try to get the entire home education law declared to be unconstitutional, holding that the PA Home Education Law (Act 169 of 1988) violated people’s Civil Rights, especially their right to Freedom of Religion....

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Using the WWW to connect, create, to learn...
Susan Richman, 5/17/2010

[Reprinted from Issue 103, Summer 2008, of the PA Homeschoolers newsletter]

I still remember the summer when my boys were just 6 and 3—and Molly was soon to arrive, back in 1983. My husband Howard had proudly brought home a computer for the summer on loan from the public school where he worked then as a reading specialist, and he was planning on learning how to program learning games and more on it. At that time I saw computers as basically being ‘pacman’ games that cost $1000, and I couldn’t see any reason why I would ever want to use one....

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Comments: 1

Summer science fun: ‘Your Spitting Image’ web site
Susan Richman, 5/12/2010

Editor's Note from Susan Richman: I don't 'pass on' every neat website I hear about, but this one just sounds too unique and fascinating to pass up-- and a great new way to cover science, health, forensics, human physiology, and new hi-tech developments in crime solving. Let me know what you think of this one! Who would have thought that there might be a 'National Museum of Dentistry :-).

'Your Spitting Image' website reveals what your mouth says about you

BALTIMORE, MD (May 12, 2010)— Did you know that the average person creates enough saliva each day to fill a soft-drink bottle? Teeth can survive fires reaching 2012 degrees F? Or a person can be identified from the DNA in saliva left behind on a postage stamp?

Your Spitting Image (www.dentalmuseum.org/ysi) is a new, interactive web site from the National Museum of Dentistry that reveals some surprising things that your mouth says about you. Find out how forensic dentists use dental records and DNA analysis to solve real missing person cases, discover the telling secrets revealed by saliva, and find out how your mouth is a window to health for your body.

This engaging web site with interactive activities and teacher guides can be used in the classroom or at home for upper-level elementary through high-school age kids.

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Homeschooler Daniel English of Pittsburgh wins Blackwood Theater Organ Scholarship!
Susan Richman, 5/11/2010

Editor's Note from Susan Richman: Many homeschool students try out for scholarships to recognize their gifts and talents -- and it's always heart-warming to hear of a wonderful win like this one! Our congratulations to Daniel English for this major accomplishment. We hope his award will inspire other young homeschool musicians:

  Harrisville, Pa. (May 10, 2010) – Daniel English of Pittsburgh has been awarded a $4,500 scholarship from the Blackwood Theatre Organ Society. English was one of five Tri-State high school seniors awarded the 2010 scholarships, which totaled $20,000.

            The Blackwood Theater Organ Society is a not-for-profit organization created to encourage students to pursue instrumental music performance careers. Over the past ten years, the Society has awarded more than $126,000 in scholarships to high school seniors planning to pursue an instrumental music performance degree in college....

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