Oh, as an aside...
My stepson just took off on his first "SOLO" trip in an automobile. He got his driver's license yersterday. After we finished school this afternoon, I sent him off to the Post Office to get the mail. I hope both he and the car get back in one piece.
Homeschooling has worked very well for us. He went to a Waldorf(Steiner) elementary school, but he was always behind and hated school. He couldn't write a complete sentence by the time he graduated from eighth grade. The Waldorf philosophy is that students who are behind will blossom when it's their time. When he started high school, Christina and I challenged him directly, and he responded very well. He's enthusiastic, and he asks a lot of intelligent questions. My usual method is to read the textbook aloud to him, and require him to take notes. We discuss the text as we go along. Last year, I read two 900-page books and one 700-page book out loud to him. This year, we have just the Government text, which is about 700 pages; and we're using the Rosetta Stone computer program for German, humanized by a daily half-hour conversation and drill with me. He's taking Physics at the local community college, Algebra at the homeschool center, and English from Christina. Homeschooling has been a challenge, but I've really enjoyed it. Nonetheless, I'll be very happy to finish high school in 2008 - but I have to say that the textbooks and the material we've covered have been very interesting.
Oh, and I guess I should confess that we're watching DVD's of The West Wing for extra credit in Government. One of the many advantages of homeschooling.
-Joe-