Thank God for the Extroverts

No, really. Introverts like me would shrivel up and die without extroverts. Extroverts force us out of our shells. We are very comfortable sitting on the outside watching life pass by. We live in our own heads. Here's a secret I don't think I've told anyone: I have conversations with a fictional therapist in my head. I'm in tune enough with myself and, through my reading, siblings, and children, I've been exposed to enough therapy second and third-hand that I'm pretty sure I know what's up with myself. I still have to hash things out, though. So I talk to a fictional Dr. X. in my head. He answers back. His rates are exactly what I can afford. But I digress. Introverts are too comfortable in their own heads sometimes. Unhealthily comfortable. When I start laughing at my own jokes that I forgot to say out loud, we might have a small problem (just a small one, though).

In the past few years I have met three women that have dragged me kicking and screaming out of that comfort zone, and they've done so within the first few minutes of my meeting them. That's more than just extroverted talent - that's a kindred spirit thing. It's funny - I still, in my advanced old age, don't really relate to a lot of women (although the older I get, the more that changes). The second I met Henry at 18, though, I lost interest (thankfully for my relationship) in hanging out with other guys. Guys had always been my safe place. They weren't catty, didn't gossip, and were very upfront about how they felt - so different from girls (and, I'm sorry to say, many adult women). You always knew where you stood. Because I don't hang out with adult men, I have no idea what they're like, but I suspect they're pretty upfront, too. Most men don't seem to have the patience to play games like women do. Again, I digress (focus, fool! - ha! Some insight into my inner dialogue!). Where was I? Oh, yes. Women.

The first one made me, I think, her pet introvert, which was fine with me. I love her. She is bubbly, beautiful, confident, and probably has more friends than I can even conceptualize. I admire that kind of person but I get exhausted just thinking about living that life (is it nap time yet?). She is so kind and compassionate and so upfront about her curiosity about what it means to be conservative (personality-wise, not politically), Catholic me. She has never made me feel odd because of our differences; she has made me feel treasured. That, my Internet friends, is a rare, rare gift.

The second one, it is no surprise, felt like I had known her my whole life. She is what would happen if my older sister and I had another sister (well, we do have another sister, but keep with me) who was a perfect hybrid of the two of us (which our younger sister is not). Extroverted like my older sister, snarkily brilliant like me, and the perfect person to talk endlessly to, I feel like an extrovert myself with her. She's the kind of person I feel like texting when something happens because I know she'll see it the exact same way that I do. As life tends to do, events kind of evolved in a way that set our lives on different tracks, but she will always stand out to me as the person with whom I have felt an instant connection.

Finally, my most recent extrovert acquisition (because I collect extroverts, don't you know! Heck, I hoard makeup, yarn, and lately craft supplies - why not add extroverts to the list? Why not, Laura? Because it's creepy, that's why not.) is someone that Henry had been telling me for weeks that I would love. Henry and I have sort of a deal. He handles most shooting stuff because I do debate stuff. Both require lots of time and lots of driving. Extrovert 3 is a shooting mom. Henry told me, "She's our kind of people. She gets our humor." Suffice it to say, not a lot of people get our humor, especially women. Men usually get me. When they hear my cracks, they laugh. Many women, if they get me at all, don't think I'm funny and (sniff) I think even feel sorry for me. Well, Henry assured me that this one was like us. He built her up quite a bit. Even my kids were telling me, "She really wants to meet you!" I told them, "She's going to be disappointed..." In any case, I met her and was instantly delighted. I have the feeling that everyone who meets her probably feels that way. She is one of those people who makes you feel like you are the only one she is interested in talking to. Again, that's a gift. A lot of introverts are good at that because, duh - you *are* the only one they are interested in talking to! (I'm kidding. Kind of.) But extroverts are interested in lots of people. And things. And people (disclaimer - I am the proud mother of the most extroverted teenage girl ever. If you know her, you know I speak the truth.). So for an extrovert to exude that kind of warmth and focus just toward me - well, I felt special. Plus she exhibited so much compassion toward my daughter and another girl on two separate occasions at her home that day - let's just say I'm sold.

So, like I said, thank God for the extroverts. Most introverts do, I suspect, crave friendships. But they are so much work. You have to find friends. You have to maintain friendships. You have to be pried out of the house. When you're out, you usually enjoy yourself (although you enjoy coming home more!). So, if you're the extroverted friend of an introvert, don't give up on her! Text her (don't ever call - she won't answer...but you knew that already!) and keep in touch.

What prompted this post? Well, I was thinking about the above ladies, but I also had a dream about my  best friend last night. The best advice I can give any young lady bored enough to be reading this is *don't* make the mistake of thinking you can be best friends with a guy. It may work when you are younger. It may even work when you are older - for awhile. It may work for decades. At some point, for some reason, though, it will more than likely cease to work. Then you'll have a best friend that you only talk to in your head, which is probably befitting two very introverted people. It's a kind of lonely way to maintain a decades-long friendship, though.

P.S. Is it wine-thirty yet?

What happens when two introverts take a picture with an extrovert in the family...

Review of A+ Interactive Math by A+ TutorSoft Inc.

Oh my goodness. If you have read my blog for awhile, you already know that we have used A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.)  many times in previous years. In fact, we have reviewed this company three times before! After our very first time reviewing the company, I actually bought a bunch of their products, so I obviously love what they do. While there have been some changes over the years, the primary way the program works has remained the same, so (SPOILERS!), it's safe to say that I still love this math program. Michael (who is using Pre-Algebra this time around - hard to believe that the first time he used A+ TutorSoft products he was in 3rd grade!) was just glad to see that when you get a problem wrong, the neat voice still says, "I'm sorry! That is incorrect!" It's all about consistency...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The great thing about reviewing for this company is that while the core operation of their interactive math programs remains the same, the way they offer those programs is ever-evolving, meaning that they can serve more and more families. This time around, we got to review their Family Math Package. Good for up to 10 students (hello, large family friendly!), this package allows students from 1st grade through Algebra to move from grade level to grade level and from lesson to lesson (or topic to topic within a grade level) as much as they want during the space of the year long subscription. There is so much flexibility with this program! Have you ever experienced buying a math program and then realizing that what that program considers 6th grade is not what your previous program considered 6th grade? Many companies are very friendly with returns and exchanges, but not all are, and it really stinks to be stuck with the wrong grade level. Or what if, like one of my children, you have a child who is okay at math at grade level except for one topic? How wonderful it is to have the option to to do on-level math for almost everything, but go up or down a level for that one thing at which you are an outlier!

There is much to learn about how the Family Math Package works, so let's dive in. I'll be talking about Pre-Algebra, which A+ TutorSoft gauges at a 7th/8th grade level. Also, although I only have one student (13) using the program at the moment, as I mentioned you can have up to 10. All you have to do is assign each one to a level of of the program. Each gets his/her own login. When they log in, they will be taken to their correct level. That doesn't mean you can't switch them around - it just means that they will be taken to where they need to be upon launching their math.

This is what you see when you launch Pre-Algebra:

The topics are in collapsed form on the left - it is easy to see exactly what will be covered in the program. The lessons play out as you see in the picture. They are narrated by a pleasant sounding, almost computerized, but not quite, woman as the text evolves on the screen.

If you expand the topics, as I have done above, you can see what is covered within one. It's kind of like exploring the chapter of a math book. (If you want to see all of the topics expanded at once, you can do so here). After each one of these subtopics, there is an Interactive Q&A (that's that right facing arrow on the bottom of the screen). Consider it a short review of what was covered. What Michael loves (and has since he was 8) about this Q&A is that when he gets a question wrong, he gets to hear, "I'm sorry! That is incorrect!" What I love about it is that when he gets a question wrong, the correct solution is presented in a step-by-step format.

There is an app on my phone that I use for the kids to walk them through math problem solutions that I can't help them with (because, as everyone knows, I'm all about words, not numbers). I love the fact that I don't have to break out that app with this program. A+ TutorSoft understands that kids need to understand how to do the problem they got wrong - knowing they got it wrong is only about 10% of the battle. 

If the interactive Q&A doesn't provide enough practice, there are also online worksheets for every single subtopic. The online worksheet is not just a repeat of the Q&A questions your child has already done. It truly is more practice. 

If you want to see if  A+ Interactive Math (by A+ TutorSoft Inc.)  is right for you, you should absolutely check out their huge page of free stuff! You should also read the Crew blog to see how 75 other Crew members used both the Family Math Package and the Adaptive Math Curriculum Online. 

Review of HelpTeaching.com

We have used HelpTeaching.com in the past, so I was quite happy to receive a subscription to Help Teaching Pro again. The terrific thing about this website is that it doesn't matter if you had a subscription to it two years ago, it both is and isn't the website you remember. It is the same website in that it still has the test generator that lets you make your own tests according to your own materials (in fact, it will even have your previous tests still stored if you've been a member before!), it still has untold numbers of pre-made worksheets, short but informative lessons that you can assign to individual students, an early education section, and so much more. It's not the same website because there is new material being added constantly! Also, the kids you likely used it with previously have aged, hence, the material in the next grade level(s) is all new to them! Of course, if you're one of the lucky ones who has not yet used HelpTeaching.com at all, you're in for a huge treat. This website is not just another worksheet warehouse. There is so much more here, and you can explore a whole lot of it for free. My guess is you'll want the Pro version after seeing everything the site has to offer. When you log on to HelpTeaching.com, you'll see five major sections: 

Tests and Worksheets is the place to find worksheets by grade level or subject area. From Pre-K through 12 and from Physical Education to Science to Graphic Organizers to Life Skills, along with all the core subjects you would expect, this section has everything you need to print any worksheet you can think of for your students. If you need Common Core aligned materials, you will find those here. 

The next tab, Online Lessons, is one of the things that sets this site apart. If you're like me, you value curriculum that your child can do on their own, which is why I loved the root lesson Michael did. The older mine get, the more important this factor is in my deciding what curriculum to use. Further, since all of my kids are middle or high school, I love that the middle and high school elements on this site are geared to be independent. Using embedded videos from both HelpTeaching.com and from other sources, which you can see on this page, middle and high schoolers can do everything at their own pace. 

Nicholas (14) will be taking the PSAT for the first time next year as a sophomore. His vocabulary is not as strong as my other kids'. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with his coming to a love of reading a little later than the rest of them. That's okay, though! HelpTeaching.com has a Top 100 SAT words self-paced lesson for him to work through. Since Nicholas doesn't really do any work with me anymore, it's essential that I find things that he can do on his own, and this lesson fits the bill perfectly. 

With accompanying worksheets that list all of the words, there is a visual and a written component. Nicholas remembers best when he writes things down, so he wrote down the words as the slides on the video played. Now he has a notebook of Top 100 SAT words as a starting point for studying.

There are so many other kinds of lessons, too! One thing I love about this site is that it can easily fill holes that I find my kids have, or that I *fear* my kids have. Within a few minutes, my fears can be alleviated. Every so often I will suddenly think something like, "Literary analysis! My kids don't know anything about literary analysis!" I had that moment last week. I went to HelpTeaching.com and found a 7th grade lesson on literary analysis (see "Analyzing a Literary Text" with the lock beside it?):

I signed into my account to access the lesson and handed it off to Michael. First, there was a short discussion on analyzing a literary text, the first part of which you can see here:

Then, you move through five practice questions:

Michael got all of them right.

The third tab, Test Maker, is another great feature that sets this site apart. You can make multiple choice tests and quizzes and you can have your students take printable or online versions. You can create your own questions, or you can find questions that are already in the test library. You can write your own instructions or have the program generate instructions. Really, the possibilities are endless. I am not much of a written "tester" in my homeschool, but if you are, you will absolutely love what this feature has to offer. 

The next tab, Worksheet Generator, does exactly what it says. This is where Mary-Catherine got to "enjoy" Help Teaching Pro. Enjoy is in quotes because Mary-Catherine doesn't really enjoy being drilled in math, but she does appreciate the edge it gives her in her regular math program. You can get exactly the kind of math worksheets or games/puzzles you want on this page. Drill some math, then play some Bingo!

The Online Testing and My Content tabs let you manage your students, your tests, and your content. You'll get to know these tabs as you work with the program.

What We Thought

There is a lot to love about Help Teaching Pro. HelpTeaching.com offers much of its site for free, so you'll lose nothing by going to check out what they have to offer. If you like what you see, you might well decide it's worth the cost to upgrade to the Pro version, especially if you have multiple kids who will be using the site. Often with sites like this one, there is a lot of content for the younger grades, but the pickin's are thin at the higher levels. That's absolutely not true with HelpTeaching.com. They have great content at the upper levels. Don't take my word for it, though.

Because there are so many different ways to use HelpTeaching.com, do be sure to read the Crew Blog to see how 49 other Crew members made use of the myriad resources available!

Review of Study.com's CLEP Prep Program

Sometimes really nice things happen to you and you're not sure why. Just such a thing happened to me a couple of months ago when Study.com reached out to me to see if I would be interested in reviewing their CLEP Prep courses on their absolutely AMAZING website. Given that Therese (16) is a junior in high school and is exploring multiple options at this point, I didn't hesitate. In fact, I challenge you to spend five minutes on this website and not be even remotely tempted by all they have to offer, whether your kids are public schooled, private schooled, in middle school, high school, even college, and homeschool! Just as an example of the specific homeschool material on the site, check out the Saxon Algebra I textbook section. When I say this site has everything, I mean that this site has EVERYTHING! And while I was provided a six-month subscription for the purpose of this review, I don't think I'll be able to live without it when those six months are up. You just get so much with this program. 

Study.com's CLEP courses are one of the best values on the site, though. It's no secret that college is very, very expensive. Any way one can find to cut those costs deserves serious consideration. CLEP, or the College Level Examination Program, is a great alternative to paying full price for four years of college. Similar to AP tests, CLEP tests assess your mastery of material and grant you college credit upon completion of the test. Unlike AP tests, CLEP tests can be taken at any time before or during college, and you don't have to take a CLEP course prior to taking the test. In other words, everyone knows that before you take an AP test, you will have taken, for example, AP English or AP European History. You then take that AP test and, if you get (usually) a 3 or higher, you gain college credit. With a CLEP test, though, you don't have to take a class prior to taking the test. In fact, in some cases, you only have to review the material for a few days. Study.com makes this so easy with its customized CLEP prep! This is how it works:

• Study.com offers you a *free* 15 question practice test in your chosen test area.
• You are then provided with detailed results so that you can see your specific areas of strength and weakness - you'll know exactly where you stand.
• Finally, Study.com will give you specific recommendations from its test prep catalog of over 30 CLEP courses. 

Let's say your student is interested in taking the CLEP test in Western Civilization II (my history bias is showing here!). This is what it looks like when you click on that course:

Each of the lessons seen above is demonstrated as a video. All Study.com videos are short in length (around 5-10 minutes). Videos are accompanied by transcripts, which is excellent if you prefer to learn by reading, as Therese does, which I'll discuss momentarily, or if you like having the ability to go back and reference something written down (like Nicholas, 14, who will be using Study.com this summer) does. The transcripts also provide links to other relevant lessons. The video lessons are followed by short quizzes, as are all of the chapters. Finally, at the end of each CLEP course, there is a "final exam," meaning there is a mastery test to assess your readiness to take the CLEP test (because who wants to take a test like that, which, after all, does cost money, if you're not ready - especially when you can always go back through your CLEP course to revisit sections you may not have mastered!). Even better, Study.com offers flashcards to help you study each section of your CLEP prep course. They are right there online for you to use as much as you need to.

CLEP tests themselves (at least history CLEP tests, which are the ones I delved into!) are about 120 multiple choice questions and last 90 minutes. They are worth 3 college credits (or one class). The test itself costs $85, which is so much cheaper than your average college class (or any college class, for that matter)! The history classes that I have looked at on Study.com include about 11 hours of CLEP test instruction. The website does a neat service of breaking down for you how much study time that entails, depending on how much time you have before you take the CLEP test:

As you can see, Study.com has made it easy to prepare for these tests. They have also made it where you don't have to subscribe to their site for an eternity just to earn a bunch of college credit hours through CLEP testing. If you're diligent, you can subscribe for a couple of months and earn a *bunch* of hours worth of credit. What a tremendous savings. 

Do you know what's even better? Study.com offers advisers to work with you every step of the way. Perhaps you don't want to take the CLEP test for Western Civ II. Maybe you want to take Western Civ II for college credit. Believe it or not, you can do that on Study.com. They can help you take the course for credit that will transfer to thousands of colleges. So if you have test anxiety, or your test scores are too low to get into the school you want to go to, or you just can't afford college right now, see what Study.com has to offer.

Therese and Study.com

Therese is my eldest child, so she is my guinea pig in so many ways. She loves online learning, she loves learning at her own pace, and she is so ready to go to college in so many ways. However, as one of four kids, three of whom will be in college at the same time, she knows that she will have to pay for the bulk of college on her own. I'll admit that before I was contacted by Study.com, I had not really thought much about CLEP tests. When I had thought about them, I thought of them as the AP test's inferior little brother. I no longer think of them that way. They are different, not inferior. I hope I made the differences clear above, but they serve a different purpose than AP tests, which really only serve high school students in a traditional high school setting. That is not our family, and it's really not a lot of people trying to earn a college degree. Will Therese take any CLEP tests? I'm not sure, especially since she is doing dual credit courses from now on. Do I love knowing that the option is out there? Absolutely. Will she continue to take advantage of Study.com's CLEP prep courses? Absolutely (especially now that the madness of standardized testing, aka ACT/SAT is over - but, hey! She used Study.com for that, too! Did I mention that Study.com has EVERYTHING?).

Therese started out with the History of the United States I. Her reasoning was simple. Because of her chronic illnesses, she missed a lot of her freshman year, including a lot of US History I. Doing the CLEP prep course seemed like an excellent way to fill in the gaps in her knowledge and give me the confidence to add US History I to her transcript. Therese's favorite part of the this course was the ability to take the lesson two ways - either by viewing the approximately six minute videos, or by simply reading the transcripts. It's nice to have the choice. She also liked that if it was a topic about which she knew a lot, she could skip the lesson and go straight to the quiz. If she got the quiz right, the lesson would be marked complete. 

I really appreciate using Study.com this way - checking to see if Therese has mastery over the subjects that we kind of skated over while she was sick. My theory is that if she can do well enough in them to earn college credit, that means that she has earned the high school credit. It's a great "check" for both of us. As I said, now that we are ending the madness that is junior year, we are going to be using it in much that way to dot our i's and cross our t's.

I am so enjoying everything that Study.com has to offer. It can be used as supplementary for every grade 6-12, but I am going to be testing my theory that it can also be used as primary coursework for grades 8 and 10 next year (although Nicky will also be taking dual credit classes). Every time I go on the website I just see more and more things I want the kids to do. And especially now that I know where our nearest center for CLEP testing is (where the kids will be taking classes in the fall), I don't rule out a few tests. After all, I'll know in advance whether or not they'll pass. They can't miss after doing Study.com's CLEP prep classes.

Considering you have access to a free trial, you really have nothing to lose by checking out this comprehensive learning website. Although I'll warn you - you might find it hard to leave!

EDITED AND UPDATED - To be honest, I had forgotten about Study.com for awhile. The stress of getting Therese into and then off to college, combined with other family events, conspired to make me narrow my field of focus. The fact is, though, that this is truly the only resource you need if your homeschooled kids are in high school. This section of the review is after the disclaimer because I paid for my new subscription to Study.com myself. 

Because getting Nicholas (16) into college is my next hurdle, it is definitely this section of Study.com's Homeschool page that interests me the most.

He is taking most of his classes at a community college for dual credit, but it is always so helpful to have additional resources to flesh out the courses he's taking. Chemistry is the one I am eyeing right now for him, but for my twins (9th grade), I am most excited about Spanish 101 and Art 103 and 104. These are classes I very much want them to have a good preview of before they take them at community college in the next couple of years. Study.com breaks down all of its courses into bite sized chunks (the videos are often around 8 minutes), and the courses are taught by people well-qualified in their fields (teachers!). 

This material is probably best suited either for secular homeschoolers or for those homeschoolers who don't require that all of their subjects are taught with a Biblical worldview. There is nothing hostile to Christianity here that I have found, but the material certainly corresponds more to a public school education than to a Christian school one. For those homeschoolers looking to replicate a public school education at home, though, you're not going to do better than Study.com. I would have loved this option when I was in high school.

Again, you can use anything on this site as supplemental to what you're already doing. My kids' curriculum is all in place for this year, but because my twins love history, they are blowing through their course. Their year-long course will be done by December. I'm just going to find another history course on Study.com for them when that day comes. 

It's still early in the year (the updated date of this post is mid-September), so if you're looking for homeschool options, do yourself a favor and check out Study.com. With their free trial, you have nothing to lose. Make sure you have time when you set out to browse the site, though, because you will likely get lost in all of the exciting offerings!

Wordless Wednesday - My View

And We Wonder Why I'm Distracted...

I have so much work to do right now. Those notes you see are just some of it. What's up on my computer is the math I am supposed to be writing for May's edHelper work. Somehow I just can't focus. Pens, podcasts, and pictures -- oh, my!

Prepping for College?! In the Fall?!

I honestly meant to write several posts last week. I also meant to crack open my birthday present - a Cricut Explore Air 2 (my birthday was in February, incidentally). I *definitely* meant to work (as in do the thing that earns my paycheck). Somehow, at relatively the last minute, though, we decided to enroll Therese (16) and Nicholas (14) in dual credit classes at our almost local community/junior college. We are blessed to have an amazing community college system in our area. We actually have a location about 20 minutes from our house. After talking to my sister-in-law, who is on her third child in this process, I decided to take my kids to the location that is slightly farther away, though, since it is apparently very homeschooler friendly. It is also 5 minutes from St. Anne, the parish I grew up in and where my dad currently runs the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, and it is 5 minutes from the house my parents are renting in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Shout out to said SIL, by the way. She endured my frantic texts and mini panic attacks as I tried to figure out how to enroll Therese and Nicholas at the college and navigate something that was completely new to me. If you know me at all, you know that I like to have things planned out well in advance. I don't do well with spontaneous. 

So why now? After all, Therese is a rising senior. If she were going to do dual credit, shouldn't she have started sooner? And Nicholas is a rising sophomore. Isn't he a little young? Well, the thing is, Therese's college plans have been changing faster than I can keep up. At first, dual credit didn't make any sense for what she wanted to do. Now, it makes a great deal more sense. Plus, she wants and needs to get out of the house. Additionally, I love the feel of Lone Star College. It is such a great blend of a hybrid high school/college feel. I know from talking to my niece and nephew that the professors work with you much like professors of my alma mater did - on a very personal level. I am so much more comfortable with launching my kids this way, rather than just throwing them into the deep end of college. Plus, having them experience someone else teaching them is a very good idea for both of them (I've never been comfortable with a co-op, for a variety of reasons, but this is quite different - obviously).

It looks like Therese will be taking five classes in the fall and Nicholas two. For now, the plan is for Therese to do straight-up dual credit and see what happens. She is focusing on knocking out classes that will apply toward a degree in International Studies. Nicholas is planning on getting an associates degree and then transferring to A&M. He should graduate from college when he is 20 if all goes well. At this point he wants to be a chemical engineer. I'm just glad that someone else will be teaching him math and science! 

They are both so excited. And maybe, since I'll be sitting on a college campus two days a week, I can finally get some work done!

Review of Homeschool Diploma

When you homeschool, there are so many things that you have to think about that parents who send their kids to some kind of school just -- don't. A diploma is one of those. You naturally want your child to have some kind of physical record of their graduation, but it's kind of overwhelming to think about where to find a diploma, what to put on it, what's a reasonable price to pay for it, etc. I'll be honest - a diploma is one thing that I hadn't yet thought about until the opportunity for this review arose. I'm so glad it did, because Homeschool Diploma does absolutely everything for you, and the end product - the Standard Diploma - is simply gorgeous! And the Standard Diploma is just the beginning. The Personalized Diploma I received is just perfection. If I had designed a diploma from scratch, I couldn't have designed it more ideally for my daughter. You can customize these diplomas to your heart's content so that you end up with something that is 100% personal and just as meaningful. Best of all, it's both easy and fun to create your diploma! Here are pictures of Therese's diploma, modeled by her 13 year-old brother (please ignore my messy bookshelves!).

When you land on the site, and select diploma, you can choose from two size options, 8.5"x11" or 6"x8" (my high school diploma was the smaller size, but I was thrilled to be able to choose the larger size for Therese). You then go through a plethora of options. Every time you add something to the standard diploma (which is already beautiful and definitely gets the job done), you see the price increase right there on the page. You can add, subtract, and customize to your heart's content before you ever submit your order. Here are your options:

• Center Seal (three choices - included in price)
• Name of Graduate (included in price)
• Name of School (optional, but recommended - included in price)
• City and State (optional - included in price)
• Graduation Date (included in price)
• Choice of paper
• Choice of Honors Seal (+$2.95)
• Diploma Cover (choice of seven colors and eight designs (add school name +$14.50, add name and phrase +$15.50, add student name +$14.50)
• Add Archive Copy (+$7.50)
• Add Wallet Size Diploma (+$8.95)

Homeschool Diploma makes it easy for you to get exactly the diploma you want for a price you're comfortable with. I'm not showing Therese with her diploma because she's only a junior; she won't be getting it for another year. I don't want her to see it yet! I want it to be a surprise. Ordering her diploma made me realize that as a junior, it's time for a class ring. Fortunately, Homeschool Diploma has that covered, too!

If you don't happen to have a student nearing high school graduation, fear not! Homeschool Diploma has many options. Crew members received and reviewed the Kindergarten Cap, Gown, Tassel, and Diploma package and the 8th Grade Diploma, too! There really is something for all of those special homeschool transitions. To read these and all the reviews, visit the Crew blog!