These plants fill many basic landscaping needs.

The form of arborvitae is small, medium, or large depending
on the cultivar. Some reach 50′, others only 3′. Most prefer
full sun to partial sun. Planting in dense shade conditions
should be avoided. A moist , well drained, loamy soil in full
sunlight are ideal conditions for growing healthy arborvitae.
These plants will tolerate rocky, clay, urban conditions of heat
drought and pollution. The most important pest we have is
bagworms which must be controlled to prevent complete
defoliation. Some cultivars have multiple leaders which also
prove to be a detraction for the plant. Pruning out multiple
leaders in some cultivars is a simple remeady.

Our most popular Arborvitae is the Emerald Green arborvitae.
Many people prefer to spell them Arbor Vitae . It is a bright
light green color and narrow in shape. It makes a distinctive
and impressive natural fence. It is easy to grow ,plant, and
keep in shape.

The Hetz Midget arborvitae is a dwarf globe variety. This is a
good choice for along walkways and gardens. This is a tough
plant that is easy to install and not going to cost a lot. It
will maintain its color in the winter and will withstand snow
loads well. We carry these plants in 2 and 3 gal. pots. The
prices on these dwarfs vary from $15 to $30 depending on size
and quanity ordered.

Another small arborvitae that we grow in pots is the Rheingold
arborvitae. This is a small globe shaped plant that has a golden
green cast to it in the summer and a bronze winter color. We
also have the American Arborvita known as “Tiny Tim”.This
arborvita grows in zone 2 – 7. Its is a needled evergreen in the
Cupressaceae Family. It will grow in height from a half a foot
to 1 foot tall. Its spread will be about 1 to 1.5 feet. This is
a plant that requires little work. Selecting quality arborvitae
for the home landscape :

When you get to the nursery or garden center where you will
buy your arborvitae, pick out the healthiest, most robust plants
that have no evidence of disease or insect damage. The potting
medium should be moist, but not wet, and the roots should well
dispersed in the medium. Arborvitae that have roots growing from
the drainage holes or circling the top of the pot are less
desirable. Many people choose to buy arbs from a mail order
company, which is perfectly acceptable. However, realize that
most woody plants purchased from mail order catalogs will be
shipped dormant and bare root, that is, without any soil
attached to the root system. Such plants may be smaller in size
because of the expense of shipping. It is important to plant
such material immediately upon arrival. Generally it is best to
purchase one-year-old material from mail order companies since
this material is more vigorous and will transplant better. The
larger material that is offered is often composed of the less
vigorous plants held over from previous years. Most large sized
arbs are balled and burlaped. Don’t buy any arbs bare rooted
over 3′ tall. Any plant larger should be balled and burlaped.

These are just afew of the arborvitae and trees that we raise
on our Doylestown Pa. farm. We are pleased to show you these in
the field and discuss their habits and help you determine the
best plants to help you improve your landscape. Visit our other
web sites at http://www.seedlingsrus.com and
http://www.highlandhillfarm.com

But the truth of the matter is, if you look very closely, as I have, at both the Turtle system in particular as well as other trend following systems in general, there are some things that have changed slightly. An examination of ‘rolling’ five or ten year periods will show some smaller deteriorating statistics since the ‘formal’ origination of the trading method back in the early 1980’s. The total returns are slightly lower, the drawdowns are a little deeper, and the recovery periods are a little longer.

There are several reasons for this, most of which can be summed up under the wide umbrella of natural progression. On the one hand, we have the good old fashioned Darwinistic “survival of the fittest model”.

Hey, trading is basically still one big zero sum game, where somebody has to win, and somebody else has to lose. The winners are the smarter combatants, the losers will tap out and fall by the wayside (or even become ‘brokers’). As with any competition, this means that eventually, you will have the winners competing against other winners, thus raising the bar for the entire level of competition, and making the whole damn game harder to begin with. At least that is the philosophical argument for what happens.

The technical argument is a lot more cut and dried, but it is basically the same story. In the ‘old’ days, whoever was the first and quickest to figure things out while they were still changing had a huge edge. But then along came that crutch to human thought, the computer. By the early 1990’s everybody had one sitting on his desk, and the playing field had been greatly leveled. Information still flowed, but now it flowed faster, and everyone became more quickly aware of it. Which meant that all the traders on the outside were now able to more quickly adjust their positions and come back into line with whatever sudden new information had become available.

I have spoken at great lengths before about how and why trend following works, and the fundamental reasons that trends come about in the first place. Simply put, when something happens to either the supply or demand of a commodity (or stock), the equilibrium fair market value shifts, and the price moves to a new level. In the old days, sometimes it took a while for the market mechanism to find this new level, but nowadays, thanks to more powerful computer speed and efficiency, everything is all happening a lot faster.

The end result as far as we are concerned is two fold. First of all, the trends that do occur are more explosive coming out of the box, which means the trader has to be both quicker and more nimble, both jumping on board, and holding on. Secondly, and more importantly, is the fact that these trends don’t run as far, or last as long, as they used to, before all the players have had a chance to adjust their positions, and the market (any market) comes back into balance.

To put it in Turtle terms, a good freeze or heat wave or embargo used to cause a market like Coffee or Soybeans or Crude Oil to run for months, and give us maybe a 40 N move before it was over. I remember a hot dry Summer in 1988 when Beans ran 40 N. I also remember that Crude Oil during the first Gulf War in 1991 ran for just about a 40 N profit as well. Hell, there was even a nice 40 N run in the Stock Indexes during the dot.com bubble of the mid 1990’s. But in the past five years or so, I am hard pressed to think of any market that has had such a big super trend.

Back in the 1980’s, these were the kinds of moves we got excited about, and we got one or two of them almost every year. 20 N moves were fairly common place, and 10 N was nothing that much to get excited about. But since the turn of the century, I think 20-25 N moves are about the largest I can recall seeing. I think Feeder Cattle last year at 23 N was the largest trend of the year, and a further problem is that not too many people even follow that (relatively) small market.

But remember, we still need these few big home run trades every year to pay for all the small losses and whipsaws and slippage and other costs of doing trading on a daily basis. The basic problem during the ‘difficult’ periods is not that we don’t get any trends, but that the trends we do get are not big enough or long enough to pay for all the other stuff. We are still trading in a distribution that has more losing trades than winning ones, so at least some of the few winners we do hit still have to be large enough to cover all the losses.

The question we face as continually evolving traders becomes, what, if anything, are we supposed to do about this kind of stuff. In the past, I have been a large advocate of the school of thought that says, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Sure, the Turtles, or any other trend followers, were not getting the easy triple digit returns from two decades ago. But hey, we were still doing better than anybody else around, and I for one did not see a lot of reason to complain, or even get upset about it.

But my thinking has changed in the past couple of years. I’m no longer holding out for the 40 N outliers, because they just don’t come around that often any more. I have not gotten to the point where if I see a trend approaching 20 N profit, I start putting one foot out the door, and looking around for warning signs to get me to duck out quickly. Those warning signs will come in the form of some other types of indicators I have learned to pay attention to. But keep in mind that all of this is still just a math and probability decision, not one of fear or emotion or just ‘wanting’ to take a profit.

Without getting into too much of the detail, let’s just say that at some point it can still be obvious that if you have a reasonable minimum probability of catching a big move, you should try to hold out for it. On the other hand, if the chances are lower of that big move occurring, then at some point it has to become better to take the smaller but surer profit. And while the odds are not always so quantifiable, and this is as much art as it is science, let’s just say I have been getting better at it with more experience over the years.

The bottom line is that where I used to hold out as long as possible, often times after the trend had reversed on me, now I am quicker to exit first and ask questions later. And to be sure, I have left some money on the table when the trend kept going and I had gotten out prematurely. But I have also saved a lot more by recognizing when the party was over and getting out before everybody else ran for the door. And the funny thing is that one of my brokers thinks I have become a better trader, because he has always been an advocate of locking up a profit and putting some money in your pocket. But that is not the reason I do what I do, my criteria are technical and unemotional in nature.

Of course, Richard Dennis was always an advocate of using personal discretion to override mechanical technical criteria, the trick has been getting good at knowing how and when to do this. And I think this is something that cannot be taught, even by me, but just comes with experience. I can now look at half a dozen different things, including stochastics, market profiles, sentiment indicators, and even news reports, and somehow assimilate that all in my mind and decide when it ‘feels right’ to make a discretionary move.

Last year at Thanksgiving, I exited some Currency trends right near the top of the market. And this year, I got out of the Energies right after Hurricane Katrina, two days off the top. As I have gotten better at this, I have also been able to strengthen the courage of my convictions to stick to my guns and not second guess myself. In the past, if I would get out of a trade too early and it kept on going, I would think I made a mistake and then try to jump back in, ostensibly at a worse price than when I got out. Now, once I’m out, I have the patience and discipline to stay out, and fight the temptation to jump back in and whip myself around.

It seems when I am wrong, I am wrong by a little, because even if the move keeps going, it doesn’t go too far before it eventually peters out and turns around. I got out of the Yen last week, and have left about 1 N on the table so far. And I just got out of some Gold the other night, and right now it is sharply higher again (also by about 1 N). But when I’m right, as in Unleaded Gas this past August, I was able to save myself close to 10 N before the market reversed enough for the computer model to finally give a liquidation signal. So that seems like a pretty fair tradeoff for me. And it is also the big reason that my personal trading account is outperforming the Turtle computer model so far in 2005.

Russell Sands

Russell Sands is the longest serving and most experienced teacher of the Turtle Trading methods in the world today. It took the Turtles 2 weeks straight tuition and 5 years of trading to get it right. The Original Turtle Trading System is much more then a set of hard set rules, it is a total trading concept and methodology that only Russell Sands truly teaches.

Russell was one of the famous group of Richard Dennis’ Original Turtle Traders profiled in the Market Wizards books. He holds a Master of Business from NYU, and is is a CTA, and is a member of the NFA with Series 3, 7, 55, and 63 qualifications.

Sands trades what teaches and now has over 500 students worldwide. Important new developments have taken place as a result of his ongoing research. When you become a Turtle student you benefit from these and Russell Sands’ experience. Visit his official website at www.russellsandsoriginalturtle.com

1. Get “Pre-Approved” – Not “Pre-Qualified!”

Do you want to get the best property you can for the least amount of money? Then make sure you are in the strongest negotiating position possible. Price is only one element in the negotiations, and not necessarily the most important one. Often other terms, such as the strength of the buyer or the length of escrow, are critical to a seller.
In years past, I always recommended that buyers get “pre-qualified” by a lender. This means that you spend a few minutes on the phone with a lender who asks you a few questions. Based on the answers, the lender pronounces you “pre-qualified” and issues a certificate that you can show to a seller. Sellers are aware that such certificates are WORTHLESS, and here’s why! None of the information has been verified!

Many times unknown problems can come to the surface! Some of the problems I’ve seen include recorded judgments, alimony payments due, glitches on the credit report due to any number of reasons both accurately and inaccurately, down payments that have not been in the clients’ bank account long enough, etc.

So the way to make the strongest offer today is to get “pre-approved”. This happens AFTER all information has been checked and verified. You are actually APPROVED for the loan and the only loose end is the appraisal on the property. This process takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on your situation. It’s VERY POWERFUL and a weapon I recommend all my clients have in their negotiating arsenal.

2. Sell Your Property First, Then Buy the House

If you have a house to sell, sell it before selecting a house to buy! Contingency sales aren’t nearly as strong as one that comes in with a ready, willing and able buyer. Consider this scenario: You’ve found the perfect house – now you have to go make an offer to the seller. You want the seller to reduce the price and wait until you sell your house. The seller figures that this is a risky deal, since he might pass up a buyer who DOESN’T have to sell a house while he’s waiting for you. So he says OK, he’ll do the contingency but it has to be a full price offer! You have now paid more for the house than you could have because of the contingency, and you have to sell your existing house in a hurry! Otherwise you lose the house! So to sell quickly you might take an offer that’s lower than if you had more time. The bottom line is that buying before selling might cost you THOUSANDS of dollars.

If you’re concerned that there is not a house on the market for you, then go on a window-shopping trip. You can identify possible houses and locations without falling in love with a specific house. If you feel confident after that then put your house on the market.

Another tactic is to make the sale “subject to seller finding suitable housing”. Adding this phrase to the listing means that WHEN YOU DO FIND A BUYER, you will have some time to find the new place. If you don’t find anything to your liking, you don’t have to sell your present home.

3. Play the Game of Nines

Before house hunting, make a list of things you want in the new place. Then make a list of the things you don’t want. You can use this list as a guide to rate each property that you see. The one with the biggest score wins! This helps avoid confusion and keeps things in perspective when you’re comparing dozens of homes.
When house hunting, keep in mind the difference between “STYLE AND SUBSTANCE”. The SUBSTANCE is the set of things that cannot be changed such as the location, view, size of lot, noise in the area, school district, and floor plan. The STYLE represents easily changed surface finishes like carpet, wallpaper, color, and window coverings. Buy the house with good SUBSTANCE, because the STYLE can always be changed to match your tastes. I always recommend that you imagine each house as if it were vacant.

Consider each house on its underlying merits, not the seller’s decorating skills.

4. Don’t Be Pushed Into Any House

Your agent should show you everything available that meets your requirements. Don’t make a decision on a house until you feel that you’ve seen enough to pick the best one.

Don’t forget to check into the SCHOOL DISTRICTS of the area you’re considering. Information is available on every school, such as class sizes, % of students that go on to college, SAT scores, etc. You can get this information from this web site.

5. Stop Calling Ads!

Please note – ads are sometimes created to make the phone ring! Many of the homes have some drawback that’s not mentioned in the ad, such as traffic noise, power lines, or litigation in the community. What’s not mentioned in the ad is usually more important than what is.

For this reason, I want you to be very careful when reading ads. Remember that the person writing the ad is representing the seller and not you! The most important thing you can do is have someone on your side looking out for your best interests. Your own agent will critique the property with an eye towards how well it meets your needs and will point out any drawbacks you should know about. So whether you decide to work with me or not, pick an agent you feel comfortable with and enlist the services of that agent as a buyer’s broker. Then you become a client with all the rights, benefits, and privileges created by this agency relationship, and you’re no longer just a shopper. Did you know that many homes are sold WITHOUT A SIGN ever going up or an AD EVER BEING PUT IN THE PAPER? These “great deals” go to those people who are committed to working with one agent. When an agent hears of a great buy, who do you think he’s going to call? His client, who he has a legal obligation to work hard for you, or someone who just called on the phone and said “keep your eyes open”? So to get the best buy on a property, I always recommend that you hire your own agent and stick with him or her.

(c) Copyright 2005 Madan Ahluwalia. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Madan “Raja” Ahluwalia is an Attorney at Law & Realtor. Raja offers his clients a counseling-based approach to home buying, where the client’s long-term goals are the most important consideration. He possesses a thorough understanding of the market and trends, based on years of involvement in real estate. He provides expert insights and helps clients understand timing, pricing and financing issues. Contact Raja at raja@kw.com or 650.430.4023.

Some of the most expensive theatre tickets in the capital city are tickets to watch the brand new theatre production of Peter Pan. The theatre production has guaranteed to be an incredible show that shall truly make summer this year an incredible experience. The creator of the fantastic tale actually wrote the story in the amazing city of London and now the lovers of the famous story have the opportunity to see the show. The London theatre ticket prices reflect the level of money that the stage production company have invested and you can expect to part with 60 pounds per ticket.

With all the theatre plays and musicals that are on offer in the city of London folk should find a play or musical to suit each one of your friends. For theatre lovers that appreciate a scary play then you must venture out to London’s Covent Garden and experience The Woman in Black, the horror revolves around a young estate agent that goes to a very quiet village to support with the selling of the home matters around a death, and he meets more than he expected. For the musical show goers there is the Michael Jackson tribute production that has registered an amazing climb in sales since Michael Jackson passed away, the production includes hits like Thriller.

* What is the Blue Book value?

The Blue Book value is a basic term used in the car-buying business. It means the worth or cost of a vehicle. This vital book determines the price of what dealers are willing to pay for a used car.

* Where could you find the Blue Book value?

There are several resources responsible for determining the value of your car. The two most popular is the Kelley Blue Book and the N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides.

The Kelley Blue Book, which invented the term Blue Book, is a principal source for determining the loan value on used cars. It has been providing information for 75 years.

The N.A.D.A. Appraisal Guides, which was established in 1933, is another helpful Blue Book that provides car buyers to review the car’s worth.

* How does the Blue Book determine the value of a used car?

The Blue Book calculates the value of your car based on the make, the model and year. The book also considers factors such as conditions of the used-cars, mileage and other options. The majority of the popular Blue Books are free for public use in their respective web sites. They provide user-friendly worksheets to help determine the appropriate value of a used car. Being aware of the Blue Book value of your car would help you search for a fair deal.

* How do you determine the amount you wish to spend on buying a use car?

If you’re planning to buy a used car, you should determine how much money you are willing to spend. Consider the additional expenses such as the tags when applying for a car loan, extra tax, and purchasing of the car title.

* How does the Blue Book determine the final values?

Many organizations and individuals make use of the Blue Book. Car auctions, private owners, rentals and fleets, franchised and independent dealers all use the Blue Book to determine the final value.

Used car values are determined by a respectable editorial process. Each process starts with an analysis of the collected data which include the current economic conditions, the historical trends, seasonality, location and industry developments. The final value reflects the most current representation of the changing car marketplace.

Be a wise used-car shopper and avoid bad deals and investments. Check with the Blue Book to find helpful guidelines in your used-car purchase

Gregory Ashton, your resident automobile enthusiast, bringing to you over 20 years of vehicular passion, and expertise; presents for your approval his insider secrets on selecting, buying, and maintianing the car that is ideal for you. www.best-car-buying-tips.com

Annual Fees. Depending on the credit card provider, some card holders have been charged an annual fee for the privilege of having a 0% APR credit card. Annual fees for some of these cards generally run from $15 to $20, even higher.

Late Fees. You would think that if customers had a 0% APR credit card that they would always pay them on time, right? Well, many do not. So, every time a payment is received late credit card providers would assess a late fee. With fees ranging from $19 to $39, that can add up especially if someone is habitually late.

Default Rate. Oh, that 0% rate is nice on the surface. Read the “member’s agreement” and you will quickly learn that late payments will not only incur a fee, but a “default rate” would be charged bumping up the annual percentage rate to double digit figures on existing balances as well as on new charges! If you are late you can say, “bye, bye” to your 0% APR credit card in no time.

Short Term Offer. 0% APR credit cards are still offered today. Almost always they are cards for new card holders that offer a 0% rate for a limited period of time, such as twelve months, before a higher rate kicks in, which usually is around 12%. Some cards will allow you to transfer existing credit card balances over to the new card and receive the 0% rate on transferred balances. What a great way to cut your costs and save money too!

Don’t worry about credit card providers having difficulty making money even with low or 0% APR credit cards. Rates have since increased, in some cases dramatically, making it more difficult to find a low interest rate credit card. Still, great offers exist, but you must know where to find them. Searching online for your 0% APR credit card is a great way to quickly find and compare the best 0% APR offers available.

Copyright 2006 Ed Vegliante.

Ed Vegliante runs the website www.credit-card-surplus.com, a directory enabling the consumer to compare and apply for a variety of credit card offers including 0% APR Credit Cards. View more Credit Card Articles.

In the game of seven card stud, the dealer deals out seven cards to each player. The dealer deals two cards in the hole, then one card face up. After an opening bet is made, three cards are dealt face up, with a round of bets after each card is dealt out. The final card is dealt in the hole, and final bets are made. The players then create a hand from five of the seven they were dealt.

The following is how a typical game of Seven Card Stud should ideally play out:

Each player places up their ante.

The designated dealer then deals out three cards to each player. Two of these cards are dealt face down on the table, with the third being placed face up on the table. The cards dealt face down are referred to as ‘hole cards’, while the card placed face up is called the ‘door card’.

Players place their first bets, or they can now fold on their hand.
All remaining players are dealt one card face-up on the poker table.
More bets are placed, any players who wish may now fold.
All remaining players are dealt one card face-up on the table.
Betting round, bets are placed, any players who wish may now fold.
All remaining players are dealt one card face-up on the poker table.
4th betting round, any players who wish may now fold.
All remaining players are dealt a last card face-down on the poker table.
Final round of bets are made.

It’s time for the showdown, the players who have remained in the game will now show their hands.
Players are allowed to use any 5 of their 7 cards to make the best hand possible.

Seven card stud poker is played with a standard regulation deck of 52 playing cards. This game does not make use of the Joker card. The maximum number of players allowed in a game of Seven Card Stud Poker should never exceed eight players, to avoid running out of playing cards.

Check out our professional poker player profiles on Allen Cunningham and Amir Vahedi at www.poker-player-profiles.com.

It is the universal tool that permits the development of multimedia driven complex games. Games means fast, furious, efficient with rich graphics.

Flash enables developers to build the most popular games for online gamers. It just needs to support:

• Rich engaging graphics.

• Smooth download of files from the net.

• A playback device that can interpret downloads.

There are three main areas: design, development, and hosting.

The first step is creation of graphics. One must use Fireworks as well as Freehand for this aspect. The tools are compatible and fireworks allows the addition of Java script to images.

The game development will be done in Flash by importing graphics created in Freehand and Fireworks. The graphics are then placed in Director the parent tool of Flash.

The next part, hosting, uses a Web server. Dreamweaver MX is the tool that will create Web pages to host the game.

And, finally Action Script is used to provide enhanced functionality.

Advantages:

• Integrates almost all features needed for developing a game. It is a great interactive tool.

• Can be used anywhere does not need additional software or plug ins.

• It is Mac friendly.

• Permits conversion from a full game to web version and vice versa.

• Low cost and free to distribute. Licenses for decoders MP3 and Sorensen Spark are included.

• Artists that can use flash easily are in plenty.

• Flash delivers broadcast quality images over the Internet.

• Permits embedding of game in power point for use in presentations.

• Plenty of information as well as guidelines can be accessed as well as understood by all -tutorials, articles, as well as blogs.

• The size of the game file remains small as the vector graphics and sound files are compressed.

• Learning Flash language is easy.

• Permits copy-paste to test components

There are traps one must be wary of and a few cons. Know the system well to maximize its use. There are plenty of tutorials inline that can be used as guides. Flash interface is ideally suited to both designer as well as developer, you can have fun while creating the game.

Flash is simple to use and a game can be developed in a few hours in a packaged form that can run on a PC, Mac, or Linux. One can make use of a browser or run the game as a stand alone.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com, the premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle games and more. He also freelances for http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com.

It seem to me that you wait and wait to get past the winter (at least here in the Northeast) then some years a wet soggy spring and finally your rewarded with sunny warm weather.

Once it arrives you run madly around getting your yard ready for outdoor activities. You dash off the the local nursery to purchase a few new perennials (that you hope will grow) several varieties of annuals to fill up the pots for the steps, Oh yes and don’t forget the hanging baskets.

Now you don’t mind paying (in some cases) ridicules prices for these beautiful flowers after you’ve waited it seems like forever just to be able to put them out and admire them.

I’m sure that most of you (this author is not included here) have already gotten your yard, gardens, patios and decks spruced up and have already been enjoying this wonderful summer season.

No, well if you happen to be a late
starter (this is where yours truly comes in) it’s not to late.

In fact here is my list, maybe you can use it to get ready and start having fun.

Let’s see, Saturday morning arrives, time to check the to-do list.

1) Drag out pots and planters, clean then fill with potting mix (you did remember to pick up some right) then plant annuals.

2) Weed and prepare ground for new Perennials

3) Put up hangers on porch and put shepherds hooks into ground, hang up hanging baskets.

4) Get patio furniture out of storage and clean off.

5) Clean up spilled dirt (from annual planting) put away tools used for hangers.

6) Place pots of flowers on steps.

7) Water everything, roll hose back up.

Sweep patio or deck, place furniture around, put up planters.

9) Sweep once more.

10) Mow the lawn.

11) Make dinner, fire-up the grill.

Hold up a minute, need to check and see if I’ve started relaxing and having fun yet. Well so goes the life of a “Last Minute Lucy”.

Of course all of us late starters don’t really seem to mind, after the initial marathon weekend getting everything in order (ever notice we can’t seem to spread things out) we now have the whole summer to sit back and enjoy all our hard work.

Oh, did I mentioned it’s about halfway through summer, sorry just thought I’d remind everyone once again.

I personally do not care how long it takes me to get things done outside, just having the opportunity to be outside in the warm sunshine is enough (maybe that’s why I take so long, it give me more excuses to be out there).

So enjoy all those outside chores and activities, before you know it, it will be time for fall clean up. That by the way is only about three months away, so you might what to start thinking about it now.

This article is shareware. Give this article away for free on your site, or include it as part of any paid package as long as the entire article is left intact including this notice. Copyright © 2005 bonnie carrier

About the Author

Bonnie P. Carrier is the creator of Savvy Home Decorating & Savvy Outdoor Decorating. She is the mother to two grown daughters and a very spoiled 4yr old Blue Merle Sheltie named Toby. Stop by both site for indoor and outdoor decorating ideas. www.savvy-home-decorating.com
www.savvyhomedecorating.com

Locate your state’s home school group. You can do this online easily by typing in your state and the keyword “home schooling” at your favorite search engine. Then go to your state listing.

Locate your local support group for parents of home schooled kids. These groups will help you to get good tips from other parents and is a great place to find like-minded people to share your troubles etc.

Know the laws in your state about home schooling. If you have questions, arrange for an evaluation with your local school board so that you can verify that your child is approved for home schooling. They will also check for a proposal from you about home schooling your child

Get any magazines, books and/or other supplies that you will need in order for you to have steady resources on hand to offer tips etc.

What Happens next?

When it comes to the home schooling of your children, quite a few factors play into not just what you will do about it, but also how you will make sure that you are approved to do it. Like everything else, this is a process. Many people have questions that they need to answer about home schooling. As the parent/teacher of your child, you must do the following to get started with home schooling:

Develop your home schooling curriculum that is both approved by the school board or state, as well as meeting your ability to teach.

Schedule a meeting with the school board or state education officials so that they can offer you any help with tutors etc. that are approved. You will also be presenting your proposal at this meeting.

Get information about and register for evaluations with your school board or state to ensure that your child is meeting with the approved standards in your area.

Get yourself certified to teach your child

Create a home schooling proposal for what you are planning to teach your child and how you plan to go about it.

The court says clearly that school officials and parents must agree on a method of evaluation that may include one of the following approaches: standardized testing, periodic progress report, or dated work samples. Home visits may not be necessary as a condition of this approval.

Dated work samples mean just what they sound like in that, they are a few samples of work with dates on them. You do not have to compile an extensive portfolio in order to submit it to the school although you might like to keep these kinds of records for your own use.

Progress reports can also serve as your plan for the coming year if you include information about how current learning will be extended into the next year, and what new areas will be added. While the law does not specify that a home schooling plan needs to be submitted annually, many towns have come to expect them.

It is important for you to include in your education plan what form of evaluation you are planning to use. That way if the school later asks you for a form of evaluation that you’d prefer not to use, you can refer them to your approved education plan in which you already said that you would submit your preferred evaluation.

Adding a line in your annual report such as, an annual progress report/dated work sample/standardized test results will be submitted upon request; is a good idea if you aren’t sure whether or not they’ll ask you for anything. Of course, if they don’t ask, you don’t need to submit anything.

As with anything else, getting everything organized is the first step to getting off to a great start. Deciding to home school is a big decision, getting the paper work in order will keep everything flowing.

Gerri Stone publishes recent news, articles and updates about home schooling on her site www.discoverhomeschooling.com