Yes, for the most part. His useful vocabulary is well over the average required for Government School graduation, and any new words he learned since 12th grade he learned entirely on his own. However -- spelling is an entirely different matter. Ben believes that the technology era, along with the dropping of "grading papers" after high school and "some" college courses has caused a dramatic decline in spelling skills of all people. (Notice how he diffuses his own inadequate skills by dumbing down the rest of the class?) You may tell Ben how very, very wrong this reply was, by writing to him at: SiteEditor@ihen.org This post was NOT spell checked. Read at your own risk.

Category: Misc. and Other

You are talking about the Box Tops for Education Program. In the FAQ's page of their site http://www.BoxtopsforEducation.com/ it says the following:

"2. Is my school eligible for the Box Tops for Education program? The Box Tops for Education program is available to the following schools:

* Any accredited public, private or parochial school, for grades K-8, in the United States that is organized and primarily operated for educational purposes.
* United States military schools, for grades K-8, worldwide.
* Accredited home school associations, K-8, in the United Sates that are organized and operated primarily for educational purposes and have 15 or more students."

Accredited in this case might literally mean a homeschooling association or organization that is "registered" with the state of Indiana. But only individual parents can register as homeschooling (or not) so we can only assume that if your support group, association, or co-op can establish itself as an official entity, you can participate in this program.

Other subscribers to the IndianaHomeschoolers list said the following:

"Our homeschool group saves them as a group, and redeems them. I think they like you to redeem them in bulk, so maybe once a year?" ~Betty

"I'm not sure for how long, but if you need die-cuts or paper, there is a school in Wyoming who accepts Box Tops in payment for these. Go to http://www.dimeadicut.com and check it out. It is a small private school and this is a fundraiser for them." ~Dwayla

"You can sell them on ebay, believe it or not!" ~Gale

Category: Misc. and Other

This is one of those questions that's best answered on the IndianaHomeschoolers E-list. If you aren't a subscriber, you can do so at http://www.indianahomeschoolers.com Most organizations like Boy Scouts use "grade levels" to determine eligability. What we do, is ask what AGE our child would be if he or she were in that grade, and fill in the blanks accordingly. A benifit of homeschooling is that as the parent, you can also determine the maturity level of your child. If your child can handle it, that they are one year or "grade" above or below a certain level shouldn't matter. Fill in the blanks accordingly. Ultimately, questions about eligability for scouting should probably be taken to your local scout office.

Category: Misc. and Other

It's a trite answer, but going to Google is really the best answer. Just google 'diploma' 'certificate' and see what you get. There also might be some links to companies that print diplomas for you on our IndianaHomeschoolers YahooGroups site. Go to http://www.indianahomeschoolers.com/ to subscribe, then check out the links and files sections. As for the state seal, you can go to http://images.google.com/ and type in "Indiana State Seal" and you see any number of images you could possibly use. We also have a decent color copy on our IHEN we site at: http://www.ihen.org/images/graphics/IN_State_Seal.jpg

Category: Misc. and Other