iPhones, Gifted Kids, and Homeschooling – New on Hubpages

Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been writing about lately on Hubpages.

How I Love My iPhone, Let Me Count the Ways – Ever since I got my iPhone six months ago people have been asking, “How do you like it?” I am here to tell you all the reasons why I LOVE it, and all the ways it has made my life easier.

When a Gifted Child Flounders in School: One Mother’s Story – Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether or not a child is gifted, especially when teachers are treating your little genius as a problem child. Since I started writing about gifted kids and how to identify them, I’ve received several messages from parents looking for advice. I got permission to share this one because it’s a great example of what a lot of people go through.

How to Choose an MFA in Creative Writing Program: Cost and Benefit – I’ve toyed with the idea of pursuing a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing. But every time I try to wrap my head around it, I can never quite narrow down what it is exactly that I’m trying to accomplish. If you’re struggling with the decision too, here are some things to consider.

Should You Homeschool? A Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Homeschool Decision – Homeschooling is becoming a popular alternative to the traditional school environment for many families. There are many advantages to homeschooling, such as customizing education to your child’s individual needs, having flexibility over scheduling, and achieving more influence over children. However, there are also many drawbacks and the decision to homeschool should not be taken lightly.

Big Money For Little Words

For those writers in the mix, I just reviewed the reading, reviewing, and writing site FieldReport on After the Bubbly in Review. If you’re looking for a place to get your writing feet wet, you may want to check out what I thought of that site.

In other writing news… Some of you know I’ve started on a second novel, this time with a plot. So far it’s going well. I’ve been doing lots of planning and actually started some ‘writing’ on the synopsis yesterday. Very exciting. If you’re interested in following along, I’m writing a series on HubPages about my progress. Here are the articles so far:

How to Write a Novel in 6 Months: One Writer’s Journey
Week 1: Mapping Out the Six Month Plan
Week 2: Resources on Structure
Week 3: Index Cards Are My Friends
Week 4: Sketching Characters
Week 5: Researching Agents
Week 6: Outlining

Gifted Children on Vacation

If you haven’t been over to HubPages lately, I recommend you check it out. For the last couple of years we have been busy building excellent content and just yesterday I was so excited to find this article on how to become a mobile notary for my friend who is looking for extra cash.

Last week I published firsthand accounts of my recent experiences at Silver Dollar City and the Titanic Museum, both in Branson, Missouri. And even though a lot of people think ten years old is too young to think about college, I’m busy looking into all kinds of opportunities for my gifted child. The lastest articles are about academic talent searches (and how to get into them) at Johns Hopkins University and Duke. Plus, I’ve started the mother of all link lists for gifted and talented resources.

One of my favorite HubPages authors is Marye Audet, who writes about all kinds of things, but I love learning how to ‘live off the land’ from her homesteading articles, like this one on how to make laundry detergent.

Ask Me

A while back I started an advice column at HubPages. I call it Ask a Know-It-All Mom: Parenting Advice on Everything. Readers ask questions in the comments and I respond. I’d love it if any of you would ask questions!

Go ahead, ask me anything!

What else is new at HubPages?

All About SIG: Summer Institute for the Gifted
Dad’s Guide to Packing a Diaper Bag
Parents’ Guide to AR Books and Tests: What is Accelerated Reader?

Congrats HubLove Winner of the Day!

Sharing the HubLove

New Articles on Staph and Birth Control

After watching the morning news, I published two articles today on HubPages you may be interested in reading. The first deals with the MRSA, or Superbug, strain of staph that is being found in children all over the country. The second has to do with the recent decision in Maine to let kids have birth control pill without telling Mom and Dad? All this on the heels of my already agitated state because my kids’ school doesn’t seem to have a problem telling only some parents about the lice infestation, and only some parents about the case (cases?) of chicken pox. Oh and by-the-way, that immunization my kids received may or may not be effective but they really don’t know for how long, so let’s just go ahead and give them a booster because how else are we going to know if this stuff works (and therefore be able to sell more of it) than if we test it on your kids?

Anyone else ready to rip your kids out of school?

Am I spoiled? Justified? Or just PMSing? You tell me. Hit that comment link!

How to Prevent MRSA Staph (Superbug) Infections in Children
How and When to Talk to Kids About Birth Control

Number One Hubber!

For a moment I was number 1 on HubPages! That little number 100 in my picture means I was the super-duper bestest of over 48,000 registered users on the site. It has been so much fun writing there and I hope you’ll check out my latest festive posts:

Kids Halloween Party Ideas
Halloween Recipes for Kids
How to Start the Halloween Boo in Your Neighborhood
Halloween Jokes For Kids: Sorted by Type

Goodbye Isabella

As many of you know, I got my start online a long, long, long time ago – last fall – on WhoIsIsabella.com. Recently the website’s owners have decided to move on. I can’t tell you how bummed I am because not only has Isabella been running my column on their beautiful site, but having a deadline every two weeks was awesome accountability for me! As it is, I have half a dozen half completed columns shoved in a notebook. Writing for Isabella gave the me confidence and the platform to apply for other [read: paying] writing work.

However, like the Isabella folks, it’s time for me to move on too. While I’m trying to figure out what direction the column should take and where it belongs [read: who is willing to pay me for it], I’ll be posting it here. But first I need to post all the old columns so I’m going to treat you to a season of repeats! In the next few weeks I’ll be putting everythign up here so you’ll have a chance to giggle again and share with your friends. Share, please!

Also, I know this blog is far from pretty. I am a writer. I am not clever with font and color and placing things around the page. Wish I were. Rest assured that I’m working on it, but all suggestions will be taken to heart. In other words, I need help!

PS – I am still the Parenting Columnist for HubPages and I’m always taking suggestions for topics there. Plus, in case you’re interested, this week I sold my first articles to an actual ink-and-paper regional called Southern Families so if you live in Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana, you can check me out in the Nov/Dec issue!

Parenting Articles on HubPages

I wanted to let you all know, in case you don’t already, that I am the Parenting Columnist at HubPages. I write on all kinds of topics of interest to parents! Please stop by when you have time and have a look. If you’ve got topics you’d like me to cover, let me know. I’ll do the research and/or gather my opinions :) and get them up.

Here’s a Sample:
Teach Kids to Be Safe, Not Scared
Momma Knows: Bedtime with the Beatles
How to Approach the Endless Questions of a Gifted Child
The Truth About Teen Sex: Who’s Doing It?
How to Talk to Your Child’s Teacher