I updated our designs for the new year. Congratulations to all our EP graduates! Click on an image to find that design in the store. A couple of the designs have bags and hats too.

 

 

A new half-year course has been posted for high school, Business Math.

Course Description: This course is built from this business mathematics course. It will make this course easier to have completed consumer math since there is some overlap in topics, but it is not required.

This course uses text and video to provide basic understands of business problems in mathematical terms and how to solve those problems. Topics include the application of basic mathematics to business and industry using ratios, functions and graphs, simple and compound interest, financial instruments and discounting, annuities, mortgages, loans, and leases. Also included is cash-flow analysis applying rates of return, net present value, and payback.

I have had so many EP kids tell me that they were planning on becoming nurses that when I was contacted by this CNA test prep site about contributing an article, I told them they could submit something to me and I would decide if it was helpful to you all. I never do guest posts because they are all about advertising, but I’m giving this to you because I really have heard from so many that you have the goal of becoming a nurse, and so I hope this is helpful to you! I did NOT receive anything for posting this article. I NEVER do things like that.

Want to Become a Nurse: What You Can Do in High School That Will Help You Out

As a high school student with aspirations of becoming a nurse, your journey toward this rewarding profession begins long before you enter a college or university. 

This article looks at the aspects of high school preparation for prospective nurses. It explores cost-saving options, such as dual enrollment and community college programs, which can significantly alleviate the financial burden of pursuing a nursing degree. 

Additionally, we discuss the right time to embark on this educational journey and guide you through the transition from high school to nursing school.

What You Can Do as a High School Student to Prepare for a Nursing Career

Here are a few ideas to help you start on your nursing career journey while in high school.

Build a Solid Academic Foundation

Subjects like biology, chemistry, and physics lay the groundwork for understanding the human body, disease processes, and pharmacology, which are fundamental to nursing practice. In addition, mathematics courses, especially algebra and statistics, develop essential analytical and problem-solving skills crucial for nursing. 

Another area you can develop through academics is your communication skills. Since effective communication is at the heart of nursing, English and communication courses are as important as science and math courses. 

High school English classes help you develop strong communication skills, which are critical for providing clear instructions, documenting patient information accurately, and showing empathy and compassion.

Psychology and sociology courses can also provide valuable insights into human behavior to help you understand and empathize with patients because nursing often involves dealing with a patient’s emotional and social needs.

In some regions and healthcare settings, knowing a second language can be an advantage as a nurse. Therefore, high school foreign language courses can lay the foundation for becoming bilingual or multilingual.

While these classes are beneficial as you prepare for nursing school, note that different nursing programs may have specific prerequisites. Hence, check the academic requirements and admission criteria of the nursing program you plan to join.

Explore Low-Cost or Free Options

Two valuable avenues to consider are dual enrollment and community college programs, along with utilizing free practice tests for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification.

Dual enrollment programs allow you to simultaneously enroll in college courses, often at a reduced cost or even for free. This initiative enables you to earn college credits while still in high school, providing a head start on your nursing education. These credits can apply later to your nursing degree and save you time and money.

Another option is a community college program offered in conjunction with your high school. Such programs often provide an affordable pathway toward an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or practical nursing diploma. These options typically require significantly less tuition than traditional four-year universities, making nursing education more accessible. 

Start by researching nearby community colleges that offer nursing programs. You can do this through online searches, college websites, or contacting your high school guidance counselor for recommendations.

In addition, schedule a meeting with your high school guidance counselor to discuss your intention to enroll in a community college nursing program while in high school. Many community colleges require students to take placement tests in subjects like math and English, so prepare for these tests to ensure proper course placement.

Another strategy to learn about nursing is finding a useful CNA practice test resource. First, it’s free, so there’s no added cost. Secondly, it’s a complimentary practice test to help you prepare for the CNA certification exam. These tests simulate the exam experience, so you can decide if that’s the academic path you want to take after high school. 

Identify the Right Time for Nursing Education

Typically, you begin college-level courses after high school graduation, but some may opt for dual enrollment programs to initiate their studies earlier.

Therefore, your transition from high school to nursing school involves several key steps. First, research and select accredited nursing programs that align with your career goals. Then, meet admission requirements. These may include standardized tests, letters of recommendation, and interviews. 

Although you can become a CNA without a high school diploma, there are specific requirements you need to meet. The exact requirements may vary slightly by state and employer, so it’s essential to check the regulations in your area and the specific facility where you intend to work.

Find Pre-nursing Programs for High Schoolers

Often, these are collaborations between educational institutions, community organizations, and healthcare facilities.

One common form is the nursing summer camp hosted by colleges and universities. These camps offer you a hands-on introduction to the nursing profession. They typically feature workshops, lectures, and practical experiences, allowing you to explore various nursing specialties and gain insights into the academic and clinical aspects of nursing.

Become a Volunteer to Gain Experience

These experiences offer numerous advantages that can significantly enhance your readiness for a nursing career and bolster your application to nursing programs.

Firstly, engaging in volunteer work or part-time employment within healthcare settings provides a unique opportunity to develop essential skills and qualities necessary for nursing. Through hands-on experiences, you can cultivate skills like patient care, effective communication, empathy, and teamwork.

Secondly, volunteer and work experiences demonstrate your commitment and passion for nursing when you apply to nursing programs. Admissions committees highly value applicants with insight into the healthcare industry and possess a clear understanding of its demands. 

To find such opportunities, you can start by exploring local healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Additionally, nonprofit organizations and community groups often seek volunteers for healthcare-related initiatives and events. You can inquire with your high school about partnerships with local healthcare facilities or health-focused clubs or programs.

Furthermore, online resources like volunteer databases and websites dedicated to connecting volunteers with organizations can provide a list of opportunities.

Final Thoughts

In your journey towards a fulfilling career in nursing, the early preparation during your high school years serves as a critical foundation. One of the areas you have to focus on is your subject choice and your GPA. You want it to remain high. 

Although nursing leans toward science and math courses, you should also get good grades in humanities as they affect how you communicate and interact in a healthcare setting. As you work on your high school grades, you can also take a pre-nursing program in a community college. But that would require you to know the specific nursing specialty. 

Therefore, join a volunteer program to learn about the nursing field. In addition to experience in areas you’d like to pursue after high school, volunteering also boosts your chances of college or university admission.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. Psalm 145:3-4

How are you declaring the works of the Lord to the next generation? Do your children know your testimony? Do they know how the Lord has changed your life? Do they know how the Lord has answered your prayers? Yes, read the Bible stories to your children. Hey, act them out. Draw pictures. Make a puppet show. I’ve been having my kids each tell a Bible story after dinner as way to work on Scripture memory, though we don’t worry about getting it exactly right. They are stories of the works of the Lord, of His mighty acts, of His unsearchable greatness.

But our family also has a miracle wall (pictured above). We’ve posted notes and mementos that mark miracles we’ve experienced and awesome answers to prayers. They range from our daughter’s free art lessons, to healings, to provisions of money, to protection from lice, and even an evaluator to sign our homeschool paperwork! Our kids know how the Lord has helped us along the way. They know the Lord delivered me from all things streaming and how much I love God’s word. They see (or hear) me singing (and maybe a little dancing) and clapping the tambourine most every night. 🙂

Declare the mighty acts of the Lord! Praise God! Let your children know how great our great God is!

Titus 2:4 These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children.

Here’s the lesson for today. Love your husbands. Love your children.

Here are our definitions of love from 1 Corinthians 13.

Love is patient. What does patience with your child look like on you? (and with your husband if you are married)

Love is kind. What does kindness look like and sound like when you interact with your family?

Love is not jealous. Can you spot any places where jealousy lurks?

Love is not boastful or proud. Love isn’t happy to be proved right.

Love is not rude. (Hint: Instead, it is meek and gentle.)

Love does not demand its own way. Consider the interests of others in the decision.

Love is not irritable. What does that mean when you are talking with your family?

Love keeps no record of wrongs done. Neither your husband nor your children owe you anything. Love is selfless. It’s not about you. Jesus paid your debt on the cross and theirs too. If you want your debt wiped out by the blood of Jesus (and you do), then you need to count everyone else’s debt wiped out as well!

Love never gives up. Where have you been tempted to give up?

Love never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. How can you do that? Give thanks. Praise. Remember your good and perfect God is still and will always be good and perfect. Trust Him and rejoice.

I’m really excited about this new course. I was inspired to create it after subbing as a Sunday school teacher. I asked the kids, “How would someone know you were a Christian?” Two fifth graders piped up, “Because we believe Jesus died on the cross.” That was the consensus. I pointed out the problem with that. There were people watching Jesus die who were mocking Him. They saw Him die. They knew He died on the cross. They didn’t become followers. Knowing wasn’t enough.

If you use our site’s curriculum, you’ll eventually come across a link to what I call my favorite sermon, Ten Shekels and a Shirt. Paris Reidhead talks about how salvation by intellectual assent crept into the church to the point where someone is said to have become a Christian because they can say, “Uh-huh” and nod their head in answer to a few questions.

Salvation isn’t acceptance of the historical record. Salvation isn’t accepting facts about Jesus. Salvation is a supernatural transaction where we are delivered from the kingdom of this world and transferred into the kingdom of God. It’s where our flesh is crucified and buried and we are resurrected as a new creation so that we can say, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

In the course, we will learn some big words like “propitiation,” but this is not a theology course. I don’t want you to know about God. I want you to know God so you can live in the salvation Jesus bought for you.

I would love for anyone who considers themselves to be seeking after God, seeking after life and freedom in Christ to go through the course. I do not teach the doctrines of man. I teach the Bible. All of God’s word is true, not just the verses that support a particular position! The course uses a lot of Scripture, hoping to always point you to God’s word. On the course page you can find the outline of the course to see all the topics covered.

I am aiming at 90 lessons. I have posted the first 60 as I finish off the rest, which will be up in September. I usually say my teachings are for age 11 through adult and that if you want to use it with younger kids, use it as a family.

You can use the course off of AllinOneHomeschool.com, but to track what lesson you are on, you can use a free My EP account. You will find this course in the Bible block on My EP. Click on Next Course to find it just after the high school Bible courses. You can also add it from the Bible block on the Extras page or as a Parent Add-On. Here’s a video on how to do those things.

This post is for the Christians.

I wrote a post on this topic a little over three and a half years ago, but it’s been on my mind again. This is NOT a repost. I’m writing it fresh from my heart to yours.

I have a prayer binder that’s over two inches thick. I think it weighs almost four pounds. I pray for you, your children, your families. One of the things I pray against is this homeschooling lifestyle becoming an idol. I don’t want you pursuing an ideal of what a homeschool family should look like. I want you pursuing Jesus and loving Him with your all. Homeschooling is not the goal, just something the Lord might use to help you along to the goal.

If you are imitating other families in how they school, dress, have family devotions, order their day, spend their free time, etc., then you are headed the wrong way. I highly recommend burning, shredding, destroying in any manner you can, all Christian books that instruct in how to do something. A Christian book should only point you to the Bible to seek from God what He wants from you. He is creative and can lead each family uniquely.

It doesn’t matter if the person you are learning from is successful and blessed in what they are doing. They may very well be following the Lord’s leading in what they are doing, but if you start following them, you are going after the wrong thing. We are disciples of Christ, no one else. And I say this as someone who teaches and disciples people. While I try to share the stories of God working in my life to give an example of how God can work in your life, I hope I always point everyone to Christ to seek after their own relationship and never encourage anyone to just copy me.

Think about what your heart is set on. It needs to be set on God alone. You goal is knowing and loving and serving Him alone. Has any other desire crept in? Has any other goal been directing your decisions?

If you find something other than the Holy Spirit and God’s word directing your steps, confess. Ask for help refocusing. We have a beautiful promise from God. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

“All these things” are everything the Lord knows we need. He can take care of them for us. What does it mean to seek His kingdom? In August I will be releasing the September Study for the year. It’s called The Kingdom. I am also planning on releasing Disciples of Christ, an EP course to disciple you through teachings on the foundations of faith, who God is, and who we are in Christ. As with all my stuff, I usually recommend ages 11 through adult and that if you want to use it with younger kids, do it together.

But in the meantime, seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness is seeking to know and obey God. I have tons of teaching on the site to help you along with reading through the Bible. Read His word. Talk to Him. He’s a good Father, able and ready to help.

Our 2023 complete overhaul of geometry is now on the site. You can start using it immediately. There is an offline version as well if you would like to use books.

See the Course (book link on the course page)

The course is now moved away from CK-12. We use many of our own worksheets in the course. That enables us to edit them as well as keeps us from losing the resource.

The old geometry course will remain on the settings page on My EP through June. After that it will be available only through the Extras page. That means you can still use it on My EP, even when the other “Old” courses are removed in July. It will eventually disappear, but not for another year to make sure anyone in the middle of the course can finish it.

We have a new high school math course. It’s a full 180-day course. The focus is consumer math, but also covers many practical, real-world math applications. You can find it at the end of the course list in the Math block on My EP.

Although the course is mainly based on online textbooks, there are some fun extras mixed in. They will spend one lesson playing a game as an Uber driver, trying to actually get the bills paid. In another lesson they will run a magic show and try to make a profit as they work to make it to Vegas. There are some mini-units on cryptocurrency, economics, philanthropy and more.

This is intended for high school. The daily lessons are expected to take 40 minutes on average. There is a note a couple of weeks into the course about how to adapt lessons if they are taking longer than an hour. This is a new course, so we’d be happy for feedback on the experience.

Check out the course. There is no offline version of the course at this time.

In other news, as of yesterday I have three adult children! He was born on Mother’s Day 18 years ago. I still have three being homeschooled, ages 10 – 15.

One definition of revival is that of being in a state where nothing matters but Jesus. One way to think about living in a revived state is “All Jesus All the Time.” He’s your all and everything. That’s how you can live now and always. You don’t have to wait for something to happen. You can give your life to Jesus today and let go of everything that is keeping you from living in His constant loving, full-of-joy presence.

The world today talks about living in the present. That’s not the key. It’s living in His Presence. That’s the goal, living in consistent fellowship with God. That looks like knowing Jesus is with you always. It’s keeping your eyes on Jesus. It’s setting Him always before you. It’s acknowledging Him in all your ways. It’s abiding in His love.

How can you do that? You can let go of every other love. He needs to be your one and only. The greatest commandments are to love God and love others. All of God’s laws are summed up in those commands to love. We are able to be forgiven because of Jesus’ love sacrifice to take the punishment for our sins. We continue in that blameless state before Him because we receive the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and let Christ live that love out through us.

We need to obey that greatest commandment and love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. You can be revived by giving up all other loves so that your life is consumed with the only love that matters. Yes, there will still be work to do, but you do it with Jesus right there with you. You can fellowship with Jesus when you wash the dishes, turning it into a sweet time instead of a chore. 🙂

Ask the Lord to shine His light on your life and reveal where you’ve given yourself to other loves. Give them up. If you feel like you can’t or don’t want to, then ask God for help. Ask Him to change your heart so that you love Him alone. Walk in His light, as 1 John 1:7 says, and you will have love for others and He will be working to remove all that’s not from Him. It’s a continual state, not of perfection, but of blamelessness because you are ever giving yourself over to His purifying process, walking in the light of His love.

Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” (Eph. 5:14 NKJV)