He's only 24, yet he has a title with the word 'senior' in it. Parents, don't be afraid to let your students immerse themselves in the computer.

My husband is a hardware guy, so he taught my son how to take apart, tinker with, build and repair computers. We also allowed gaming (both my boys are huge gamers) and we encouraged all kinds of software use in our homeschool. As #1 son got into middle school, we bought him coding language books, and he taught himself.

He became very interested in the graphic design side of gaming, so started writing code for his own game graphics. He picked up web site design knowledge in high school from a gamer buddy who had a side business. I will say that his IT career began at age 4 when daddy let him see inside the CPU.

My son worked very hard in college, graduating with cum laude honors. His employer appreciated his diploma, but what landed him the job straight out of college with no previous experience (and in the worst economy in decades) was his portfolio of coding work that he had developed as a hobby. My son would attend classes, put in his hours of flight training (he earned a degree is aeronautical science, professional flight) then go home and study. In the wee hours of the morning, when his school work was done, he worked on his own projects. These projects developed into a portfolio of work that  proved his IT skills, and made him very marketable.

IT jobs are the future, and they are lucrative for those with the necessary skills. Even if your child is not wired to be a computer nerd, proficiency in Word, Excel and Office Suite type programs are basic requirements for most entry level office jobs. Innate comfort with the computer cannot be learned in a few weeks or during a semester community college class. This level of comfort and knowledge is built over long periods of time.

(And he does have three monitors on his home desk)

During our discussion of the "Santa Question" last night, my 22-year old daughter told us about her defining moment of truth on the topic. She was about 7, and she was skeptical. Her older brother had already told her that there was no Santa, and my husband and I never tried to convince her keep believing. We would just always smile when she asked questions, and we asked her who she thought put the present out at night. That year she decided to leave milk and cookies for Santa on the fireplace…with a note. I read the note, and wrote her an answer. When she read the answer, she recognized my handwriting, but never let on. She told us last night that she was content that she had discovered the "truth" and that she had caught me! She told us that she really did enjoy the fantasy, and was glad that we let her naturally discover reality on her own. She related that she never was confused between Jesus and Santa. Today she is a devoted Christian, who has been called to the mission field.

As a homeschool mom, I usually began feeling the stress of getting enough accomplished before taking off for Thanksgiving. Often, the pressure to finish a certain portion of the curriculum made me more than a little grumpy at my kids. I mean, why couldn't they just finish those five math chapters in a month, and read War and Peace like every other high achieving homeschooled child?  They could fit that in after debate club and Latin class, couldn't they?

This is a good week to take a day off and re-evaluate your schedule, and make your school plans so that you can all enjoy the coming holidays without stress and short tempers. Yes, the time before the holidays is short. No, you may not be able to finish all your planned lessons before Thanksgiving and Christmas, or even before the New Year. Yes, time is short, but so is life.

Give yourself permission to simply enjoy your children without being driven by the curriculum. Give your children the gift of seeing you smile more often, and relaxing in their presence. Give them the joy of a long hug, instead of a short answer. Soon enough they will be grown and gone, and you will have all the time you need, but you will also have more time than you want. Spend each day so that you will have no regrets. The time you have with them now is even shorter than you think.