This kind of happened to me. I went to an all-girls Catholic school then my Junior year I went to a public school. It was a very tough transition and for a year I was depressed. If my parents would have stepped in and talked to me, I’m sure it would have helped. I would suggest having him do some type of activity now (sports, book club, etc) so he can familiarize with some kids he will be with in school. Also, talk to him. Ask him what he’s anticipating and tell him your thoughts/concerns. Help him to stand-up for what is right/wrong but at the same time don’t be judgmental of others. The best example is with actions and not words. Help him not to come across as a “pious” or you will have problems. Kids can form friendships with things they have in common. I hope this helps somewhat.

Anon’s idea below for a “mentor” is a good one. And ditto on some new clothes and a haircut. Is he starting 9th grade/freshman year along with everyone else? Remember, unless you live in a very small town, several middle schools will be merging into the high school and every kid will be new. Lots of kids will find their schedule shuffled in a way that they don’t have classes or lunch with their friends and will be wandering like deer in the headlights. He just needs to keep his eyes open for other kids who look a bit overwhelmed and chances are that they will be looking for friends, too.

And, if you don’t want to do television, perhaps you could find a magazine that is acceptable for your son to read in limited doses that has some pop culture references and ads in it, so that he can become more familiar with the world of teens without falling too deeply into it? I don’t have any specific recommendations because my kids are too little, but I think even our Natl. Geographic for Kids has video game ads in it.
What about professional or college sports? I live in a city obsessed with our Big 10 team—seems to me that a little knowledge and a jersey goes a long way into getting one “accepted” around here. Just some ideas. Good luck to you and your son!

I moved from a very small, old-fashioned public school to a very large, very modern school in a new town in 8th grade. It didn’t go well and I stuck out like sore thumb from the get-go. I’ll spare you the details but bullying the started that year followed me until I graduated even after I found my niche and friends.
Your son shouldn’t change who.he.is, leave his likes, dislikes, morals and faith behind just to fit in but little things like a new haircut, somewhat fashionably neutral clothes (don’t need to be hip and expensive but not obviously ‘out’ either) a little knowledge about modern technology and who is played on the radio will go a long way to acceptance. Another student at the school to help him along with what is and is not socially acceptable is a great idea,, maybe even steer him toward some kids with similar interests.

I would ask the school if they have ambassador or mentor program for new students.  We had this when we went to a new school and we were able to meet with the parents and our daughter was able to meet and make friends with a student in advance of the school year.  This at least made her feel that she knew someone on the first day of school.  If they don’t have this type of program, maybe the principal can send a message to certain families (instead of a mass appeal) to see if any families would be interested in doing such a thing.  I think there would be takers.  Maybe there are also some families in your neighborhood or parish who you could connect with.  I feel for you and I’ll pray for your family.  I have had experience with this type of thing, and it can be hard, but I pray for peace and a good outcome for you all!

Scared Mom,
I am sure the other moms here who posted have offered some great advice.  My only comment is, before you worry too much about your son, give thanks that you have been able to preserve his purity & innocence to the best of your ability—those are precious & irreplaceable gifts for the good of his soul.

great advice from everyone!  I just wanted to second Mary’s advice about teaching him to not sound too “pious.”  I never went to public school, but I even had trouble fitting in in a conservative Catholic high school.  I wish someone had taught me to be less shy and to actively work on building friendships.  For example, in high school, during lunch I would sit and read by myself instead of sitting with anyone else.  And when I was younger, I remember telling people things like “I only listen to classical music.”  Don’t know if this is the case with your son, but it’s easy for a sheltered kid to come off looking like a snob.  So if pop culture subjects come up, encourage him to just listen, instead of immediately showing his ignorance, or saying that he doesn’t like things like that.  In his first days at school, ask him how things went at class and lunch, and encourage him to make friends If he is naturally a bit shy or introverted like I was, he is going to have to be a little aggressive—introduce himself instead of waiting for people to come to him.  You sound like a great mom, to be so in touch with your son!

Hi Scared Mom, My son changed schools from a Catholic HS to a public HS this fall—he is a junior.  He had a pretty limited wardrobe as he always wore a uniform.  I hit the local thrift stores for the male wardrobe: jeans (classic blue or dark—not light color!), dark khaki loose fit pants, tshirts, crew neck sweaters—solid is good.  Buy some new white undershirts that he can wear under his shirts.  A pair of shoes—a lot of boys around here have dark colored shoes not white athletic shoes.  I agree with the suggestion of hitting a haircut place for a $10 cut.  It is worth the hunt for a few things to help your son feel like he fits in.  Think how you feel when you have a cute outfit or a nice haircut—it really does lift your mood!  Ask around at your church for who has kids going to the school.  How about your church youth minister who would know all the kids who come for CCD.  Maybe your son could start going to the church youth group now and meeting the other public high schoolers.  My son has had a wonderful year so far at his new school.  I covered him with prayers of course too!  Also give him a few strategies for how to finesse the lunch hour as I felt that would be the worst time.  I told my son “don’t go sit off alone if you don’t know anyone!”  I told him if he didn’t see anyone he knew to just grab something he didn’t have to sit down to eat so he could avoid the uncomfortableness. (Have him stash a protein bar and a banana in his locker!) As it turns out he found the one person he knew and sat with him and his friends and slowly he felt more comfortable as he met others from his classes.  He has met lots of nice kids and we have been very happy.  Good luck!

I think the first thing I would do is to pray to your son’s Guardian Angel to protect him.  Pray that he will make some nice friends.  Then I think you have to convey to your son that he will be fine.  One of the best things my mom did for me was to tell me that I was going to be ok whenever I had to do something like change schools (grade school), start a job (high school) go away to college, travel abroad, move out of the house.  If you find that you lack the confidence to do so, then pray to the Holy Spirit for help.  It’s not good to be frightened all the time.

Our oldest went from 8 years homeschooled to Catholic high school…my husband and I were called in around the end of the first grading period…our son was quiet…he didn’t talk out during announcements (he was LISTENING to see if there was anything he needed to know!)...he raised his hand and was polite.  They were concerned.  Our son was being the polite young man we raised him to be.  After meeting us the guidance counselor made a comment about us being quiet people too.  DUH!! 
There were many times he was without the latest and greatest electronic devices.  But, he also learned how to work hard and save money.  (and often purchased used items from kids selling them when they got new things).
It is hard, and very often frustrating…but prayer helped.  And time.  In time he got involved in a few activities, found a few friends he still keeps in touch with. 
He is his own person and on a journey, as is your child.  I had to remind myself that (and still do!).  I will keep you in prayer.

It is. Ot perfect, it is after all a sitcom, but I really enjoy watching The Middle with my older kids (9 and 12). The episodes always show the love in the family, they always wind up doing the right thing, and I believe it depicts a family that loves one another (even if the kids don’t always like one another), and are trying to do their best in the world. that said, there are some instances of mild swearing and the parents drink beer once in a while. Well, my DH and I have been known to slip in these departments too, so nothing my kids haven’t seen in real life. This is not a Pollyanna look at family life, and the circumstances are a little far out there sometimes, but it is a comedy, and helps us to look at our family with a little perspective. For instance, my favorite episode was when they family was called back from a vacation by their neighbor because she thought their house had been robbed and ransacked went she went to leave their mail. Turns out it was the way they left the house in the whirlwind of packing… My kids like to joke about this together whenever our family room gets a little out of control, and laugh as we clean it up together.

Netflix has whole seasons of the great old shows.  My kids LOVE Brady Bunch, Waltons, Little House, Cosby Show.  Netflix subscriptions are pretty cheap too!  It’s pretty funny to hear my kids make reference to an old Brady Bunch episode and their friends are like “Huh?”

We’ve been watching Once Upon a Time, No Ordinary Family, and Terra Nova. So far no complaints about any of them, very wholesome, action packed, and great family values throughout.

We also watch a fair amount of Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons.  I am watching Once Upon a Time with my daughter and have been pleased at how family friendly it is.

There are thousands of saints, and only 365 days of the year, so it makes sense that there is more than one saint commemorated every day.  There are also degrees of feasts, and St. Valentine is usually bumped in honor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius on Feb 14.  However, it is still the feast of St. Valentine, and he was very real.  Here’s a link, if it will copy:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159

I don’t know what to say as only you know your child.  I will tell you my story.  I am the second oldest of eight and could not wait to go away to college.  There have been only three things in my life that I wanted as a child: to go to college (which in my mind meant living there) to get married and to have children.  That wasn’t to say that I didn’t love my parents and my siblings.  I just always knew (and thank God my parents allowed me the freedom to follow my dreams) that at some point in my life, I will have my own family.  For me, getting to that point, meant going away to college and starting my own life.  And guess what?  I missed my sisters and brothers when I was away.  I missed my parents too!  And along the way, I developed a new found appreciation for our family life, the values that my parents instilled in us and my brothers and sisters.

If the issue is that they mainly want to spend a lot of time with friends, then I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem.  If it’s a question of what exactly they’re doing (i.e. dangerous behavior, not just normal hanging out with friends), then that’s a different story.  But, if the former, perhaps they’re just more extroverted than the older kids were and need more outside interaction with groups. 
Like Jennifer said, I, too, *really* wanted to go away to college.  In fact, as I was deciding between two colleges, one a 45 min. drive away and the other several states away, my dad made some comment about how if I chose the closer one they could visit on weekends.  I don’t know if he was (at least partially) joking, but I immediately decided (silently) “I’m going to the other college!”  Really, that was best for me.  The major I ended up in (theology) wasn’t available at the closer, public, university and the going away really helped me learn to fend for myself (not that it was easy right away).  I was more homesick at first than I thought I’d be too, so I learned more appreciation for my family ties.  I left in a fairly rebellious mindset, lots of fighting with my parents at that time, and was able to grow up and get some distance and become my own person - and now can have a close relationship with my whole family.  I don’t know if that would be the case if I still felt like I had to demarcate my own territory.   
My mom told me later how heartbroken she was when I left; she was sure I’d meet someone from who-knows-where and get married and really never be *home* again.  Instead, I’ve married someone who is from near my hometown and will never leave since he loves it here (so do I) and we are 10 min. from my parents’ house; it’s my sister, the one who never liked change and was going to live at home for ever and ever, who has entered consecrated life and will, in all likelihood, spend the majority of her life very far away from the rest of us.  My point being, you never know what God has in mind and it may not be at all what we so clearly “foresee” for each of our children. 
Anyway, if drinking/drugs/promiscuity/illegal behavior hasn’t been the issue but just the amount of time with peers, I wouldn’t insist on these two following the same path as their older siblings.

I’d like to do the same as Jennifer, and share my story. I hope it might reassure you a little bit. I always had a close relationship with my mom; I told her everything about my life, right up until high school. I was lucky to live in an area where I could walk or ride my bike to my friend’s houses, and I remember hardly ever seeing my parents during the summer. I’d have dinner at home every so often, but then head straight back out to be with my friends. In retrospect, I’m surprised that this never seemed to bother my parents! Instead of attending my junior year at my high school, I went to Italy as a foreign exchange student. I called my parents once a month, and emailed them every few days. I’m surprised they supported my desire to study abroad, especially considering I was only 16 and didn’t speak a lick of Italian when I left! This experience forced me to mature quickly. I went from being used to my mom making my doctor’s appointments, doing my laundry, and chauffeuring me around, to being entirely responsible for myself. Now I’m a junior in college, and I’m so grateful that my parents gave me so much freedom when I still lived under their roof. I made mistakes, but I learned from them. Now that I’ve lived on my own, I’ve truly come to appreciate all that my parents did for me growing up, and I appreciate their advice and wisdom. I’ll always respect my mom as a Mother, but her ability to let go and watch me to grow into an adult on my own has allowed our mother-daughter relationship to blossom in to a friendship. Only you know what’s best for your daughter. I know I needed a few years of independence. I’ll pray for you two!

My mother was always telling me to strengthen my bonds with the family, etc. and I really wish I had stood up to her about 8 years earlier than I did. Getting married without living on my own was a mistake. So was not living in a dorm for some of college. So was hanging out with my sister instead of friends in college. If I had it over again, I would go to college a few hours away and get away from my family. Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband and I like living in my home town, but I have to fight the temptations to resentment at never having a chance to just explore the world with friends.

It all sounds to me like a normal process of growing up. Unless her peers are an overly negative influence.

My story is similiar and I agree with the comments people wrote above.

Let her go, and pray.

I’ll tell you my story, which is not so very rosy during university but then comes up much better. I grew up in an essentially agnostic home, baptized Catholic. My father lost his faith and is an atheist; my mother is a non-attending Anglican with a deep spiritual mindset. I was very driven as a teen, and got a large scholarship to one of the best universities for journalism aschool in Canada, three provinces away.

While there, I did the rebelling I never did at home, even though my folks and I were still close and talked often. I partied, drank, “dated” (ahem) and experimented with drugs and partners and all sorts of different things. I kept my excellent grades, but was searching in everything else. My parents worried a lot.

I had broken up with my high school sweetheart, a boy raised Catholic, because he decided he loved me very much but could not eventually marry a woman who didn’t share his beliefs. I missed him.

In my final year of school, I became increasingly dissatisfied with my choices and behaviour, and began searching for help. That search led me into a Catholic youth mass and a major conversion experience.

I married the nice boy; we now have 4 children and are a Catholic family.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that she is embarking on her life, her path, her adventure. She may make bad choices, but Jesus will not abandon her. For some of us, we need to end up feeding pea pods to a pig to realize we have another alternative, our family and our Lord, and to turn back home.

Talk to her, pray for her—but don’t hold onto her too tight. She needs to live her life. And going away to school was, in many other ways, an amazing experience for me and opened my eyes to the Lord, and many, many other things. I have now lived in five of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories, and have seen all but two. I have lived in the sub-Arctic and watched the Northern lights and midnight sun, and drum danced at a native feast; I have walked the beaches of British Columbia and watched winter surfers in Tofino; I have toured New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy with small kids, showing them the highest tides in the world. I have made and eaten maple sugar taffy in Quebec.

Some of us are just made to wander. God bless.

We struggled with similar issue last year with our oldest son….much pressure by friends, extended family, and even guidance counselor and other parents to send him “away”.  At first he insisted he wanted to/had to go away.  Our hearts felt he wasn’t ready but….we didn’t forbid it but went to look at several of his choices….attended tours and asked questions (alchohol policies/“sleepover policies”/dorm life/etc.)  We compared the schools and what was available as recreation/fun/work access/travel proximities.  He even applied to several but we made sure to balance with several local commutable schools….mixed private and public on both ends.  He wound up with decent partial scholarships (academics) to almost all (except the public although accepted to honors programs there).  However, then we pointed out the differences in expenses and talked about burdening himself with debt to live “away” for 4 years to cover the dorm expenses which were not covered by his scholarship awards.  That coveted away school—-it would put him $100,000 in debt by the time he graduated (that was with a $26,000 annual 4 year scholarship!) in order to cover his costs.  Mom and Dad cannot afford much and those loans would be HIS.  Is it worth living away for 4 years now?  Or waiting until you graduate, find a job, do not have huge debt and can move out as an adult?  Live home now or live home later for a much more extended time….the economy and job market are scary….and we have an “undecided major” ....not like there is a special major picked out which would eliminate certain schools or require him to attend one a distance away.  Our son chose the commuting option.  We’ve since found out several of his former hs classmates have returned home after one semester…..“didn’t work out for them”.....oddly from some of our loudest, harshest critics about our stifling growth, babying, or not encouraging healthy separation.  We try not to return judgement but must admit that it sometimes feels like vindication.  Each child/family/situation is different…..so we all need to make our own choices based on our current situation——and the most important factors are using rationale thought, loving care, open minds, and most important:  Pray on it!!!

Good luck.  Didn’t think we would make it through but we did.

I looked into this Catholic online program last year. http://www.csk12life.com/
It sounded great but was way too expensive for my family. I’d also be interested in any information you find about teaching in an online program. When the state’s virtual program was just starting several years ago, I looked into the possibility of a teaching job with them. At the time they were looking for people with Master’s degrees and national teaching certification. The program has become so much more popular I wonder if the job guidelines have changed. It certainly sounds like a great career adjustment.

A couple of thoughts, based on my experience as a homeschool mom.  First, network with homeschoolers in your area, either through joining groups and going to gatherings, or through online discussions.  Make your talents known - many are very insecure about math because they weren’t good at it themselves.  You may find students who are willing to come to your home for tutoring, or put together a small class.  I use a math tutor for my son because he is too advanced for me to help him.  It’s expensive - $75 per two hour session, every other week, but my son needs the advanced math I can’t do, and I’m not ready to put him into a college environment even for one course.  Second, use online discussion boards to spread the word.  My son takes physics from a teacher in GA (I am in MA!).  The teacher has a website for math and physics.  He records his lectures so they are self-paced, and my son scans and emails his work.  I love it!  An objective grade!  My daughter also took Calculus from this teacher - if he offered a BC class, my son would be taking it.  The charges are reasonable ($58/mo for distance learning) and the teacher communicates with me and with my son by email.

What is available to families is highly variable based on where you live and based on affordability.
There are families who would homeschool even if the most orthodox, academically excellent, free Catholic school staffed with nuns and priests sprung up next door as they see it as a way of life more than a way of education and that is just great.
IMO, most/many Catholic families homeschool because they look at the choices available to them (which is pretty much never the orthodox, academically excellent, affordable Catholic school next door) and homeschooling is the best one *for them* at that time, in that place, with those children.

Personally, my choices where I live are home school, a PK-5 Catholic school that is OK and not too expensive but not in our budget, public school that is OK but has issues that present small and large problems for some of my children, or a variety of private Christian schools that are not a viable possibility at all and Catholic high schools that are 60 minutes away and no way affordable unless we won the lottery. We choose to home school. It isn’t a statement against parents that choose to send their kids to those schools. I wish them the best and hope they do well, every.single.one and you know, many will do great. I just don’t choose that for *my* kids.

I’m a homeschooling mom, and I know that there are a lot of homeschooling moms hanging out at Faith and Family Live.  That may create the impressions that it’s the new big thing in the Church.  And it is growing!  But it’s still a minority movement.  Homeschoolers tend to glomb together for support, like penguins in a blizzard!  Many fabulous and devout Catholic moms are very happy with their parochial school or with their public school.  A growing number of families find that for a variety of reasons (financial, distance, religious, academic, safety, etc)., homeschooling is the best option for them.  It’s become an even more viable option lately because you don’t have to be a Lone Wolf to homeschool-there’s lots of support out there.  Hope that helps, Mary!  Glad you have a great Catholic school near you!

I don’t have a vocation for teaching - I never wanted to teach although I come from a family of teachers and college professors.  So for our family the options were Catholic or public.  We’ve done both depending upon the needs of the children at the time.  I wouldn’t worry so much about what other parents do about their children’s education.  In my experience, most parents do what’s best for their children, no matter how much they may be ideologically opposed to an “idea”.  I’ve seen “only Catholic school”  parents make a switch, homeschoolers putting their kids in school, and public school parents choosing Catholic schools because it’s a better fit for their kids.  It’s really about what works best for you and your family.

Every family that chooses to homeschool has a different story of how they ended up on this path. Not every Catholic homeschooling family has chosen to homeschool for purely religious reasons. We didn’t. However, that our faith is interwoven in everything we do is really special. That doesn’t mean it’s the only way or the best way. The homeschooling movement is growing, and more families of different backgrounds and faiths are choosing homeschooling every year. But in many parts of the country, there are many, many more protestant homeschooling families than anyone else. A great deal of the “mainstream” homeschooling curriculum is written by protestant publishing companies specifically for protestant schooling. It can make it hard to connect with like-minded families. In my area, we are unfortunate in that we live 30-45 minutes from any sort of active Catholic homeschooling groups and there are only a few homeschooling families in our church. I can’t commit to driving across town to connect with these families because it would take away too much time from our school day. So for me, online resources are my only consistent way to connect with other Catholic homeschoolers and I’m guessing that is true for many other homeschooling moms you see here and on other sites. The internet is a tool that allows us to flock together in a way that we just aren’t necessarily able to do in real life. But in parishes, Catholic schools, and public schools with vibrant Catholic communities the support systems are there for parents so they don’t need to use the internet for support in the same way. When your children start school, I’m sure you’ll see that we’re not nearly as numerous as it seems right now.

I believe that every family is different.  I grew up in a very small town where Catholic School was not an option and both my parents worked so public school was what we went to and where my Father taught as did my husband.  Not a big deal for them in how they raised us and taught us about our faith.  Now I’m an adult and I live in another small town where Catholic School is not an option and my husband and I both work also.  Our kids go to public school.  So far it’s not a big deal.  We have the kids go to CCD and we carry on teaching them out home about our faith.  Go by what you have and what drives you.  Good luck and God Bless.

We homeschool because we move so often.  If we were to stay in one place for a long time (more than 3 or 4 years), and that place had a Catholic school that was academically and spiritually (stressing Mass and sacraments and solid theology) strong, I would likely put my children there.  I say likely, not definitely, though, because the one-on-one learning that occurs is very helpful for children who struggle with concepts.  I do not know that several of my children would ever have learned to read without one-on-one tutoring from someone.

I agree that F&F seems a bit more geared to homeschooling families and it’s great that homeschooling moms have found each other here and are using this blog as a resource. However, I live in a large city in Ohio and I can tell you that there are dozens upon dozens of Catholic schools here full of Catholic families (like mine!). There are 500 students at my son’s K-8 and there are 4 other Catholic schools in a 5 mile radius. There are over 1000 kids at each of the five local Catholic high schools. It’s a strong community. It may not be as conservative as some people would like and it may be too conservative for others, but the numbers here don’t like. There are still large numbers of families for whom Catholic school is Catholic enough. So, if you feel drawn to send your children to Catholic school, then I would absolutely do it and not feel guilty for a moment. You can always change your plans later if you decide that homeschooling would be a better fit.

When I was in elementary school, this was always the go-to math games website: http://www.coolmath4kids.com. Coolmath.com is great for older kids; I remember loving the lemonade stand game!

Susan, we just started using xtramath (for a week or so) and I think it’s going to work well for my second grade son. He knows and understands how addition and subtraction work, but he just needs help getting quicker. I think the website will work well. I created a teacher account with the name of our homeschool and entered two classes (2nd and K). The website works on the Kindle Fire, but it’s a little touchy, so they do better when they use my laptop. Search for xtramath and it’ll come up in the top one or two of Google search results. (I think I even heard about it here a week or two ago. Hooray for F&F forums!)

I second http://www.xtramath.org. I started my third-grader on it last week after a recommendation from someone here at F&F. He, too, needs to go faster. So far he’s enjoying it, and it seems to be more effective in increasing speed than flash cards.

Dr. Colleen Kelly Mast (has a Catholic radio show w/ dr. ray guarendi) has some programs focused on teens and sex. You may want to check out her website. I’ve also heard that Teresa Tomeo (Catholic radio host for “Catholic Connection”) has written some books about girls and sexuality. Hope this helps!

http://www.chastity.com is Jason and Crystalina Evert’s site and they have a lot of really good resources, some for the parents and some for teens.  I’d look there and see what looks like it will be the best fit for your kids (you read something, then talk to them; they watch a dvd; they read a book; you get a pack of tracts for their religion class; etc.)

Leah Darrow is coming to our local Catholic Women’s Conference in Feb. She was a contestant on America’s Next Top Model and had a spiritual awakening during a photo shoot that caused her to return to the Faith. She has a dvd that can be purchased. I don’t know much about her, but it seems like her story might be one that would really speak to young girls today. http://www.leahdarrow.com/

The Faith and Life series is a good one.  It’s published by Ignatius Press.

Coleen, I have not used the 3rd grade Faith and Life book, but all the other years I have used are great.  I recommend the book, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, by Laura Berquist.  She has recommendations for what to use for each subject in every grade level, and the Mother of Divine Grace home school program (her school) is this book in action.  In 3rd grade, she suggests the “Child’s Bible History” by Bishop Knecht which summarizes/explains stories from the Bible.  The child then retells the story in her own blank book and illustrates it (all over the course of a week).  This helps the story “stick” and works on a child’s re-telling skills.  My older children just yesterday were looking at their old Bible history books and laughing at their stories and art work.  The 3rd graders also use the Baltimore Catechism No. 1, concentrating on Ch 15-21 (mainly because they did 1-14 in 2nd grade).  These chapters, in part, discuss the Ten Commandments in detail.  Every few weeks, the children write out one of the Commandments both as given (You shall not kill) and in a more positive way (Be nice to others) and illustrate that as well.  My children like to draw, so they don’t find this assignment difficult.  I do think the visual element is important - if I had a child who hated drawing, I would probably let them cut pictures from a magazine or print them from the web to illustrate the work.