Home*School*Home: Testing.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Testing.

In Kentucky, we are not required to do any standardized testing, but a lot of us choose to test, at least occasionally. I can see that my kids are progressing, but every now and then I like to use some kind of assessment, just to make sure. The state of Texas releases their previous year's achievement tests for free online at this site and I have used those. There are also some tests that you can order. http://www.bjupress.com/testing/stanford.php, http://www.bjupress.com/testing/iowa.php, http://www.setontesting.com/. Homeschoolers can take the SAT test and the ACT test. Homeschooled students can also take the Clep tests, AP tests and Dantes Tests and get college credit before they are even college aged.

I was just looking at my past posts on my blog and realized that there are 2 S's in my alphabet ... now everyone is going to wonder if I am qualified to teach anyone anything ... LoL.

1 comment:

Joe said...: I really enjoy your Blog and have for some time. I appreciate the care & concern you show for teachers & parents. I am very impressed with your understanding of the importance of teaching tools and how you share them on your Blog. My partners & I have developed a fun, simple, & effective way to teach kids their Multiplication table. It is called Multi-Facts, and it is derived from the popular Sudoku puzzles. We have recently launched an iPad & iPhone app to compliment our website & of course our very popular Multi-Facts book. Multi-Facts was created by an award winning math teacher in California. Multi-Facts puzzles stimulate both sides of the brain by challenging each student to think vertically & horizontally. We understand that knowing your multiplication factors is the foundation of every math concentration from fractions to Calculus and that is why people are so excited about Multi-Facts. We feel that teachers & parents who follow your blog would benefit from hearing about Multi-Facts and we hope that you choose to blog about it.; 6:21 PM

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Homeschooling Advice.

1. Try it. You might enjoy it. It might change your life. It might not be your thing, but you won't know if you don't ever try.

2. Find out what your state (or country) requires, the bare minimum. Do this and then with the rest of it, have fun with it. It doesn't have to be all serious and it doesn't have to look like the inside of a classroom. You're at home. Relax. Play. Read. Learn together. Enjoy your kids. They grow up way too fast.

3. Don't let a written curriculum boss you around. If it works, great. If it's not working for you, throw it out. If only parts of it work, use those and throw the rest out. It's not the boss of you. When shopping for curriculum, read reviews. Try to go somewhere where you can actually hold the book in your hands and look through it. Print out a sample day or week and try and implement it or borrow it before buying. It's kind of hit and miss buying books without being able to see them.

4. Find a homeschool support group. Or two. If you can't find one in real life, find one online. Get support where ever you can.

5. Make a mess now and then. Go outside and put some mentos in coke. Make alka-seltzer rockets. Make some great art. Make a timeline and a map. Grow some borax crystals. Use levers to lift things. Make a trebuchet out of whatever you can find around the house.

6. Go on as many field trips as you can.

The point of this blog.

"there is a theme, if you read, you'll get a growing conviction that homeschooling is a lifestyle that is worthwhile, that it is extremely good for kids and families, that it promotes bonding, is a personalized education that is superior to what you can get anywhere else for your kids, is fun and can be done even if you have a 400 track mind, no math skills (thankfully my husband does though), through working, job changes, bad hair days, home remodeling, deaths, illness, surgery, broken bones and various other things and it actually makes dealing with these things easier, not harder, than it was when we were in the public schools, because homeschooling is so incredibly flexible. That's the point I've been trying to make for the last 5 years or so."

Friday, July 15, 2011

Testing.

1 comment:

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