Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services 503-650-5282 Located in Oregon City Oregon

Make any New Year’s resolutions? Doing well at keeping them? Good! (But remember we’re just over a week into the new year.) Already starting to slip and cross a few resolutions off the list? Even better!! What do I mean?

On New Year’s Eve I was having a pleasant dinner at a restaurant with some family members, both immediate and extended. The topic of New Year’s resolutions came up and I was asked if I had made any. I told them no, that I gave up that exercise a long time ago. I never did well with them, and when I broke them, I’d either rationalize their importance away or begin making excuses. Plus, I didn’t like feeling guilty about my commitment level not being strong enough or not really meaning what I said.

As home schoolers, all of us set goals whether they’re academic, spiritual, relational, etc. Years ago I tried using a planning/record-keeping system to help me track what I was doing and what my kids were doing. I prioritized all activities with an “A,” “B,” “C.” Within the “A” category I prioritized even further and identified tasks as a “A1,” “A2,” etc. I wasn’t very successful and I started and stopped several times before finally giving up. I ended up word processing task lists, keeping minimal records, and using lots of post it notes. Now the kids are grown, two in college, one out, and all working. This phase is over. On to the next chapter.

I think the issue for all of us whether it’s New Year’s resolutions, goals with deadlines, or task lists, is our basic desire for control. This is true no matter what stage of life we’re in. With control comes a sense of safety. That’s why we flock to seminars that teach “life principles”, “wisdom for living” or other presentations designed to help us get what we want. And what we want is control.

I don’t like being out of control and I doubt you do either. But as Christians, the rub is that we are called to walk by faith. That is, trusting God all the time, especially when things go out of control, even when we’ve diligently applied and carefully tried to live by “the principles.” Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying as if I’m suggesting that all ways of living are equal or don’t matter. They do matter. But our trust cannot be in “the principles” as if by trusting and applying them will guarantee us the “good life.”

As Christian home schoolers, pointing our children back to trusting Jesus and the gospel on a daily basis would be a good New Year’s resolution. Good, because when you fail to do this, and you will fail, you’re covered (by Jesus). So, with this in mind, I’d like to recommend a book to help you. The title is The Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Click here for more information. While it’s designed to be used with elementary-age children, adults will also benefit by the simple way it presents the gospel message through Old and New Testaments stories. Below is an excerpt from the beginning pages of the book that I think captures its main thrust:

“Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and what you shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.

Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you’ll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose). They get afraid and run away. At times they are downright mean.

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne—everything—to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.”

Don’t forget to use our discount code for the new year, basicskills2012, when purchasing this or any product from Exodus Books, either online or in the bookstore.

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

If you care to comment or have a question about this or other articles, please visit our Community Forum or email me direct at info@basicskills.net. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net.

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Educational Roadblocks
By Jo Edwards, MS Ed

Years ago when I was teaching at a small Christian school I had a phone call from a distraught home school mom during the first week of school. She told me she had spent a part of the day in her closet crying because she was so frustrated about her son’s lack of progress in reading, and she was considering enrolling him in school. I asked for some basic information to determine the source of her extreme frustration. Her son was 8 years old, and she was beginning her third year of home schooling.

“What curriculum are you using this year.”

“1st grade Brand X.”

“What curriculum did you use last year?"

“1st grade Brand X.”

“And what curriculum did you use for his first year?”

“1st grade Brand X.”

This mom was beating her head against the wall trying to get her son to make progress thinking that there was something wrong with her teaching when what she needed to do was change curriculums (and therefore change teaching style) in order to meet her son’s unique educational needs.

As I consult with parents about their children and home school curriculum choices, I frequently run into the same parental comment. “I use _______ curriculum. It has worked really well for all my other children over the years and I really like the way it is organized, but this child is not making progress.”

All children are not created equally. Each student has his/her own learning style. Books and materials that work excellently for one student may not work at all for another. Some students thrive on fill-in-the-blank workbooks and enjoy seeing how many pages they can finish each day, whereas others need projects and hands-on activities to learn the same content. Some are motivated by workbooks with lots of pictures, diagrams and other decorations on their math pages while others find all the visual stimuli a huge distraction and want plain, to the point, black and white print.

Even though a family may be using a well recommended, first rate curriculum in their home school does not guarantee that every child in the family will make their best progress using it. If a child is not making the expected rate of progress, an analysis of the curriculum and the child’s learning problems and learning style may be warranted.

The frustrated mom mentioned earlier did eventually enroll her son in our school where we did NOT use Brand X curriculum. His needs were met through the use of a sequentially organized, multi-sensory instruction system, and he began to make real progress in reading and writing skills.

Thanks for reading!
Jo Edwards, MS Ed

Interested in sitting down with Jo to personally discuss curriculum options for one or more of your children? Email info@basicskills.net or call Basic Skills at 503-650-5282 to make an appointment.

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Could Canned Curriculum be the Right Choice?

I used to look down on “canned curriculum.” I think my attitude came partly from my first teaching experience at a private school in Southern California. I didn’t have a teaching credential when I was hired. In fact, I was still about a year of “course work” away from finishing my bachelor’s degree. In spite of this I was offered a position as a second grade teacher. The school granted me as well as the rest of the teaching staff an amazing amount of freedom. We were encouraged to innovate and create interesting lesson plans to reach the learning objectives for our particular grade levels. Along with this freedom came two full-time teachers whose sole task was to source instructional materials from a “mini warehouse” on the school campus for us.

Three years later I accepted a teaching job in Oregon. This school ran differently. To accomplish their objectives a “canned curriculum” was used. What I mean by “canned” is that the curriculum guide had a very specific plan that told you what to teach and when to teach it for every day of the school year. It was timed to the minute and even told the teacher when the students should take a break and use the restroom. No kidding! I balked at using it, and eventually replaced it once I took the elementary principal position.

Not all “canned curricula” is the same, however. In hindsight, I probably over-reacted to the extreme micro-management nature of what we used in Oregon. I was guilty of “throwing everything overboard” when much that was good could have been salvaged.

As I mentioned in a previous article, some of you might be considering a break from the state system. If fear of the unknown is holding you back, my suggestion to you is to find a good “canned curriculum.” Here are six things a good “canned curriculum” will do for you:

• give you an overview of what will be covered during the year.
• keep you from having to “re-invent the wheel.” They’re simple to use because a lot of the thinking

has been done for you.
• keep you on track. We all tend to gravitate back to teaching our favorite content which leads to a

lack of balance and content gaps.
• provide a structure for you.
• provide you with step-by-step lesson plans.
• help pace you through the course, so that you complete the course.

Are you weary of the mindless micro-management of many public, charters and home school programs? Is the local charter school becoming “too helpful” and too involved? Tired of the weekly check ins by your friendly academic advisor who is there to make sure you’re not using any three or five letter words like “God” or “Jesus?”

A “canned curriculum” may be your ticket to freedom. Give it a try!

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Unaccredited Thanksgiving?

Imagine the following conversation between a home-schooled student and his mother:

Son: “So Mom, according to the book we’re using, we should be thankful for family and friends. But, what about God?”

Mom: “Well of course we should be thankful to God. The pilgrims had a terrible time the first couple of years, but God was with them, and they were grateful. Their life centered around him.”

Son: “Well if this is true, and God was such a central part of their life, then why isn’t He mentioned in our book?”

Mom: “We’ve been over this before.” We’re not allowed to use Christian textbooks or books that refer to God or Jesus. Not if we want to receive credit.

And so the conversation goes…

A while ago I got a call from one of the principals of a local charter home school program. He and one of his staff members wanted to come visit me. It seemed that some of our students were transferring from our program into theirs so that they could access the local community college for free. There appeared to be a problem with awarding credit for some courses taken in our program.

When they arrived we grabbed a private office. The conversation was light and the tone friendly. Then we got down to business and one of the men popped a question. Was it true that we used and recommended a science textbook that held that the origin of the universe found its source in God and that evolution was simply a theory? I said, yes, that’s right. I thought my answer would have been a “no brainer” to them in as much as our school name was New Covenant Christian Academy.

The question reminded me of the time I spoke at an Elks Club meeting and was asked what I saw as a basic difference between public schools and private Christian schools. I answered, thinking I was simply stating the obvious, that the difference between the two was one taught and supported evolution while the other did not. My comment stirred up a strong protest by some of the government employees in the room claiming the public school “doesn’t teach evolution, it teaches ‘about it’.” Rising to the challenge, I countered that “yes, they actually do teach it,” and then the tension really increased. The moderator wisely saw what was developing and rang his little bell announcing the meeting was now over and it was time for all of us to go to work…

Back to my meeting with the principal and his staff member. The next question went something like this: “Is it true that some of our students take a class titled Classical Literature, and that the subtitle of this course was The triumph of Christianity in the Ancient World?” I asked why that should be a problem in as much as Christianity, under Constantine, became a dominate religion in the fourth century. This was, after all, an historical fact that nobody disputed. There was a strange silence as if my point wasn’t clear to them. They wondered why the subtitle was necessary. I think if we had been willing to change it or delete it the course would have been “approved.”

What was becoming very clear was that students transferring from our program into their charter home school program would not receive credit for any class where God was part of the curriculum. I thought to myself here were families who, with the help of our teaching and advising staff, were doing a remarkable job in educating their children. Unfortunately, because Jesus happened to be involved, no credit was going to be recognized or extended in order to protect the charter’s “accredited status.”

After they left, I thought I thought to myself, who do these people think they are? Talk about censorship!

So, during this Thanksgiving holiday, don’t shy away from studying and presenting the whole story. And, if you’re thinking about making a break from the state system, I’ll have some suggestions for you in a future article.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Home Schooling After all These Years?

A call from a high school student came into our office a few years ago. Would we help her, she asked? She was smart, a hard worker, and serious about her education and future. Her problem was that her place of learning, the public school, wasn’t helping her meet her goals anymore. Actually, it hadn’t for quite awhile. This was her senior year, and now she was quitting and wanting to home school after all these years.

For a lot of people her decision just didn’t make sense. They were thinking, “You’ve been here eleven years and now you’re just three quarters away from being presented with that coveted public school diploma.” She didn’t value or covet it enough to continue attending six hours of classes a day with students who had largely “checked out.” In her words, it was a “party atmosphere” most of the time.

She wasn’t angry. She didn’t describe her situation in “us” verses “them” language. She was simply ready to move on quietly, not with bitterness. She still wanted some recognition for the work she had accomplished, the grades she had earned. She wanted some direction in what final courses she should take to complete her education at this level. Her parents supported her decision.

I think what I saw in her was someone who, at the beginning of adulthood, had come to realize that school, learning and education aren’t always a package deal. School is largely an artificial environment where learning sometimes takes place, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Mark Twain said, “Don’t let school get in the way of your education.”

Shakespeare, through the mouth of Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

That November I met with her and her family. We discussed her goals and where she saw herself in the next few years. I helped them think through the pros and cons of the decision she was about to make. I explained what it would take to meet our graduation requirements, and what books and other means she could employ to complete this phase of her education. Even though our program was still a structure, it was one with a lot more freedom and meaning.

After our meeting she picked out her books and got right to work. She didn’t need any prodding. I met with her and her family a few more times that school year to look at her work and do the necessary documenting. That June, with her parents standing with her, she was presented her diploma.

Some might say she really wasn’t a “home schooler.” I would say in response, “Who cares what you call what she was doing.” The important thing was that she wasn’t afraid to seek professional help and make a decision that would change the course of her education, to “home school” after all these years!

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Ready to Call it Quits?

The following situation is more common than you think:

"We've been homeschooling for almost three months now. Since we started he hasn't wanted to do his work. I told him I would send him back to school if he didn't listen and follow my directions. He settled down for awhile and was compliant, doing what I asked. But, it didn't last for long. Now I'm back to listening to one excuse after another for what he doesn't want to do. All I'm asking is for him to do two chores a day and complete around one page for each of the four subjects he's doing (math, language, writing, and geography). I have told him a million times that I am here if he needs help. When he asks for help, it turns out he does know what he's doing and is just pretending. I just can't make him apply himself. I really don't want to send him back to public school... but I'm really tempted. Help"

I'm sure a lot of thoughts run through your mind as you read the above. Thoughts like, could this really be true? Is this an exaggeration? How can she stand living like this? For those of you who have no experience with the above, all I can say is, again, this experience is more common than you think. And, because my wife once picked up the phone and "dialed" the local school to see if there was room for "one more," I can personally relate to this.

So, what can be done to correct this situation? Finding out that he is eight years old, here are three things I recommend:

Threats: While I don't recommend threatening to do something you know you really won't follow through with (like sending him to back to public school, unless you mean it), "collecting information" in his presence by calling or visiting may raise the anxiety level enough to stimulate compliance. And in reality, if you were unable to continue home schooling due to health or other issues, going to a public school could become a reality.

Structure: Children especially at this age need a predictable pattern. "School" should start close to the same time every day. Subjects studied should follow the same order: math, followed by penmanship, followed by reading, etc. For those who argue against such an approach, saying it is making the home too "school like," all I can say is that typically productivity and creativity are linked to discipline and structure. In other words, home schooling is often just getting your work done day in and day out. Can you adjust the schedule, and take a day off when warranted? Of course. I'm not suggesting that you should be inflexible.

I would also recommend what I call "pass the salt, pass the pepper" tones when implementing the schedule and course work. Your son needs to know that this is just the way the school work and chores are going to flow kind of tone. Avoid getting into arguments, even though it's easy to "win" them when the children are younger. As they get older, you'll find yourself "winning" less and less until your relationship with him or her crashes.

Instruction: It isn't going to work to tell him what to do, let him go to his room, and expect him to return at lunch with everything completed. At this age, home school instruction is largely driven by the parent. Yes, you can explain a math worksheet, leave him for ten to fifteen minutes and check back. A better approach would be to have him work at the kitchen table so you're close by for accountability and to teach and answer questions. The older he gets though, the less you should be needed.

Please keep in mind that parenting is both an art and science.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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What to do if you Finish a Textbook Early

The typical textbook is designed to be completed in nine months. Even if you follow the traditional school calendar, schooling from September through May, what do you do if your student finishes a text book early? Consider the following question that was asked recently:

“My son just finished his 6th grade speller. I'm wondering if I should move him into the next book or just end spelling now for the year, which for us ends in May.”

--J.M.

My answer: I have a few thoughts as I respond to this question. First, it’s unusual to complete a book after just two months of school. Are you sure your student is in the correct grade placement? It may have been too easy in the first place which is why your student flew through it, assuming he pre-tested and knew most of the words without studying. Secondly, and this information wasn’t supplied in the question, I’m wondering if this book was used last year but, not completed. The mother was simply finishing up the last few lessons in the book.

If you were asking me this question in April, I would be inclined to say sure, take a break from spelling. But at this time of year, I’d say begin the next book in the series. In other words, keep in mind that your goal is to build a strong set of memorized spelling words your son can draw from, not just complete a textbook.

Let me change the question slightly and apply it to a different subject, asked at a different time of year. Let’s say it is March and your student has just completed his math book. In this case he finished pre-algebra. While there is always some review built into all math series (publishers assume students are coming back from a three-month summer break from school and need to review), the higher the level of math, the less of the beginning of the book is dedicated to this. If your son has completed a quarter of the next book in the series, algebra 1 in this case, when you quit in May, you can be sure he’ll need to back track in September, maybe even to the beginning of the book to review what he “learned” but was forgotten.

So in this situation, I would say don’t start the next book in the series. Instead, pick up an enrichment text (story problems, math brain teasers, etc.) at a local teacher or home school supply store. Do math two or three times a week. Another option would be to start the next book in the series, but plan to work through it most of the summer so the time spent in the spring isn’t seen as a waste. Most students won’t like this idea, but others will embrace it and see it as a chance to get ahead.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Interested in a half-hour phone consultation with Curt to discuss and suggest solutions to specific home school problems you may be facing? Our new program, Ask the Expert, may be just what you’re looking for. Our introductory price is just $24.95 for a half-hour phone consultation. And, as an added bonus, you may choose any two ebooks from our list of educational products for free... up to a $36.00 value. You can’t lose! Simply call or email us to book a consultation and well get you scheduled and send you your ebooks immediately. The free ebooks are a limited-time offer.

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Peer Groups and Slow Movers

Years ago I held the idea that children who were home schooled became immune to peer dependency. I believed that the very structure of home schooling was the secret to raising children with “godly” convictions who would naturally be able to stand on them in the midst of a culture that was collapsing from dry rot. I was wrong.

The problem with this view was my denial that the need for acceptance which leads to peer dependency was, and is, largely an inside issue. All of us are hard-wired to seek acceptance to one degree or another. What got me to thinking about this was observing some home schoolers who had been insulated from the typical cultural channels (TV, internet, DVDs, youth group, etc.) but who still found a way to tap in and discover what was “cool.” This created two very different kinds of reactions: disappointment on the part of some adults, and a kind of admiration and envy on the part of many of their home school friends.

This need for acceptance is not going to go away. Yet, as a parent, you can use it to indirectly influence your child in a positive way. Peer groups can be very helpful in motivating a “slow mover.” They can affect attitudes and goals. Take initiative to involve your child in a group that shares many of the following characteristics:

Where effort and hard work is valued
Where education is valued
Where involvement in community service is common
Where parental views, while not always agreed with, are nevertheless respected

Yet, having said that good peer groups will often exert a positive influence on children, there are situations where no matter how good the influence, the child still makes poor decisions. One high school student I knew had both family and professional support and was committed to completing a GED. Then, this goal gradually became unimportant and he began to balk at the preparation required to pass this test. At age seventeen having at least a GED would have put him ahead of the line of those without one when looking for a job. That didn’t seem to make a difference.

Another family had a student who, upon entering the high school years, resisted doing their school work. Then, two years later, with little perceivable outside influence, education became important. This student’s drive to compete, or in this case begin high school level study in earnest, was totally inside driven.

Again, the need for acceptance is an interior issue. All of us will choose a way to meet this need. Tapping this need for acceptance within peer groups with positive values may help. One thing seems certain, if we don’t take the initiative in finding such a group, you can be sure most children will.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

As you start the new school year, add some fun into your elementary math program by grabbing a copy of our favorite new math product. Click here to get over 450 pages in 8 books of printable board and card games, worksheets, and ideas at a very low price.

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3 Tips to Help Slow Movers

If you find that school work isn’t getting done, here are three tips that may boost your student’s productivity.

1. Consider having your student attend a class somewhere. One of the values of a traditional school setting is structure. I know that some home schoolers feel guilty about thinking, let alone suggesting, that anything of value can possibly come out of school. But, like most things, school is not an “all or nothing proposition.” Take or use what’s good and helpful, and leave what’s bad and counter-productive alone. The dynamic of a class meeting creates motivation and accountability that helps most students to get work done. Classes, some of which are offered through co-ops, provide a weekly and regular point of contact and expectation. “Due dates” for daily work, tests, quizzes, and projects are less flexible than courses studied exclusively at home.

2. Combine your home school efforts with another family. Home schooling typically works better when there is more than one child learning in a group setting. At least for the kids, it’s more interesting. If you’re down to teaching your last child at home, a feeling of isolation may set in. Productivity drops. Home schooling with another family often leads to life-long relationships between the children. It’s worth a try.

3. Link consequences to actions that have a real life component. Virtually all home school families use some sort of reward and punishment system. To avoid having your children feel like they’re being manipulated or simply “controlled” (and the older they are, the easier they can pick this out), think through why it’s important that they do what you want them to do. Link the consequence to real life because outside the home, this is the way it generally works. Think about it. Put things off, don’t deliver, and you’re typically passed over for a promotion or fired. Exceed your employer’s or customers’ expectations and typically the opposite happens. Speed regularly and eventually you’ll get a ticket. Text and drive and an accident will likely occur.

Help your students think this way by communicating to them that sloppy work means the teacher can’t read, evaluate, or get the benefit from it, and therefore it must be done over. Insufficient work completed means access to the TV or to recreational use of the computer or handheld technology is withheld. Work completed and goals met result in rewards or privileges extended. Again, remind them that most adults work an eight- hour day and then come home to relax and recreate. Weekend hobbies take place after they work a forty or fifty hour work week. Reverse this order and problems will follow. Convey to your student that all you are doing is helping them establish a healthy life-long work ethic that will serve them well both now and in the future.

Here is a final thought about consequences. The funny thing is that “what’s important” changes as our children get older. Also, what we think is important isn’t always seen that way by our children. We have to continually remind ourselves of the point behind the consequence, because consequences must change as our children mature. Keep in mind that for older children, consequences seem to communicate a “life lesson” of their own, unless we get in the way.

I’ll discuss more issues related to productivity in another article.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Home Schooling 24/7???

Now that the “honeymoon phase” of the new school year is over, productivity for some children starts to drop. In some cases, school work that should have been completed Monday through Friday now spills over into the weekend. “School” on Saturday two or three times in a row can be a miserable experience for everybody, not just the kids. If this describes what’s happening with one of your children, here are some thoughts that may help you with the situation.

First, if you are seeing this in only one of your children, maybe there is a physiological reason behind it. What I mean by this is that if a child is a slow or reluctant reader, eye fatigue may be a factor. An optometrist could diagnose and prescribe stress lenses or glasses.

If you have a child who is entering into her teenage years, hormonal and/or chemical changes could be taking place which is affecting her mood and personality. Previously compliant, some children become oppositional and lethargic. Some Christian writers would lead you to believe that this kind of behavior is simply spiritual in nature (i.e. rebellion, sin, etc.), but this narrow view often prevents getting to the root of the issue. Making an appointment with a pediatrician for a physical would be a first step in addressing this issue.

Secondly, this may simply be an emerging personality trait. While some children “just get to it,” others move methodically and slowly. While the promise of a reward or incentive may increase their productivity to some degree, it usually doesn’t last. I saw this with a student who took a timed test in which the results pointed to below-average achievement. Weeks later we gave this student the same test but this time removed the time limits. The results were well-above average achievement. Sometimes you simply need to accept the personality trait and work with it by adjusting the amount of work assigned.

If your child is a “slow mover,” consider making the work load on Fridays lighter. This is the day you “catch up” with little if any additional work assigned. Classroom teachers do this all the time (for themselves) when they get behind in their grading.

For older students, another possibility is to schedule the day into half-hour to one-hour time segments in which you move along to the next subject once the time allowed for the current subject is up. For younger students, setting a cooking timer for them to see may help build awareness of time elapsing.

Other issues related to productivity include structure, family dynamics, the use of incentives, interest level, and peer influences. More on this in another article.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Some changes in student motivation may be related to ADD, ADHD, or dyslexia. A local resource we recommend is HELP. Click here to be directed to their website.

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Measure Progress Without Testing

A myriad of footnote questions appear on most published tests. Why? Because they are easy to write and easy to score. They’re also largely meaningless when it comes to measuring what your student has learned. If you’ve concluded that the tedium of having your student memorize what seems to be an endless stream of facts is just not worth the investment of time, what do you do instead? Here’s a simple but powerful option.

Many textbooks have review questions located throughout and at the end of each chapter. Some are well-written and require the student to use the higher levels of thinking we suggest in the booklet, How to Ask Questions that Matter. I recommend that you replace the tests with the review questions using the following simple method to help you determine what your student is learning.

First, choose review questions that seem important to you. Important as opposed to simply recall-type questions. The number of questions you choose to have your student respond to will be proportionate to the length and content of the chapter.

Second, ask your student to write an answer to each question. Make this an open-book test if you like. Let him know that he will be evaluated on the substance and quality of his answer. Suggest, though, that he limit his answer to one paragraph. This forces word economy.

Third, evaluate and score his answers. I suggest the following scale:

Adequate answers are awarded 3 points. “Adequate” means his response demonstrated he understood the basic content called for by the question.

Good answers are awarded 4 points. “Good” means his answer showed a greater degree of understanding than just the “adequate level.”

Excellent answers are awarded 5 points. “Excellent” means his answer was well-thought through and showed an even greater depth of understanding than at the “good” level.

If you choose questions that require the student simply recite facts back, award full credit (5 points) if completely accurate or no credit if the answer is simply wrong.

Finally, to generate a grade for the chapter based on this approach, simply total the number of points awarded for each question and divide this total by the total number of points possible.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you choose five questions for your student to answer. You award 4 points each to three questions, 3 points to one question, and 5 points to one question for a total of 20 points. Now, divide 20 points (the number awarded) by 25 points (the number possible). The result is .8. Convert .8 to a percent (move the decimal point over two places to the right and add the percent sign) and you have 80%.

Using a traditional grading scale of A: 90-100%, B: 80-89%, C: 70-79%, etc. the grade for this chapter would be a “B.”

This method works best when you keep it simple. Don’t spend too much time deliberating over whether an answer should be awarded 4 or 5 five points. Only occasionally split the difference and award a 4.5 or 3.5. You’ve got better things to do with your time.

Thanks for reading!

Only four days left to take advantage of our 50% to 70% off back-to-school sale. Be sure to take advantage of this limited-time offer by checking out the Back to School Specials on our website.

Want to save some money on last minute purchases? Visit Exodus Books and use our discount coupon code BSAES2011 when you make your purchase. Exodus Books ships worldwide.

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Home School Perfectionism

Being a perfectionist is tempting. You know, doing the “dotting your i’s, crossing your t’s,” leaving no blank unanswered, doing what it takes for as long as it takes sort of thing. And it usually takes a long time. By being “perfect” in this way, your student will have effectively ended any potential unpleasant conversations before they begin. After all, how can he be faulted for the extreme lengths he goes to do things right?

As Brene Brown (CNN.com) put it, “Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame.” In the past, I might have said that doesn’t apply to home schoolers because after all, being raised in an age-integrated context (the family) made peer dependency and the need to be accepted largely non-existent . I was mistaken.

I may be off the mark here, but it seems that perfectionism to any degree is used as a barrier to criticism whether by others (parental or peer standards) or even by yourself (your standards). When our children continually relate to us or to themselves on the basis of performance, life becomes a grind. And, usually perfectionists are not very fun to be around.

The very thing that makes home schooling appealing can also make it unbearable. Think about it.

You can customize the student’s curriculum to his or her needs, but the notion of customizing leads to too many books that your child “needs” that you’ll never get through.

I can’t tell you how many books I’ve bought for my kids that were never used. In fact, I even bought some books twice not realizing I had already made the purchase months prior.

Teachable moments can be related to real life, but teachable moments never end. You and your student may find yourselves “in school” 24-7.

It can be weird and embarrassing when every trip to the store is seen as potentially fulfilling a home economics or consumer math assignment. I knew things had gone over the edge for me when, after parking downtown in Portland and rushing several blocks to make the start of a movie, one of my kids asked if they could count the time “running” toward their time based PE course.

You know your child better than anyone else and are therefore the ideal teacher. But, if we’re not conscience of the “hat we’re wearing, your child may always wonder if you’re talking to him as the “parent” or the “teacher.” Relationships can get awkward the older the kids are.

There’s a point where separation of your child from you is absolutely necessary for him or her to truly grow up. If, when you see your kids leaving their room, you find yourself continually asking them, “you got that math assignment done, right?” it’s time to re-evaluate things.

So, what am I saying? I’m saying that there is a part in all of us that wants to relate to ourselves and others by means of performance. Taken to an extreme, home schooling on the basis of performance becomes disordered and burdensome. If I were to say all you have to do is set time limits (or in the case of the “perfectionist” time restrictions as in you’re not working past 3:00 P.M.), I doubt that would be helpful. Applying different techniques don’t necessarily change root issues.

More on this at a later date.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot

Want to save some money on next year’s school books? Visit Exodus Books and use our discount coupon code BSAES2011 when you make your purchase. Browse their huge selection of new and used books. Exodus Books ships worldwide.

If you care to comment or have a question about this article, please visit our Community Forum to respond. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back www.basicskills.net.

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Too Much School Work Already?

Usually in the fall I get calls from parents who say they need to come in and see me. There’s a sense of urgency in their voice. The story goes something like this. Their high school student is up early and starts her school work around 8:30 in morning. She stops for a brief lunch break and picks it up again until 4:30 or 5:00. On some occasions she even works a little longer. Day after day this experience repeats itself. The parent believes that if this continues, she will burn out or at least sour toward the home school experience.

So, what do I tell them? Actually, I usually ask a few questions to get a feel for what is behind this massive amount of work.

Generally, I have found that it’s better for students to be too busy than not busy enough. They tend to manage their time better when there is a lot to do, when squandering time isn’t an option. One of my clients, a senior preparing to test for his black belt in Taekwondo, told me that he had never gotten so much done in spite of the extended practices required to complete this final test.

A major difference between this student and the one I described earlier is that passion, to a large degree, was the driving motivation behind his packed schedule. Because of the great pleasure he got from the workouts, the mastery he experienced, and the well-deserved recognition, he didn’t need to be goaded or coerced into this schedule. In other words, for a student who really loves horses, or let’s say skate boarding, the parent rarely, and probably never has to say, “Now go ride your horse,” or “I want to see you on your skateboard for another half an hour.” “Now get to it!” This doesn’t happen.

So, that’s one thing I try to determine. If it’s passion that’s behind a lengthy school day, it’s probably OK. If it’s not, what else could it be?

There are three common causes that could be in play: perfectionism, an unbalanced need to please, and fear.

Perfectionism is strange to observe. It’s the point of view that says, “If a job’s worth doing, is worth doing right, and I’m the only one who knows what ‘right’ is.” Sort of the opposite of the Nike slogan, “Just do it.” What’s strange about “perfectionism” is that it isn’t always present in every context. As a “perfectionist in recovery” myself, I’ll say more to say about this next time.

Thanks for Reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

The 50 to 70% off sale of many of our most popular products will be up September 29, so be sure to take advantage of this limited-time offer by checking out the Back to School Specials on our website. Again, this is a limited time offer.

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Using Curriculum that Almost Works

In a previous article I suggested it might be time to change the curriculum you’re using. If you took my suggestion and made a change, it’s likely that sometime in the next thirty days you’ll be second guessing yourself about your new purchase. Here’s why.

Within every textbook is a bias, one or more perspectives that sooner or later will rub you the wrong way. Every author writes from a worldview.

The science book you’re using may present the “fact” that global warming is myth. You’re not so sure.

The history book you’re using may cast certain denominations as the “good guys” and others as the “bad guys.” Your church is in the “bad guys” camp and you’re not planning on leaving anytime soon.

The Bible study curriculum you’re using makes “life applications” you’re uncomfortable with.

The government text you’re using implies that if you’re not a flag-waving, NRA member, Republican, back-to-the-gold standard kind of person, you’re misinformed, unpatriotic, or worse, just stupid.

The personal finance course you’re using leaves you feeling guilty if you have any kind of debt. You already feel guilty about enough things without wondering if refinancing your home was the right move.

I think you get the idea.

So, what do you do? Return the books and just use the Bible and Saxon math? Some home-school pundits have suggested such a narrow approach.

I’d like to suggest a different solution.

Years ago I raised the question of what to do with textbooks with questionable content with a mentor friend who was a leader in the Christian School movement. I think he gave me some good advice. Our conversation went something like this:

“Do you eat fish?”

“Occasionally.”

“What about the bones, you don’t eat them do you”

“Of course not”

“Sometimes you need to fillet a fish. You don’t let a few bones keep you from getting the value, satisfaction, and benefit from it.”

That simple illustration came back to me just this week when I read something in a textbook I was using in a class I’m teaching. My friend would have said, “Just ‘spit out’ the objectionable material. Don’t let it ruin the good things to be gained from the text.”

Thanks for Reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Learn how to save 50 to 70% on many of our most popular products by checking out the Back to School Specialson our website. This is a limited time offer. Save money on textbook purchases by visiting Exodus Books and using our discount coupon code BSAES2011 when you pay for your purchase, when in the store or online. Exodus Books ships worldwide.

If you care to comment or have a question about what I’ve written above, please visit our Community Forum to respond. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net.

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Curriculum That Doesn’t Work

In a previous article dealing with cheating on tests (click here for that article), I suggested that it’s possible for home schoolers to make good things like strong test scores, grades, and post high school plans more important than they should be. I referred to this as over investing. When it comes to choosing curriculum, how do you know if you’ve over invested? And if so, how do you remedy the situation?

Years ago a parent told me that she felt the grammar book she had used with her elementary- age student had been a total waste of time. She had stayed with it the entire year hoping the book would improve and deliver the results it promised. It didn’t, and now she was worried her child had fallen behind. There was no getting the year back. Knowing there is a lot of overlap of learning objectives from one year to the next, I told her not to worry (which didn’t really help her stop worrying, after all it wasn’t my daughter). I said, after giving her some ideas, just to pick a different book next year.

Now, some fifteen years later, her daughter has graduated from college. She holds a job in which the ability to communicate both verbally and in writing is crucial. Using an ineffective book wasn’t as big a deal as it seemed originally. This brings me to my point about over investment.

Sometimes we do over-invest in our curriculum. We have over-invested when we are unwilling to give it up or replace it when it is not doing the job. Yes, it may have received great reviews from some home-school expert. Or, your friends may have strongly recommended it. You thought maybe it would get better, or maybe the problem is me, that I’m just not using it right. Regardless, if it’s not working, it’s not working.

If this is your experience, sounds like it’s time for a change. So, go ahead!

Thanks for Reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Seeing History through the Lens of Scripture

By Thelma English

Learning to divide the ancient world into 500 year segments helps the student understand world history more clearly.

Closely examining the Biblical text provides what we need to:

date the birth of Abraham

follow the Exodus from Egypt

identify the beginning of Solomon's Temple building project

trace the rise of leaders such as Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah

Studying excavations at Jericho, Nineveh, Jerusalem, Beersheba, Babylon, and Persia, provide fascinating confirmation of biblical history.

Exploring exegetical and archaeological insights helps students be equipped to trust the scriptures where 'evidence' is lacking.

Studying the integrity of the scribes concerning the Great Isaiah Scroll found at Qumran in 1947 (Dead Sea Scrolls) instills intellectual confidence in the rest of the prophets.

Knowing the complete agreement between the biblical text's account of the battle at Jericho and the archaeological excavations arouses an excitement not easily extinguished!

Awareness of the compelling evidences found in Jerusalem and Nineveh instill confidence in the text.

When surveying the Old Testament, I have found that short, weekly assignments designed to reinforce recently learned information is effective. Also, brief writing assignments with various creative options provide an outlet for creative expression!

With all of the secular attacks on biblical history and the biblical text, studying the Bible in this way will result in encouragement and strengthening your student's faith. An academic study of the Bible is the perfect complement to a great school year!

Thanks for reading!

Thelma English, Bible and Literature Teacher

If you live in the Portland-metro area and are interested in taking a Bible class from Thelma, you may contact her for more details at Thelma@thelmaslibrary.com or www.thelmaslibrary.com. Phone calls are welcome at 503-807-7283. Go to the High School Classes page on our website (www.basicskills.net) for more information about the classes she and our other teachers are presenting in the upcoming school year.

If you care to comment or have a question about Thelma’s articles, please visit our Community Forum to respond. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net.

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When Will I Ever Use This? Part 4

For the Love of the Trade

Paul Lockhart, In A Mathematician’s Lament, muses about a society in which music education has become mandatory, and every student is required to learn all of the terminology, notation and theory of music beginning at a very young age. Playing and listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school:

Students must take courses in Scales and Modes, Meter, Harmony, and Counterpoint. “It’s a lot for them to learn, but later in college when they finally get to hear all this stuff, they’ll really appreciate all the work they did in high school.” Of course, not many students actually go on to concentrate in music, so only a few will ever get to hear the sounds that the black dots represent… “To tell you the truth, most students just aren’t very good at music. They are bored in class, their skills are terrible, and their homework is barely legible. Most of them couldn’t care less about how important music is in today’s world; they just want to take the minimum number of music courses and be done with it. I guess there are just music people and non-music people.”

It’s precisely this sort of approach to mathematics education that has resulted all too often in destroying a child’s natural curiosity and love of pattern-making. It leaves the student believing, “I will never use this,” or equally tragic, “I don’t care if I ever use this.” Learning math without experiencing the puzzle, the imaginative discovery process, is not truly learning math at all, and leaves the student unable to imagine that math is a completely creative art.

The only difference between math and the other arts, such as music and painting, is that our culture does not recognize it as such. Mathematicians know that there is nothing as dreamy and poetic and imaginative and creative as mathematics. It is every bit as mind-blowing as cosmology or physics (mathematicians conceived of black holes long before astronomers actually found any), and allows more freedom of expression than poetry, art, or music (which depend heavily on properties of the physical universe). Let us not forget that the same God of beauty who gave us music, also gave us math. Mathematics is the purest of the arts, as well as the most misunderstood.

We are all taught the formula for the area of a triangle. But it’s not the fact that triangles take up half their box that matters. What matters is the beautiful idea of splitting the box with the line, and how that might inspire other beautiful ideas and lead to creative breakthroughs in other problems— something a mere statement of fact can never give you. By removing the creative process and leaving only the results of that process, you virtually guarantee that no one will have any real engagement with the subject. By concentrating on what, and leaving out why, mathematics is reduced to an empty shell.

Of course, the art is not in the “truth” but in the explanation, the argument, the “why we know this is true” and in the way it reflects the orderly character of creation. Mathematics is the art of explanation. If students are denied the opportunity to engage in this activity— to pose their own problems, make their own conjectures and discoveries, to be wrong, to be creatively frustrated, to have an inspiration, and to cobble together their own explanations and proofs— you deny them mathematics itself.

Everyone knows that poetry and music are for pure enjoyment and for uplifting and ennobling the human spirit -- but the same may be said of math; Mathematics is the music of reason. To do mathematics is to engage in an act of discovery and conjecture, intuition and inspiration; to be in a state of confusion— not because it makes no sense to you, but because you gave it sense and you still don’t understand what your creation is up to; to have a breakthrough idea; to be frustrated as an artist; to be awed and overwhelmed by an almost painful beauty; to be alive, That’s why it’s so fun!

How many students taking literature classes will one day be writers? That is not why we teach literature, nor why students take it. We teach to enlighten everyone – to expand thought -- not to train only the future professionals. In any case, the most valuable skill for a scientist or engineer is being able to think creatively and independently. The last thing anyone needs is to be loaded up with tools, but never given the love of the trade.

Thanks for reading!

Jerry Jones, Math Teacher

Interested in having your high school student receive a practical math education by attending a class taught once or twice a week by Jerry? Go to the High School Classes page on our website for more information about the classes he and our other teachers are presenting in the upcoming school year.

If you care to comment or have a question about Jerry’s articles, please visit our Community Forum to respond. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net.

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When Will I Ever Use This? Part 3

Instruments of Opportunity

It comes up in all sorts of classes, but perhaps nowhere more often than in math class. If you have ever taught math, you rarely escape a handful (or more) of students who wonder why they need “this stuff.” But then, anyone who has ever found themselves in a workshop full of unfamiliar tools might wonder the same thing.

Many of us have all sorts of tools in our garage, or all sorts of utensils and appliances in our kitchens. Some of these only come out once in a great while for special applications, while others are used every day. The same can be said of math skills; they are certainly a set of useful tools.

Maybe we can get along without certain tools, but they make the task so much easier. Others become more valuable with time, until eventually we can’t live without them. And some turn out to be crucial to any further progress. They open up whole new realms of opportunities and solutions.

I've always believed that math skills provide an opportunity gateway. However, the math one needs will depend very much upon his goals. For instance, Calculus is needed for all forms of engineering, finance and many of the science-focused careers. Success in Calculus will have a dramatic affect in opening up the job market. Algebra and geometry are great problem solving topics and are also stepping stones to Calculus. Geometry is applied in numerous careers both in the trades and at college levels. The logic and reasoning skills are crucial to careers in political science and law. Statistics and probability are the maths for business, economics and research. The more math you know, the more options you have. A student may easily discover the many careers requiring math and this alone may provide the motivation to embrace it with determination! For example, WeUseMath.org is a non-profit website that describes the importance of mathematics and many rewarding career opportunities available to students who study math.

On another note, it is essential that students come to appreciate math as more than just a set of tools. It’s unfortunate that we teach the fundamentals before, sometimes long before, we show students how truly useful it is. Math can really be quite fun, like music, and quite stimulating, like science, and the fact is, math is a part of both. But when we sever the tool from its application, we rob it of all satisfaction. Imagine teaching art theory without actually allowing students to draw or paint!

I will develop this idea further in the next installment of this series.

Thanks for reading!

Jerry Jones, Math Teacher

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Recent Cheating on Achievement Tests Exposed

Last week recent cheating on achievement tests was brought to my attention. Not just a little, but a lot. It made me think about what leads a student to cheat.

*Insecurity?

*Peer pressure?

*Unreasonable performance standards?

*An unbalanced desire to please someone?

But, in last week’s story that made national headlines, it wasn’t the students who were cheating.

It was a combination of teachers and principals in 44 of 56 public schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Below is an excerpt from the July 6 Reuters article:

By David Beasley

ATLANTA | Wed Jul 6, 2011 7:38pm EDT

(Reuters) - Prosecutors are weighing whether to file any criminal charges against 178 Atlanta teachers and principals who state investigators said had cheated on standardized tests to inflate student scores.

The cheating in 2009, found in 44 of the 56 Atlanta public schools examined, was prompted primarily by pressure to meet targets in a data-driven environment, a statement released by Governor Nathan Deal's office said.

"A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in Atlanta Public Schools, which created a conspiracy of silence," the state report concluded. The 2009 cheating was said to include teachers erasing incorrect answers on state standardized tests.

Deal's office said on Wednesday that the decision of whether or not to prosecute would be up to district attorneys in the three Georgia counties where the educators live.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement he had appointed a senior member of his staff to "begin a thorough review of this case to determine what role our office will play in taking action on this report."

"Once the review is completed, we will make an announcement at that time," he said, without elaborating on what, if any, charges might be on the table.

Eighty-two teachers and principals have confessed to the cheating, according to the state report. Deal's office said six principals refused to answer questions.

"These principals, and 32 more, either were involved with or should have known that there was test cheating in their schools,"

In my mind, what leads to cheating by any of us is often an over investment in the outcome we want. With the public school teachers and principals in Atlanta, it was likely a combination of job security, potential promotions, salary increases, and professional prestige that led to their involvement in this scandal.

How do we know if we have made good things like strong test scores, grades, and post high school plans too important? More on this in a later article.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

If you live in the Portland-metro area and are interested in taking a writing class from Natalie Trust, you may contact her by phone at 503-821-9133 or email at natalie.trust@gmail.com. Complete descriptions and details of classes offered by Natalie at both west side and east side locations can be found on our home page in the spotlight at www.basicskills.net.

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When Will I Ever Use This? Revisited

By Jerry Jones

“Honest questions deserve honest answers.” An effective response to the question, “When will I ever use this?” is what may be called the general answer. There are three such responses that students usually will accept as not wishy-washy. One answer is to compare the learning process to physical exercise. Quite often our ability to learn and understand is strengthened by “stretching” our minds in much the same way as our muscles and reflexes are strengthened by exercise. “No pain, no gain.” A child who walks along a curb or a log, and tries not to fall off, is actually building skills that will later help in learning to ride a bicycle or compete in sports. So it is with tackling difficult learning objectives. You may never need to divide polynomials in your life’s career, but the mental muscles that you developed will serve you well in other sorts of problem-solving situations. Students can easily relate to this.

Another answer is to remind students that there are many things in life that we are taught early, and then re-taught later on, perhaps several times. Sometimes we forget what we have learned the first time, but later, the time it takes to relearn something that has been forgotten is much shorter than the time it took for the initial learning, and with each re-training our understanding gets stronger. In fact, in the process, the answer to the “why?” eventually becomes obvious. So, if this is not completely clear yet, don’t worry. You will have a chance to learn it again later, and it will make more sense as time goes by. This idea might surprise some learners, so citing an example for them of something they have relearned might reinforce the validity of this answer.

A third possible answer has to do with the changes in society. In the past, a person often took a job with a company and stayed with that company until he retired. This meant that most people could be very specialized, and only needed to have knowledge and skills related to that one profession. Maybe it involved trigonometry or stoichiometry, and maybe it didn’t. But our world today is much different; studies show that a typical adult today will change careers seven times during his working life. New career fields are opening all the time and many older careers no longer exist. Our students need to have a well-rounded education, be flexible and adaptable, and be good learners in all sorts of subjects to handle the changes in the future.

Just don't forget to reassure them that they are capable of learning this new concept or skill. They wouldn't be in the class if they weren't ready, and you know they are up to the challenge! Remind them that as long as they keep trying they will be able to learn! It never hurts to show them you care and want them to succeed.

Thanks for reading!

Jerry Jones, Math Teacher

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When Will I Ever Use This?

By Jerry Jones

This is a question we’ve all heard more than a few times, (and perhaps one we have found ourselves asking from time to time.) Of course, only God knows the future, and we could make a joke about not being a prophet, but I don't recommend that, because the underlying anxiety is no joke.

It’s a valid question. There is little doubt that we all have stored information and developed skills that may never come in handy (unless we play Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit.) Nevertheless, as a teacher who often hears this query during a lesson discussion, I would like to offer students a more satisfying answer than that.

Actually, there are many answers for this question, but, when responding, a teacher must also deal with the underlying feelings the student isn’t putting into words. Almost without exception, there is a tone of frustration or exasperation. Is this coming from not seeing a practical use for the topic? Perhaps, because in the absence of years of life experience, a young person cannot even imagine needing to know something they have never used before.

However, it could be that the student doesn’t really want to know how this skill is going to be useful. Keep in mind that students seldom, if ever, ask this question if what they are learning is easy. After all, easy memorizing or skill growth occurs on a daily basis, almost unintentionally. No one ever asks, “When will I ever use these music lyrics?” or “When will I ever need to snap my fingers?” Moreover, things in school that are easily learned are gratifying because they are fun, and assure success and good grades. This is an end in itself, and if it should become useful in the future, so much the better!

“When will I ever use this?” is probably a student’s acknowledgement that this concept or skill is more difficult than what he has been doing up until now. He may be expressing anxiety about his ability to be successful in this challenge; or doubt as to whether this is worth his effort to understand. It could be fear of failure, or concern about having to work too hard to make sense of something for no apparent reason. Ultimately, the question posed is an attempt to avoid feeling dumb.

When this question arises, and it will, we must be able to give a satisfying answer and at the same time we must be reassuring the one who asked that he is capable of being successful. There are two different approaches to handling this situation. The first, and perhaps the most straight-forward, is to give actual applications of the skill or facts. This works best when we can draw from our own personal experiences. However, this is not always the best approach, especially when the example cited is in a very narrow or specialized profession. It winds up confirming to the student that they will never use it, and that it’s not necessary to understand. But there is another way to respond to the question. I’ll explain what I mean in my next article.

Thanks for reading!

Jerry Jones, Math Teacher

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Behavior Formula

What starts out as “good advice” often morphs into this is “God’s design” or “God’s way.” At least that’s the way we hear it. Previously I suggested three “tones” you could employ when correcting your student. Before I relate a story in which a “firm tone” was employed, one that made a big difference in an elementary student’s life, I want to underscore that what I’m suggesting is designed to promote educational accountability, not guarantee it.

Years ago AT&T coined a slogan that went like this, “The System is the Solution.” That kind of thinking has led to the creation of countless seminars and workshops on home schooling and child-rearing practices that leave you with the impression that if you attend a certain event (theirs), you’ll go home with The formula you’ve been looking for, or been missing…

In an article released earlier this month by Jane Huges, Health Correspondent for the BBC, the case was made by Oxford researchers for the cause of certain behavioral problems experienced by young children, specifically lying and stealing. The cause: they were formula fed! Some in the Christian community would use this article to guilt themselves, and others, into “proving” that God’s way works, whereas man’s way doesn’t. In other words, natural equals good, maybe even godly; technology equals bad and in some cases worldly. The solution for sin is…not Jesus, but nutrition. Right? (You can read the article yourself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13336986 if you’d like.)

I have to admit I like control. I like to have things “figured out.” I’m naturally drawn to systems, formulas, and “silver bullets.” But, live long enough and you’ll find that systems, formulas, and “silver bullets” typically break down and fail eventually. Below is the incident in which a “firm tone” was employed. Definitely a successful outcome, still it’s simply advice.

I once tested a fifth-grade student who did not pass. Knowing the student and family personally, I was convinced that the results of the test did not reflect his true capability. I suggested he re-test after a few weeks of review, and so a month later, he returned for a second testing session. His scores came out about the same, maybe even a little lower

With the parent’s permission, I sat down privately with him and found out what was really going on. I suspected that he was under achieving on purpose which he admitted to me. He thought that by failing the test, he would be required to go to public school which is what he wanted.

Using a firm and in this case very forceful and serious tone, I explained that no, he would not be going to public school on the basis of “failing” the achievement test. That wasn’t an option for this family. I said a third testing session would simply be scheduled, and if necessary, a fourth, etc. until his score reflected his true ability. We could continue on through the entire summer.

He passed the next test in the above-average range.

Promoting accountability through your tone will always fall somewhere between a soft delivery (support) and a firm delivery (demand). Like I said before, your tone will promote but not guarantee because no system of steps, ways, or principles can guarantee a desired result, although some approaches may make it more likely.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Want to save some money on next year’s school books? Visit Exodus Books and use our discount coupon code BSAES2011 when you make your purchase. Browse their huge selection of new and used books. Exodus Books ships worldwide.

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The Tone of Correction

Many parents, after first looking over the results of their student’s achievement test, decide to review the results with their child. Whether or not you choose to involve your student in the process, at some point you’re going to want to re-teach what they missed. I’d like to take a minute and address the tone in which this is done. This isn’t about personalities, or parental teaching styles, but about acting intentionally with the goal of promoting accountability in your student’s learning.

Some students, who seem to embody a “What, me worry?” attitude, need more than a gentle tone to get their attention. Likewise, students who soak up your every word don’t need you to follow the advice of a noted child psychologist who suggested, when speaking to a group of classroom teachers, they “not smile until Thanksgiving.” When correcting, there are at least three "tones" you may employ to effectively get your message across.

Correcting with a soft tone: Like I mentioned before, some children seem to soak up your every word. They’re out of bed early. They get started in the morning without you having to say anything. Their work is neat, legible and organized. Children like these get along fine with simple explanations. They can be corrected or re-directed with just a “Let’s try this again,” or “Here’s another way to approach this problem that might help you see the solution.”

Correcting with a medium tone: This approach is appropriate with children who have interests that are equal too, or hold a higher priority than the assignments you want them to finish. For them, a medium tone is conveyed by explaining the concept again or redirecting them to a page that explains the concept and re-doing what was missed. Adding the caveat that you or Dad will “quiz them” over this material tomorrow morning typically increases the likelihood they will learn the material.

Correcting with a firm tone: Some students take a Whatever… approach to learning. Parents with such children often look at families with “compliant” or consistently agreeable children and wonder what their secret is. And, you don’t have to look too far to find any number of home-school seminars or workshops that will tell you that if you just follow their system of steps, ways, or principles, you too can “mint” obedient children and make it to home-school magazine cover status. If only it were that simple…

In my next article, I’ll relate a story in which a firm tone made a huge difference in the life of an elementary student.

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

If you live in the Portland/Metro area, be sure to check out next year’s schedule of classes for home schoolers working at the high school level. We’ve made enrollment for one or more classes easier than ever before. Enrollment information for elementary, middle, and Friday school programs will be released soon

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Are You Home Schooling This Child?

It’s not uncommon for achievement-test results to show a student achieving in the average to well-above-average range and not reveal a learning disability. While some children have average to superior intelligence, difficulties in some or all parts of learning to read, write, and spell, and in oral and/or written expression are only observable through day-to-day home schooling. It’s through an accumulation of non-typical events and experiences that lead parents, and mothers in particular, to conclude something just isn’t right.

These children may exhibit some of the following symptoms:

• reads saw for was
• reverses b, d, p. and/or q
• skips, omits, or adds words when reading aloud
• reads well but can hardly spell a word
• writes 41 for 14
• doesn’t know today the multiplication tables that were learned yesterday
• is an expert in life on Mars but can’t add 2+2
• starts talking in the middle of an idea
• calls “breakfast” “lunch” and confuses “yesterday” with “tomorrow”
• can remember the television ads but not his/her own phone number
• a good child, quiet and polite, but doesn’t learn
• loses his/her homework, misplaces the book. forgets what the assignment is
• likes routines, is upset by changes and is reluctant to try anything new
• doesn’t follow directions
• is distracted by the least little thing
• penmanship difficult and labored and/or illegible

Are you home schooling a child with several of these symptoms? If so, your student may have an undiagnosed learning disability. A weakness in auditory, visual, or kinesthetic function – or in the integration between these sensory modalities - prevents learning language skills when taught in the conventional manner. Disorganization in visual or auditory function results in reversals and transpositions in reading or pronouncing words and in spelling.

If you’ve got a question or concern related to the above, we’d like to help. Email us your question, and we’ll post a response on our community forum.

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Check out our one-month intensive summer school program for 8-12 year olds starting in July. This program will be led by Jo Edwards, our special needs teacher, and will focus on handwriting, spelling, and reading.

Achievement testing season is here! For those of you who live in the Northwest and will be testing this year, go to our Achievement Testing page to see our various options and test locations. Our popular practice test book, Achieving Peak Performance is used nationwide and will help your child do his or her best on a standardized test

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How Not to Discuss Test Results

Communicating achievement-test results to your children is a delicate task. If done well, it can have a positive impact on their state of motivation. For most children who ask the question directly, “How did I do,” a deeper question often lies below the surface.

Have you ever had this experience, or one like it?

The lab results are in. The doctor says “over all everything looks good. Cholesterol levels good, blood sugar fine, triglyceride’s number is improving…” You’re feeling good for a few moments and then he says, “I think, however, it might be a good idea to run a BMP test again in six months…”

Or, someone in a leadership position says to you,

“We’re really glad you’re part of the team here. Your assignments are carried out promptly, you have great rapport with your colleagues, you communicate the department’s vision well, we’re definitely on the same page, but, there is one thing…”

One thing… not a big thing mind you, nothing really serious, nothing truly to concern yourself with, but there is one thing…

A parent talks to their child about the results of their achievement test and says,

“You did a great job! Your extra study of comma usage really paid off and boosted your language mechanics score. Memorizing your math facts made the computation test easy to complete and you had time left over to check your work. But I did notice one thing…”

It’s part of our makeup to pay undue attention to that one thing (and what it is really isn’t the issue) and allow it to negate all the positive things said, the things that affirm that what we have done is acceptable. The slightest bit of doubt can sometimes derail us in a significant way. Some students are less susceptible to this condition than others, but all are affected to one degree or another. Down deep all of us want affirmation.

When it comes to communicating achievement-test results to your children, assuming you decide to, the message your children mainly want to hear from you is that you’re pleased with them. There is always next year to work on what they missed. Hearing this from you is important. Achievement testing is not a terminal situation.

Thanks for reading

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Stress and Achievement Testing

Many consider stress to be only a negative factor in life, especially for kids when it comes to taking an achievement test. To be sure, stress can be negative, really negative. Consider the following true story:

A number of years ago a primary-age student came to a teacher at a private school to take her annual achievement test. Her parents arranged for her to have a private exam, and for the first half of the exam things seemed to progress normally. After the break, the student re-entered the testing room and was very quiet. Soon she began to tear up and sniffle. By the end of the test she ran out of the room, embraced her parents, and began to cry.

Just drama or something more? Here’s the story behind the story. Her parents, like most, wanted her to put out a good effort so that her results would reflect what she had learned the previous nine months. I suppose they also saw her performance as a reflection of their teaching and parenting. But, they said three things which progressively set her off. The first was that if she didn’t pass the test, she would have to go to school. While some kids might consider this to be a reward to put some space between themselves and an overbearing parent, that wasn’t true in her case. She desperately wanted to be home-schooled. Secondly, they told her they would be sending her to the private school where the teacher who was giving the test taught. And finally, they said the examiner would be her new teacher. In her mind this would be sheer torture and it sent her over the edge.

Were they really going to send her to school? No. They just overdid it. They stressed her out. What do I mean by this? First of all, know that a certain amount of stress is necessary in life for anything to happen. A few generalities that all kids, home schooled or otherwise, should realize by the end of high school: If getting good grades are important to you, you’ll need to study. If you want a raise where you’re working and the possibility for one exists, you’ll need to work hard (and get noticed). If it’s absolutely essential to get to that appointment on time, you’ll need to leave early. Likewise, if grades aren’t important, don’t study. “F’s” are fine. If you don’t care about keeping your job, don’t show up for work. And if that appointment isn’t important, sleep in…

The principle I want to leave you with is that stress in and of itself isn’t the problem. It’s the level or degree of stress that you have to watch. The unusual thing about stress is that when there is too little of it present, the results will not be good, and when there is too much of it present, the same will also be true. We will have trouble concentrating and sometimes completely shut down.

Keeping the level of stress balanced when it comes to preparing your child for his or her achievement test is the key—not too much, but not too little.

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Your Best Score Now

Mistakes happen. A private test I had just given was now scored and the results were ready to be presented to the parent. At Basic Skills, our normal process is to discuss the results with the parent apart from the student, but in this case I made an exception to the process. I love to deliver good news. With this high school student’s total percentile score at 87, he achieved among the top 13 percent of the nation. I wanted to affirm him in the presence of his mother as I shared the good news. After saying, "Your son did a great job!" I could tell by the frown on her face that she didn't see it that way.

The next few moments were awkward for me as I, “Mr. test expert, was reprimanded for giving a “false” interpretation of her son’s “poor” performance. Relief came quickly though as the mother’s attention turned away from me and toward her son. Her piercing comments to him suggested school would continue into the summer until he scored up to his potential.

The numbers on an achievement test report are both objective and subjective. Objectively, a percentile rank of 87 does place the student in the high-average range. Subjectively though, scores placing the student in the high-average range may or may not represent a “good job.” That is a value judgment. Western music great, Willie Nelson, when describing his golf game, said, “Par is whatever I say it is.” No one was going to argue with him. It was, after all, his own private course, or so the story goes.

For some children, achieving in the average range may represent a good job, perhaps even an exceptional achievement. Many factors should be considered when interpreting and assigning value to test scores--factors like the child’s ability, work ethic, home environment, etc. One thing is certain though. Your interpretation, your value judgment, your words, carry tremendous weight with your children.

Thanks for Reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Why Home School a Dyslexic Child?

By Jo Edwards, MS

Dyslexic children (also Specific Language Disabled, Learning Disabled) require direct, systematic, and individualized instruction in reading and spelling. Home schooling can provide solid remediation and can allow the parent to see directly the progress of the child.

The most obvious benefit to home schooling is that it allows for the necessary individualization in all subject areas, including reading, spelling, composition, and comprehension. It allows students to focus on areas that interest them and allows parents to develop lessons based on those interests. Home-schooled children are free from measuring themselves against peers without learning differences. They can work at an individualized pace in a program which directly addresses unique needs. Home schooling may provide an alternative to the premium on speed, conformity, and rigid scheduling that may be emphasized by many more traditional educational settings. Home schooling allows for enriching experiences on a daily basis: cooking, music, field trips and hands-on learning.

To get started you need a thorough understanding of your child’s reading, spelling, writing, and comprehension abilities. If you live in the Northwest, you may wish to consult with Basic Skills to get a complete evaluation which can diagnose dyslexia. We can provide specific recommendations. The report will include descriptions of the child’s reading and spelling abilities and offer specific educational recommendations. Be aware that there is no magic bullet for dyslexia and that remediation is best achieved through structured direct language instruction.

Language remediation often requires daily spelling and oral reading. Spelling generally should move from the letter or syllable to word, phrase and sentence dictation during a single lesson. The lesson should include new words displaying a similar spelling pattern as well as review words and recently taught sight words. Techniques such as writing on a rough surface or in the air, clapping syllables, using cards to make words, arranging written syllables into words, and direct instruction concerning mouth positions for language sounds provide a multisensory basis for learning. Students should read aloud on a daily basis from a book which they can read with relative accuracy. Before the student reads aloud, he/she should review the passage and ask for help with words that may cause difficulty. Parents should select challenging words from the passage and explain their pronunciation and meaning before the student reads aloud. A warm-up reading of words and phrases on flashcards or from lists is often useful. Reading errors should be recorded to serve as a basis for future instruction. (Orton-Gillingham based and/or multi sensory structured language approaches are a good resource for this teaching style.)

Home schooling is a viable and rewarding option for parents committed to securing an excellent education for their dyslexic child. At Basic Skills Assessment and Education Services, we provide support services for families choosing this option for their dyslexic/special needs student. In addition to the evaluation services already mentioned, we provide specialized tutoring and two or four day a week classroom options. We also offer a summer school program for four weeks in July providing intensive Orton-Gillingham instruction, as mentioned above, designed for students with specific language disabilities (dyslexia, learning disabilities, etc.) Feel free to contact us with your questions about these specialized educational services.

(Adapted from “Why Home School a Dyslexic Child”, Fact Sheet #56, International Dyslexia Association.)

Thanks for reading!
Jo Edwards, MS

Jo Edwards holds both BA and MS Ed. degrees in special education and is a licensed teacher. In addition to home schooling her children through high school, she has taught in public school and eleven years at a small Christian school. Her specialty is teaching in a multi-age classroom that includes students with special needs. Click the following links more information about the PDP, ILP and summer school programs she services.

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The Testing Controversy Continues

Spring is just three weeks away. Group achievement testing for home schoolers begins in earnest here in the Northwest next month. While what is written below may not directly apply to those of you living in other states and countries, you may still find the information helpful.

Now that the CAT 5 is out of print and the Oregon Department of Education has told ESD’s not to accept it as a means of complying with state law (even though the Oregon Administrative Rules identifying acceptable tests have not changed, but changes are on the way), we have taken the natural step in adopting the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) listed in the current version of the administrative rules. Families planning on testing have two choices if using our testing service: whether to use the New Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)/TerraNova 1 Survey edition with the optional Plus tests or simply use the Survey Edition only. Related to this first question is a second one: What is the difference between the CAT 5 administered in prior years and this new test.

First of all, the CTBS/Terra Nova 1 Survey is adequate to meet state testing requirements for both Oregon and Washington. If all you want to do is meet state testing requirements, the survey will do the job. The areas measured on the Survey are reading, language, and math. These three tests when combined result in a Total Score percentile rank. To see what this report looks like, click here.

If you’re looking to gain more information about your student’s grasp of additional concepts and content areas, then the optional Plus tests will provide that information. In addition to three survey subtests, students will work through tests in the following areas: vocabulary, language mechanics, spelling, mathematics, and word analysis (grades 2 and 3 only). To see what this report looks like, click here.

Compared to the CAT 5, this new survey takes about the same amount of time to complete. Adding the optional plus tests adds another hour to an hour and one-half to the student’s testing time.

One distinct difference is that the language and reading tests are combined into one test that takes about an hour to complete. Previously on the CAT 5 they were separated.

Another difference from the CAT 5 is that the mathematics test is divided into two tests. On one of the two tests, students in grades three on up are permitted to use a calculator. The kind of calculator the student may use is not specified. If you decide you want your student to use one, make sure it’s one the student is familiar with.

As far as the optional plus tests are concerned, the look and the feel of these tests is very similar to the CAT 5.

One final distinction between the two tests is the increase in the number of items that require the use of higher level thinking skills. To extend your student’s thinking beyond the typical remember-recite drill of most textbooks, grab a copy of How to Ask Questions That Matter from our website. It’s available as an instant download. Additionally, the Achieving Peak Performance series, also available from our website, are excellent practice tests designed to help your student perform his best!

Hopefully the above has answered some of your questions. If not, please send us an email and we’ll respond as soon as we can.

Thanks for reading,

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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When Disobedience Brings Great Reward

The threat and delivery of a swat for misbehavior is still used in many homes. I’m supposing most private Christian schools have now abandoned this practice, but like I said in a previous article, it was a disciplinary practice utilized in a private Christian school that employed me as a second grade teacher. It was designed to keep the boys in line. And it did for awhile. But like most school disciplinary policies, there was a backup plan if it stopped working. If the swat did not have its desired result, the teacher could send the student to the vice principal’s office. Like room 101 in George Orwells book, 1984, no one returned smiling.

After many “go-rounds” with one particular student, I finally decided it was this time to call upon the vice principal for “sterner” measures. I escorted the student to the V.P.’s office.

When he returned, the day proceeded without incident. However, the next day a different student seemed to go out of his way to “push my buttons”, which he did, and for which he also was sent to “Vince.” Later in the week a third student boy required the same action, and then I overheard a conversation between students that went something like this: “It’s not so bad, it only hurts for a minute, you can take it, I dare you…”

What was intended to be “punishment” for oppositional behavior had actually become the means of obtaining reward: membership in an “elite” group.

So what am I saying? I’m saying that I didn’t really understand an aspect of motivation, motivation that is extrinsic in nature. The better we understand it, the more effective we can be in leading our students to accomplish our educational goals.

So what is it exactly? Essentially, the weaker the relationship to the reward and the activity necessary to securing it, the more extrinsic this motivation is. And the more extrinsic motivation is, the more likely it will not deliver the desired results in a dependable, consistent manner over time.

Four examples of extrinsic forms of motivation are:

• Rewarding your student with money for doing their work
• Using “time out” to manage bad behavior
• Turning in all your algebra assignments to pass the course
• Requiring your child to do his chores before going outside.

As parents, we all use and are influenced by extrinsic motivation. However, like I said, the weaker the relationship between the reward and activity necessary to securing it, you can count on it failing sooner or later.

The four examples of extrinsic motivation cited above may work for awhile, but likely will fail you eventually.

• Get ready to pay more as your child gets older. I’ve heard quotes of $50.00 paid out for each “A” earned for college classes taken by a home schooler.
• Some kids may like to be “timed out”. Then they can use their technology, read, or daydream.
• Doing algebra assignments to pass an algebra class may not be a big deal to some kids. Their thinking is, “When will I ever use this?” (Don’t let on that they may have a point…).
• “Going outside” may not be very desirable to the sedentary types.

One client of ours used a form of extrinsic motivation with her son when he came in for his annual achievement test. The deal she struck was if he checked his work during the test, she would take him to get an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen after it was over. That appeal may work with most seven-year-olds (assuming they like ice-cream), but it won’t carry the same weight with your average twelve-year-old, and will likely be responded to with an eye-roll if suggested to your sixteen-year-old.

I’m not saying we should discard the use of extrinsic motivation. We just need to be aware of its limitations. There are other factors that can be put to work to help us reach the educational goals we have for our children. I’ll discuss them in later articles.

Thanks for reading.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

We’re pleased to announce the release our new interactive e booklet, How to Ask Questions that Matter. Besides helping you drill down deeper into your student’s understanding of the content you’re covering, it will also help you prepare your student to answer the kinds of questions that appear in the new Terra Nova 1 test that has replaced the CAT 5. Higher level thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are explained and may be practiced.

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How Can I Make My Homeschooler Learn? Answer…

This is a common question that surfaces especially after the holidays when the Christmas tree is down and the New Year’s Day celebrations are now a memory. In January it’s dreary and cold in most parts of the country. Somebody is getting the flu or just getting over it. Many parents are in recovery mode and feeling exhausted from all of the shopping, the preparation leading up to the big day, and any number of family gatherings.

So, how do I get my kids to reinvest in their learning after being off schedule for two or three weeks? The question is often expressed as “How can I make my child learn?” especially when my own enthusiasm is pretty low and the interest level of their textbooks is pretty thin to begin with?

Answer: You can’t! You can’t make your child learn. Or anyone else for that matter.

Even though I “loaded” the above question with the word “make”, I know that some of you may think that statement’s still a little strong or completely wrong . Other readers may agree somewhat especially if they’ve raised three or more children. Especially if these children are now teenagers.

So, am I saying that there is nothing we can do to effectively motivate our children to learn? No. There are several actions we can take and environmental factors we can control that will help us reach the educational goals we have for our children.

Often, though, we misunderstand how the actions we’re taking are actually influencing the results we’re getting.

This was brought home to me many years ago when I was a second grade teacher in a private Christian school. I know some of you may find the following story offensive or the actions I describe unthinkable, maybe on the barbaric side, but like I said, this took place many years ago. At the risk of getting some “unsubscribe me’s”, here’s what took place.

I was one of five second-grade teachers. Each spring we had a teacher’s meeting where we discussed how to divide up the incoming 150 students from our first grade staff. Some of these kids had already established “reputations” and “personalities”, some good and others not so good. The meeting ran like sports-league draft. In the “first round”, the kids were initially assigned a teacher. In “round two”, the students were “traded” among the various classes based on academic and behavioral considerations. We were attempting to even each teacher’s load and arrive at a good match between students and teachers alike.

As one of two men teaching at this level, my class roster was populated with a large number of the more “active” boys. They knew I would exert a firm hand, and a “swat” with a dowel for insubordination. This form of punishment was encouraged by the administration. As teachers, we were “obeying” Proverbs in our use of the rod and our classrooms were running smoothly just as expected…for awhile. Then something totally unexpected took place which helped me better understand the difference between reward and punishment. More on this in my next article.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Not If We Grade, But How We Grade

Some home schoolers hold the belief that grading and learning don’t mix, that grades and grading, being a fairly recent innovation used by schools, should be avoided at all costs. Over the years, teachers have been accused of “teaching to the test” to gain professional recognition and merit pay. Some instructors have actually been found guilty of tampering with student’s answers on standardized tests to insure certain outcomes were achieved.

While all of the above may be true to some degree, “grades and grading” are still the standards by which students are evaluated at middle and high school levels. It’s the standard means by which GPA’s (grade point averages) are established. Presenting a one-page transcript to a college admission’s staff member that lists courses taken and grades earned makes their job easier when it comes to considering your student for admission. GPA’s and SAT scores are often combined and serve as the way colleges and universities extend financial awards and scholarships to students they believe will succeed at their institutions.

The question then for most of us, certainly at the high school level, is not if we will grade, but how we will grade. It’s important to evaluate your student’s work in such a way that the grade earned reflects effort and performance.

Let’s consider math.

For elementary age students, first through sixth grade, formal testing or grading on a weekly basis is not necessary. In one sense, every lesson is a “test” in which you can decide to re-teach or provide more practice for concepts they have not understood to your satisfaction. We do recommend using the ELO Quick Assessment for your student’s grade level. Having a copy now will alert you to what you should be covering this winter. It will also provide you with a sequential, objective assessment tool by which you can measure and confirm your student’s progress when you test him later this spring.

For junior high and high school level students, grading math is a different matter. Here is a principle to keep in mind that makes transcripting your student’s progress simple: Grade on a quarter system.

Let’s say your student’s math book contains 120 lessons. At the end of the first quarter which is typically nine weeks in length from the time you start, lessons 1 through 30, including tests, should be completed. The grade earned for this first quarter should be seen as a grade in progress. That is, it’s not recorded on the transcript.

At the end of the second quarter, lessons 31 through 60 including tests should be completed. Typically the grade for this second quarter is averaged with the grade of the first quarter to get a semester grade, the one that goes on the transcript and is part of the permanent record. Some parents decide to weigh the second quarter a little more heavily than the first if the student is performing better. Since most math concepts build on previous instruction, and if the student is showing improvement and a higher degree of mastery, this is certainly an acceptable decision.

So what might this look like? Here’s an example. Let’s say your student is studying Algebra 1 this year. His daily work combined with test scores comes out to a 73%, a “C.” He knows he can do better. In the second quarter, he puts more time into this course and makes sure he understands the concepts before taking each test. His strategy and effort pay off. In the second quarter he raises his overall grade twelve percentage points to an 85%, a strong “B”. With strict averaging of both quarters, however, his semester grade results in a 79%, a high “C”, but a “C” nonetheless.

So, do we simply let the numbers speak for themselves and put a “C” down for his first semester? In my way of thinking, the grade isn’t exclusively based upon or about “the numbers.” it’s about what has been learned and achieved. I would justify giving him a “B” by weighting the second quarter more, maybe 60%.

Here’s what the formula looks like:

Previously weighing each quarter 50%
50% of 73 percent (.5 times 73) is 36.5
50% of 85 percent (.5 times 85) is 42.5

Final Grade: 79%, a C

Now weighting the first quarter 40%, the second 60%
40% of 73 percent (.4 times 73) is 29.2
60% of 85 percent (.6 times 85) is 51

In fact, if the grade I thought the student earned and I wanted to give was a “B,” I wouldn’t hesitate to adjust the system further to arrive there. Academic legalists, whose notion of “fairness” I may have offended, might cry “foul” in light of my actions, but hey, if not this, it will be something else.

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Fraudulent High School Diplomas??

You’ve seen them, and so have I. We’ve all received ads delivered to our in boxes suggesting we can be awarded (read that purchase) various degrees. Once we possess the degree, we can move easily into the school or profession of our choice. Barriers to entrance are flattened. Diplomas mills, as these are called, are everywhere. And the U.S. Department of Education is taking action!

Effective 2011, the U.S. Department of Education is requiring colleges that receive federal funds to adopt procedures to determine the validity of a student’s high school diploma when the student applies for Federal Aid through the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

Does this new rule apply to students who are home schooled? No, which is good news! If you plan to complete a FAFSA this winter, we recommend that students who are home schooled check “home schooled” to avoid delays in the processing of their application.

What about students enrolled in a diploma program? For the time being, we also recommend checking the “home schooled” box simply because there is bound to be confusion as colleges establish “procedures” and the U.S. Department of Education creates “lists” identifying “valid” (not necessarily accredited) diploma program options. Everybody knows (even though some are unwilling to admit) that bureaucracies are not known for their speed and adroitness.

For those of you completing a college application (not to be confused with a FAFSA) and are enrolled in a diploma program such as NCCA we recommend identifying the school you are graduating from. FAFSA’s and college applications are separate entities.

Among the reasons colleges like to see that a student has received a diploma from a legitimate diploma program are:

•the student’s academic record is presented clearly and concisely by means of a transcript
•increased credibility of the student’s record of achievement
•the ease of being able to determine scholarships the student may be eligible for based upon the transcript’s GPA and SAT or ACT scores

In addition to the above, many parents decide to enroll into a diploma program in order to:

•benefit from the life experience of a mentor who has gone “before you”
•receive professional, academic advice
•request letters of reference from the student’s academic advisor
•help ease the entrance into college

Hopefully, the above information clarifies the recent action taken by the U.S. Department of Education. Expect additional communications as this new policy is implemented.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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The End of Home Schooling Part 2

It's been awhile since I wrote part 1 of The End of Home Schooling so you may want to read it in our archives (click here) to understand the context of the following.

So, who did or should the graduates have identified with? Our speaker gave them a few moments to ponder the question and shocked them with the suggestion that they identify with as "Kevin", the homeless man.

Was our speaker crazy? Had he forgotten who he was speaking to? These graduates' parents had sacrificed to give them the best education they knew how. They had invested their time (teaching them formally and informally), their money (books, curriculum, etc.), had taught them right from wrong, and had read the Bible to them regularly.

But that was his point.

No one wants Kevin's life. No one wants to grow up in a dysfunctional family or be around dysfunctional family members. Addiction brings pain to the addict and those closest to him or her. But having the pedigree of the girl our speaker described may actually be a source of spiritual danger if we forget the end or purpose of home schooling.

Around the same time our graduation ceremony was taking place, another was taking place on the East Coast. The speaker was addressing the graduating class of the Christian high school he was years before expelled from. I loved reading about it. The amazing thing was that he was raised in a very loving and godly family. His grandparents and grandfather in particular were Christian leaders on an international scale. He attended a conservative Christian school. In spite of all these advantages, he went off the rails and got himself into serious trouble. He was kicked both out of school and out of his home, taken away in a police car. He drifted for a long time. But here he was, renewed in his faith, and speaking to students from his former high school. The speaker was Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham.

The end of home schooling in my mind is helping our children participate in a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. You might be thinking, of course, we "know" that. Our kids came to Christ in Sunday school, or Awana, or we led them to the Lord ourselves. But the problem is that many of us left our gospel focus when our children accepted Christ and substituted "character development" or raising modern knights (or princesses) or establishing a Biblical Worldview in its place. Jesus got bumped, and the above things, good as they might be, became ultimate things and took center stage in our home-schooling efforts.

The spiritual danger of having many of the above advantages is that it's easy to shift our focus away from Christ and our daily need for His grace. In fact, our very obedience can stand in the way of knowing Him. A character in a book by Flannery O' Conner put it this way, "that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin." In other words, by focusing on keeping the rules we cease seeing the Scriptures as first and foremost a revelation of Jesus Christ and often look at the Bible as an instruction manual for living "our best life now" or something like that. The switch is often subtle and gradual.

So, when our speaker appealed to our graduates to identify with Kevin, he was saying that humility, brought about by brokenness, leads to receiving mercy and grace, both essential to our growth as Christians. Or, put another way by The Old White Guy, "the most dangerous thing in the lives of Christians is their obedience when they know they are being obedient, and the best gift we have is our sin, when we know we are sinning."

Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Looking for a great children's Bible story book that put's Christ and the gospel in the center? Check out The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. You can purchase the book only as well as a deluxe edition (with audio) at www.exodusbooks.com. Receive a 5% discount if you purchase it (or any product) online or in the store by using our coupon code which is BSAES2010. I think you'll enjoy it.

The End of Home Schooling

OK. So what am I talking about? By end, I could mean finished or over due to home schooling being outlawed or made illegal. But I’m not talking about this use of the word.

Some home educators might think I mean the end of home schooling, and now the beginning of home education. They think it would be best to eliminate the terms “school or schooling” from our vocabulary altogether when it comes to describing what takes place in our homes. Their position often represents an us (school is where you send your children away, and we don’t do that) verses them (those who don’t understand the difference between school and education, but they would if they would just attend the right seminars, the ones we in the “us” camp attend) kind of thinking. I’m not talking about that either.

I am talking about end, and by using this word, I mean the purpose, or expected result of engaging in this form of schooling, (oops, or education…).

In other words, what are we doing this for?

While most of us are busy doing it, doing it, doing it, for nine months of the year, there are two times when the Why am I doing this? question especially surfaces: at the end of the school year around the time of graduation and just prior to the start of the new school year. So, here we are at one of those times. With just a week or two left before beginning the new school year, I want to encourage you to think about why you are home schooling again this year. As a way of stimulating some thought about this, I want to reflect a little on our most recent NCCA graduation ceremony.

Each year when we hold our ceremony, we invite a guest to speak to our graduating class. This year’s speaker, a home school father and pastor, began his talk by contrasting two people. Then he posed a question to the graduates.

Here’s a paraphrase of the two people he contrasted:

On a weekly basis, he sees a man who comes to an outreach ministry for support and help. The visit always begins a little awkwardly-- the man smells and looks like he just arrived from a campsite. Actually that’s pretty close to the truth; hours before he was dozing in a sleeping bag. He and his wife are homeless. He suffers the after effects of drug addiction both physically and mentally. In fact, he may still be abusing, still caught in the cycle of starting and stopping and starting and stopping. They talk awhile and afterwards pray together. His need for God is great, and he knows it.

In contrast is a girl around seventeen or eighteen. She comes from a stable and loving family that enjoys a comfortable standard of living. Her parents have invested deeply into her life. She’s benefited by being home schooled and attending a private Christian school the last two years. She is a good student, respectful, and well-liked. She’ll be attending college next year.

After a few moments, our speaker posed the following question to the graduates: “Who do you identify with?” The range of expressions on the graduates’ faces seemed to suggest they thought his question was too weird to respond to or that he was just joking.

He wasn’t joking; he was going somewhere with it.

I’ll give you the crux of the question in my next article as well as tie it in with the larger question about the end of home schooling.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Does your elementary-age child resist opening his grammar book? If so, you don’t have to look far for the reason: it’s long, boring, and looks all too familiar to last year’s grammar book. For all he knows, it is last year’s book with a different cover! Looking for something to replace, or at least provide a break to the tedium? Check out our new product, Grammar Bytes.

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Testing Controversy: Beware

Because we have received numerous calls and emails regarding the use of the CAT 5 test as an approved test, I wanted to make you aware of an action taken by the Oregon Department of Education, and hopefully clear up some confusion.

After August 15, 2010, the Department of Education has determined that the CAT 5 no longer qualifies as an approved test that home schoolers may use to comply with the rules regulating home schooling. The basis for their decision is that the publisher, CTB McGraw-Hill, is no longer producing this test thus rendering it no longer “one of the two most recent versions” as required by the administrative rules. In other words, if you test using the CAT 5 on or before August 15, you’re OK and in compliance. After the 15th, you’re not in compliance and potentially not OK. Actually, all testing, regardless of publisher, is to be completed no later than August 15th according to the administrative rules.

Does Basic Skills test home schoolers after August 15? Of course. In fact we test home schoolers year round because many parents simply want to know how their children are doing and they don’t follow a typical nine-month school year. They’re not testing to simply comply with state law, they’re testing for other reasons which I discuss in our Peak Performance Products.

While we will be switching over to the Terra Nova 1 test once our license is approved, we will continue to offer the CAT 5 as long as supplies last. As long as supplies last is the real issue from our point of view. The CAT 5 is, and will always remain, one of two most recent versions simply because the publisher stopped creating the CAT series with version 6. If CTB/McGraw-Hill came out with a version 7, then CAT 5 would drop to third place.

So, what should you do if you find yourself “not in compliance” as of August 16th? Keep your “fingers crossed” and hope you won’t get caught? “Getting caught” is not the real point anymore than going forty-five miles per hour in a thirty-five miles per hour zone is. Safety is the real issue, and when it comes to testing, having a paper trail that an achievement test provides is justification that “we are doing well enough to be left alone.”

Here are three steps we suggest you take:

• First, give us a call and schedule an appointment to have your child take an achievement test. Having a test date and time settled makes your call to the ESD easier when telling them you’re aware you missed the deadline, but you’ve made a timely arrangement to correct the situation.

• Second, call the ESD and ask if they will accept the CAT 5. Even the publisher of this test is scoring and reporting results through June 2011 in recognition that many schools around the nation will continue to use it until supplies are no longer available.

• Third, upon request by your ESD, submit your results.

If you need a phone number for any ESD in the state, don’t hesitate to ask us when making your appointment. I have found that almost without exception, officials from ESD’s and the Oregon Department of Education have been respectful and are simply just doing their job. This is not the time to take an oppositional or combative posture.

I hope you find the above helpful. I just wanted to keep you in the “information loop.”

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Interested in a non-achievement test assessment tool you can use at home? The ELO Quick Assessment is a popular choice among home schoolers nationwide. It’s available as a hard copy which can be mailed to you as well as an instant download. Check out samples here.

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Remembering Sono Harris

Sono Harris, Joyful Mother of Children

For twenty-one years Basic Skills presented the Winter Home Schooling Workshop. Sono Harris was among the many speakers who made regular presentations. Sadly for us, on July 4, Sono passed away after battling cancer.

My wife Jenny and I met Gregg and Sono in the early 80's when the home school movement was just beginning. While Sono was in the habit of saying "no" to a number of invitations to speak at various functions and events, she always said "yes" to our conference.

Many mothers came simply to hear her. While the men had something worth listening too, they were, after all, still men and did not (or could not) relate or address the topics these mothers needed to hear, to where they were living. While all of our speakers were respected, appreciated, and their expertise recognized and helpful, Sono was all of the above but more importantly, loved.

In the early 90's she addressed basic, practical topics. But as the home school movement grew, her children as well everyone else's grew up with it and her focused changed.

Mothers came not so much to hear her teach how to do something, but how to live. Sono filled with them with hope, and that's what they needed. Many were ready to quit and were tired. But just being around her helped them stay the course. She was gracious, and she lifted spirits. She shared insights that could only be truly understood as spoken by one mother and wife to other mothers and wives. They listened to her because she was completely invested in whatever she was involved in.

I think of Sono when I read the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44. "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought the field." She was like that merchant. She held nothing back when it came to her Lord, family, and again, to whatever she committed to. She was, as one of the titles of a talk she gave, a "Joyful Mother of Children." She invested deeply and completely.

Because of this, her life experiences were rich. She had a way of pulling back the curtain of her life just enough and then inviting the mothers in her seminars to get a glimpse. She related in such a way to those she spoke to that at times it was like having a personal conversation with her. She had the ability to distill ideas into something her listeners could easily take in and remember. If she felt she needed to present a correction (attitude, point of view, etc.), she did so in a way that her listeners did not feel scolded or reprimanded.

As I mentioned before, in her later presentations her topics and focus changed. Near the end our twenty-one years of home school conferences, she spoke more about the difficult issues of life that she and other mothers had in common. Mothers felt she identified with their struggles.

I remember one talk she gave which was titled, "An Anchor for the Soul" in which she introduced her presentation by speaking about the desire most wives and mothers have for stability. She then spent the rest of her session talking about change and in particular suffering. She said "motherhood is about change in a progressively painful direction." She was talking about the separation we experience with our children as we move through the stages of life." All of us go through this.

At the end of this particular session, she posed the following questions, "What am I to do with this, how am I to manage this? How am I to handle this suffering, loss, and pain." She talked about "increasing the sacrifices we make (as mothers) while reducing the expectation of immediate returns." She said, "It's about spending all that you have, and letting go. When we embrace God's will, everything changes."

In referring to the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44, she said the key word was "bought." We must buy the field. Often we think the field God wants us to buy will be attractive and pleasurable, but it's often bleak, with trouble, pain, suffering, and loss. But there is treasure in that field. The loss and suffering we experience drives us to the only dependable anchor for our souls, Jesus Christ. That is where our suffering finds its greatest meaning.

For Sono, Jesus was that priceless treasure, and now she is enjoying his presence in person. Sono Harris was and is a joyful mother of children.

Thank you for reading.
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

If you'd like to make a donation to help the Harris family during this difficult time, an account has been set up at West Coast Bank. Donations can be made at any branch in Oregon and Washington. The account number is 1141007201 under Sono Sato Harris.

To read more about the life of this remarkable wife and mother, go to www.joshharris.com.

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Learning Disabilities: What not to do

Deny anything is wrong.

Rationalize by telling yourself it will go away in time. Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t.

I want to tell you a story about a student who was struggling to learn to read. It was my fourth year as a teacher, but my first at a private school in the northwest. I was faithfully implementing a curriculum written by a major Christian publisher. It wasn’t working for him. At the age of nine, this student had been retained twice, and when he entered my class, he could read, or maybe I should say, could recognize only one word.

So, I went to a seminar presented by the founder of this publisher hoping to get some help. In a roomful of educators and principals of Christian schools, I raised the question: What can I do to help a student with a learning disability?

The room went silent.

He seemed irritated with my question and with great confidence, he announced to me and the rest of the room that there was no such thing as a learning disability, and if there was, it was rare. End of discussion. I sat there, taking my reprimand like a “good Christian” all the while thinking to myself, what is his problem? Is he in denial or what? Was he afraid to admit that his one size fits all reading curriculum might not work for everyone and so jeopardize the building of his textbook empire? Did he think learning disabilities were simply labels manufactured by public schools so they could collect federal funds? While I have my differences the public system, I knew what I was seeing, and it wasn’t the first time that I and some really smart and compassionate teachers, both public and private, had encountered a student who needed something more than just drill, drill, and more drill.

His closing the door on the question I raised fueled my increasing low opinion of the reading series I was asked to use. The stories were often boring. The illustrations were sometimes silly and bizarre bringing out laughter among many of the kids in the classroom. In the case of my struggling reader, I pitched the reading series and pursued the services of a specialist to help me create a plan and strategy that had a chance of working.

A person with a learning disability has difficulty taking in, remembering, and expressing information. You can think of the learning process as five steps:

1. Taking in information through the senses. (See the word “cat.”)
2. Determine what it means. (In the case of reading the word “cat,” decode the letter symbols, say the word, and interpret its meaning.)
3. File it into memory. (Remember the sound/symbol relationship.)
4. Later, withdraw it from memory and remember it. (See the word “cat” in the next sentence, recognize and read it correctly.)
5. Communicate it back to the outside world through some form of expression such as writing or speaking. (Say the word “cat” when you see it in print.)

For someone who has a learning disability, there is a breakdown somewhere in these steps. It’s like turning on your computer, but somehow Windows doesn’t load completely and it freezes up. For a student with a learning disability that is related to reading, spelling, or writing, tasks that should be manageable often feel overwhelming or impossible. Smart students often shut down, and then the labels of unmotivated, under- achiever, lazy, etc. are misapplied. And worse yet, the students begin to believe them themselves.

The first step to resolving a learning problem is to acknowledge there is one. This is an especially difficult step because of fear of the unknown. The problem may be developmental (an issue of maturity) and disappear in time, but then again, it may not.

The second step is to get the assistance of a qualified professional to help sort through and pinpoint the possible causes behind the problem. Then solutions can be considers.

As home schoolers, we tend to be a resourceful and independent group. The attitude often expressed is, “We don’t need the ‘system,’ we can handle everything at home, thank you”… However, this very strength of independence and resourcefulness can lead to pride and become a major weakness. When needing help, we mistakenly see it as a weakness, inadequacy, or failure on our part. Increasing drills, adding workbook pages, working longer, and even changing the curriculum won’t provide the relief and answers we’re looking for.

An expert opinion from a trusted professional can be an invaluable help to a home school family with a child struggling with a learning disability. I encourage you to get the help you need.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

For those living in the Portland-Metro area, check out the Spotlight on our home page to learn about our Language Arts Summer School Intense. It’s scheduled to start in July. Our learning disabilities specialist, Jo Edwards, will be utilizing a multi-sensory approach to enable students to learn in a ways compatible with their learning disability. Attendance is limited to twelve students, so your immediate attention is highly recommended.

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The Final Achievement Test Taking Strategy

In my last article I presented seven tips for choosing the right answer when taking an achievement test. Most students might think this is all they need to do to insure getting the best score possible. In other words, they think once they've reached the last item on the test, they can relax until the examiner tells them "times up."

Well, there's more.

They should be taught that the test is over only after they have checked as many items as possible. Checking answers can take place during and after the test, time permitting. Here are four strategies students can use to check their answers:

1. Check for simple mistakes. Students must be precise in their work. While a student may understand the underlying concepts and the right steps in working a division problem, the right answer may not be reached because the student made a simple computation error. Likewise in language, a competent student may choose the wrong end mark because of misreading the sentence.

2. When a student checks his work, he should know that the correct answer may not be given. In a math test, one of the answer choices that a student beginning at the third grade level may face is "none of the above." Students should be confident in their answer and not feel they must work the problem over and over again until their answer matches one of the choices. Having said this, test writers do not make "none of the above" the correct answer that often. If a student finds himself marking it frequently, it's likely a sign that he is not computing accurately.

3. For some language tests, students should likewise know that an item may not have mistakes. Beginning at second and third grade levels, students may face a sentence that does not need a correction even though many possible "corrections" are present to choose from. Again, confidence in one's answer is important.

4. In math, check by using the opposite operation. Division problems may be checked by multiplying the quotient by the divisor. Likewise, addition problems may be checked by subtracting the appropriate addend from the sum. (That is, thirty plus twenty-five equals fifty-five and fifty-five minus twenty-five equals thirty.

If a student applies some of the test-taking tips I've presented over the last few weeks and still scores poorly, what should you do? Low test scores may reflect a learning problem that should not be ignored. Check out the HELP organization (Help Eliminate Learning Problems) in this week's spotlight on our home page. This organization has been helping families learn about ways to address learning problems for over twenty-five years. It's a great resource!

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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How to Choose the Right Answer on an Achievement Test

In my last article I presented four time-management tips that, if practiced, will result in higher test scores. In this article, I will suggest seven practices that will help students choose the right answer when testing.

1. Distinguish Between Correct and Almost-Correct Answers
Typically, the correct answer on an achievement test does not stand out from all the other possible answers. Achievement tests are constructed in such a way as to present answer choices that are similar, reasonable, or logical. This being the case, students should pay close attention to what the test item is asking so that errors in logic or carelessness do not result in a wrong answer.

For instance, on math tests an answer to a multiplication problem could be
the result you would get if you added instead of multiplying.

2. Read the Answers to Yourself Silently
Students should "try out" the answers by repeating the question and the various answer choices to themselves. Carefully read word for word and avoid adding words that have been deliberately left out to make an item incorrect.

3. Consider Every Choice
It’s not uncommon for students to choose the first or second choice because it looks right. Again, because answers are typically similar, guard against impulsivity and take the time to consider every answer choice before choosing an answer.

4. Eliminate Unreasonable or Unlikely Answer Choices
Students should eliminate answer choices that could not possibly be correct. Doing so will increase the likelihood that an “educated guess” will prove correct if they do not positively know the right answer.

5. Avoid Random Guessing
When ample time remains on the test, students should take the time to work or think through the item when faced with two plausible answers.

6. Anticipate the Correct Answer
If working through math problems, remember that in addition or multiplication problems, the answer is always larger than the numbers added or multiplied. In subtraction, the answer is always smaller than the top number.

7. Read all Directions and Identify Key Words or Symbols
When working through a vocabulary test where directions and tasks change frequently, students should not skip reading directions because they “know what to do.” Tasks that appear identical (like identifying words that mean the same) may actually be different (like identifying words that are opposites). Only by reading each set of directions can students be sure.

In math, certain terms imply various operations which if applied, will yield the correct answer. Usually in a story problem, the words "in all" or "all together" indicate addition is the operation to be used. Likewise, the words "difference" or "were left" indicate that subtraction is the operation to be used.

Want to practice the above using one of our Achieving Peak Performance practice tests? They’re available as instant downloads. Go to our Educational Products page for more information!

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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Four Time Management Tips to Increase Test Performance

In my last article I gave you six tips designed to increase your child’s performance on any achievement test. In this article I want to address another aspect of test taking that if practiced, will result in higher test scores: time management.

All achievement tests have timed sections, which can present a problem- few home-schooled students know how to pace themselves to get it done in a short, limited period of time. While ample time is usually afforded for most children to finish, it is important that your child learn to work at a comfortable, but reasonably quick pace to insure both accuracy and completion of the test. So, with this in mind, here are four time-management tips you can apply:

Start Working Immediately At home, the moment you give an assignment, have your child start working immediately. Set a time limit. In the test setting, when the examiner says it's time to begin, the child needs to begin immediately.

Budget Time Teach your child to work at a comfortable rate and not spend too much time on any one problem. Most achievement tests have both easy and more difficult problems distributed throughout the test. Your child should be taught to come back to items he is unable to work so that he may have a chance to attempt all problems.

Students in grades four through twelve who decide to skip difficult problems and work ahead should be cautioned to make sure they are on the right item number when marking answers on the answer sheet.

Preplan what to do if Time runs out Discuss ahead of time what you want your child to do if only a few minutes remain. Items left unmarked when the test is scored will be marked wrong. Your student has a few options. One would be to complete the final minutes of the test continuing at the same rate as before. A second approach would be to begin move quicker making “educational guesses.” A third option, not recommended by the publisher, is to mark randomly. While this last approach may result in a higher score, it will decrease the reliability of the test results.

Practice a Sustained Silent Effort Children taking survey achievement tests at the second grade level on up should practice working silently for up to twenty minutes without breaking their concentration. If you’re part of a co-op or get together occasionally with other home schooled families, this could be practiced in a group setting to give your child a feel for what the real test will be like.

Want to practice the above using one of our Achieving Peak Performance practice tests? They’re available as instant downloads. Go to the Spot Light on our home page for more details and to find out how to get a free one too!
Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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SIX TIPS FOR GETTING GOOD ACHIEVEMENT TEST RESULTS

End of the year achievement testing is now here, and in many states it’s a requirement. It’s one thing to possess a set of skills, but another to be able to demonstrate them in a test setting which may be unfamiliar and feel uncomfortable to the student. Below are six tips that, if followed, will increase the likelihood of a positive and successful test experience.

For the Child

1. Proper Rest
To do well one must feel his best. Your child should receive an adequate amount of sleep the night before the testing so that he will be alert and ready to put in a full morning's work.

2. Proper Breakfast
A good breakfast is necessary so that your child will have the necessary energy to perform at his best.

3. Good Health
Children who are sick or experiencing a cold should postpone testing. It's hard to do one's best when you don't feel good.

For the Parent

1. Have a Positive Attitude
Younger children are greatly influenced by the attitudes and perceptions of their parents. If your attitude is one that the test is an opportunity for your child to show what he has learned during the year, most will approach the test in a positive manner and experience decreased or little stress.

On the other hand, if you perceive the testing as an adversary to your home schooling efforts, your child may well feel threatened and perform poorly due to an increased degree of stress.

We suggest you communicate the following to your child:

The test experience, while maybe not fun (although some children may think it is), will be an opportunity to be with other home-schooled children and a time to show what has been learned.

Help him see the examiner as a friend who is there to help him do his best. Think of him or her as a coach who, while unable to play in the game, is there to encourage and help each player do his best.

2. Recognize the Significance of the Test
The most any achievement test can do is sample student knowledge. It is not comprehensive, and should not be seen as measuring "all that a student knows." From an achievement test, we may infer that a student possesses (or lacks) a greater body of knowledge, but that is all. Therefore, an achievement test should be seen as an indicator of academic progress, not an absolute measurement.

3. Choose a Test Setting Appropriate to your Child's Temperament
For some young children, the best test setting is a small group of familiar home school friends in which the parent is present for moral support. This helps alleviate tension that may develop should the child be tested privately in which the entire attention is focused on the child.

Other children will do better in a private setting if they are easily distracted or become overly nervous in a group setting. If this is the case, choose an examiner who is empathetic with home schooling and your child in particular. Remember that the goal is to get an accurate picture of what the child knows.

I hope you find these time-tested tips useful as you prepare your children for testing this spring. Interested in more ideas and an actual test you can give at home? Grab a copy of Achieving Peak Performance. It’s available as an instant download for grades 1-10! Go to the Spot Light on our home page for more details and find out how to get a free practice test too.

Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

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FIVE REASONS WHY HOMESCHOOLERS RELUCTANTLY USE PUBLISHED TESTS (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT)

Here are five reasons why we reluctantly use published tests and some follow-up responses.

Reason #1: We feel insecure. Even though home schooling has become more and more mainstream, we still realize we’re not trained professionals, and we don’t want to risk ruining our children’s education by trying something too “out of the box.” We play it safe and stay with the “tried and true.”

Response: Feeling insecure is normal when you don’t have the “proper papers.” While it seems to go away with time, it returns when our students enter their high school years. Years ago I began my teaching career in a private school without having completed my Bachelor of Arts Degree, let alone my teaching credential. I hoped my students’ parents would not ask about my university training, and when they did, I changed the subject as quickly as I could. As a non-degreed/certified teacher, my insecurities were eased by finding good teacher mentors to help me and give me feedback. Our high school diploma program was born out of such concerns. My recommendation is to seek out home school mentors.

Reason #2: We assume that book publishers know what they’re doing. We say to ourselves, they are the professionals, and we are just the laymen. They have the inside scoop on pedagogy, and we’re not even sure how to pronounce that word.

Response: Yes, professional educators and text book publishers do know things we don’t. My recommendation is to use the teacher guides that come with the textbooks. However, we need to see them as tools, not another set of the “Ten Commandments.” Many teacher guides were designed for teachers in classrooms of 25 plus students. Don’t minimize your own ability to improvise on a lesson. For most mothers, every day is a day of improvising, course correcting, and multi-tasking.

Reason #3: We tend to teach how we were taught, and we test the same way.

Response: …like we were taught, before Google. My recommendation is that for tests that are memory intensive and scheduled to be taken frequently, cut out some of the questions, maybe up to half. Which half you ask? The “footnote” questions, the ones you could only find the answer to if you spent a lot of time in the index of the book, the ones whose answers bear little significance to getting the main idea of the chapter or section—these all should get the ax! Again, our diploma program advisors walk their clients through this process.. Additionally, study sheets and oral reviews help students know what the test is targeting. More on this in an upcoming letter.

Reason #4: Published tests are easy to score. Simply bring out the answer key, and in minutes you’re done. Evaluating answers to essay questions is another story, and so we keep them to a minimum or exclude them altogether.

Response: True! I like tests that are fast and easy to score tests. We all experience time pressure. Tests that use primarily true-false, multiple choice, and matching items yield a quick score, and most students like their parents to tell them how they did in a reasonable amount of time. But, I’m suggesting we move away from tests in which seventy to eighty percent of the items are fact based. That means using questions that require the student write a paragraph or more to answer. How is this to be graded? I recommend using a point system to quantify answers. Here’s one way to do this:
When evaluating the student’s response to a question, award the following:

4-5 points for good to excellent answers
3-4 points for adequate answers
1-2 incomplete answers

Add up the number of points earned and divide it by the number points possible, and you’ll get a percent which you can use to justify a grade.

Reason #5: Publishers produce and sell what consumers buy, and we buy their tests.

Response: This is just simple economics. But what if you want to change how you measure understanding? As the saying goes, “You can’t be something with nothing.” Four different products we offer go beyond basic memorization. While they do involve some recitation of facts, they also include questions that require comprehension, the ability to analyze, and the ability to evaluate. If you’re curious about what this looks like, you can click the following links to see sample pages from some of our products:

From our Personal Finance product

From our Career Development product

From our Health Product

Asking questions that extend student’s thinking and understanding must be done intentionally. While it may be difficult and time consuming at first, with practice, it gets easier. In the next six articles I write, I’ll present and explain six levels of thinking that you can put to use immediately to check your student’s understanding beyond their ability to parrot facts back to you.

Until then, let us know of any subjects you’d like us to address in future letters.
Thanks for reading!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Director, Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services

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PS – If you care to comment or have a question about what I’ve written above, please visit our Community Forum to respond. Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net.

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TESTS I WISHED I'D NEVER GIVEN

First, let me say that I’m not talking about achievement tests. There’s been some whining on the part of homeschool parents about being required to have their children take these tests. From some of the comments I’ve heard and read, you would get the idea that the stress created by this kind of testing results in widespread and almost irreversible harm both psychologically and emotionally. Please hold the drama…

What I’m talking about is a form of testing I’ve used, and one I suspect many of you have too that makes no sense at all.

Some publishers of home school textbooks still equate regurgitation with excellence in education. And because they do, students spend hours reading, looking up, and memorizing facts to get the “seal of approval”-- an “A” or “B” on a test. And the longer the test, the better, or so we’re led to believe.

For many students, the test is taken quickly, right after having taken a final look at their notes before they forget what they’ve “stuffed” in their head. Once examined, the data is dumped in order to make room for the next batch of information, and so the process repeats itself. Why do publishers continue to create these kinds of assessment tools, and why do we subject our kids them? What are we thinking? What should we be thinking?

First of all, technology has changed the way we “do life” and therefore what we assess and how we assess it needs to change too. Think about the following:

Want to apply for a job? Go online.

Looking for …? Try Craigs list.

Need directions? MapQuest it. Or, get a GPS.

Need to call a friend? Simply scroll through your cell phone’s address book and click.

Want to know how much you know? Spend hours memorizing and take a test ……..

“You’ve got to be kidding,” our children may be thinking (especially as they get older), but they, quietly or not so quietly, go along with the system, because we do.

We’ve got to face the fact that the way information is obtained, stored, and distributed has changed and continues to morph. Why commit to memorizing when in seconds you can Google the information you want? It’s at your finger tips on a desktop, laptop, or handheld device.

OK, just so it’s clear, I’m not totally down on memorization. It has its place. Just not eighty to ninety percent of the time. Elementary students should memorize math facts. Being able to recall the names of the parts of speech is essential to discussing the syntax of a sentence. Knowing key vocabulary terms facilitates communication in a variety of subjects. But again, with the technological advances we are seeing, we need to consider what we are asking our kids to memorize and if “instant retrieval” of these facts is all that important.

Why is it so hard to change from the status quo? And if we did, what would it look like? I’ll address these two questions in the next article.

Until then, please don’t hesitate to contact us for educational support and encouragement.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Director, Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services

Have a question or comment? Post it at our community forum.

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ARE YOU REALLY HOMESCHOOLING THIS YEAR?

Early on in the homeschool movement, virtually all academic instruction took place at home. After all, if you just took your kids out of school, where else would they be learning? This worked fine for all of us for awhile, and then a strange thing happened..............

Our kids grew up! And as this was happening, many of us became keenly aware of our own limitations to meet our children’s academic and social needs. We concluded that they would benefit from various learning settings and that someone else’s instruction, in addition to our own, could be a positive thing.

For those of you who started homeschooling five or ten years ago, the above may seem obvious. There are many support systems and services in place for you to use, and many of you do. But it wasn’t always this way.

Early on in the homeschool movement many states had laws prohibiting home education. Leaders of private schools opposed the movement and saw homeschoolers as a threat to their enrollment. One major Christian book publisher was so suspicious that they wouldn’t make their textbooks available to homeschoolers. Organizations or private schools caught making their textbooks available were threatened with having their accounts cancelled.

Here in Oregon, two main things characterized Basic Skills’ early work with homeschoolers in the 80’s and early 90’s.:

The children of the families we worked with were almost all elementary-age students, sixth grade on down. We worked with a few junior-high students and an occasional high schooler, but it was rare.

Because the laws regulating homeschooling in Oregon were vague and gave local superintendents virtually unlimited power over children in their district, the majority of our clients were schooling illegally. For practical purposes, they taught exclusively at home so they wouldn’t risk exposure and be reported.

But like I said, our kids were growing up. What we realized was that as parents, we had various interests and expertise’s that could be used for the benefit of each other’s children. So, as the laws regulating homeschooling around the nation were re-written, and homeschooling became more mainstream, many of us made changes in the way we homeschooled as well.

One of my clients was a micro-biologist and taught a Biology class. Another parent had spent years working up a literature curriculum for her children and began teaching it to others. Various hands-on courses in art and writing emerged.

We were helping each other and each other’s children’s education. Families partnered together, classes were held, and homeschooling ceased to be restricted to the home. And then question surfaced, “Are you really homeschooling?”

Behind the question was the not-so-veiled implication that we had somehow strayed from the “pure” path of the “Biblical” command that families do it all, or most of the teaching.

“Real” homeschoolers do it this way kind of thinking…

Some leaders wondered if we were sinning by what we were doing… and they weren’t kidding.

To distinguish “us” from “them”, one major homeschool organization tried to help us out. To participate in their national event, a standard was set. It went like this, 51% (or a percent close to this) of your student’s homeschooling had to take place at home. Anything less than this was, well, not really homeschooling… and you couldn’t be a part of “us.”

Thanks for helping us figure it out.

I know that to many of you this sounds ridiculous.

But here’s my point. Whatever educational choices you make this school year, they don’t belong to the person who introduced you to homeschooling, a support group leader, or a speaker who spoke at a conference you attended. They belong to you. In esteeming our leaders too much, many of us have surrendered our educational freedom.

And so, it’s time to reclaim it.

If the popular curriculum you chose isn’t working for you, change it.

Want to be part of a co-op? Go ahead.

Want to earn a diploma through an extension school, correspondence school, or diploma program like ours? Fill out the application.

The choice is yours.

And maybe the best answer to the question, “Are you really homeschooling?” should be another question like “Why do you care so much?”

Have a great school year.

Curt

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Have a question or comment? Post it at our community forum.

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The Science of Homeschool
by Jerry Jones

The Egg and I. For several years we had a poultry enclosure at the back of our yard in the city; with a duck pond and a chicken coop! It just sort of “grew” out a homeschool project. We weren’t even thinking “experiment” at the time. Our family innocently read a 4H pamphlet about how easy it is to raise chickens. We obtained an incubator, bought a dozen fertilized eggs, started turning eggs every twelve hours, worried they would never hatch, and then as eggshells started fracturing, worried they would die. Before long, we had to create a backyard chick-zone that was safe from larger critters and pets. Over the months, we tried several kinds of shelters, poultry feed, and water delivery systems. Besides providing us a steady supply of eggs, the hens inspired a very productive garden. We thought we would learn a bit about hatching eggs, but ended up with much more, including a tremendous appreciation for what God has made, and for the people who do this for a living. By actually trying it ourselves, an experiment became an unforgettable experience. It was real science. The science of homeschool.

Before Textbooks. I have come to believe that Adam was the original scientist. He was busy right from the start, conducting experiments, making observations, and giving names to creatures. Would it be going too far to say that the Lord made us all to be scientists? Homeschools have always been around, since long before printing presses. It’s easy to think nowadays that everything necessary to a good education is between the covers of a textbook; but for the great majority of history, learning was a combination of conversation and application. Books are very valuable resources, but they should never replace the laboratory of living. That’s the science of homeschool.

The Permanence of Discovery. Why do we draw and paint in art class? Why do we make a cake in home economics? In any kind of learning, there is a deeper kind of understanding that takes place in the doing. In science we call it experimentation. Trying things and making our own observations are the keys to science. The best learning results from personal discovery. To read about volcanoes is fine, but to build a volcano and make it erupt, is tangible learning! To hear that a butterfly comes from a chrysalis is a wonderful piece of information, but it’s nothing compared with hatching your own and seeing a butterfly emerge and stretch and take flight! In the laboratory of life, the scripture says to, “taste, and see that the Lord is good.” All people discover by doing – through both trial and error! And what we discover, we remember. And what we remember, we can apply to new experiences throughout our lives. That’s the science of homeschool.

Be Amazed. Rather than shy away from teaching science (because we are not strong in that subject, or because we associate science with a secular world view) we ought to welcome the opportunity to let God teach us and our children together about the wonders of His creative genius. Science makes us see the bigger picture. The more you study it, the more you see the purposefulness of the Creator and Sustainer of all things. It is important that homeschoolers have a hands-on experience. When we look closer at what God has given us, it heightens our appreciation of Him. We need to become awestruck, captivated, and incredibly thankful. That’s the science of homeschool.

Doers of the Word. The Bible speaks of parents teaching at all times and in every context (Deuteronomy 6). Jesus was very clear about putting what we learn into practice. The same applies to the homeschool student. Math learned without practical application is math forgotten. Studying geology by only looking at pictures of rocks just isn’t very meaningful. A young person may study a driver’s manual, and pass the test with flying colors, but then there needs to be some supervised “laboratory” experience. That’s the difference between homeschoolers who only read about science, and those who do science. Science is action -- it’s never static, it is always dynamic, a process. Applying is learning. That’s the science of homeschool.

Passion. I feel passionately about this, because when I was a young science student, I learned a lot of facts, but what influenced me most was the classroom experiments -- the times when I could be a scientist, make discoveries, and apply them to my life. Now I teach science and math, and there is tremendous fulfillment when I see the light of discovery in the eyes of my students, when an idea becomes reality for them. That’s why I try to provide as many laboratory applications as is possible. I want my classes to provide those lasting memories that give life to learning. That’s the science of homeschool.

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Please visit our Community Forum to post a comment or ask a question that Jerry or another member can answer.

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Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Practice makes perfect. Of course, everybody knows this. I know I've heard it, believed it, told others, but it's not really true. Actually, it's more accurate to say that perfect practice makes perfect and at least relatively permanent. When it comes to writing, it is not uncommon for students to make the same mistakes over and over again. They "practice" the same errors, because they did not receive adequate explanation and subsequent practice in the first place. Junior and senior high school students often write inconsistently having never really understood how and when to use many of the punctuation and capitalization rules necessary for accurate and successful written communication.

The Mastering Punctuation series has been designed to help students learn and apply punctuation and capitalization rules to everyday writing. The end result is written communication that is clear, concise, and effective. And now, after a long wait for many of you, Mastering Punctuation Book 2 is being released. You can read a review of it on our home page at www.basicskills.net. To get a feel for the format of the student book, and to see and download the first week's worth of lessons, click here.

Mastering Punctuation Book 2, like the first book, is available in both paper back and e-book versions. At $18.00, the E-Book version of Mastering Punctuation Book 2 is a great value. You can print select pages again and again as needed for review and practice, plus it can be used indefinitely for all family members. Of course, if you order the paper back version at $25.00 (includes shipping and handling), it may also be copied indefinitely for family use.

Best wishes as you begin this school year!

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Director, Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services

Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services		Voice: 503.650.5282	Fax: 503.650.8578
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