I used to think how great it was that as homeschoolers, my kids could avoid those pesky state-wide standardized tests the public school kids had to endure.   (Of course, it depends on the state, whether or not homeschoolers must take these tests, but in many states they either aren’t required at all, or are optional.)  One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about the teaching in public schools is that they “teach the test”, trying to maximize test scores at the expense of regular old-fashioned learning of the stuff kids need to know.  These standardized tests always seemed like such an educational detour to me.

I got to wondering though, what kind of benefits are there for homeschoolers who take the usual array of standardized tests that schoolkids take?  I came up with benefits related to taking the SAT in high school.  Test prep these days for tests like the SAT and ACT is big business.  I do have to wonder if maybe kids who’ve been subjected to the testing routine for years have an advantage.  I don’t mean by reducing testing anxiety or learning how to color in the bubbles on the answer sheet, but benefits from “teaching the test” for so many years.  Are homeschooled kids who opt out of standardized testing at a disadvantage later, when it really counts?

I don’t claim to have an answer to this question, but it did get me thinking.  I’ve been looking for test-prep methods specifically targeted to homeschoolers.  I found a course from Time4Writing focusing on essay writing for the SAT.  It seems to me that homeschooled kids without years of standardized testing under their belts could really benefit from test-prep programs like this.

At the beginning of each school year do you search for a new curriculum to use for homeschooling? I know that some people have this scramble every year, and I am overjoyed that I do not have that problem. When I decided to home school, I had already found the curriculum that I would use. In fact, the curriculum that I found was what helped me make the decision to home school. Before we left public school my daughter believed that she was the stupidest kid on the planet, and that the school must think so too. When I asked her why, she said that they made her repeat the same work all week before taking a test on it. She was talking specifically about spelling words, which were practiced every day for the test on Friday. Ok, so, I needed something that was not too repetitive. She writes poorly, and spells poorly, so there couldn’t be too much writing or I would lose her on that count. So, it couldn’t be workbooks. I needed the curriculum to move as fast as her brain did, not at my pace, or the school’s pace. And I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on trial and error. For three years now we have been using Time4Learning, and it works for us. Her spelling is improving and I have noticed that she is more willing to put words to paper. At some point I have to bring her writing levels up to her other levels. Don’t get me wrong, she can dictate a great paragraph. But if I ask her to write a paragraph herself, or even type it, she is not on grade level. We butt heads about this constantly. I have discovered that having someone else “help” her with school often reduces her stubborn factor and she gets more school done. It won’t be long before I seriously consider enrolling her in classes taught by someone besides me. The first of those classes will be writing classes, since that is one of the places we butt heads about the most.

There are so many types of homeschooling, and so much homeschool curricula to explore….There are public school online programs, classical education, Waldorf, Montessori, Charlotte Mason, unit studies, lapbooking, and….I’m sure there are more!  There are as many approaches to homeschooling as there are homeschoolers.   That’s a wonderful thing, but how do you choose what’s right for your family?

Busy moms like me choose Time4Learning.  It covers all the core subjects, provides tests and record-keeping of the child’s progress, and can be done in the comfort of your own home, any time of day or night and even wearing pajamas!  The sound effects and bright colors in the lessons keep kids interested, and many lessons also contain games and other activities as well.  They enjoy learning!

The only problem I’ve had with Time4Learning is that sometimes I wish there were a “real” teacher to talk to, especially if a child happens to struggle with a particular concept.   That’s why I really like Time4Writing, where there are real, certified teachers teaching homeschool writing classes.  There are lots of rules for writing, but sometimes it’s subjective too.  Having an experienced writing teacher for a homeschooled student is a great bonus!

Well as you can guess from the title of this post I live in NM.  It is absolutely gorgeous here.  It took me some time to get use to it, but I love it now.  We have four seasons that are very colorful.  When I moved here in 2003 that is was when I decided to home-school my girls due to the schools here.  With that decision being made I asked myself where do I start?  Joining groups and asking other homeschoolers ” where do I start” was always my question. 

New Mexico Homeschooling was a where I started.  I could have been on the computer doing research all night if I wanted to.  Parents told me well start with teaching where they live, the state they live in.  New Mexico state games was so good at showing them what their state was about.  The Land of Enchantment was full of history and life!

I do suggest the same thing for newbies or even veterans of homeschooling.  Learning about your state that you live in leads to more learning of how things became the way they are there.  Before you know you are into discovering history on top of history!

Do you remember when and where you learned how to form contractions?  For those of us who learned English as our first language, we learned to speak in contractions, and then learned to write and spell them.  Teaching contractions sometimes falls through the cracks because we all speak using contractions and a lot of confusion can arise when possessives are added to the mix. My daughter has complained that she is just now learning to spell using all the letters and now I want her to leave some letters out.  She even told me, when I corrected a word she had misspelled by leaving out a letter, “Pretend it’s a contraction, Mama!”

We have tried writing contractions, but really, learning to form contractions through interactive games is the best way we have found to practice.  It especially works for my reluctant writer.  I compare learning contractions by means of online contraction games to playing card games online.  While playing Solitaire with “real” cards can be meditative, playing online saves time with shuffling, and dealing, the game moves much faster, the gratification is pretty instant. 

I’m thinking that anything that makes learning easy, fun, and instantly gratifying has got to be a good thing!