How do you know your student has gained the knowledge or skill he or she has studied or you have just taught? Savvy students can often “game the system” and bluff their way to completing learning activities or passing tests without really knowing the content. Sometimes this happens because publishers underestimate students’ ability to detect…
The fifth and final tip of the week that is foundational to your success as a home school parent is that of setting deadlines. Setting deadlines for work, projects, tests, quizzes, etc. gives you and your children something to aim for. If you don’t set deadlines, your daily experience is likely to feel like a…
Last week I presented the third of five tips that I consider to be foundational to helping insure your success as a home school parent. This week I present the fourth. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all respond to incentives or rewards in one form or another. Even for those of us…
Earlier this week I presented the second of five tips which I consider to be foundational to helping ensure your success as a home school parent. That tip was, Have a Plan. The third tip is, access social support. Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the government school system had yet to wake…
As you begin the school year, here’s another tip which I consider foundational to helping insure your success this year as a home school parent. Have a plan! There’s truth in the saying, “fail to plan, plan to fail.” Plans should be written down so that you know what the target is and if you…
Want to increase the likelihood that your homeschooling efforts will be successful this year? Be accountable. Being accountable means making your plans and goals known to someone you trust and who is supportive of you as a homeschooler. Think about it. When you want to reach financial goals, you see a financial planner who will…
Below is some helpful advice from one of my favorite authors, Chad Bird. I think it’s timely as we begin a new year of home schooling. He writes, One of the best gifts we can give our children is to stop trying to be perfect parents. Don’t set out to be a hero to your…
. . .exclusively. Just because the word Christian appears in the title of a textbook, you have no guarantee that the content is educationally sound or developmentally appropriate. It’s not a guarantee that the textbook follows a proven teaching method, or that the lessons are sequenced correctly. I’ve evaluated text books from “Christian” publishers in…
This happens to all of us. You find what seems like a great curriculum. But halfway through the textbook, you come across something with which you disagree. Maybe you think it’s wrong, or maybe you just don’t like the point of view represented. Whatever the reason, don’t throw that textbook out just yet. I’ll give…
Math texts are largely made up of computation and problem solving tasks that increase in difficulty as the student proceeds through the book. Change in the difficulty level of problems is usually gradual. Continuity between one lesson to the next, from one chapter to the next, from one book to the next, can be seen…