In our series, Testing 101, I started with some suggestions on how to prepare your child for a successful test experience. I followed that up with some articles that explained how to understand and use the scores found on the Basic Report. In this article, I’ll make a suggestion about how to communicate and use…
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you needed to act as if you understood something when the fact is you knew you didn’t get it? I think most of us will admit to this. Sometimes we find ourselves in a conversation where we feel the need to nod our heads in…
I think very few of us are what you call “numbers people.” Most people when they finished algebra 1 or algebra 2 in high school, or college math for that matter, had no intention of ever returning to it “just for fun.” Why? Because it lacked relevance and usefulness to their life. NCE (normal curve…
Most car insurance companies offer high school students a discount if the student can prove he or she is academically “above average.” The standard to qualify for the discount is a “B” average on the student’s transcript. The creation and maintenance of a high school transcript is one of the features and benefits of our…
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 ensure 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…
In my last article I presented four time-management tips that, if practiced, will result in higher test scores on the TerraNova test, or on any test. In this article, I will suggest seven practices that will help students choose the right answer when testing. Typically, the correct answer on an achievement test does not stand out from…
Answer keys are great, time saving tools. Once my children reached third grade, I used them continuously. Home schooling without them would have taken so much longer. However, once you’ve used an answer key to correct your student’s work, and you find he or she has missed an item, there’s a question you should consider…
We’re less than one week away from the first day of the spring testing season. In anticipation of this time of year, we’ve been holding a Quote of the Week contest each Monday for the last two weeks. This marks the final week of this contest. If you participate, you have a chance to win…
Last week I wrote, “Things are not always what they seem to be.” What I meant was that we often draw mistaken conclusions based on what we “see.” To correct this we need to “see” with our ears, and teach our children to do the same. To help explain this, consider two characters from the Bible….
When I was younger, each summer my parents would drive me from San Diego to Los Angeles and drop me off at my grandparents’ home for a week’s vacation. My aunt and uncle lived next door so I spent my time going between their two houses. Both homes had something in common- they smelled. My…