Although we’ve graduated three children from our private homeschool, and I have another graduating this year, some days it feels as if my younger children will never grow up and my homeschool career will never end.
I have five I am still schooling–the youngest is seven–so I have at least another ten years left of homeschooling. But true reality sets in when my older children come home from their jobs or visit from out of town, and I see clearly how soon my homeschooling career will really be over. Ten years will fly by like ten days. Trust me.
The question becomes, how do I prepare these younger kids for life after graduation? If you look at military basic training, you see that everything essential for their military life is crammed into a few weeks. And, it is pretty basic! The leaders require and reinforce unquestioned obedience and they prepare them mentally and physically for possible future combat. Specialized fields with training come later. Ever thought of that in relation to your goals for homeschooling? I want my children to unquestioningly obey God’s commands and my commands, and I want to help prepare them in the basics for whatever the future holds. I want them to be able to combat the enemy of their souls: the world, the flesh and the devil! And, as I pray for each one, God will show me how to develop them in their specialized fields. As far as basic training in academics: they should be able to read well, write well, know higher math, and represent their God with excellence.
Here are some very practical and helpful articles for your own homeschool career that will answer many questions you might have. They cover the topics of college prep, essay writing, exploring careers, testing and more:
Looking at what’s going on around us at this time in our history, time is short in more ways than just homeschooling. Pray with me, “Lord, teach us all to number our days that we might gain hearts of wisdom. Show us how to prepare our children for Your service in this life. And we all say, come, Lord Jesus, come!”
~Deborah
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Raising Real Men
It’s a little nerve-wracking to think about our kids applying to college. It means someone else is going to be judging the quality of our kid’s education–ack! Don’t worry, though, homeschoolers tend to come out pretty well in those comparisons.
Most colleges require students to submit scores from either the ACT or SAT exam. Some don’t; so if you have a child who is really testing-challenged, look for those.
These tests are especially important for homeschoolers because universities don’t have any history for our schools. They don’t know whether you are a hard grader or an easy grader or how your graduates have fared at their colleges. Good test scores can give them the extra confidence they need to admit your student!
How can you make sure they get the best score they can?
Buy the practice test books and software and use them. The best way to prepare for these exams is to do a lot of practice tests.
Be sure to get up-to-date ones. The SAT is changing drastically in the spring of 2016. If your student is a junior or senior this year, you may want to have them take the SAT before the March roll-out of the redesigned SAT. That way you can know which they’ll do better on.
Make sure they read the answers. Some books have explanations for the answers, some just lists of answers. Some software has explanations. Read them! Those explanations will help your student to understand how the test makers think.
Take both tests and take them more than once. Often students will do better on one than the other and most colleges accept either. Scores tend to improve when the tests are taken again, too. Experience helps.
If your student has learning disabilities, get them professionally tested and apply for the accommodations they need. Everyone deserves a level playing field. They can give kids extra time, someone to write for them, or someone to read for them. You’ve got to prove they need it, but it’s so worthwhile if they do.
Your friends,
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The Familyman
This is a topic that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It’s not that I’ve been pondering the SAT or ACT or college or no college. It’s more that I’ve been contemplating round pegs and square holes, parenting, and guiding our children in the direction they were created to go.
Truth #1: God has a plan for each of your children, but it is NOT always the same plan. It may not look the same and it may not be reached by the same path. So that means some kids will take the SAT and go to college. Others will not take any tests and will find their career path by another route.
Truth #2: Both routes are okay. One isn’t better or higher than the other. The main thing is to allow ROUND pegs to fit into ROUND holes and make sure you don’t use pre-decided biases to try to force a round peg into a square hole. In plain English that means don’t doom your child to failure because you believed a lie that says, “Success looks like this ….”
Truth #3: God made you smart enough to figure it all out, BUT will you be brave enough to do what you know to be true instead of what you’re afraid of?
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As always, if you or someone you know is interested in contributing to the site in exchange for a free membership, please contact Executive Editor Bonnie Rose Hudson at bhudson@theoldschoolhouse.com.
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