study

Even good test takers need practice.  If your child doesn't take tests well, then practice becomes even more important.  Susan asked me a question about how to prepare her son for the PSAT test. Lee, I have purchased your materials when you were at the homeschool fair in Bothell last year.  My son is a sophomore. He is very analytical and logical which is good since he wants to be a computer programmer. The problem is...

Drop what you're doing, and learn!   Take a day off!  In a homeschool, we can actually spend ALL DAY studying American Government and Current Events. Tuesday if the inauguration of President-Elect Obama, and there is a lot to learn.  You can take the day off from most of your formal schooling.  . It's an historic day, whether you voted for him or not.  Research Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy, so that you can evaluate the...

When we were homeschooling, my children were involved in organized sports.  Every fall we did recreational soccer.  Every summer the boys were involved in recreational summer swim league.  When they were younger, there was also baseball in the spring.  What good is all that activity? When you are homeschooling high school, all those sports activities can be counted as physical education.  Count the hours they spend in organized sports;  both practice and attending games.  When they...

The PSAT is great practice for the SAT!  Don't  study before taking it in 10th grade, so that you have a good idea of where you are starting from.  The PSAT does NOT have a hand written essay, it's just a "fill in the bubble" test.  Taking it without practicing can tell you what your "worst possible" score would be  the following year.  It may be helpful to practice for the PSAT after taking it in...

Dear Lee, I have a question about whether I should have my daughter take the PSAT this year. I am aware of the helpfulness of this test. (I benefitted from the "profit" aspect of the test myself when I was in high school.) My problem is that Catherine, my daughter, is a "freshmore" this year. She did not get enough credits last year to qualify her as a sophomore. (I taught high school before and only...

Spanish is nice because there are always people and things to help with pronunciation.  Remember that most DVDs come with Spanish language and Spanish subtitles.  If you use Disney and Pixar films, you don't even notice that the lips don't match - and it's a fun way to laugh & joke while getting your 15 minutes for the day.  We used to watch movies once a week as our French study.  There is also radio programming,...

When we did CLEP, I preferred using the Official Study Guide by College Board® as a entry-level "can we pass this" assessment. Here is the link: I chose that book because it had a sample test from EVERY CLEP, and we were just looking for an overview assessment at that time. I usually prefer Princeton Review study materials for everything, but in this one instance it seemed like the Official Study Guide worked better for us....