SAT Practice Testing

I should begin by saying that I do not believe in tests. Not one bit. They are a convoluted way of pigeon holing people into statistics. It is a poor practice adopted by colleges to make the process of admittance easier on them, not better. Thank goodness it is not the only criteria used by colleges and universities. But, for the home schooled child, it becomes more important than it should be due to the lack of a formally recognized high school diploma. Thus, 'When in Rome do as the Romans do' becomes a bit of a troublesome adage. What is a home educated student to do if they want to a) attend a good university and b) get scholarships to help pay for their education?

Yet, home schoolers go against the "norm" and do not follow the customs of those around them...so why do we suddenly switch when it comes to college?

When in Rome...
Nayna took her practice SAT online the other day and the results are in! She did well in Reading, and middle of the road for Math and Essay. She has had no formal SAT prep before the practice test was taken. This is simply based on her reading classics and following the Leadership Education philosophy. We were expecting to see some need for improvement in the Math and Essay sections of the test since she has not finished Algebra II yet. She has read at a college level since she was 13, so I never felt she needed any extra help there.

According to BYU entrance criteria, to enroll in ENG101 Writing and Reasoning she needs an SAT score of 390+ in Reading. To enroll in MAT108 Math for the Real World she needs an SAT score of 430+ in Math. She scored high enough to enroll in both of these college level classes.

We decided to use the online practice test directly from http://sat.collegeboard.org/. This is the organization who formulates the test, so we figured it would be the best choice for practice. It is very nice to see exactly which questions she missed and the correct answers are explained.

Math Preparation

We are getting the Official SAT Study Guide from our local library for free and Kahn Academy SAT Preparation video explanations for each Math question to further study the math sections. With the book and the videos together she should be able to work out the problems she struggles with. Math was never been her strong suit, but she is an excellent student and studies hard.

Essay Preparation
I have been debating which essay prep course would be best. I am leaning towards the Excellence in Writing products, either High School Essay Intensive or the Elegant Essay. I feel she has good basic ideas and grammatical skills, she just needs prep on formal essay development. If you have used either of these, I would love to hear about your experience.

We plan on having her take the SAT officially on December 1st. This will give her a semester to delve into practicing for the tests.

So, I have answered my own question. We switch because it is one of our only options to send our children to a good university and get scholarships.


Your thoughts?

 

Prepping for SAT's

As Nayna officially enters her "Senior Year" as far as the conveyor-belt is concerned, we need to consider her future path. She is a Self-Directed Scholar who is confidently directing her education to encompass all the aspects of a truly fabulous Liberal Arts Education. She has been taking concurrent enrollment classes at BYU-Idaho, which she loves, and is considering continuing her education there. I checked with admissions and for home educated students they want the following:

1. SAT or ACT scores.
2. A GED (General Education Development) or Compass Test or 15 college credits.

I do not like the idea of having my children take a GED test. To me that is saying that we have not graduated our child. The Compass Test is more for college placement in Reading, Writing and Math placement. My oldest daughter, Sam, took the Compass Test to enter community college. I feel better about my children taking the Compass Test because it determines college class placement so that they start in the right level of classes.

With Nayna's concurrent enrollment status, she could possibly have 15 college credits completed and enter BYU-I as a Sophomore rather than a Freshman. We discussed this with Nayna recently to allow her to consider her options.

SAT or ACT

The next thing to decide is which test to take - SAT or ACT. We've decided to prepare for the SAT. We decided this based upon the subjects covered in each test. BYU-I accepts either. The SAT has an essay portion which we feel Nayna will excel at, while the ACT has some social studies components that we are not sure about remembering dates and such even though she has studied history. I believe that the ACT is more state-standard specific while the SAT shows competency in Reading, Writing, and Math.

Nayna will take the free practice test this week online and we'll determine where to go from there. I believe she will do very well in everything but math. She has not completed Algebra II yet and I understand there are some questions of that level on the test.

Oh, What Do You Do....

I get this question a lot..."What do you do about homeschooling? What are you going to do about graduation? What about socialization?" It cracks me up that nobody asks, "What do you do about education? Are your kids learning better at home than at public school?"

I saw a fantastic shirt on a little boy at the library today. It read, "Unsocialized homeschooler...interact or communicate with at your own risk" with a warning sign look to it. I started laughing and wondered where I could get some for my kids so I found them at this website. I'm going to have to invest in some t-shirts I think.

Chris wears a shirt that says, "Homework Kills Trees...Stop The Madness!" He tells people it is a political statement. Most people who look at it think he is talking about public school homework, but he believes he is making a stand for homeschooling and that kids waste their time going to school all day, only to come home with an hour or more worth of homework. He tells people he can get all that done in 4 hours a day. Smart boy!

So, here are the answers to the top three questions I'm asked:

1. "What do you do for homeschooling?" - We read and study from "real" books, not textbooks. We focus on classics like Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Charlotte's Web, Jane Eyre, Shakespeare, etc. We use fieldtrips, simulations, and life experiences to explore deeper into subjects and we allow our passions and zeal for learning to take us to new things to learn about.
2. "What will you do about graduation?" - Our children will attend a homeschool graduation where they will walk the isle and get a diploma. No, this one is not recognized by the state, but does that really mean anything anymore? For college entrance, they will take the same placement tests or ACT/SAT's that everyone else takes.
3. "What about socialization?" - My kids have so many social activities that we can't fit them all in! We have scouts, church events, homeschool group meetings, fieldtrips, enrichment classes, 4-H Club, Roots & Shoots, etc. Not to mention their family and friends.

Thank you for reading about my answers to frequently asked questions.

2009 - Week 4 - This Week in Homeschooling

This week my children began a babysitting job for a sister in our ward who had a very preemie baby (1 lb. 10ozs.) I am happy for the experience my children are receiving, but greatly saddened by the situation of this dear friend and her family.

Kid's School:

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lessons 10-11 (spent 3 days on lesson 11)
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last week's words - New Words - dilate, doleful, conciliatory, insolvent, fawn
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - The Winston Grammar Program: Basic Level - Word Roots Level A A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - Nervous System - Useborne Science Encyclopedia pg. 364-367, How the Body Works pg. 115-121, Human Anatomy Coloring Book p. 24 (College level book - we do not memorize the terminology, but the detailed pictures are really good).
  
• P.E. - Daily dog walks. We were supposed to attend a hike at the Arboretum, but we had car trouble. :-(
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters 5-8
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Chapter 14, Review for Unit 2 Test, online math drills (see below)
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: The Story of the World: Vol.2 2-17, Princess Academy, The Seventh Tower, Book of a Thousand Days, Johnathan Livingston Seagull
  
• Chris: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Vol. 1, 1-35 thru 1-37, finished Dragon Rider, started The Silver Chair.
  

Mom's School:

• Reading list - How to Be Totally Miserable: A Self-Hinder Book by John Bytheway, The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis (quite an eyeopener - I recommend this book as a MUST READ!)
• Projects - (1)Drupal theming - see batchelorfamily.org where I converted the theme from this blog to my Drupal website. I know I'm the only excited about it, but that's OK. :-) (2) Prepared our taxes!
  

Free Online Math Drills!
I hate wasting paper on printing math drills. Math-U-See has free online math drills for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The website allows the student to drill on specific facts (multiply by 7's) or select a mixture of practice questions. I do not keep grades for drills, only for tests because we focus on mastery, so for me this works out perfectly. It has a timed factor that I love, it tells the student how fast they accomplished the drill, but it does not have a countdown visible to the student. I like this because some students have difficulty with "test anxiety".

2009 - Week 3 - This Week in Homeschooling

We had a great Monday with everyone taking the day off. Marly was sick this week and so we did not expect the level of study she usually applies, but she did a ton of reading while she was sick.

• Devotionals - Gospel Principles lessons 7-9
  
• Classes/Clubs Attended - Principles of Leadership
  
• SAT Prep vocabulary & spelling words - Review last weeks words - New Words - supple, avow, brazen
  
• Grammar & Writing - Journal Entries on each book read - Winston Grammar - Word Roots A1 & A2
  
• Science - The Human Body Unit - Muscles
  
• P.E. - (Marly was sick this week)
  
• Math
• Marly: Math-U-See - Epsilon - Chapters 1-4
  
• Chris: Math-U-See - Delta - Chapter 13
  
• Individual Reading
• Marly: Story of the World, Vol. 2-11 thru 2-16, Oddest of All, Nelly in the Wilderness, Fablehaven - Books 1 & 2, Crystal Mask
  
• Chris: Story of the World, Vol. 1-34, Dragon Rider
  
• Mom School: Reading list - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Young Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews (I highly recommend this book!)
  

SAT Prep - Vocabulary and Spelling words:
I subscribed to a daily email of SAT words through Peterson's Word of the Day. It is a free service and we get the definition, example sentence, and synonyms. I write the word of the day on the dry erase board and we discuss it right after devotional. The website also has test prep questions.

Why do we do this? - I feel that we should focus on getting into college and part of that process is the SAT test. We do not do AIMS testing - that is for public schools to be graded and for funding. They really have nothing to do with the students.