Spring is a busy time of year—from spring cleaning, planting and gardening, to yard sales and more, there is an abundance of things on our to-do lists. Spring is also typically the time of year that many homeschool parent-teachers buy curricula and materials for the coming school year. Keep in mind this can be an ideal time of year to assess your children. By taking inventory of which skills children have mastered and which skills need to be strengthened or addressed, your planning for instruction in the summer or the coming school year will become clearer and strategic.

My oldest child is becoming very interested in learning how to spell and write words. The other day, she wanted to write her little sister’s name which begins with the letter K. Like most children her age, that letter ‘K’ was a booga bear!  I made a mental note that we’d work on forming that letter correctly the next time we practiced handwriting. When that glorious teaching moment occurred (keep reading- it didn’t start off too gloriously), I found myself moving very quickly from mommy mode to teacher mode. In reflection, I realized that there were certain things I did that helped keep us from getting derailed. I thought I’d share these ideas and tips with you today.

If your teen is college bound, the 11^th and 12^th grade years will be consumed with researching colleges, narrowing down the list of colleges to which your teen will apply, and then completing college applications . You may even be considering an alternative college route. Along the way, questions are sure to come up. Who can you turn to for answers? The College Admissions Officer!

During my years as a classroom teacher, I often had students who had been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.  Usually, they were very caring little boys who were easily distractED and often demonstrated behavior that was highly distractING. 

There was only so much that I could do as a classroom teacher to get to the root of these problems. One day, however, a co-worker shared a tool that was quite useful in helping these very loving, intelligent, but challenging children become more cognizant of their actions.  She called it the ‘Rocket Race’.

A question I am frequently asked by homeschool groups I speak to is, “How can students acquire college credit while in high school other than by taking college courses?” One answer is through credit by examination. The term basically means credit that a college awards based on the score that students receive on a national standardized test. The major tests that fall into this category include AP (Advanced Placement), CLEP, and DSST tests. Each college has its own policy as to which tests will be accepted and what score is required to receive credit.

I can’t believe how quickly the weeks and months are flying by.  My family and I actually have an invitation to a home school graduation ceremony this Month!  Apparently, the 2012-13 school year is rapidly coming to a close.   For many of you, standardized testing will be a part of your end of the year activities, and realizing how stressful the idea of testing can be; I thought I would direct you to a great article that Betty Statnick wrote a few years ago.  It’s called, Testing: Scores and S’Mores.