PSAT score report

My older son who is a sophomore in high school received his PSAT scores back last week.  He did pretty well, scoring in the 90’s percentile compared to college bound juniors who took the exam last October.  Well, there were some juniors who got 99 percentile with perfect scores.  Considering the prep that he has done, I felt good about his scores, and he did, too.

He had used the Blue Book from the College Board to prepare for the SAT.  With so many SAT prep schools and classes, I felt almost obligated to send him to one of those classes or find him a tutor to help him prepare for the SAT and PSAT.  Not having enough financial resources, however, and feeling confident about my son’s self discipline to study on his own, I had him study the Blue Book.  So far, it seems to be working.  He still has many weaknesses that he needs to work on.  Both I and my son feel that preparing for the SAT is something that he can do alone at home.

What would you have done?  Or what are you doing to help your child prepare for SAT, PSAT or other standardized tests?

SAT and ACT

Some people have asked me about the similarities and differences between SAT I and ACT.  First of all, SAT I and ACT exams are required by most colleges.  That is most colleges require either SAT I or ACT.  SAT I is the infamous test in which students are tested on reading skills, vocab, writing and math.  Most people agree that most high school students do not learn, in their class, the things that are tested on SAT I.  SAT I are also criticized for being culturally biased.  On the other hand, ACT tests things that are more in line with what high school students learn in their classes.

Some colleges require 2 or 3 SAT II subject tests.  I understand that these tests are something that high school students learn in their classes as well.

With the ACT, students have the option of not reporting the test results to colleges, but all SAT I scores are reported to colleges.  So, if your student takes SAT I insted of ACT, make sure that your student is prepared for the test.  I have not looked into preparing for ACT, so I can not say much about it.  Preparing for SAT requires a lot of hard work.  The most basic item you student needs to have is the “Blue Book” published by the College Board, The Official Guide.  Have your student go through all the questions in the book.  Have them study again all the questions that they miss or do not understand.  If your student has hard time going through the book on his/her own, you should consider helping him yourself or consider hiring a tutor.  That Blue Book is that important.

Home school?

Home School.  When I first heard about home school (can’t remember when that was), I first thought it was for children who stay home and learn from their parents instead of going home.  Then, I learned that it is more than that.  I learned that any parents can home school their children even if they are attending a regular school.

I send my children to a small christian school where AP classes are not offered and top few students from the school’s middle school transfer to a large public school when they start 9th grade.  My older son did not want to go to a large public school where he can easily become just a number.  So, he is staying with his small school, in a way deprived of some opportunities found in bigger schools.  To provide my son with the opportunities that he is missing out, I decided to home school him while he is still attending his high school.  What?  Let me explain.

I believe that parents should be in charge of their children’s education, not the school or the state.  Parents send their children to school to fulfill the requirements for graduation from high school, and parents send their children to different after school programs after school, taking music lessons, art lessons, sports or whatever, or send them to different summer programs.  That is not much different from what home schooling parents are doing.  Even if you send your children to regular schools, do not fool yourself thinking that you have given your children all the opportunities they deserve.

I live in a small town.  I send my children to a small school.  But I am taking charge of their education.  I select the best music teachers I can afford for them.  No AP classes at school?  I and my older son are going to prepare to take some AP tests after preparing at home.  It won’t be easy.  But I think it will make my son stand out more if he goes beyond what was available to him.  In a way, I am homeshooling my children.  All of us are homeschooling our children.  What do you think?

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