Everything needs checks and balances… accountability is a good thing…

I know in my own life I tend to do a better job, and put more effort into something if I know that I must be accountable for it. Though state testing requirements vary, many homeschooling students across the country are required to participate in standardized testing. States require this testing to ensure that students are learning and progress is being made.

1) Standardized tests are for the measurement of a child’s achievement. These tests do not measure students ability or aptitude, that is measured on a separate test (such as the Otis Lennon). Aptitude tests measure the school ability index or what used to be called IQ.

2) Most standardized tests assess only language arts and math. But, prior to having your child tested ask the administrator of the test what sub-tests are included and then make preparations for SAT study courses, or by purchasing prep books.

3) These tests are called standardized because the test was taken by a sample set of students who took the test at the same time of year. The test makers take this sample group’s average score and allow it to represent the 50th percentile.

4) Using the same test from year to year for your child’s assessment will ensure a more accurate comparison of norms.

5) The student’s typically do just fine with taking the test, it’s the parents we often worry about! So, take it easy, mom and dad. Remember, that this is just one test and is not the “big picture” of your child’s learning. An accurate picture of how your child is achieving will include what they are learning in school/homeschool, what they are learning at home, and how they do on SATs.

Jamie Gaddy, Ed.D. has been an educator for over 15 years educating both children and teachers. Currently an Educational Consultant and contributor to http://time4learning.net/blogs/homeschool_online/ and http://onlineeducationforkids.com/, she homeschools her six children and enjoys incorporating technology into their daily learning.

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American home schooling is the god-given right we have, recognized in the U.S. Constitution, to educate our children at home as we see fit. Education that imparts the children necessary skills, as well as forms character, is all the more necessary in the modern world where there is all the more competition in the workplace and life. It’s an incredible privilege to impart your children the education that they need, and we as Americans are lucky to have it available to us. Now it is up to us to use it in the best possible way.

State Laws for American Home Schooling

Every state has its own laws relating to homeschools, which they use to keep a tab on them. This is a necessary inconvenience, especially because it makes sure nobody uses the homeschool in a way that abuses the rights of children and you as a diligent parent should make sure that you fulfill all of the requirements set out by laws. More information on these laws can be obtained from the Home School Legal Defense Association.

State laws are there to only regulate the homeschools; they cannot curtail your freedom to decide what is best for your child. Your child needs all your expertise as a teacher, and as a supervisor of their education, and no law will change that.

Benefits of Good American Home Schooling

There are a number of factors that will help decide to provide a better quality education to your children while homeschooling them. From schooling time, location, frequency of classes; to curriculum, methods of schooling, and tools that you use to train your child, a careful evaluation of these factors will decide how successful your homeschool will turn out to be. With the success of your child and their education dependant on this, the stakes can hardly get higher. For this, you should choose each of these elements with careful thought, keeping the specific needs of your child in mind.

It should also be noted that the education that you will provide to your child has many dimensions. Apart from skills, you will also help in the character development of your child. This experience will also help you strengthen your family unit, and the example you set will be learned by your child, whether consciously or unconsciously

In all respects, American home schooling will help your child develop the correct skills and develop character that will help them cope with the challenges of life.

Go to my website right now and learn more about American Home Schooling. While you are there you will find a plethora of important information pertaining to homeschooling laws

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Homeschool parents are constantly seeking ideas to stimulate the mind of their children. One way to stimulate young minds is through the use of clipart and visual aids. Here are three ideas that can help LDS homeschooling parents utilize clipart in their daily lessons:

1. Clipart and Holidays
Young children in the homeschool enjoy celebrating changing seasons and holidays. Seasonal emphases can teach children about religion and science as they study culture and the reasons for changes out doors. Using seasonal clipart may also help the parent to organize materials.

For example, a parent might include the image of a Baby Jesus on each of the items that will be covered in December or a Easter bunny on items to be covered in Spring. Parents may use blank labels and print our their own custom stickers for this purpose using any of the free LDS clipart resources online.

2. Clipart and Science
Science is perhaps the most difficult subject to teach in the home school. Parents may feel they lack the resources to provide an effective science curriculum at home. Many science, including biological and botanical sciences, can be effectively taught with clipart images of animals. Search libraries and clipart galleries for illustrations of plants, trees, and animals. You may look for both full-color and black and white images.

Once you’ve found a usable image, print yourself a copy of any images with labeled parts. Then use a paint program to white out the labels and print that copy for your child. Your child can label or color the image and have both art and science lesson at the same time.

2. Using LDS Clipart During Religious Studies
Religious clipart can also be used in the LDS homeschool in ways that may not be permitted in a public school. Parents might use ideas from Primary websites or printables from Young Women and youth websites to help reinforce the lessons taught on Sundays at Church. Invite small children to color images of the Savior or Prophets while you read a story from the Friend Magazine or scriptures. Older children will enjoy receiving a mirror sign with a special message they can see as they prepare for the day’s activities.

In Conclusion
Many parents find themselves busy with daily life and church activity. LDS Clipart can be a welcome timesaver for homeschooling parents seeking ideas for their lessons.

Jenny Smith is a contributor to the LDS Clipart resources gallery at Mormon Share and to the LDS Primary ideas for children’s lessons.

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Home school students as a whole have been a pretty successful bunch, though this is difficult to measure because there are not many statistics taken yet. It is not at all uncommon to hear about the young home school author, the music prodigy, or the computer genius.

I have also not witnessed homes school students’ inability to comingle with other children their own age due to lack of socialization. What I do notice is that despite the fact that many home school children I know are involved in many different activities, they simply do not have access to the same range of children that is available to their public schooled counterparts.

Networking is important as an adult and believe it or not that networking starts at a very young age. I am constantly surprised by how often my past comes back to visit in different aspects of my life. I am glad that I have developed relationships that have lasted for many years and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to meet numerous people over the years. Email once made it much easier to keep in contact with all of these people but now days that has become too rigorous a task. Social networking sites such as Face book and MySpace have added another level of connectivity to life and networking that was unheard of just a couple of years ago.

I believe these social networking sites offer great opportunities for home school students to connect and feel part of a group. This is virtual home school software that has the ability to bring home school students from all across the world into the same classroom.

I do not advocate letting your child loose on these sites without any type of supervision or expectation. I am careful to limit the amount of time they spend on these sites and I require that I have full access to the accounts. Like other home school software these sites offer opportunities that were not available a few short years ago and they give parents another tool to enrich their child’s life.

Connections made today can be very valuable tomorrow and long term friendships are a very important part of a health mind, spirit, and body.

More on http://www.Homeschoolsoftwareguide.com

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Home school parents as a whole are a pretty creative resourceful bunch. This is one of the reasons that they have made the decision to take their child education into their own hands. Something was lacking in the public or private school arenas that they thought they could do better. I have continued to be amazed by the creative ideas and numerous teachable moments that home school parents seem to come up with.

Home school families tend to be middle class Christian people that live in semi rural areas. They also tend to have made some sacrifices, mom may have given up a job to stay at home and accept the responsibility of educating her children. Aside from the fact that they are already paying school taxes and not receiving any benefit, homeschooling is expensive. There are books, curriculum, field trips, school supplies, etc, that all must be begged borrowed or stolen. Unfortunately what I see happen is that technology, such as computers, is often neglected. This could be because of financial constraints, a desire to go back to simpler times, or the parent’s lack of knowledge, but whatever the case kids need technological experience to compete in the new world.

Kids today are plugged in, wired, internet savvy, and bombarded with enough to make and adults head spin. While I believe that kids need their fair share of dirt and sunshine I also believe that it is important to go with changing times instead of fight them.

Give the kids what they need. Healthy doses of exercise and plenty of technology. Too much of any one thing is harmful, so ration and be the gate keeper, supervise their use of the internet. Get home school software that allows children to have access to more aspects of their own education. Take advantage of software language programs, websites geared towards learning. Allow kids to experiment with computers and you will e amazed at what they are capable of. Give responsibility and you will be pleasantly surprised at what your child gives in return.

Bill Gates through some luck breaks and turns of fate had almost unlimited access to cutting edge technology that was so far ahead of its time that by the time he was in high school he was one of only a handful of people in the world that was adapt at computer programming. I am not saying that every child will grow up to be a Bill Gates, but the potential is certainly there and giving children full access to as much technology as possible will ensure that we have forward thinkers tomorrow.

More on http://www.Homeschoolsoftwareguide.com

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The resources that home school parents leave behind when they remove their children from public schools are significant. However, the benefits gained from learning in an environment that mimics the world to a greater extent than traditional school are immense.

So many times parents bite off more than they can chew and they do not realize the problem until they are already behind or have set bad habits. Home schooling is not simply about teaching children or taking them on field trips. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that must be completed in order to give the children the full benefit of education.

These behind the scenes responsibilities include, lesson planning, diagnostics, chore charts, transcripts, record keeping, tracking, report cards, etc. They are the same things that many public school teachers also complain about. They are the less glamorous side of teaching but no less essential to the success of students.

Home school software programs that have the capacity to streamline all of these less glamorous tasks are now available for surprisingly affordable prices. For as little as $50 – $100 per year you can have instant access to numerous different records, statistics, teacher help, student help, paper work, charts graphs, etc. This is much of the same information and resources that are used by public school teachers.

Home school software allows your children to be prepared, whether it be prepared for the next grade or for college entrance exams. Anything that can help give your child an edge in the competitive world is priceless. And, anything that can make the frazzled fragmented life of a home school parent easier and more effective is priceless.

For anyone considering making the switch from an old record keeping system I urge you to give it a try. Most of the companies offering products offer some sort of try it free guarantee, so you risk nothing, except for not providing the best level of education possible. Do not hesitate, do it now, be a person of action. Many people in this world are constrained by indecision while the individuals that push forward are the ones that accomplish new feats that seem impossible to the people left behind. Anything that can give a small edge or advantage in the beginning time will only magnify over the long term.

More on http://www.Homeschoolsoftwareguide.com

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Home school software breaks down into 3 basic categories. There is the curriculum that you buy, which includes book, study guides, cd ROMs, access to web sites, etc. There are stand alone websites that offer many different varieties of help with numerous different subjects. These range from simple multiplication flash card varieties to more sophisticated language learning sites. Many of these online resources are free and can provide a homeschool family with much needed resources and variety. Lastly, there are the downloadable software packages that are usually some type of platform that assist with structuring the environment of the homeschooler. These packages may also assist with grading and identifying problem areas.

Curriculum is possibly one of the most valuable components of a homeschool classroom. It is also easily the most expensive. Some curriculum programs that offer online assistance and include all of the bells and whistles easily cost thousands of dollars, and while they may be fabulous programs most home school families that I come in contact with do not have the resources to pay for programs like these. Another problem with any curriculum is that parents often fall in the trap of sticking to closely to the curriculum. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I have received is, that if it doesn’t work for you don’t be afraid to toss it. Home school networks can often have resources for parents to exchange curriculum or obtain used curriculum.

Free online resources are an excellent source of new dynamic learning material. There are new resources everyday and I am continually surprised by the quality of content and applications being generated on the internet. Homeschool parents would be foolish not to take advantage of the many wonderful tools available on the internet.

New homeschool software that allows parents to keep detailed reports, chart progress, set goals, and basically keep their finger on the pulse of how their children are doing is becoming much more widely available and more reasonably priced. This is software that allows parents to optimize their time in the classroom and be as effective as possible.

Many homeschool parents fall into the trap of using fairly outdated rudimentary methods of schooling because that is all that has been available in the past. For homeschool kids to continue to excel and put their forced schooling counterparts to shame they must have access to today’s cutting edge technology.

More on http://www.Homeschoolsoftwareguide.com

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Homeschooling your children can be difficult but is also very rewarding. Most states have homeschooling materials and curriculum to help parents know what to teach their children. Most of these state-made learning methods are very basic and most home schooled children finish their work very quickly and are bored the rest of the day. Because of this many Homeschool parents look for other methods of teaching their children to stimulate their minds and help them to achieve an above average education.

Homeschool software is where most parents turn to help their children receive an even better school education. Before purchasing the software however, many parents wonder what the homeschooling software pros and cons actually are. This article is designed to help you understand the homeschooling software pros and cons so you can make an educated decision before buying software.

Pros – There are a lot of pros for buying homeschooling software. The biggest pro is that there is so much software that can cover really any subject you want your kids to learn more about. There is software with encyclopedias about nature, world destinations, cultures, and much more. There is also software that can help with mathematics, spelling, and grammar. The reason why this software is so effective is because it uses fun animated characters, music, and other methods to help ingrain solid educational principles into your child’s mind. Statistics show that software use in learning math and spelling is extremely effective and that the kids who use software are usually at the top of their class on average!

Cons – Software costs money. With all of the different types of software packages available, you can easily spend hundreds of dollars on just a few software packages. The other con is that if you do not have a computer, you will have to purchase one to utilize this software education technology. A computer can cost several hundred dollars, not to mention that you will also have to pay for internet service to use many of the educational software.

Do the pros outweigh the cons? From our standpoint they absolutely do. Owning and using a computer is essential in today’s technological world. By having a computer and teaching your children how to use it will only help give your children the advantage in today’s world. The software packages are fun and really work. Children who excel in Homeschool environments have used education software 90% of the time. These statistics really speak for themselves if you are homeschooling your children to give them the best education possible to them in their young years.

Homeschool Software Guides is the authors web site where she discusses many of your option you have when it comes to teaching your children at home. Visit her at HomeschoolSoftwareGuides.com to learn more about what’s out there including your Free Homeschool Software options.

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