The threat and delivery of a swat for misbehavior is still used in many homes. I’m supposing most private Christian schools have now abandoned this practice, but like I said in a previous article, it was a disciplinary practice utilized in a private Christian school that employed me as a second grade teacher. It was designed to keep the boys in line. And it did for awhile. But like most school disciplinary policies, there was a backup plan if it stopped working. If the swat did not have its desired result, the teacher could send the student to the vice principal’s office. Like room 101 in George Orwells book, 1984, no one returned smiling.

After many “go-rounds” with one particular student, I finally decided it was this time to call upon the vice principal for “sterner” measures. I escorted the student to the V.P.’s office.

When he returned, the day proceeded without incident. However, the next day a different student seemed to go out of his way to “push my buttons”, which he did, and for which he also was sent to “Vince.” Later in the week a third student boy required the same action, and then I overheard a conversation between students that went something like this: “It’s not so bad, it only hurts for a minute, you can take it, I dare you…”

What was intended to be “punishment” for oppositional behavior had actually become the means of obtaining reward: membership in an “elite” group.

So what am I saying? I’m saying that I didn’t really understand an aspect of motivation, motivation that is extrinsic in nature. The better we understand it, the more effective we can be in leading our students to accomplish our educational goals.

So what is it exactly? Essentially, the weaker the relationship to the reward and the activity necessary to securing it, the more extrinsic this motivation is. And the more extrinsic motivation is, the more likely it will not deliver the desired results in a dependable, consistent manner over time.

Four examples of extrinsic forms of motivation are:

• Rewarding your student with money for doing their work

• Using “time out” to manage bad behavior

• Turning in all your algebra assignments to pass the course

• Requiring your child to do his chores before going outside.

As parents, we all use and are influenced by extrinsic motivation. However, like I said, the weaker the relationship between the reward and activity necessary to securing it, you can count on it failing sooner or later.

The four examples of extrinsic motivation cited above may work for a while, but likely will fail you eventually.

• Get ready to pay more as your child gets older. I’ve heard quotes of $50.00 paid out for each “A” earned for college classes taken by a home schooler.

• Some kids may like to be “timed out”. Then they can use their technology, read, or daydream.

• Doing algebra assignments to pass an algebra class may not be a big deal to some kids. Their thinking is, “When will I ever use this?” (Don’t let on that they may have a point…).

• “Going outside” may not be very desirable to the sedentary types.

One client of ours used a form of extrinsic motivation with her son when he came in for his annual achievement test. The deal she struck was if he checked his work during the test, she would take him to get an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen after it was over. That appeal may work with most seven-year-olds (assuming they like ice-cream), but it won’t carry the same weight with your average twelve-year-old, and will likely be responded to with an eye-roll if suggested to your sixteen-year-old.

I’m not saying we should discard the use of extrinsic motivation. We just need to be aware of its limitations. There are other factors that can be put to work to help us reach the educational goals we have for our children. I’ll discuss them in later articles.

Thanks for reading.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE

We’re pleased to announce the release our new interactive e booklet, How to Ask Questions That Matter. Besides helping you drill down deeper into your student’s understanding of the content you’re covering, it will also help you prepare your student to answer the kinds of questions that appear in the new Terra Nova 1 test that has replaced the CAT 5. Higher level thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are explained and may be practiced.

Click here to go to this product page and see some sample pages.

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Curt_Bumcrot

Sono Harris, Joyful Mother of Children

For twenty-one years Basic Skills presented the Winter Home Schooling Workshop. Sono Harris was among the many speakers who made regular presentations. Sadly for us, on July 4, Sono passed away after battling cancer.

My wife Jenny and I met Gregg and Sono in the early 80’s when the home school movement was just beginning. While Sono was in the habit of saying “no” to a number of invitations to speak at various functions and events, she always said “yes” to our conference.

Many mothers came simply to hear her. While the men had something worth listening too, they were, after all, still men and did not (or could not) relate or address the topics these mothers needed to hear, to where they were living. While all of our speakers were respected, appreciated, and their expertise recognized and helpful, Sono was all of the above but more importantly, loved.

In the early 90’s she addressed basic, practical topics. But as the home school movement grew, her children as well everyone else’s grew up with it and her focused changed.

Mothers came not so much to hear her teach how to do something, but how to live. Sono filled with them with hope, and that’s what they needed. Many were ready to quit and were tired. But just being around her helped them stay the course. She was gracious, and she lifted spirits. She shared insights that could only be truly understood as spoken by one mother and wife to other mothers and wives. They listened to her because she was completely invested in whatever she was involved in.

I think of Sono when I read the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought the field.” She was like that merchant. She held nothing back when it came to her Lord, family, and again, to whatever she committed to. She was, as one of the titles of a talk she gave, a “Joyful Mother of Children.” She invested deeply and completely.

Because of this, her life experiences were rich. She had a way of pulling back the curtain of her life just enough and then inviting the mothers in her seminars to get a glimpse. She related in such a way to those she spoke to that at times it was like having a personal conversation with her. She had the ability to distill ideas into something her listeners could easily take in and remember. If she felt she needed to present a correction (attitude, point of view, etc.), she did so in a way that her listeners did not feel scolded or reprimanded.

As I mentioned before, in her later presentations her topics and focus changed. Near the end our twenty-one years of home school conferences, she spoke more about the difficult issues of life that she and other mothers had in common. Mothers felt she identified with their struggles.

I remember one talk she gave which was titled, “An Anchor for the Soul” in which she introduced her presentation by speaking about the desire most wives and mothers have for stability. She then spent the rest of her session talking about change and in particular suffering. She said “motherhood is about change in a progressively painful direction.” She was talking about the separation we experience with our children as we move through the stages of life.” All of us go through this.

At the end of this particular session, she posed the following questions, “What am I to do with this, how am I to manage this? How am I to handle this suffering, loss, and pain.” She talked about “increasing the sacrifices we make (as mothers) while reducing the expectation of immediate returns.” She said, “It’s about spending all that you have, and letting go. When we embrace God’s will, everything changes.”

In referring to the kingdom parable described in Matthew 13:44, she said the key word was “bought.” We must buy the field. Often we think the field God wants us to buy will be attractive and pleasurable, but it’s often bleak, with trouble, pain, suffering, and loss. But there is treasure in that field. The loss and suffering we experience drives us to the only dependable anchor for our souls, Jesus Christ. That is where our suffering finds its greatest meaning.

For Sono, Jesus was that priceless treasure, and now she is enjoying his presence in person. Sono Harris was and is a joyful mother of children.

If you’d like to make a donation to help the Harris family during this difficult time, an account has been set up at West Coast Bank. Donations can be made at any branch in Oregon and Washington. The account number is 1141007201 under Sono Sato Harris.

To read more about the life of this remarkable wife and mother, go to www.joshharris.com.

Thank you for reading.
Curt Bumcrot, MRE

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to www.basicskills.net

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Curt_Bumcrot

Frisbees, Microwave Ovens, and Velcro have something in common…

In the 1940’s Yale students sailed pie tins through the air and played catch. Ten years later, Walter Frederick Morrison, a flying-saucer enthusiast, improved on the idea. Morrison and the company Wham-O produced and sold a saucer-like disk which they called a Frisbee. It was named after the baker William Russel Frisbie whose reusable pie tins in the 1870’s provided the original source of the fun.

During World War II, Britain’s radar system used microwaves to track Nazi warplanes. Several years later, Percy LeBaron Spencer discovered they could also cook food when he accidentally came into contact with a microwave that melted a candy bar in his pocket. Many experiments later, the first microwave oven was put on sale in 1954.

George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, returned from a walk outside one day in 1948 to find some cockleburs clinging to his jacket. He took one off and upon examining it under a microscope, he found a maze of thin strands with little hooks on each end that caused them to cling to fabrics. Eight years and many experiments later, Mestral had created a new fastener: Velcro!

So you say the point is… The point is that all of the above inventions are the result of thinking on the synthesis level, the fifth step of our hierarchy of questions we use to check our children’s understanding. Simply put, synthesis thinking results in the creation of something new and different. It is important to note that it does not take place in a vacuum; students typically first possess a level of skills and information and apply them with rigor and structure. The top artists, athletes, actors, and musicians spend innumerable hours studying, practicing, and perfecting their discipline before reaching the level of excellence that brings about regional, national, or even international notoriety.

The problem we’re faced with as home educators is again textbooks and their “tests” that don’t move beyond the knowledge and comprehension levels. These publishers would lead us to believe that recalling the right answer is the ultimate measure of educational achievement, not realizing that such information should be seen as a launching pad for higher levels of thinking. But in all fairness, asking questions or assigning tasks that require thinking on the synthesis level isn’t easy.

Questions or tasks that require thinking on the synthesis level often include words such as:

Assemble
Build
Compose
Create
Develop
Devise
Design
Formulate
Integrate
Modify
Organize
Plan
Propose
Rearrange
Revise
Rewrite

Again, being able to respond to questions or tasks that require this level of thinking typically presumes the student has a degree of knowledge, understanding, application, etc. in the given discipline. Synthesis thinking usually doesn’t take place in a vacuum. In my next article, I unpack this a little more and suggest some specific tasks you can include in your home schooling day to stimulate this important level of thinking in your children.

Thanks for reading!

Please feel free to forward this to home schoolers you think would benefit. Also, you have permission to copy this article to your blogs, forums, social network pages, or other websites. We only ask that you provide the live link at the bottom of the article that leads back to http://www.basicskills.net.

Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Director, Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services

Curt Bumcrot is the founder and director of Basic Skills Assessment and Educational Services. He has earned degrees in Biblical Studies from Grace Institute in Long Beach, California, a B.A. in English from California State University at Dominguiz Hills, and a M.R.E. (Master in Religious Education) from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary. He has been active both as a teacher and administrator in Christian Schools. He and his wife, Jenny, who home schooled their three children, currently reside in Oregon City.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Curt_Bumcrot

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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