September 24, 2014 Edition 

Planning for Life after Graduation -- ACT, SAT              

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Gena Suarez

Hey Mama,

 

Are you stressing over college prep for your high schoolers? Do you worry that your kids won't have what it takes to get into a good college or get a good job ?

 

Remember . . .

One thing matters most of all: Raising your children up to love and obey the Lord. That they would make Him their own Savior, with conviction and awe. That when they leave your home, they begin to grow more than ever in their relationship with Him, and that as such, the bond you have with them becomes stronger than ever.

Pray for your children every day. Pray for their future spouses and your grandchildren-to-be. God is faithful! What you are planting now will NOT go for naught. You plant. He waters. He grows. He harvests. May HE be glorified because of the family He has given you.

Note that it's all Him. It's all because of Him.

 

~ gena

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Diana Waring
From the February 27, 2013 issue of THM: 

 

Getting Ready for College


Dear Friends,

 

This topic whisks me back in memory to the days I was packing a steamer trunk (!) for college ... but, of course, I don't think that is exactly what is meant by today's topic. Getting ready for college is far more than what clothes to take, isn't it?

 

With that in mind, here are my top three suggestions:

  1. Cultivate curiosity
  2. Rehearse resource-gathering
  3. Walk winsomely

Cultivate curiosity ... One of the most powerful tools a student can take with them to university is an interested and questioning mind. Not being content to merely take in facts as they are presented, a motivated and curious student will consider what is presented, dig deeper, and even challenge her professors. I learned from anecdotes from my children, from professors, and others that homeschool students are the most likely to ask for more information during and after class--even if it meant there would be more on the test.

 

Another way of describing this would be to say that kids who actively engage their own education will be the ones who derive the greatest good from it. And that, my friends, is important to know, regardless of when or if your children go to college.

 

When kids actively engage, that means they are no longer passively moving through the textbooks, workbooks, and classes to take a test, to get a grade, or to complete the course. It means, instead, that at some point, they become fascinated by what they are learning. In an enthusiasm motivated by deep curiosity, they quickly pack in vast amounts of knowledge and stay hungry for more.

 

So, cultivate this kind of curiosity now. Encourage questions: what-ifs, why-nots, how-comes, and how-we-knows.

 

Asking questions is the first point. 

Answering them is the second.

 

Rehearse resource-gathering ...This means to practice finding answers. Simple, yes? Well, sometimes it can be simple, but other times it can be incredibly complex.  In fact, when you look for answers, you might find yourself right smack in the middle of a hotly-contested controversy. And that is one of the best reasons for helping your children learn to look things up while they are still living at home with you. Learning to recognize a good source, watching for nuances as well as overstatements, and grasping the difference between fact and theory are the ways a student gets to the heart of learning.

 

Walk winsomely ... Our children will face extraordinary challenges at college, including challenges to their faith. My encouragement is to live your walk of faith openly and transparently before your children, so they can see the faithfulness and goodness of God in your life. Pray together, share God's answers with them, and let them see the reality of faith. This living faith--not a politicized faith, or a them-and-us faith, but a love-the-Lord and love-your-neighbor faith--is one of the best bulwarks against a corroding and growing atheism in our nation.

 

You've undoubtedly heard the saying, "Until they know how much you care, they don't care how much you know." It goes double for your adult children. Show in your day-to-day life the winsomeness of Jesus, and your kids will receive a strength to stand.

 

Remember, stay relational!

Diana

 

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Honest ... the first thing I thought of when I saw the letters ACT, SAT.were rhyming words FAT, BAT, CAT. That's the way my mind works. In fact, when I took the SAT my junior year of high school, I didn't even know people studied for the thing. I just thought it was like a "survey" of how much you knew.

 

I went to college and then seminary and never gave it two thoughts again. Of course now, in homeschooling circles, those three letter words seem to get a lot of air-time, as if a bad score might doom you to a life of servitude and ditch digging.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, my first two children have not taken either test. The first has already completed his bachelor's degree (through College Plus) and the second is nearing the end of a technical animation school (Animation Mentor). I'm not opposed to our children taking the SAT, MAT, ACT, BAT tests. But I'm not going to have them take them just because others take them and suggest that my children should as well.

 

I was talking to my college professor brother and posed the question, "So what would your state college tell a twenty-five-year-old guy who never graduated high school and never took any of those tests but says, 'I want to go to college'? Without hesitation he answered, "We'd let him in."

 

That's what colleges want. They want someone who wants to go to college, not someone who just goes because it's the next thing to do after high school.

 

All that to say, RELAX. Don't let people scare you to the point where you frustrate your children and stop enjoying them. Not everyone needs those tests and if your child does, you'll figure it out.

 

By the way, Bill Gates got a near perfect score on the SAT (1590) and Bill Cosby got a 500. Both are geniuses. So are your children.

 

Be real,

Todd

 
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For the month of September, 2014

 

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In this week's issue:


Follow Homeschool Psych

September Special at STC

Schoolhouse Print Planner

Molly Green

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