Pennsylvania Homeschoolers

You can now register online (or print out a registration form) for our three Spring Testing Sites in Pennsylvania. Just click on the Testing Services link at the top of this page-- or just click here. You'll see we'll be testing at the following locations:

1) Discuss test taking manners-- such as being very quiet and polite during the whole morning, especially while directions are being read. Silence is expected during the timed portions of the test, although students can raise their hands to ask questions if necessary. Students need to be able to read silently rather than orally, so as not to disturb other students.

2) Let your child know he can *not* ask questions such as “I can’t read this word-- can you tell me what it is, please?” or “I don’t understand how to do this math problem-- can you help me?” This is a test to see how well your child can do on these tasks without any help....

Editor's Note from Susan: We are so grateful to master teacher Karen Boyd for continuing to offer her very valuable SAT Essay Writing class. Designed for high school students planning on taking the College Board SAT this March.

It’s not too late to register your high school student for my four-week class on writing the SAT Essay. This class helps students prepare for the essay portion of the March SAT, however students who will be taking the SAT at future dates are encouraged to join us.

Students from coast to coast and from four continents have found this class to be helpful in many ways. First, it provides practice and guidance in writing a timed essay. Many students report that it helped them feel confident about taking the SAT. The class provides accountability and other people to comment on their writing. While it focuses on the SAT Essay, many of the skills can be applied to other writing, such as the need for organization and a clear thesis. Finally, the students learn to think about their own writing in new ways as they interact with the other students in the class.

The class begins on February 6 and continues into the beginning of March. The registration deadline is January 31. The class requires a text book -- the College Board SAT Study Guide-- that is needed on the first day, so either register early and order from pahomeschoolers.com , or plan to buy your own copy before the class begins.

For more information go to the Online Store link above-- and then to "Online Classes" and then “Online SAT classes.”

Thanks,

Karen Boyd

Comments from former students

“This class was very helpful to me. First of all, it made me sit down and actually practice writing essays. Second, it was good to have someone read my essays, grade them, and tell me what was good and what was not. Also, I liked seeing what the other students wrote to see how I did in comparison.”

“I just want to say thank you to you, Mrs. Boyd, for teaching this class! It helped me a lot, and now....

Editor's Note from Susan Richman: Often when I talk to families about how their kids did on achievement tests, I have a special question I ask-- it's "What is your child reading independently-- and does he enjoyreading.... or need to be 'nudged' to tackle a book?" I've found, over many years of informally asking this of parents, that a pattern has emerged-- those kids who read widely, and have a lot of personalchoice over what to read, generally do great on achievement tests. Those kids who don't read much at all beyond their required homeschooling studies or texts, and who clearly don't like to read, generally don't fare so well. Doing things that are 'like' achievement tests on a daily basis does not seem to be the key factor -- though definitely familiarity with testing formats is a great help, and I certainly recommend some focused 'test prep'. But I've met kids who have *only* done 'comprehension questions' during the time the family is helping them get ready for standardized testing-- at all other times, the child simply readsand enjoys and talks about his reading informally with his parents every now and then... and these kids generally do just fine when the scores come in. This general trend was shown again in the experience thatPatti T. describes so well in this touching piece-- I hope it is a good encouragement to all other families facing the 'dreaded' 3rd grade testing experience!

I have been homeschooling my son since he was in kindergarten. As we went through our first few years, I had this gnawing feeling about third grade. I knew that was the year we would encounter achievement testing. I knew in my heart I was doing my best to make sure my son was learning and thriving in homeschool, but to have “THE TEST” prove or disprove this point was a little scary for me. OK, very scary!!!! So I was on a mission to be prepared!!!!

I purchased the sample test material from PA Homeschoolers for his appropriate grade. I was glad I did because after the test my son remarked, “The test was just like the one we did at home.” I was glad he felt comfortable from having done the practice tests.

In addition, I combed the PA Homeschoolers website, in the months prior to the test, for any information regarding achievement test taking. I am thankful for the resources I found to help me prepare my son and myself. They really put my mind at ease and helped me to keep the whole test experience relatively stress free. Knowing the test results were not the soul benchmark for how our homeschooling was progressing was the biggest relief!

I remained optimistic waiting for the test scores. When I received them, I could hardly believe my eyes. My son did very well on the test. All of the prep work we did helped, but the biggest preparation was something we had been doing his whole life. We instilled a love of books and reading in our son.

My son is an avid reader. It is not uncommon for us to walk out of the library every other week with 30+ books, and he reads every one of them. I let him pick whatever books he wants, even if they are his old favorites like Henry and Mudge or Mr. Putter and Taby. He likes to read graphic novels such as Stone Rabbit, Lunch Lady, and Tiny Titans. Yes, he also likes Captain Underpants as well. I let him read those books and trade off with books I have selected that are a little more appropriate for his age. I think the reason he loves to read is because he has the freedom to explore and choose the books that interest him. He isn’t just forced to read the material assigned by me for school. His love for reading is the biggest factor as to why he did so well on the reading and language arts portion of the test, so I am told.

Now, interestingly, I should mention at this point that I have a rather unique visual impairment that makes it challenging for me to read without the assistance of visual aids. I developed this issue......

Susan and Howard Richman have been offering a Fall Testing Service since the homeschooling law in Pennsylvania was enacted in 1988, helping families to meet the testing requirements for 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade testing in a 'homeschool friendly' setting at regional churches or synagogues. They also welcome students in other 'non-testing' years, 4th grade thru 12th grade, as many families like to make testing a routine part of each school year.

We are very pleased to announce you can now register online or by mail for our upcoming Fall Testing Service. We'll once again be using the TerraNova nationally normed achievement test. Morning testing will coverreading, language arts, and mathematics, and we will again offer optional afternoon testing on science andsocial studies.

A delightful drawing done by a 3rd grader at one of our testing days-- it now hangs on my wall!

We also recommend that you consider using the Scoring High testing preparation practice books in our online store to help you guide your child in being well-prepared.

Further, take a look at the various archived articles right here on our website, on ways to help your child feel ready for testing experiences-- we have lots available! You'll find ideas on how to ease test worries (for both mom and student!), how to see what areas of readiness you have some control over, what to do if your child might not score as well as hoped, links to resources for science and social studies testing, and much more. And if you might have some further areas you'd like to see us cover, do post your comments and thoughts below.

The 'early bird' pre-registration fee of $30 per student (*plus* a $3.95 handling fee on the whole order) is applicable through October 10, 2011....

On October 8th, the Fall Testing registration fee goes up to $35 per student-- so we hope you can remember to register *now* and get in on the $30 rate :-). We look forward to seeing each of you at one of our testing sites-- check the 'map' in the testing section of the our site to see all the varied locations.

And for ideas on how to approach testing and help your child feel comfortable and ready, do check out the articles in our 'archive' on testing. And remember, we do have 'Scoring High' test preparation books for all levels (book 1-8), and many kids find these a great help in gearing up for standardized testing.

Many parents wonder just what they need to *bring* with them to the testing day. We provide the testing materials (of course :-) ), scratch paper, and a cardboard ruler for the math section. We also have plenty of extra pencils, though most kids prefer bringing their own (any #2 pencil is fine). If your child is 5th grade and up, they are welcome to bring a *calculator* for the math problem solving (word problem) section-- this is NOT required, and no problem requires a calculator, but they are *allowed*. We do not provide any calculators for student use. Many kids appreciate having a quick and non-messy *snack* or water bottle with them for the breaks between testing sections.

Many wonder about taking the Science and Social Studies subtests, something we offer as a *option* for famlies. First, you do not need to let us know in advance if you plan to stay on for the afternoon science and social studies sections-- and you can even decide that day if you want to stay on.

There is no special preparation exercises in the 'Scoring High' books for these subtests-- and I know many wonder just what types of questions are included. Fortunately, there are many great links online...

Susan Richman is the longtime editor of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers, and the mom of four now-grown homeschoolers, and grandma of four. She's worked as an evaluator since the very first year of the PA homeschool law in 1988, working with a wide range of homeschooling families with all types of approaches to learning. She's been testing 3rd graders in small group situations since 1988, and has talked with countless parents about their child's reactions to testing. She also leads a very popular AP US History online course with homeschoolers across the nation, and is a member of the Board of Directors of PHAA, the PA Homeschoolers Accreditation Agency.

As our PA Homeschoolers Fall Testing Service is gearing up for mid-October through mid-November, I'm starting to get more questions from homeschool moms about what to expect, and how to prepare their children. One question came up today on what to do if a child scores poorly-- especially a child who may indeed be a bit behind typical grade level expectations. Will families have to be braced for 'trouble' from their school districts? Will they be in danger of not being allowed to continue homeschooling? What have other parents in this situation found in the many years of the current homeschool law? I'll aim to answer all these questions here-- and I'd love to hear comments from families facing this issue, sharing what you've experienced.

First, yes, some homeschooled children do not fare well on formal academic testing. I know, I know.... we've all seen the studies of how very *well* homeschool kids tend to do compared to students in public schools-- and our results from our large testing service also back up these general statistics. BUT that doesn't mean that all homeschool kids ace achievement tests. My previous articles on thinking about standardized testing (see our archive) talk about the range of reasons why a particular child might not do well on a particular test on a particular day. All that said, some kids just will *always* find it very challenging to take these tests-- and some kids are indeed working at a slower pace than the norm. Some may have some learning deficits or difficulties or challenges that make typical studies daunting, to say the least. Some may have true difficulty in learning to read, making these types of reading-dependent tests almost impossible....

We now have our annual PA Homeschoolers Fall Testing Schedule up online here on our site-- just click the link above and you'll get to all the info. We hope we can serve you with this comfortable way to meet this testing requirement. My husband Howard and I have years and years of experience testing groups of homeschoolers in PA, and testing days run smoothly and we make every effort to run a professional day where parents and children feel very welcome.

Remember, homeschoolers in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade need to take an achievement test from the list established by the PA Dept of Education-- the TerraNova test that we use in our testing service is indeed on this list, and our Fall Testing meets all testing requirements for the year. No need for testing in the spring if you take part in our Fall Testing days.

I just received a nice email tonight from Cate Newton, a woman who works with the very interesting website www.GuideToOnLineSchools.com -- this site covers info on colleges that offer online courses and degrees, and a whole lot more. Cate had noticed our articles here on test taking skills, and thought our readers might be interested in their compilation of the very best 'study skills' and test-taking strategy sites online from various colleges. I was impressed with the links-- and these ideas are from major universities such as Penn State University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, James Madison University, Dartmouth College, and many, many more-- and there are also article links to the College Board, news magazines, and therapists who helps clients deal with test anxiety, and more. It's a treasure trove-- I think all homeschoolers with high school kids will find something very useful here. Cate wrote:

My interest in study skills sparked an article we just published on our website, Guide to Online Schools, here: http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/tips-and-tools/study-help . I noticed that there was an absence of quality resources for students, especially in the realm of study guides. So we found the best note-taking, test anxiety and general study tips resources on the internet and compiled them into an all in one, easy to navigate article. The article would be a great addition to your resources. I hope that you and your students find the resources helpful. Let me know what you think.

I was really delighted when one of the links in this huge compilation was to the blogsite of Dennis Jerz, an associate professor in the English department at Seton Hill University in Greensburg PA-- because just yesterday I'd met with his wife and 6th grade son for their homeschooling evaluations!....

Susan Richman is the co-editor of PA Homeschoolers and a homeschooling evaluator in Pennsylvania. She regularly tests children in PA to help families meet the testing requirements of the PA homeschool law, administering both the Terra Nova achievemet test in group situations, and the Woodcock-Johnson Individual Achievement Test for students who need a one-on-one testing situation. She also leads AP US History online with homeschool students all across the US, and helps these kids learn to handle the high-stress AP exam situation.

Back to our on-going discussion of helping our kids feel reading and comfortable with standardized testing. We've discussed so far the first factors that can have an impact on testing: demographics, physical environment for testing, and the parents' view of the testing situation. Now on to how our KIDS view testing requirements. Here are some things you may want to ask yourself:

Susan Richman is the editor of PA Homeschoolers, and has been doing group and individual testing with homeschool students for over 20 years. She's also helped all four of her own children approach testing with a positive attitude, from the required 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade testing in PA, to the SAT exam and Advanced Placement tests.

In my last posting about getting ready for testing, I listed the six variables of testing that can make a difference in your child’s ability to really demonstrate what they know on testing day. Today we’re going to look at how our attitudes as parents towards testing requirements can be key—and how we might be able to adjust these attitudes in a positive direction.

I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of parents at our testing sites over the last 20 years, and have seen lots of different attitudes. I’m going to imagine here a couple of ‘composite moms’. First I’ll give you a highly upbeat scenario—and then a practically full-blown panic attack scenario. Most of us probably fall somewhere in between these extremes—but thought this might give us a good way to tackle this topic, and see things with some greater perspective....

Susan Richman is editor of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers and mother of four homeschool grads. She also does all the 3rd grade testing during our Fall Testing Service as well as our smaller Spring Testing Service for homeschoolers.

(7th grade portfolio cover page for our son Jesse-- who's now 32 and the father of four!)

So, is it time for achievement testing for your kids? Many families do achievement testing with their kids in the spring-- for many, it's part of a state law requirement. For instance, in PA homeschool kids need to take a nationally normed standardized test in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades. In some states it's every year-- in some states it's an optional thing that many parents just like to do for their own information and sense of well-being. Regardless of why we are having our kids tested, most of us want our kids to have a fair chance at doing their best. So let's think about how we can do this.

First, I think it's handy to realize what the variables are, so we can see what we might have some *control* over when thinking about standardized testing. One website I looked at years ago had the following list of key variables that all impact how a child does on a specific test, and I've found these categories very helpful:

Now, this list was looking at kids in schools, but I think this can be a great start in thinking about how we can deal with testing effectively, too. We'll cover the first two in today's posting-- look back here every few days to see discussion of the rest....

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