Preparing for College

Even as Early as Middle School

6/8/2021

Did you know you can start thinking about college for your homeschool student as early as middle school.  We did.  Here are some tips:

1. Start enquiring about college requirements in middle school - and have your student make the calls and ask the questions with you on the phone.  (This works well with home phones with extensions.)

Do your research first by going on their website.

Do they offer the degree(s) your student is potentially interested in?

Where is the school located?  If it is far away, do you have family or friends reasonably nearby in the event of an emergency? 

 What is the mission of the school?  What is their focus?  If the website shows them to be all about sports and your student is more focused on arts and academics, that may not be the best school for your child, and vice versa.

Do they offer advanced degrees in your student's field of interest?

Do they offer ROTC, if your student is interested in going into the military reserves after college?  If so, which branch of the military sponsors the ROTC on that campus.

Look at their affiliations. Are they a state school, a religious school (and if so, which relgion / denomination), etc.?

 Find out what accreditations they have.  Some universities will only accept credits from schools with certain accreditations.  If you don't see that on their list, ask when you call.

 Look at their approved organizations.  This can tell you a great deal about the makeup of the college or university.

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Why We Homeschool – A Reminder of Our Purpose and Calling

There are days when we, as homeschoolers, wonder if we are doing the right thing.  We each have a time when we re-evaluate this choice for any number of reasons.  Sometimes it’s just a hard day.  Sometimes it is a hard season in life.  I want to encourage you in this journey.

We do this because we love our children more than anyone else does and even though they push us, that “pushing” results in growth in us.  We grow in patience, kindness, meekness (strength under control – God’s control), mercy, forgiveness, and the ability to confess our failures and shortcomings as examples to our children when we do not exhibit these fruits.

Our children are God’s instruments to help us grow in knowledge, understanding and love for Him.  This is just what we do for our children.  Just as we "push" (challenge) them to try new things, not give up on hard things, be diligent, thorough, work on communication skills, learn life skills, do jobs completely rather than half-way, integrity, honesty, compassion - so much more than reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

We are creating people who will be kingdom people even as we strive for that goal ourselves each day. We fail, we confess, God picks us up, dusts us off - and sometimes dusts our pants because we need it, and loves us - and through watching us, our children learn these things.

It's not how many times they fail, or we fail, it's how many times we reach out to God for help and knowing we have a faithful, loving, Heavenly Father to help guide them and us to be the people he has in mind for us to be. ❤

I'm sharing this as a print-out that you can put on your refrigerator, above your desk, or wherever you need this  to remind you - and for me to remind myself - of our higher purpose and calling in this adventure.  God bless you today and always! - Tammy

Succeeding At Homeschooling

A couple of my friends shared this post today: https://bethanyishee.com/homeschool-gaps/

I wanted to applaud the author, Bethany Ishee, and add a couple of my own thoughts to hers:

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is re-learning the science or history I learned incorrectly in school. I knew in fifth grade that not everything they taught in school or that my teacher said was always the truth after Mt. St. Helens blew and there were several aspects of that eruption that did not match with what was taught. For example, that it took millions of years to petrify trees, and some other misinformation regarding mountain formation.

There were things I went to research to tell the girls for history that I had been taught - only to find those things totally untrue. If we are willing to learn, we continue to learn and grow, and sometimes have to unlearn. For example, not only did Marie Antoinette not say, "Let them eat cake," she was not referring to the first, burned loaf of bread from the oven, and she did not say, "Let them eat brioche." The phrase was one penned by Rousseau in Confessions when Marie Antoinnette was only nine and published later when she was twenty-six, eleven years before her demise.

There are things I teach my girls at young ages telling them, "I don't expect you to remember this exactly, but just to plant a seed so that when you are exposed to this later, you'll have some recollection of it so it is easier to grasp when you are older rather than it being a totally new concept." They appreciate that they get to learn some new things that they don't have to memorize or be tested on at the time, but that they get to experience and experiment with at a younger age for fun.

Some people struggle with spelling. I struggle with dates - especially battles in wars. As an adult, I had new books I could read that I didn't know about in school, new media available to help present the history in a new way, etc. These things gave me a fuller picture of history than I had in school. Textbooks can only teach so much, it takes experience and practice and immersion to learn many things. What things are most important depend on what one's goals are.

This cemetery in Georgia was important in the Civil War. I didn't know anything about it until my husband's uncle was interred there.

If we succeed in generating a love of learning, the learning won't end with us. If we succeed in teaching diligence and discipline, their continued ability to apply themselves to learn those things they need for their career or just for a hobby and enjoyment will propel their success. If we succeed in giving them a can-do attitude - or at least a willingness to try new things attitude - they will grow and have new experiences that add to their quality of life and to the depth of the person they are.

Computer Science Curriculum

In searching for a middle school or high school computer science curriculum for your student here are some points to consider:

1.      Does it include a basic history of computers? This should include:

•    The first computer programmer – Ada Lovelace (pronounced “Loveless”), a woman, and the daughter of Lord Byron, the poet

•    The first computer designer, Charles Babbage and “Babbage's machine”

•    At least some brief history of the development of computers through the years.

2.      Does it include computer terminology?

•    What constitutes a “computer?”

•    A definition of computer components:

•    Hardware versus software

•    Hard copy versus soft copy

•    Personal computer versus mainframe and mini-computers

•    Closed system versus Open system computers

•    Filenames and file extensions

•    Central Processing Unit (CPU)

•    Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), particularly important for children wanting to be game developers or testers

•    Random Access Memory (RAM) – a bonus would be to understand sequential access from a historical perspective

•    Read Only Memory (or ROM)

•    BIOS (Basic Input / Output System)

•    Hard disk and floppy disk

•    A brief discussion of SCSI, IDE, SATA devices and the pros and cons of each

•    Attaching devices using: USB, Firewire, PCMCIA, and PCI slots

•    Operating system – What constitutes an operating system? Examples of modern operating systems such as UNIX, Microsoft® Windows, Apple's iOS, LINUX, Android, and others.

•    Understanding office productivity software:

•    What is a word processor? Topics should include fonts, styles, margins, page layout, heading, footer, header and body styles, margin justification (left, center, right, and justified or newspaper-style margins), numbered outlines, bulleted text, setting tab stops, inserting tables, using spell checker, thesaurus, and word and character count functions.

•    What is a spreadsheet, including terms for rows, columns, and cells? Topics should include functions and formatting for dates, numbers, currency, and text. Ideally, the curriculum will also include some best practices, including using an apostrophe character (') in front of the numerals for a zip code to indicate that it is a text number, not one on which mathematical calculations will be performed.

•    What is presentation software?

•    What is publishing software?

•    Drawing and photo editing software examples should also be included. This should provide information about the various types of images and the pros and cons of each, basic drawing and picture editing terminology, and possibly some more advanced drawing and editing examples and tools. Adobe Photoshop is a really excellent product for creating some more advanced images and budding graphic designers. Learning to create icons is helpful for the budding computer programmer. / web designer. Animation creation and editing software is a great tool for anyone interested in movie making or game development.

•    Ideally, the curriculum would give examples of when it is best to use each type of product, along the lines that one could use a screwdriver to beat a nail into a wall, but a hammer is more efficient; however, if one needed to screw a screw into a board, a screwdriver works much better than a hammer.

•    Communication protocol, for example:

•    DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPITALS OR THE READER WILL THINK YOU ARE YELLING. I had a customer contact me who was typing her résumé in all capitals. This is a very unprofessional way to create a  résumé. Additionally, some spell checkers may not catch mistakes when typing in all capitals, hence the reason the woman called.

•    While we are on the topic of  résumés, extra large fonts or extra wide margins used to allow one to fill a page when one has little to no work experience is unnecessary.

•    Don't use multiple exclamation points!!!

•    Do use correct spelling and punctuation, especially in professional communication.

•    Networking terminology:

•    At a very minimum, modern terminology should be covered to include:

•    CAT-5 cable

•    MODEM, router, bridge, brouter

•    Repeater

•    Hubs and switches

•    TCP/IP and IP address

•    Network Interface Card (NIC)

•    Local Area Networks

•    Ethernet and WiFi

•    Transfer rates

•    Dial-up, DSL, Satellite access

•    Internet, world wide web, intranet

•    Servers and client computers

•    Peer-to-peer networks

•    There are many other networking terms that could be included, but these are the most important for students at this stage

•    Internet access

•    Browser and examples of browsers

•    Internet safety. This should be a special topic to help your child learn how to protect himself or herself on the Internet. This is a time that would be especially good to reinforce house rules and go over the potential dangers of the Internet. Examples include: Not using last names or creating a pseudonym, do give out phone numbers or addresses, do not tell the name of the city you live in, the name of the teams played on or where they play, the color or number of the jersey worn.

•    Viruses, adware, and malware: What are they? What kind of damage can they do, and how do we protect our computer and our information?

•    Web sites and types including web page, web logs (aka “blogs”), stores, and search engines

•    Electronic mail (e-mail)

•    Web hosting

•    Hypertext markup language (HTML)

•    Dynamic HTML (D-HTML)

•    Extensible markup language (XML)

•    Style sheets (CSS)

•    The curriculum should include examples of each and directions for creating these.

•    What you see is what you get (WYSIWIG)

•    FIFO and LIFO (First in / first out; last in / first out)

•    Graphic User Interface (GUI)

•    Computer Programming

Note: Before beginning the computer programming section, your child should have successfully completed the math topic of converting between binary and decimal . If your math curriculum includes converting between binary, decimal, and hexadecimal, that is a bonus.

•    Why do we call computer glitches “bugs?”

•    What is “machine language?”

•    An understanding of different types of programming languages and types. This should include the difference between compiled and run-time, or interpreted, languages, the pros and cons of each, and examples of each type of language, not necessarily between the programming languages themselves. An example of a compiled language is C++. Examples of interpreted languages include script languages such as JavaScript and VBScript. An example of a programming language that is both a compiled and interpreted includes Visual Basic as it compiles to an intermediate language (IL), then converts the intermediate language to machine language at run-time.

•    Object-oriented programming

•    Executables

•    Threads

•    Multi-tasking

•    Handles

•    For Microsoft® Windows programming, one should also have an understanding of the registry and globally unique identifiers (GUIDs).

Following are some options for computer science resources:

Software development web sites to look at:

Compiled versus Interpreted Languages

http://www.vanguardsw.com/dphelp4/dph00296.htm

Visual Basic: Compiled or Interpreted? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6002955/visual-basic-net-compiled-or-interpreted

Access: Visual / Access Basic is Both a Compiler and an Interprer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/109382

Computer Tutorials, specifically Visual Basic tutorial

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Visual-Basic/Introduction-to-Visual-Basic/1

Visual Basic Tutor

http://www.vbtutor.net/index.php/vb2010-lesson-1-introduction/

XML Introduction

http://www.xmlfiles.com/xml/xml_intro.asp

Why We Homeschool

It all started in 2003 when I married my dear husband who had two boys. He had reared them for the past few years with the help of his mother while he worked. She passed away in 2001, so it was up to him to do that by himself.

The boys were typical boys – they loved everything outdoors and did not like sitting still for long.

They went to a small school, but were making poor grades. They just hurried through their assignments so they could be done with them, but they were not learning the material. When children bring home C's and D's from school and they have a class of 10 or less children they are simply not doing their school work.

At this time, the school had a no homework policy. Everything was done in school, so a parent had no idea how the children were doing until report cards came out unless they checked up on the students. I wound up doing the latter. I required DS2, we'll call him “Lucky Charms,” to bring home his history and science each day so we could review the material and ensure he comprehended it. I could not get the math teacher to send home assignments to practice and review. The English teacher was another story.

In doing this, his grades got much better – from a C to an A in science. We would stay up from the time he got home until 8:00 pm each night going over homework. When I was blessed with extra consulting work that meant I was not home right when school let out, he conveniently forgot each night to bring home his books. His grades plummeted. Strike 1.

He's a cutie. He has these blue eyes that can beg better than any little puppy ever thought about. One weekend, he begged to go to a wrestling match with a friend. Where is your report card? “They didn't hand them out,” said he on Wednesday. “I forgot it at school,” said he on Thursday. On Friday, he brought me a report card, from the previous six weeks. Did I mention he's cute and could beg well? So, against my better judgment, I let him go. I went to the school Monday to get his report card and discovered why the excuses came. I also learned that he had informed his science teacher that he would not be able to study for Monday's science test over the weekend because he was going to be at a friend's house. (This is before I gave him permission, but do you think he felt he had me wrapped around his little finger? Yep.) Boy, oh, boy, was he in trouble after that one. Strike 2.

Strike 3 came when we studied history and the end of chapter assignment told him to “summarize” a section. In 7^th grade, he did not know what the word “summarize” meant. That was ridiculous.

When I took into account that he was not learning his math well, we were working together until 8:00 pm each night, and I could not work outside the home on any significant project because he simply did not have the self-discipline and foresight to recognize what he was doing to himself and his future, we decided to homeschool.

It was not easy, but he learned a great deal from that. We both did.

DD2, Pumpkin, was not quite one when we began homeschooling. She was blessed with getting to grow really close to her older brother during this time. We read a great deal together. By age three, she was helping me mix ingredients in the kitchen and help wash dishes. She also began reading by that age. At age 9, she is a voracious reader and reads large chapter books on her own.

DD3, Sweet Pea, is also home schooled and began reading at age 4. For the younger two children, they are able to work more on things they enjoy and take the time they need to master more difficult items. For example, handwriting was a huge challenge for Pumpkin because she was so ambidextrous. After watching each boy write with the hand that he did nothing else with, one right and the other left, I gave her the time to get comfortable. She has some of the most beautiful cursive penmanship I have seen in many years, particularly for a young person.

In addition to these reasons, we are able to focus on the love of God through Jesus Christ and teach Biblical lessons and values.

These reasons and more are why our family chose to homeschool and continue to do so.

Passionate Mama

I am passionate about my love of Jesus Christ and I am passionate about my family. When I thought about this title and writing about what I am passionate about, I asked my daughters (without sharing this title first), what they think I love the most. The answers were an emphatic, “ME!” and “Jesus!” I figured I had the title right.

I am a wife, a step-mother to two young men (though I simply consider myself their mother the majority of the time), and mother to two young girls. The aside may bother some, but there is a reason behind that aside and it is not a liberty taken lightly, but one earned through earnest prayers, much time, lots of love, counsel, guidance, concern, and worry. God has helped me guide their steps with loving church families and their grandparents. God has also shown me when it was time for me to step back and let him intervene and given me peace when He did so.

We are blessed with a lovely, Christian daughter-in-law and two beautiful grandchildren.

I began homeschooling our younger son in 2004 and have homeschooled since that time. (He did graduate from a public school with our permission. Our daughters will be graduating from homeschool when the time comes.)

Getting here has been a long journey. I have worked in the corporate world. I have had a great deal of experiences that helped me grow and learn who I really am and what matters most to me. What matters most is family – and friends who you love like family.

I have a wonderful husband with a completely different personality from mine. I am a high-strung Type A personality. He is a relaxed, easy-going Type B personality. My dad thought us getting married might help me loosen up a little.

I generally call hubby a duck – problems just roll off his back. I, on the other hand, am not a duck. Over the years of having this discussion with him, I finally came to the conclusion that God made him a duck – and that is fine, but God did not make me a duck – and both of us must simply accept that fact. I may look at him and ask, in an exasperated tone, “How can that NOT bother you?” To which he simply replies, “It just doesn't. I don't let it get to me.” On the other hand, he will look at me and ask, “Why are you letting that bother you?” I respond with, “It just does and I have to work through it.”

In life, I figure that God gives us lessons to learn. I learn by trials, challenges, and experiences. I even learn by the way I work through those trials and challenges. I have learned, for example, that it is perfectly okay to give myself permission to feel however I feel – hurt, angry, frail, lost, confused – those things that do not seem to be correct to feel sometimes. I used to hold the feelings inside until I would have a physiological issue that required me to address them. I don't do that any longer. I learned that God gave us feelings to feel what is going on around us. That is what makes me passionate and concerned and involved in this world around me.

I learned, through experience, just how valuable family is. Family is so precious. No amount of money can replace family. You can always make more money, but once time is spent, you can never get it back.

The purpose of this blog is to journey through some of these lessons I've learned and share some of these with others. I wish to be an encourager of other Christian moms in their stages of motherhood through stories, prayers, and fun ideas.

I would love your comments, thoughts, and encouragement for myself and one another. I will try to respond to requests and questions in a timely manner to the best of my ability.

This blog will be monitored. Differences of opinion with statements of why one has a different opinion are welcome. Asking for clarification is appreciated. Agreeing to disagree on a point is perfectly valid. Making assertions without having walked in someone else's shoes or getting all the details is cautioned. Unkind comments, foul language, or belittling someone else will not be tolerated.