Questions We Are Asked
by Dr. Mary Kay Clark
Director, Seton Home Study School
My son has anxiety about writing the book reports and the research report. What can I do to help him?
These assignments are ones that many students, especially boys, are concerned about because boys frequently do not like to write. We find as well, when students come to Seton after being in another school, many times they have had little if any paragraph writing experience.
The fear which some students have of writing causes them to have mental and emotional struggles. The only way to overcome this fear is to give the student daily writing assignments. Once the student realizes that he can be successful in writing, the fear will go away.
The Seton program encourages writing in many subjects, but whether or not there is an assignment for any day, give one yourself. For instance, have your son write a paragraph about what he has just read in his science book or history book. He could even write, in his own words, about a story in his reader or about a parable in the Bible or about an article in an encyclopedia, or, for high school students, about an essay or article of opinion in a Catholic newspaper. It is important that your son think about what he has read, and then put his thoughts down on paper.
Writing is a process that demands thinking and analysis and logical presentation. In fact, Seton insists that students write an outline before writing a paragraph or any other type of composition. Outlining and composing develop the brain in a way that nothing else can. In most courses, students memorize facts; in math and English, students memorize processes and learn how to use these processes to solve problems. It is basically deductive thinking.
Writing compositions demands inductive thinking and putting facts together in a logical way. It also helps students—and anyone for that matter—to understand what they themselves think and believe. If you cannot put on paper what you think, then it is probably not clear in your own mind.
The history tests seem long and difficult for the 7th grade and for the 11th grade.
We are likely more demanding than other schools when it comes to writing and when it comes to history. However, this is the kind of work that junior high and high school students should be doing to be successful—in fact, to be superior—in our current society. Your children may need to improve their study habits, making outlines or underlining their textbook chapters, or re-reading their chapters, so that the tests are not as difficult and won’t take them as long.
We need to remember that the brain, just like muscles, needs to be stretched if it is to grow. Research has shown that mental activities actually build more synapses in the brain. For a student to receive the most benefit, schoolwork should involve a bit of a challenge. Just as athletes need to push themselves to achieve new goals, so do students.
We receive letters every day from students in college, in graduate school, and in professional work who say that they believe that Seton was instrumental in their accomplishing so much, not only scholastically but also in their spiritual lives. While they have given so much credit to Seton, actually it is the parents working with their children, giving them Catholic values, and demanding the best of their children, who deserve the credit.
Do we need to take all week to do the vocabulary and spelling assignments?
You do not need to take all week to do these assignments, but for some students, it helps them to retain the definitions and the correct spelling. If your child is doing very well in these subject areas, she may be able to do Monday and Tuesday’s assignments in one day, then Wednesday and Thursday’s assignments in one day, and take the tests on Friday. The beauty of home schooling is that you are able to make such adjustments.
I did not have time to do the art and music assignments. Can my daughter advance to the next grade level without taking those courses?
Yes. These are considered “minor” subjects in the elementary grades, so if you do not have a grade for these on your report card, you can still advance to the next grade level. Nevertheless, I encourage you to try to do something in these areas over the summer and next year. The art books we send are helpful in reinforcing our Catholic beliefs and culture.
Music is essential for the proper development of children’s brains. Someone in the family should learn to read music, to play a musical instrument, and to teach others how to read and play music.
If you look on the Internet, you can read article after article talking about the importance of music in a child’s proper intellectual development. Some schools require students to learn to play a musical instrument in school, or to be in a band or choir. In a survey reported on the Internet, high schools that require students to study music reported over a ninety percent graduation rate as compared with a seventy-two percent graduation rate in schools that did not require a music course.
Throughout the Bible, we read about music and even about music in Heaven. Obviously, God thinks music is an important part of our spiritual lives.
Must I give the standardized achievement test?
We give the standardized test as a placement test, and recommend the test as an end-of-year achievement test. Though we do not require it, we think it helps parents, and Seton, as one evaluation of progress. Obviously, parents are the best judge of how their children are succeeding, and, especially when children are in the early grades, sometimes the test scores are not accurate. In fact, experts recommend that educational decisions not be made solely on the basis of such test results.
These tests are beneficial because it gives evidence to questioning relatives that the children are progressing, and it is beneficial as practice to students who ultimately, in high school, will need to take standardized tests to enter college. Having taken such tests over the years helps students to be more relaxed and confident when they take collegeentrance tests.
Some states require home schooling students to take achievement tests as a measurement of educational progress, which is actually easier than more intrusive requirements of some other states. However, these “testing” states generally allow for other measures of progress, such as portfolios of work completed.
Since my daughter is doing so well, I would like to have her skip a grade level. What do you think?
We rarely recommend skipping a grade level. There are just too many possibilities of something being missed. Rather than skip a grade, a student should take the next level courses more quickly. Daily assignments could be skipped, but end of week or end of quarter tests should be taken to be sure the student does know the material. Once the student “tests out” of the courses, the student could move on to the next level of courses.
Some parents have found that while a student progresses more quickly through some courses, the student does not do as well in other courses. Taking the regular next level of courses, a student could go on to a higher level in each course whenever he finishes it.
When I was home schooling my boys, I never advanced them to the next grade level ahead of schedule. Rather, I did more enrichment of what they were studying. For instance, in history or science, my boys would read more from the books at the library about what they were studying in their textbooks. They might look at a biography or a book on the city or state where events occurred.
Learning can and should be enjoyed and sometimes, by pushing ahead, some students do not have the opportunity to enjoy learning. Education really is as much about the journey as the destination.
My mother said that when she attended the Catholic schools many years ago when the nuns were teaching, the schools did not seem to have so many problems, even though the nuns had only a high school education.
The secular culture today is much stronger than it was years ago, and the influence of the culture is pervasive. Years ago, we did not have television and the Internet, which spread the culture into almost every home. When we read 1984 in high school, we talked about Big Brother watching every family through a screen in every home. Today, the television and Internet brings the culture so thoroughly into the homes, and the schools, the secularists don’t need to worry about the citizens at all. Everyone is affected, and if the culture misses a few, they are too few to matter.
Since the vast majority of the universities are controlled by the secular culturists, the children and young adults are manipulated into the beliefs of the secular culture. Those graduates from these thoroughly secularized colleges end up running for prestigious public offices, even for president, so the secular culture ideas are continually promoted in the public square and in the government schools.
We need to pray for our Catholic graduates, that they obtain teaching positions and political positions so they can work to hold back the secular culture wave that is drowning our society in a sea of sewer sludge.
My husband left us two years ago, but I keep struggling with home schooling and holding down a job. I wonder how long I can or should continue with the home schooling.
As difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible, try to continue with the home schooling until your children graduate from high school. Since you likely don’t have the money to send your children to a private school, at several thousand dollars per year per child, the secular public school culture will drive you more crazy than any problems you now face. If a child loses the Faith, or become involved with the drugs and sex culture, your heart will be broken. You don’t want to lose your greatest treasure, your children, to the miserable life that might be inflicted on them as a result of the pressures of a public school.
Consider moving in with a relative who is willing to help during these difficult years when you are home schooling. Doing this would both cut down on your expenses and hopefully make more child care available.