ACT Plan & Explore

I recently did a review on the ACT’s internet based career guidance system, Discover. You can check that out here. ACT also sent me two other items to review. Explore and Plan.

Explore is an assessment test meant for 8th or 9th graders. This is a test designed for homeschoolers to administer to their students to make sure they are on the mark for their grade. I like the idea of occasional testing for my students, not necessarily to compare them to the national norms, which the ACT tests do, but to simply check for personal improvement or progress. That is why I like the idea of the second test.

The Plan test is administered in 10 grade to make sure the student is on par for graduation, but early enough in the High School career that there is time to alter their academic focus if that is necessary. If the Explore test is taken in 8th and then the Plan is taken in 10th, I think the outcome of these two tests will give the homeschooled student and parent a very good idea where the student is academically and give them pointers as to where they may need to focus some more energy before college.

Both of the tests cover these four core subject areas: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science.

The EXPLORE for Homeschool packet comes with the following items:
• Testing booklet titled Sample Test Booklet and Answer Sheet
• Using Your EXPLORE Results brochure—a brief overview of score results and the process
• College Readiness Standards handbook—a handbook that provides ideas for progress in each subject to prepare students for college or the workforce

The price is $22.95 each.


The PLAN for Homeschool packet comes with the following items:
• Testing booklet titled Sample Test Booklet and Answer Sheet
• Using Your PLAN Results brochure—a brief overview of score results and the process
• College Readiness Standards handbook—a handbook that provides ideas for progress in each subject to prepare students for college or the workforce

The Price is $22.95 each.


Both of these tests came in very handy for my highschoolers and gave me some idea of what areas we needed to focus on, especially for Bob, my 9th grader. Honestly, the test didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know. As the mom and teacher, I know where my children’s strengths and weaknesses are academically, but it was helpful for me to have that confirmed.

You can go here to read more about all the programs ACT offers and as always you can click on the icon below to see what other Crew Members had to say about ACT.

Happy Homeschooling!

Mastro Classics

I was sent The Tortoise and the Hair by Mastro Classics to review for you. Mastro Classics is a company that has combined classical stories with great symphony orchestra music. This is the kind of thing that is right up our alley here in this house. Two of my four children are dyslexic so any time we can get something on audio we do. Also, I have found that classical music is a great way to get my kids to calm down and concentrate on their studies. Well, Mastro Classics combined two of my favorite things, classical music and audio books.


As soon as we got it, Ann, my youngest ran off with it. I had to go track it down to do the review. She’d already listened to it several times.



She spent quite a bit of time sewing or drawing and listening to this CD. She told me that I had to put her opinion in my review so here it is, straight from Ann.

I really liked The Tortoise and the Hair. I’ve heard the story before and it’s okay, but listening to it with the music made me able to imagine what is going on better. I give it an A+.

So there you go. You can’t get a better endorsement than that!


I believe some more of these CD’s will be showing up at our home…

You can go here to learn more about Mastro Classics and see what other stories they have on CD and find out their pricing structure (very reasonable!).

As always you can click on the icon below to see what other Crew Members had to say about Mastro Classics.

Happy Homeschooling!

Mathletics

I received a 45 day subscription to Mathletics to try out. I am always thrilled to try out anything math related especially things like Mathletics that are supplemental to our current curriculum that does not require ME!

I tried it out my youngest Ann who is in 5th grade. She was sold right from the start. When you sign up you get a parent account along with a student account which is handy. It helps you to know how your student is doing. When the student signs up they start by creating an avatar that hey can costomize any way they like.

As the student works his way through various math topics they get points for mastery. They can spend these points on things like extras to use to update the avatar.





Mathletics is an online subscription math program. The cost is $59 a year for one child. One of the things that makes Mathletics different from other online math programs is the competition factor. The students are not only learning online and playing fun math games, but they are also able to rank themselves with others on the Mathletics site. Homeschooling sometimes makes it hard for the student who thrives on competition, so something like Mathletics fills that need.



Mathletics was a real win here in this house.

You can go here to find out more about Mathletics and as always, you can click on the icon below to see what others had to say about Mathletics.

Happy Homeschooling!