Mt. Sophia Ideas

5 Tips to Help Study for a Big Test

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:47:45 +0000

Do you get nervous before a big test?

Try these ideas:

1) Study each day. A little daily learning helps develop strong neural pathways in your brain. These strong neural pathways make information easier to retrieve even if you feel tense during a test.

2) Review your notes the evening before the test. Take some deep breaths (to lower your stress levels) and read your notes outloud. THEN find something to laugh about (laughter makes things easier to remember).

3) Quickly look over your notes again in the morning.

4) Talk to yourself well. Remind yourself of other times you’ve done well on a test.

5) Do some deep breathing before you begin the test.

You’re going to do well!

3 Tips for a Successful Homeschool High School Year

Vicki Tillman — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:54:04 +0000

We are getting ready to leap into the new school year.

Here are 3 tips to help this year be successful:

1) Make a schedule

Students who make and follow a schedule tend to do better than those who don’t. Schedules help you pace yourself- not over work and not over play.

2) Make friends

High school is an important time to surround yourself with friends who believe in you and your ideals. You need the support and the fun of having friends.

3) Make time to pray

Sounds cheesy, maybe- but you can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you. BUT you can’t do all things on your own. Check in with Him daily! Learn to listen for His voice.

Have a great year!

What to do When Your Homeschool Journey Feels Lousy- Kyle Thorp

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:33:54 +0000

Life is full of ups and downs. We’ve all seen days when the sky is gray, the birds aren’t singing, and the car won’t start. Just because you love homeschooling doesn’t mean it will always be fun or easy. Sometimes it’s just plain lousy.

: Does your life feel like a roller coaster?

Maybe neither you nor your child can understand logarithms, or the college admissions deadline that you thought was still weeks away is suddenly–TOMMOROW! Or maybe you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. For whatever reason, you just start to think, Why me? This isn’t fair?

You might try to curb your inner grumbling by telling yourself not to overreact or to count your blessings, but you can’t help feeling as if you somehow have a right to be dissatisfied.

Guess what. You have every reason to be dissatisfied!

Bad days are a blessing because they reveal an important truth: that all is not right in the world . . . yet.

: Dissections prove that homeschooling isn’t always glamorous

When I have bad days, I think of what Paul says in Romans 8 about the groaning of creation as it awaits Christ’s return to restore all things. We shouldn’t try to quiet our own groans by hoping that tomorrow will be better. We KNOW that eternity in heaven will be much, MUCH better. It would be wrong to be satisfied with anything else.

Six Good Reasons to Consider Trade School by Angela O’Shaughnessy

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:59:30 +0000

In May 2011, Mike Rowe, creator and host of “Dirty Jobs,” testified before Congress about the “skills gap” in America. He said, “We’ve elevated the importance of ‘higher education’ to such a lofty perch that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled ‘alternative.’ Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as ‘vocational consolation prizes,’ best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of ‘shovel ready’ jobs for a society that doesn’t encourage people to pick up a shovel.”

Homeschoolers have a long tradition of creating more opportunities for students to have hands-on experiences and apprenticeships. Therefore, we may be uniquely positioned to help fill this skills gap. Here are some very good reasons for some students to consider a trade or vocational route.

1. Trade schools can be a financially responsible choice. According to the College Board, the cost for an in-state public college for the 2010–2011 academic year averaged $20,339. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $40,476. In our current economic environment, it may be appealing to spend a great deal less time and money to prepare to make a good living. In addition, the average pay rate for many trades – right out of school – is higher than many other entry-level jobs.

2. Trade schools have hands-on appeal. If you want to spend less time learning theories and esoteric knowledge, and getting right down to learning the nuts of bolts of your trade, then you should consider mapping out a vocational school route.

3. Technical schools require less time. If you prefer to get out in the world and start making a living sooner, consider trade school.

4. Avoid test anxiety. Vocational schools don’t need to see your SAT scores. They want to know that you are willing to learn and ready to apply practical skills.

5. You may face less job competition or outsourcing. Hoards of people graduate from college each year and face stiff competition for jobs. However, fewer people are going into trades, and there is more attrition, so occupations requiring skilled tradesmen have less competition. Also, it’s pretty hard to send your car to India to be worked on, or to import a plumber from China, so outsourcing is not much of a worry.

6. Our country needs skilled workers. Mike Rowe said it best: “I encourage you (Congress) to support these efforts, because closing the skills gap doesn’t just benefit future tradesmen and the companies desperate to hire them. It benefits people like me, and anyone else who shares my addiction to paved roads, reliable bridges, heating, air conditioning, and indoor plumbing.”

Who is Your Homeschooler?

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:05:51 +0000

Who is your homeschooler?

If I ran into you in an elevator and asked you to describe your homeschooler(s), could you give me a one-minute answer?

(This by the way, is called an elevator pitch.)

If you don’t have an elevator pitch about your kids, maybe your mission has become fuzzy?

Why are you homeschooling? What are you hoping to create (work for God to create)?

This is a GOOD homework assignment for the summer.

Here are some things to help you get started. Let’s look at what your homeschooler is not:

-His transcript

-Her SAT scores

-His acheivement test percentiles

-Her number of honors courses

-His awesome apprenticeships

These are things your homeschooler DOES, but WHO is a different, more essential question (the rest is icing on the cake).

Try these questions:

-What does God say about your child?

-In whose image was she created?

-What gifts did He place within him and why (as much as you can know)?

-What is her character?

If you know these things, you can be faithful to the mission God has given you as a parent. The effect will be a transcript and activities that meet your child’s needs and the family mission, but it will be formed by God’s ideas.

Why not try composing an elevator pitch about your homeschooler?

5 Ways to Teach Independence- Dr. Micah Tillman

Vicki Tillman — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:09:29 +0000

Monday will be — or was (depending on when you read this) — the 4th of July. We Americans will be — or were — celebrating our independence.

From what? you might ask.

From our oppressors, we would respond.

The English? you ask. (Poor English people. Can you imagine them watching us celebrate being independent from them every year?)

Not really, no, we respond. After all, none of us were ever oppressed by England.

I mean, raise your hand: Have you ever been oppressed by an Englishman or -woman?

Didn’t think so.

____

The 4th is not about our freedom from England. It’s about freedom from tyranny — from unjust, exploitative, illegitimate force and violence.

It’s about the day when the leaders of the thirteen “united States” (not, interestingly, the “United States”) said that there are certain fundamental truths that everyone can see — truths about people and governments and God and countries — and that anybody who violates those truths forfeits his (or her) authority to rule.

But notice that they claimed these were truths everyone could see. And notice how they felt it necessary to explain their actions to the world by writing up a “Declaration.”

And notice that they didn’t declare war on the 4th. They simply claimed to be speaking the truth and explaining themselves.

____

Now, the guys who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence weren’t all good guys. But we can learn something from them, nevertheless.

The Declaration of Independence was an attempt to remind everyone of important truths (important truths they all already knew), to convince them that the government of England had violated those truths, and to convince them that the citizens of the thirteen American colonies were justified — because of those violations — in no longer seeing the government of England as their government.

The road to independence, in other words, begins with truth, reasoning, and argumentation.

____

If you want to teach independence to your children, then, what must you do?

First, teach them to see truth.

Second, teach them to understand how others see the world.

Remember, the Declaration of Independence doesn’t appeal to truths that only Americans or Christians could see. It appeals to truths that everyone could see. The Declaration of Independence tries to start its argument from “common ground.”

But even if you can’t find “common ground” with an opponent, you still need to understand how he or she sees the world. You can’t help someone get from the wrong place to the right place if you don’t know where he’s coming from!

Third, teach them how to make a case, or construct an argument, that others will find convincing.

Remember, the job of the Declaration of Independence was to convince the rest of the world that the American colonists were right. The Declaration isn’t a law that forced people to agree. And it isn’t a declaration of war that threatened violence if they didn’t agree. Its job was to make a rational argument that rational people would find convincing.

Fourth, teach them how to write.

The Declaration is extremely well written. It wouldn’t have had nearly the force it’s had for 200+ years had it not been.

Fifth, have them read great literature and study great thinkers.

The secret to the Declaration of Independence is John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government. Everyone had already read John Locke’s book, and been convinced by it. All the Declaration had to do, then was to remind everyone of what John Locke had said about people and governments and God and countries, and then convince them that what Locke had said applied to the American situation.

John Locke’s book was a culture changer. Without it, there would have never been a Declaration of Independence.

____

As homeschoolers, you have already declared your independence from the “normal” school system. And that means you have the freedom to teach independence to your children.

The 4th of July is here to remind us not to let such opportunities go to waste!

-Micah Tillman, PhD.

This post is running concurrently at http://7sistershomeschool.com

A Homeschool Mom’s 1 Corinthians 13

Vicki Tillman — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:54:50 +0000

This post ran recently at 7sistershomeschool.com. We had so much fun with it, that I am going to share it here today, and tomorrow the most awesome comment from Maureen: A Homeschooler’s Psalm 23. Stay tuned…

If I speak in the tonguesof French or Spanish, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of spelling and can fathom all mysteries of histories and all knowledge of arithmetic,

If I have a faith that can move mountains of laundry and dishes each day, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the purchase of good curriculum and give over my body to hardship of long nights of lesson preparation and research that I may boast of how well my kids are educated,but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient with slow learners.

Love is kind when they forget how to multiply again.

It does not envy my friends whose kids were born knowing long division.

It does not boast when my kids can sing well but my friends’ kid does not.

It is not too proud to admit it to my friends when I’m tired and discouraged.

It does not dishonor others’ homeschooling methods.

It is not self-seeking and unwilling to help invest in the homeschool culture around me.

It is not easily angered when my kid declares he doesn’t like science.

It keeps no record of wrongs- in me or in others.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth and teaches my kids the same.

It always protects my family and friends.

It always trusts that God has a plan and cares what is happening.

It always hopes that I will be able to hear God and obey His will for my family.

It always perseveres- even on LONG days.

Love never fails.

Do you have any homeschool adaptations of Scripture verses?

3 Powerful Ways to Enhance a Transcript

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 09 May 2011 02:04:16 +0000

Competition is fierce for entrance into some colleges.

For many homeschoolers, college is the next step after high school. How can he/she add power to a good transcript?

1) Develop expertise in a talent.

Colleges are often impressed when a transcript shows that a student has put quality time into a talent and developed expertise in that area.

When my daughter was in high school, she was passionate about photography and showed talent in that area. In order to develop that gift, she took courses at the local community college- earning a certificate in Visual Communications at the same time she was graduating from high school.

When she interviewed with the department chair at the college she liked best, she came armed with a professional quality portfolio and walked out with an extra scholarship.

2) Find appropriate competitions.

One of my sons had skill in film production. We looked for competitions to show his determination and skill in that arena.

-As part of our Cinematography Club in our homeschool support group, we took some teens and their film entries to the San Antonia Independent Christian Film Festival for several years.

-He entered, with his friends, music videos into Association of Christian Schools International’s Regional Fine Arts Competition. (ACSI allowed our support group to participate as a non-member school.)

-He kept his eyes open for other, smaller competitions and, with his friends, produced small videos to enter.

3) Volunteer in the Talent Area

Find a community organization or ministry that could use your teen’s skill.

Both my son and my daughter used their skills to help out the local Urban Promise ministry. Ezra produced a promotional video. Joanna did photography for their promotional brochures.

All these things go work to make a powerful transcript. List special courses under curriculum, competitions and volunteer work in separate sections on the transcript.

This post is running concurrently on my other blog http://7sistershomeschool.com

Praise and Raise Night

Vicki Tillman — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:17:17 +0000

Thanks to all who came and to all who donated (cash, school supplies, baked goods) to help our sister schools- Urban Promise High School and Elijah School.

Mr. O'Sullivan's Team

Thanks also to our 2 praise bands. Both bands gave us great praise songs and lots of fun.

Caitlin's Team

“I am very proud of our musicians AND our students. They understand the school mission of maximizing their potentials and creating a culture for Christ!”- Mrs. Tillman (notice, I enjoy quoting myself. *smile*

What Is Love?

Micah Tillman — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:48:05 +0000

Earlier this semester I had to give someone some relationship advice. The question of who loved whom — and what exactly love is — was central to our conversation.

Then, a couple weekends back, my sister married a very awesome guy. I naturally had to write them a long philosophical discourse on the nature of relationships and love.

So, I hope you’ll forgive me if I devote this post the to topic of love. It’s not a homeschool-specific topic, but it’s one homeschoolers definitely have to deal with.

And there are few topics that are more important, in the end.

____

I want to talk about romantic love specifically. I feel particularly compelled to talk about this kind of love because (a) I’m married, and (b) I teach college students.

As a married person I want to make sure I get love right. And as a teacher of college students, I get worried that they’re going to get love wrong.

I mean, have you ever listened to the songs about “love” that kids listen to, or seen the shows and movies about love that kids watch? You remember the songs you listened to and the shows/movies you watched when you were young, right? It’s essentially the same stuff: fun (for the most part), shallow (for the most part), and occasionally disturbingly bad.

____

So, what is love, exactly?

I think love happens in three levels.

It begins as a desire, not as something you explicitly choose. Specifically, love begins as the desire to spend the rest of your life with someone, helping him/her to achieve his/her goals and to become as awesome as he/she can become.

That’s what falling in love means. It’s something that happens to you. You can’t help it, as it were. (But more on that later.)

And if that’s not what you desire, you haven’t fallen in love. You’ve fallen into something else, which may be perfectly fine, but isn’t love.

____

The second (and deeper) level of love is the addition of commitment to desire.

Specifically, love becomes the desire and commitment to spend the rest of your life with someone, helping her/him to achieve her/his goals and to become as awesome as she/he can become.

This level is extremely important. This is where you shift from merely being in love with someone (which is a fine thing to be in, usually), to loving her or him.

This is the level where you engage not just the emotional/desiring side of yourself, but your full self — mind, emotions, soul, body, etc. — since you make a commitment to do whatever is involved in spending the rest of your life helping the other person to achieve his/her goals and to become as awesome as he/she can.

____

The third (and perhaps deepest?) level of love is the acting out of your desire and commitment to spend the rest of your life with the other person, helping her/him to achieve her/his goals and to become as awesome as she/he can become.

Until you act out your love, your love isn’t fully actual. To actually love someone, you must act. (The word “actual” has the word “act” in it for a reason!)

And that means you must actually (a) do what is required to spend your life/time with the person you love, (b) do what is required to help him/her achieve his/her goals, and (c) do what is required to help him/her become as awesome as he/she can.

____

But now we face two questions.

First, can you control whom you fall in love with?

Second, can you fall out of love?

____

The answer to the first question is, “No, and yes.” What you find attractive depends upon your character and personality. You have the power to shape both your character and personality.

If you have a bad character — that is, if you are shallow and vindictive and immature — you’re going to be attracted by a certain type of person. If you work on improving your character, you’ll begin to be attracted by a different type of person.

So, your character determines who you’re going to desire to spend the rest of your life with, helping her/him to achieve her/his goals and to become as awesome as she/he can be. But you determine — and can change — your own character.

____

The answer to the second question is, “Yes, but it doesn’t have to be a disaster.”

Love is one part desire, one part commitment, and one part action. The commitment in some sense is the completion or actualization of the desire, and the action is the completion and actualization of the commitment.

To “fall out of love,” I think, simply means losing the desire part of love. Desires are like emotions. They can be fickle. They can come and go. But the “heart” of love is in the commitment and action that actualize the desire, not in the desire itself.

If your desire flickers, therefore, I’d be willing to bet that continued commitment and action (which make love complete and actual) will bring the desire back to life.

And remember: While desire is the only part of love that you don’t control directly, you can control it indirectly by the way you shape your character. And you shape your character by the way you choose to act and think.

____

So, that’s my theory about love.

What do you think?

-Micah Tillman

_{[Micah is a Mt. Sophia graduate who is working on his doctoral dissertation at The Catholic University of America. He also gets to teach philosophy (as a "teaching fellow"), which he loves.]}