Our school recommends reading -- at least 45 minutes per day. We also want you to "be like Oprah."
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OPRAH and her LIBRARY
Reading at home
An essential part of preparing for life after high school
THE HOME LIBRARY
Our school has a goal for each student.
Build a bedside library.
Oprah Winfrey has led the way with this idea. She keeps ten books next to her bed to read from. One of the books is a quote book.
We have supplied each student with a quote book (such as H Jackson Browne’s books). If you have a book in your library that you can recommend to your child, please let us know so we can adjust our curriculum to include the books that your family has.
SUMMARY (more tips for success at school)
- Reading Daily is essential.
- Preparing for tests
- The Weekly Letter
Our school asks students and parents to look at academics as 24-hour job.
Make sure students get 8 hours of sleep
Make sure students read at least 45 minutes per day.
Make sure students look at sample test problems at least one hour per day.
This means in a week, the student reads 45 minutes x 7 days = 315 minutes or about 5 hours 15 minutes per week.
HOW TO COMPLETE 7 Hours of test prep per week
Our school’s weekly schedule makes this easy: Friday can be when students catch up. Look at test questions for 30 minutes each day (6 days x 30 minutes = 3 hours) and on Friday the student can do 4 hours of test questions (it will help if 30 minutes is spent on writing an essay).
The 7 hours for test questions should be divided between math questions, grammar and reading questions and writing an essay. At least one essay per week is helpful.
To prepare for tests, students generally need to invest at least one hour per day LOOKING AT SAMPLE PROBLEMS. This means
- reading the problem for 1 to 2 minutes,
- spending at least 2 minutes finding the incorrect answers, and
- One minute for finding the answer (showing work in math questions, drawing arrows to the text to show how you found the correct answer in reading questions).
- Each incorrect answer needs to be explained “why is this answer wrong?”
This is a mindful approach. Each question can take 5 to 8 minutes to deeply investigate. It is tempting (perhaps) to circle an answer and move to the next question. This step-by-step method reveals deeper understanding.
Some of this “looking at test questions” takes place at school. The typical environment in the school does not match the test-taking situation.
Test situations
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Classroom
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Test areas are quiet
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Our classes encourage working together, so we are learning through talking and listening.
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Test taking is usually about “asking students to produce”
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Learning is about “asking students to take in information.”
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The students are isolated
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The students are together
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The school also sends home worksheets and samples from previous tests.
You can create the ideal learning space at home.
Students often say, “I study better with music.” Fine. The music should be without lyrics. No singing. There are plenty of songs and “music to study by” on Youtube. Parents have a role to make sure that time is well spent during the study session.
School is a time to “practice being a young adult.”
The practice continues when the student is not on the school campus.
Some of the responsibility for following these instructions rests with the teenager. When a teenager sets up a quiet space and listens to music without lyrics, we can give points (if the parent confirms that the student is using time wisely).
THE WEEKLY LETTER
Each week the school sends home with the student a letter that includes recommended websites and videos to visit. Please make sure the student sees the materials. As adults in the house, you are encouraged to demonstrate “life long learning” by looking at the links, too.
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