As a home-school dad and unapologetic school choice advocate I often encounter the complaint from public school defenders that home-schoolers and private school students don’t have to take the same tests as the public school students. Of course, those of us who have forsaken the public schools counter by asking why we should lower our standards. But that’s just mean, isn’t it?
The fact is, you can’t give kids who are being taught a different curriculum the same test. You just can’t expect kids to know stuff they haven’t been taught. If my kids hadn’t already been taught that life wasn’t fair, I’d say such a notion was, well, unfair.
To make this point further, in January I decided to go “off the board” and develop my own home school curriculum for my 8– and 6-year-old daughters. As such, I spend several hours each Sunday laying out the lesson plans for the coming week. And while the two girls are taught 3rd-grade and 2nd-grade level coursework for reading and math respectively, I teach them general education subjects such as history, music, biographies, geography and science together.
This means I also create my own weekly tests for the girls to take on Saturday mornings based on the lessons we covered that week, or material from a previous week which I want to give additional attention to. Such as not ending sentences with prepositions. And not starting sentences with the word “and.”
In any event, those of us outside the “system” often will say, “I’ll make my kids take the public school tests if the public school kids have to take my tests.” And to see just how such a deal might play out, I’ve posted Professor Muth’s weekly test from yesterday below to give folks a better idea of why you can’t force privately educated students to take public school tests unless they include purely basic and universal educational questions such as, “What does 2 plus 2 equal?”
So, go ahead. See how well you’d do on a general education test at the Muth Academy of Home School Excellence.
MUSIC
What instrument did Louie Armstrong play?
__ The trombone
__ The saxophone
__ The trumpetWhat kind of music was Louie Armstrong famous for playing?
__ Rock & roll
__ Bluegrass
__ Hip-hop
__ JazzWho was the lead guitarist for Led Zeppelin?
__ Jimmy Paige
__ Robert Plant
__ John Paul Jones
__ John BonhamWho was the lead singer for Led Zeppelin?
__ Jimmy Paige
__ Robert Plant
__ John Paul Jones
__ John BonhamHISTORY
Who yelled “The British are coming” on his famous midnight ride?
__ Ben Franklin
__ Paul Revere
__ Thomas Jefferson
__ SpongeBob SquarePantsWho fired the first shot that started the Revolutionary War?
__ The Americans
__ The British
__ The Democrats
__ Nobody knows for sureWho did the Texans fight at the Battle of the Alamo?
__ The Indians
__ The Republicans
__ The Mexicans
__ The LiberalsWho was the famous pioneer from Tennessee who died at the Alamo?
__ Daniel Boone
__ John Wayne
__ Davy Crockett
__ Dora the ExplorerWhat does “suffrage” mean?
__ The right to go to school
__ The right to vote
__ The right to drink beer
__ The right to pursue happinessAphrodite was the Greek goddess of…
__ Cooking
__ Love
__ DancingApollo was the Greek god of…
__ Light and sun
__ Earth and wind
__ Oceans and fireThe king of all Greek gods was…
__ Hercules
__ Zeus
__ Sinbad
__ DaddyGEOGRAPHY
Which ocean is the smallest ocean?
__ Indian
__ Pacific
__ Arctic
__ AtlanticWhat are the swampy plains of the Arctic called?
__ The icebergs
__ The snowcaps
__ The tundra
__ The tar pitsWhich of these people live in the Arctic?
__ Italians
__ Greeks
__ Eskimos
__ MexicansWhat is the capital of Argentina?
__ Paris
__ Buenos Aires
__ Moscow
__ LondonWhat is the name of the largest mountain range in Argentina?
__ Rockies
__ Alps
__ AndesWhat are Argentine cowboys called?
__ Gauchos
__ Muchachos
__ TostitosThe official language of Argentina is?
__ English
__ Spanish
__ French
__ KlingonThe farmland area of Argentina is called…
__ The Great Plains
__ The Pampa
__ The RainforestSCIENCE
What are the hardest parts of your body?
__ Teeth
__ Bones
__ Toenails
__ Daddy’s headWhich of the following does NOT keep you healthy?
__ A balanced diet
__ Plenty of exercise
__ Watching TV
__ Getting enough sleep
__ Keeping your body cleanAbout how many bones are in an adult body?
__ 100
__ 200
__ 300About how many muscles are in your body?
__ 200
__ 400
__ 600About how many times does your heart beat every minute?
__ 20
__ 70
__ 150Most of your body is made up of, what?
__ Water
__ Skin
__ Bones
__ MusclesNumber the sequence of how food enters your body and then moves through it, with “1” being where the food goes first.
___ The small intestine
___ The esophagus
___ The butt
___ The mouth
___ The large intestine
___ The stomachWhat does your respiratory system allow your body to do?
__ Eat
__ Sleep
__ Breathe
__ FartGRAMMAR
Prepositions are…
__ Different ways to sit on the floor
__ Asking someone to marry you
__ Words that describe location or positionVerbs are…
__ Action words
__ Questions
__ PeopleNouns are…
__ Questions
__ Directions
__ Places or thingsWhat do conjunctions do?
__ Describe verbs
__ Connect parts of sentences
__ Describe nouns
__ Stop trainsFAMOUS QUOTATIONS
Complete this sentence: Familiarity breeds…
__ Comfort
__ Contempt
__ Puppies
__ Space aliensComplete this sentence: We must all hang together, or…
__ We will all hang curtains
__ We will all hang separately
__ We will all hang our hatsComplete this sentence: If you don’t put it away…
__ I’ll give you a dollar
__ I’ll throw it away
__ I’ll have your mom clean it up
Click HERE for the answers.
Posted on April 13th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
Don’t mean to bore you with facts but when I hear the illegal aliens in this country talk about owning Texas before the gringos stole it, the population of Texas at the time of the battle of the Alamo was sometning like 4000 mexicans and 30,000 gringos. they hate it when I give them these facts. their response is..”Stupido Gringo , no tiene nada en la cabeza. cabron !
Think I passed this one. My home-schooled granddaughters took the Iowa achievement tests, same as public schools use, scoring in the high 90s every time. Younger one finishes high school this year, formally, but has completed a year of college since she had all her credits. They have learned piano, art, cooking, baking, beadwork, gardening, sewing from their mom; take violin lessons, play in orchestra at the “umbrella” school, at church and weddings. They have a great group of friends, mostly home-schooled, go as a group to stage performances and were in 4-H. Think I discouraged them when I laughed when they said they had to go bathe a chicken.
I will definitely be home schooling my kids!
How many public schooled adults could answer the majority of these questions, much less 6 and 8 year olds?
For that matter, how many public school adult “teachers” can answer the majority of these questions?
Answers?
Got them all except the Led Zepplin band members. Not something I care to remember!
Hi Chuck,
To be “PC”, the Native Americans who live in the Arctic generally prefer to be called Inuit, not Eskimos.
Regards, Dick
I got most of them, but only because I was educated back when schools taught this stuff. To my dismay, my kids probably wouldn’t do as well. Point made. Good job Chuck.
Love it!
“Conjunction Junction, what’s you’re function?”
How many people here were singing that in their heads while reading question four in the Grammar section? School House Rock!
I hs my kid and I got them all. You mean they don’t teach this stuff in public school? Oh that’s right, that’s why my kid isn’t IN public school!
Don’t tell the Inuit they’re “Eskimos.” That’s like telling the Lakota they’re Sioux.
[…] For those who asked for the answers to Prof. Muth’s Weekly Exam, viola! […]
Congratualtions!; you are alll “Smarter Than A Sixth Grader!”
…though kids have more bones than adults and depending on whom you ask there are 600+ to 800+ muscles in the body, but hey, I bet the pluarility of kids in this State couldn’t pass this quizz.
Beautiful test! And that’s only one week. I missed 3. And to think that California had SMSG math in the 60’s (some math, some garbage). Kinda like GIGO.
Good job Chuck. (oppsy, forgot the puncuation)
Thanx
Missed 2 questions. This is exactly the reason why I pay to have my grand;-daughter go to a private school here in beautiful Carson City. I would be able to put about 2K in my bank account every year if I had vouchers to help offset the tuition. We can only hope that the current educational mediocrity will change for our future generations of children. I hope to see your idea of educational reform and school choice adopted as soon as possible.
I knew that our ed syst was on a slippery slope when the Jackass Carter turned it over to the union goons. They greased up the ways.M. My neighbors have a tahirteen yr old daughter who is starting in algebra. The first session first problem was 7x-2x, I told her that sinc the unknowns were the same it could be answered by simple subtraction., and as God is my witness, that kib whipped out a calculator, I was stunned and told her that I would not allow that. So then she made seven marks on a scratch paper, crossed off two of them and counted those that were left.. She thought me unfair since calculators were allowed in class.
In my letter I neglected to mention that her parents had asked me if I would tutor her.
Hi Chuck-
Great test.
Hate to nitpick, but you spelled Jimmy Page’s name wrong.
Good luck on your GED test, Mr. Mouth. I hope all that homeschooling pays off for you. PS What happened to your hair? Did somebody took it?
I’m a college teacher and an ardent defender of home-schooling (I see every day what our public schools have sent us!)
And you teach your kids about Led Zeppelin? AWESOME!!!
I teach my college kids about them, too!
Chuck,
Where’s the math?
Not to one up you Chuck.
We home school 5 children… 8, 7,6, 2 1/2, and 7 months.
In the past 6 weeks they have
Seen the Arch in St. Louis
Eisenhower Presidential Library
Stones Creek (civil war battle field)
Aquarium in Atlanta
Toured Savannah Georgia
St. Augustine (fountain of youth, oldest wooden school house, Ft. San Marcos)
Spent the day at JSC in Fl
Watched the space shuttle launch March 11th (in person)
Went to Key West
Toured the Everglades (alligators and boa constrictors)
Spent a couple of days at Thomas Edison’s home
Spent a day at the Alamo
Went through Carlsbad Caverns
Roswell, NM (hey you have to stop sometime)
Petrified Forest
Meteor Crater
Grand Canyon
Zion Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Bonneville Salt Flats.
Oh, we live in Albany Oregon.
All the while the kids kept up with thier homework in the van.
Friends who don’t know me well, say “How did your children get the time off from school?” As if public schools would be a more important place to be, than to spend 6 weeks of serious family time.