The Affective Domain describes the way people react emotionally. There are five levels which move from the lowest to highest. They are:

1. Receiving: the student passively pays attention. Without this level no learning can occur.
2. Responding: the student actively participates in the learning process.
3. Valuing: the student attaches a value to something.
4. Organizing: the student can put together different values, information, and ideas by comparing, relating and elaborating on the information learned.
5. Characterizing: the student holds a particular value or belief that now exerts influence on his behavior.

The Psychomotor Domain describe the ability to physically manipulate a tool or instrument. These objectives tend to focus on change of behavior and/or skills. Bloom never created subcategories for skills in the psychomotor domain, although others did so later.

The Cognitive Domain revolves around knowledge, comprehension, and critical thinking. There are six levels in this taxonomy, moving from lowest to highest, with each one building upon the previous.  They are:

1. Knowledge: can exhibit memory of previously learned materials by recalling basic facts, terms, concepts and answers.
2. Comprehension: demonstrates understanding of facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating main ideas.
3. Application: using new found knowledge. Solve problems by applying knowledge, facts, techniques and rules.
4. Analysis: examine and break information into parts or categories by identifying motives or causes. Can make inferences and locate evidence to support generalizations.
5. Synthesis: compile information together to create something new or develop an original idea about something.
6. Evaluation: The critical thinking stage.  Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria.

So, how can this information help you in your homeschooling efforts to prepare your child for college?  Simple.  Most people intuitively know these steps are taken in the learning process, but haven’t thought through all of them and how they pertain to each other.  Knowing this, it can help you to better prepare your student by understanding the steps that need to be taken so that he can more efficiently and effectively learn the necessary information that will prepare him for college and life.  Any thoughts?  Are you already using a similar process?

Note:  Some information was taken from Wikipedia.

What should a homeschoolers transcript look like?

There really isn’t a standard for high school transcripts. After working in the college admissions field several years, I’ve seen everything under the sun. Transcripts vary from state to state, and from school district to school district. Simple is good. Only those things which are relevant to your student’s academic career should be listed on the transcript. These will most likely include the following:

• Name, address, and date of birth of the student.

• School address and contact information.

• Names and grades for all courses completed during student’s high school education, along with the number of credits.

• Date of graduation, which must be after the date of the completion of all courses.

• The signature of the primary homeschool teacher, principal, or headmaster.

It is always preferable to list the student’s standardized test scores, such as the ACT and SAT. This is purely a convenience factor for the admissions office.  (A great way to win brownie points!)  Some schools include the student’s social security number on the transcript, but I would advise against it. Documenting the grading scale used is also important. Lastly, having the transcript notarized with an “official” seal is a good idea. (you can buy one at most office supply stores.) Like to see a transcript template which you can download for your personal use? Your wish is my command!

Home School Transcript Template

Let me know how you like it by leaving a comment. Happy learning!

I’ve heard that it is good to use a sort of “school” for homeschoolers that the parent pays to keep homeschooling records for validity in transcripts sent to colleges. What options are there?

Record keeping is very important in high school, as most every college or university will require some sort of transcript to review for admission. Since organization is key in this regard, those parents who feel they lack the ability to keep accurate records may opt to use a 3rd party home school curriculum who will keep track of courses taken, grades, etc. There are many excellent home school curriculums out there, and their prices very by product and service. For some, this may seem to defeat the whole purpose of homeschooling, the creative, design-your-own-curriculum or unschooling mentality. If you fall in this category, make sure you keep copious records of activities, tests, grades, etc. As with many things in homeschooling, there is no hard and fast answer. It will greatly be determined by your own teaching style and your son or daughter’s needs.

I’ve heard that these “schools” sometimes use a different grading scale than local public schools (i.e. 93%-100% is an A, 85-92% is a B, etc.) which would appear on a graded transcript that the child in home school who scored a 91%, earning a B, did worse than the public schooled equivalent who earned an A- for his 91%. Is this the case? If so, what can be done about it?

Many private schools have more rigorous grading standards than do public schools, and the same can be true for homeschool curriculum providers. The key here is to make sure the grading scale used is documented, so the the college or university reviewing it can see the quality and make their own determinations. This is another reason why standardized test scores are weighed so heavily in the admissions process, they tend to be more objective than a student’s GPA, which could potentially vary depending upon the school attended or curriculum used.

Anyone else have suggestions for Kristen?

20 years later, the class was studied again. The 3% that had specific goals at graduation had amassed more wealth in the 20 years than the other 97% combined! Goals make that type of difference.

What’s stopping you from writing specific goals? Goals will make all the difference in your life! Turn your dreams and aspirations into specific, measurable, and written goals. You will achieve more.

Make sure to set goals and time lines for all the areas of your life, physical, mental, personal, spiritual, social, family, financial, and career. Dan Miller from 48 Days has a great worksheet on goal setting. Check it out here.

When it comes to preparing for college, goal setting is extremely important. Having a clear, concise plan is essential to success, and this is a skill that will serve students well throughout life. Public and private schools have a plan for their students, unfortunately, most often it is the opposite of the plan that we would prefer for them. Nothing wrong with creative, unstructured learning, sometimes this can be the best kind. But in order to accomplish goals and objectives, there must be a method to the madness, some type of order and structure that will facilitate the best learning environment.

Proper planning prevents poor performance. Begin to map out where you want your student to be during 12th grade and work backwards. Through this simple process, it makes the end goal much more realistic and plausible.