When Gab was an incoming Grade 7 student, we decided to let him take an entrance test in one of the high schools in the city.
I would have preferred for Gab to enroll in a traditional school already once he reaches high school. The “high school” experience is something I cannot teach in a homeschool setting. While my high school days were filled with a roller coaster of extreme emotions, it was a life chapter that I will treasure. I would like Gab to have a similar experience (minus the emo version of me).
But Quennie and Gab prefer to continue homeschooling even until high school. I obliged and even found valid reasons to stick to homeschooling as long as possible.
One question bothers me though. Is he academically ready for high school? Were our elementary lessons at par with Deped standards? Or are we lagging in important subjects like Math, Science and English. To find out, we asked Gab to take an entrance exam for high school. If he passes the exam, then good. If he doesn’t get accepted, then we adjust our homeschool program to catch up.
The entrance exam is for a special science program. Those who are accepted in this program will have more advanced subjects and topics compared to a regular high school curriculum. It is one of the best high school programs in the city. In fact, one of their graduates is currently taking a degree in Physics with Specialization in Astrophysics at the University of California San Diego. Uh-hum… And most notably, one of their graduates is my smart and beautiful wife! Eeeh-hem!
As expected, the special science program will have a more stringent screening criteria for their incoming high school students. Every year, close to a thousand students would apply. But only about a hundred will be accepted in the program.
To prepare, we did not review for any subjects. Hehehe… I mean, how many Grade 6 students actually review for a high school entrance exam? What we did instead is to give tips on how to take written tests, and to remind Gab of his common mistakes and to take time to review his answers once he is finished. Finally, I taught him how to use eenie-meenie-miney-mo for the really tough questions.
We arrived early for the exams which would take the whole morning. There will be tests for English, Science and Math.
I was surprised when Gab was the first to leave the room since he finished all the tests ahead. Did he really know how to take an entrance exam? Did he follow the test instructions? Did he took the time to review before submitting? Did he answer all the questions? Or did he just look for patterns in shading the answers?
He doesn’t seemed worried though. He told us that while some of the test questions were familiar to him, a good number were tough.
Oh…
And when the results came, it was even more surprising. He was ranked #2 overall, and ranked first in Math.
WOW! I was so glad the eenie-meenie-miney-mo technique still works!
It was a relief to know that our homeschooling program is doing good so far. Homeschooling is not a walk in the park. We had our ups and downs. We had our struggles. We had our share of blood, sweat and tears.
Knowing he passed the entrance exam is ready a reward for our efforts of teaching him at home. While it is great to know that Gab can excel academically, my greatest joy is seeing him growing and developing the values that will prepare him for God’s work.
Our homeschool journey continues…
