Can't homeschooled kids just cheat on every exam?

Question

I'm not trying to be hurtful, I just don't know how the system works. How do they take tests? Can't they just cheat on them?

Answer 1

I guess they could if their parents didn't properly monitor them. I home-school my three Children and am careful NOT to leave anything around to tempt them especially during tests.

My niece also asked this question before, couldn't I let them just pass to the next grade and give them better test grades than they REALLY got? My answer to that is WHY would I do that to MY children? I mean seriously these are MY kids I WANT them to succeed in life NOT fail and certainly don't want to support them for the rest of their lives.

Answer 2

Firstly not all homeschooled kids even take exams; of all the registered homeschoolers here who left 'school' last year, fewer than 0.1% bothered to do their HSC (our equivalent qualification to the US High school diploma).

Most home-ed kids have no reason to want to cheat.

Personally, my siblings and I very rarely, if ever, take any tests or exams. In our family and in our education, there are no mandatory tests, grades or exams; the only tests which our parents strongly encourage us to do are: getting our drivers licence, our pilots licence (ppl) and the veterinary medicine certificates (without all of which any kid, home-educated or not, would be stuffed up here anyway).

However I reckon home-ed kids pretty much fall into two distinct schools of thought on this question (or at least they very much do in my own experience!):

There are those who, generally, have been home-educated (genuinely home-educated) all their lives who better understand that what matters is the educational journey rather than the destination (ie learning for learning's sake as opposed to gaining some contrived qualification at the end of it); typically, they will not be tempted to cheat because they'll either understand that they'd only be cheating themselves or they simply won't be that hung up on 'passing vs failing' as a distinct concept anyway. After all, the distinction between what is a passing mark and a failing mark is entirely artificial and contrived.

Personally, whenever I have bothered to sit tests/exams in the past, my only motivation has been so any tutor will get paid, *grin*. As an unschooler, I'm not a performing seal who has to turn tricks to 'prove' how much I know to someone else; or 'justify' how educated I am or how extensive my knowledge of a particular subject may be. My learning is for my own direct benefit only; as long as I'm satisfied I know what I need to know, that's plenty good enough for me and my parents.

OR

They tend to be kids who have either come to home-ed having previously been in school or altho doing lessons at home, are still enrolled in school courtesy of one of the various correspondence schools, online schools, charter schools etc.

These seem to be the kids who are obssessed with getting the qualifications, the 'right' bits of paper, the passing grades and (possibly) the positive, external re-inforcement from parents, peers & teachers which they associate with getting the 'right' answers.

In my experience, these are the kids who, yes, given half a chance, a good number of them do seem willing to cheat and, if necessary, sell their grannies, their kid sisters, their first-born sons and their very souls *just* to get their hands on the 'right' answers that, in turn, they believe will give them that elusive, magical and all-powerful piece of paper without which they'll stand absolutely no chance of having, let alone hanging onto, self esteem, job prospects, career path, earning potential, perfect family living in the perfect house with the 2.4 kids, 2 cars and a dog!    

(Doubt me? Just take a peek around this board and see the endless 'have you got the answers for so-and-so exam from such-and-such school. I REALLY need these answers'-styled questions for yourself!!!)

I don't consider their propensity to cheat a problem of home-education though; to me, it's a problem very much of the school system. It's the school system (not home-ed) that sold them the original lie, the original myth; thus brainwashing them wholesale into believing the *ONLY* thing that matters in life is being *right*...Always!

Answer 3

Homeschoolers don't relate everything to testing.   Mothers who live with their children know what their children strengths and weaknesses are.  I know if my daughter can figure tax, make change, write a description to sell something on Ebay, etc.  I know her weaknesses.  She can't graph a parabola. I know that.  I know that she understands the first ten amendments to the Constitution.  I know that.  I don't have to let a test tell me that. Many homeschoolers don't even keep grades.  You just go over every assignment, and redo what is wrong until it is right.  And you cover material until the child understands it.

Homeschooling is different than public schools. The child is more important than the grade, more important than the funding $, more important than the job.  That's why homeschooling works so well.  The child is more important than nonessentials.

Answer 4

ya it's true i have homeschooled friends and they say that they cheat on all of their tests and their parents grade their essays corrupt much?

Answer 5

Yes.  They can cheat themselves by studying for the test and not getting a real education.

This happens in the public school regularly.

Education is more valuable than a diploma.

The way I see it:

Public education places more value on being present in a class and passing the test.

Home school places more value on being educated and learning for the joy of learning.

Answer 6

Sure, just like public school kids could, but typically it doesn't happen. For one thing, many homeschoolers don't have tests in the public school sense. There's just no need for them when you only have one or two students io teach because you have the freedom to use so many other methods to evaluate your child's progress... Everything from having them do a creative project to or write a report to just talking with them about what they've been studying and noting how much they actually seem to understand. And many homeschoolers do actually enjoy learning, so they understand that by cheating on a test, you cheat yourself out of an education.

Usually when a homeschooler does have a test like one you'd find in public school, it's a state required standardized test, or the SAT or ACT, and these are often taken at test centers with everyone else who is registered for that test (public, private, homeschooled, graduates, whoever has tot ake it). And if you've ever taken a state test or the SAT or ACT then you know how difficult it is to cheat.

Answer 7

They *could*, but why would they? Parents only have one or two children they are tracking, so it would be VERY apparent if a child didn't know the material.

We don't even have tests in our home. There's no reason. I know that they are doing their work, I know when they master the material, and I know when it's time to move on. In a public school classroom, there are 30 kids and one hour in which to present material..they can't possibly be sure that every student is understanding, so they assign homework. And then, to provide incentive to do the work, they have tests in which children are forced to repeat back everything taught to them to prove they know the material. Not necessary in homeschooling.

Answer 8

Parents who homeschool their kids usually care very much about the child's education. They are not going to allow cheating.  Not only that, but the parent usually already knows what the child does and does not know because they work with them each day, it would be pretty obvious if the child started cheating.

Also, the "important" exams, such as the standardized tests mandated by some states, don't come with answer keys and are usually proctored by someone else besides the parent.

Answer 9

A lot of homeschooled students don't take tests because the parents already know what the student does or doesn't know.

If they do, their parents are there to supervise. I don't know if your parents are the kind to let you cheat, but most homeschooling parents aren't the type and make sure it's done honestly.

Official standardized testing is also often done under someone else's supervision or in a different location.

Answer 10

Which environment is more likely to let you cheat?

A teacher watching 25 students all sitting close to one another, or Mom sitting right behind you while you take the test?

Hmm.  Sounds like a no-brainer to me.  While it may be possible to cheat when homeschooled, parents are usually closely involved in their kids' education and do not tolerate cheating.

Answer 11

Actually if they are enrolled in a credited school the test that they give them are impossible to cheat.  Once they send their test back to the school and they get it graded the kids feel a great sense of accomplishment considering they really did work hard and that's what makes them learn more.....

You can't cheat no matter how hard they try.

Answer 12

I am homeschooled, via virtual charter schol, and through my progam I guess it's possible to cheat.  In order to complete your daily lesson you have to take an online assessment to evaluate your understanding of the subject.  But all assessments can be password protected by your parents so that only they can acssess them. So it's possible to cheat, but if your parent is taking the correct approach to the learning, then it shouldn't be. Plus everybody has to take PSSA's or whatever  you state's annual standardized test is, so the results of that test can tell if the child understands the subject.  So if the kid got 10% on the standardized test, but 100% on the lesson assessments, then you would know they were cheating.

Answer 13

Nope :)

My son actually wouldn't even think of cheating, partly because he knows he'd lose every leisure activity he holds dear :) and partly because he really wants to learn the information.  If he doesn't learn it for mastery, he feels as if he's failed.

I'm sure there are kids out there that can cheat (just as there are in ps), but the percentage that *would* cheat is incredibly small.  Homeschooled kids are generally raised to take responsibility for their education and to be accountable for really learning the material, and most of them really enjoy doing so.  Cheating, to them, doesn't just mean getting out of a test...it means cheating themselves out of understanding.

That, and they enjoy having access to their wheels and computers :)  With mom or dad there to monitor, it's a little difficult to get away with.  To them, cheating's just not worth it.

And as others have stated, many homeschoolers don't test as a normal procedure.  Testing is necessary in schools, where a teacher finds it impossible to personally evaluate and monitor 25-30+ children on a daily basis.  For 1 or just a few kids though, mastery can be shown through assignments, projects, and daily discussion.

Answer 14

I guess if you take tests at home with no supervision, but what's the point? REAL exams you can't cheat on, so you must mean the silly school type tests they give every other week that mean nothing.

One of the points of HS is to get a real education, not pass silly little tests. If you cheat you only cheat yourself in which case you get what you deserve.

Answer 15

That's like saying public school kids are angels who never cheat. I went to PS... THEY CHEAT THERE TOO my dear.

Yes a home school kid can cheat , but only if they have a parent NOT doing their job. All the moms I know from my home school group are very rigid when it comes to test time because they want the best education for their children possible!  Can you always say the same of PS teachers?? Be honest how many cheaters did you know in PS?? How many times did YOU cheat, even if it was small....

Answer 16

There is no reason to cheat if they have a parent that teaches them the love of learning. They won't even attempt to cheat because it is just not a part of their learning.

Answer 17

Yes, a home schooled child could cheat easily by getting the Teachers Manual and finding the answers.  I hide my Algebra Teachers book from my teenage son because I caught him cheating.  The book stays hidden and he had to start the whole textbook over again!   But parents are way more in-tuned with the ongoings in their household opposed to a teacher handling a class full.  In other subjects, I have no tests at all, just a lot of discussion time...

All written below is in response to CMOW5, not the orig poster:

No, Home schooled children are not all angels, as a matter of fact, most are quite normal children who happen to be educated at home, who can do terrible but normal things just like PS kids.  It is ppl like you who are very anti homeschooling that require us to defend OUR decisions. You have never personally been home schooled nor have you ever home schooled your own so how can you possibly come on these boards again and again criticizing something you know little about.  Why are you on the home schooling board anyway?  How many Home schoolers are on the public school boards ranting?  

We are here on this board to help people who are HSing w/ questions, thinking about it HSing or curious about it.  YOU get a life and wake up, ok?

Yo CMOW5!

Here's the deal w/ HSing, there are a million 1/2 ways to do it, there is no one right way, it is completely up to the individual families what fits for them, HSing = Freedom.  Every child is diff and learns differently and that's where HSing can be a blessing.   We are not brainwashed into thinking we are better but just that we really believe in what we are doing is making a difference w/ OUR kids.  

I think it's great that you considered HSing your child but you have obviously found some fear inside of you that's keeping you from trying it, that in turn is your reasoning for unleashing your disapproval with choosing Hsing.  Ive seen it before in ppl I know.  You can not come in here and expect ppls response to help u in your decision making process, that is silly, if you are worried about your kids safety  TRY Hsing one year and then form your very own opinion!  :)

Answer 18

I suppose so, just like institutionally educated students.  They have plenty of opportunity to cheat with cheat charts, writing formulas on the palm or passing notes.  The difference is that home educated pupils have parents who are vested in the education and success of their children.  When a concept is difficult, there is time to slow down and reteach or review.  Unlike a institutional teacher, by the time a test is taken, the parent/teacher is fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the student.  Very seldom do I have to reteach or review concepts because I am capable of stopping to thoroughly answer questions, not just gloss over.  HTH!

Answer 19

I guess they could if their sneaky and not honest, just like anyone in public school could and does.

Answer 20

Homeschool kids are like any other kids.

What is more important for you to know is that many homeschool kids do not take tests.

After all, what is the point of giving kids tests?  To make sure they have learned.  And why can't we tell without tests?  Classes that are too big.  Teachers who spend their time doing crowd control.  Schooled kids do much of their actual learning while doing homework.  Tests are necessary under those circumstances.

Many homeschool kids, OTOH, don't take tests at all.  It's obvious to their parents that they are learning.  They just have to chat with their kids.

Answer 21

That depends on a lot of factors. I couldn't cheat on the SAT, or AP exams, or SAT IIs. Some people might try to pad their grades during the year, but the exams that matter are pretty hard to cheat on.

The tests you have to take at the end of the year in NY are just sent to you, with no answer book. So, the only way I could even kind of cheat on the math would be to use a calculator- and even then, I'd still have to understand the concepts before I could 'cheat', so I'm not sure that completely counts. For the language parts, I would have to have my parents look over all the answers and do research to find out which ones were right. Any parent who would care enough to do that will care enough to be sure their kid has access to an education.

(The CAT is pretty pathetic, though, I took the advanced 10th grade test yesterday. The math was mostly working with decimals, and the language included such gems as 'bestest' and 'more strongest'. Good to know I can pass that.)

I consider myself a very moral person. I've been homeschooled since 2000. And, yes, I've cheated. I was in an online AP class and was way, way over my head. I didn't have the right study skills, I was on ADHD meds that were s******g me over, and I'd fallen a week behind and couldn't catch up. So, for two or three weeks, I cheated. I lied and reported that I'd read PSDs when I hadn't. I said I'd watched the documentaries. The textbook's website had the answers to the chapter quizzes. and I took the answers from there. I originally just meant to try and give myself a cushion so I could catch up, but I just got more and more lost, and more and more upset by my conduct. So, after a lot of deliberation, I quit. Looking back, I'm ashamed of what I did -I never told my teacher about it- and wish I'd just quit the ADHD meds sooner, because I actually learned more than I thought I did. Even then, though, there were signs I was cheating. We had to do a lot of writing that was completely based on our factual recall abilities. Now, if you don't understand anything about the French and Indian War, and you have to write a few pages about it in a few hours, having your textbook there is pretty useless.

Parents have a stronger drive and more ability to make sure that their children are well-educated. I'm not saying teachers are terrible people. I'm saying that they're overworked and can't afford to get too invested in any one student. If there are 30 -and sometimes more; my elementary school classes had 30-35 kids- students who you will never see once they graduate, how much can you afford to optimize your techniques for that student? I'm going to make up some numbers to illustrate a point. I am a fifth grade teacher. In my class, there are 30 students. In this class, there are 10 visual learners, 5 print learners, 5 kinesthetic learners, 6 auditory learners, 2 who can't focus unless they're working alone with no sound, and 2 who can't focus unless they're working in a group with background noise. After they leave my class, I will never see any of them again; they'll be moving on to junior high. If I do something kinesthetic, 25 kids won't really get it. If I do something book-based, another 25 kids won't get it. If I do something visually-based, fully 2/3 of my class won't really get what I'm talking about. If I have background noise, two kids will be driven insane. If I eliminate background noise, another two kids won't be able to concentrate. Every year, I have to tell a different group of 30 kids what the state tells me I should tell them. It doesn't matter if I think a certain book would illustrate the point much better, if some of the information is outdated or an outright lie, if it would be better for the kids if we just hung out that day, or if every single kid in my class can barely learn from print. I still need to stick them in front of textbooks.

On the other hand, homeschooling parents have considerably fewer students to take care of. They will have the same students in kindergarten as they will have in twelfth grade. They have a biological drive to make sure that their students do the best they can do, and are prepared for lives beyond school. Parents can afford to be fully invested in the education of their children, and have a relatively high degree of freedom to practice in doing so.

It's not a matter of moral superiority. Being homeschooled doesn't mean you're a little angel who's never cursed or thought about sneaking a swig from the liquor cabinet or even dreamed of staying out past the 4:15 curfew. Being homeschooled also doesn't mean that you're a sheltered little angel who never has to study...man, if that's the case, tell that to my pile of chemistry homework.

You say, 'the system,' when you refer to homeschooling. There is no one system, though people tend to automatically think that the way they live is the normal way. It makes sense; it _is_ the normal way, for that person. I'm an unschooler: My parents have not made me take any classes. I'm an independent student. My parents don't teach me, they don't grade essays, they don't give homework, yada yada yada. The way my family views tests is very different from the way another family I know views academics and tests. Their kids are always toting around some schoolwork. I've never seen their second-youngest without his head bent over a clipboard. They prepare for tests very thoroughly and care about the results. It seems to be working disgustingly well...when the second-youngest kid I mentioned was 12, he was doing Saxon Advanced Math. That's pre-calc. And here I am, happy about calculating the surface area of a cylinder. On the other hand, the lowest percentile score I've ever gotten was 94%, on the PSAT, with no prep. I'm not a genius or anything; I just had some advantages. I wasn't nervous about the test because my family wasn't nervous about the test. I didn't have other tests that week. I didn't have stacks of homework to turn in during the week. I didn't have school and sports practice and high school drama and a major sleep deficit. What I had was a pretty relaxed mood going in to the test, and a minor sleep deficit :P. I didn't do so well on the math -the SAT equivalent of a 450- but I got perfect English scores. I got a couple wrong,  but not enough to take points off. I attribute all of that to the fact that I was chilled out during the test, and had been able to focus on the practice test I took the day before going in. It was also the first time I'd ever taken an actual test like that, with protocols and being stuck at a desk. To be honest, it was my first time at a desk in a high school -in any school, actually...in my elementary school, we had undersized tables that were a bit low for some scrawny Scandinavian legs- but since I wasn't nervous about the test, I settled with being a bit freaked out and getting depressed because of the fluorescent lights.

This has gone on far too long and seeing as it's 12:15 AM and I have to be at my chemistry tutor's at 11:30 with an as-yet-untouched week of homework finished, I'm going to end it here.

I hope this helped.

Answer 22

This is great not one single home school kid cheats and they are all angels and better educated and PS schools are dumb and every teacher sucks. Seriously home school kids cheat as much as ps kids. it happens. There are good Home school kids and parents, there are good PS kids and teachers. Get a life and wake up people

O MOM

lmao,

Actually I started to come to this board because my sister is home schooling her kids, and I considered it for my child because I am sick of PS shootings and fights and everything else and I guess I am home schooled since I take a lot of my graduate classes on-line. So, I thought I would get a better understanding of it so I could make an educated decision and form my own opinions.   Well lets just say most of you guys are so narrow minding that I find it laughable. Every where I look I see "my kid gets a better education then any other PS kid does"."I prepare better for the real world". How, check out some of the scheduling questions. "O he works when he is comfortable", "there is no pressure we go at her pace". yeah because at work you can go at your pace and work when you want. "At PS she has to worry about people being mean to her and being put down" Yeah that never happens in the real world. "He got physically attacked and the school knew about it and did nothing" OK lets teach our kids to run away from problems and I could give a couple lawyers names that would be happy to help you. "We don't give test their over rated" so, I guess every higher learning institution is over rated like Yale,  Princeton, Harvard. A lot of you are giving home school kids a bad name and ruining it for the ones that are doing it for the right reasons and doing the right things. Also, I am willing to bet you are one of the ones doing it the right way, but still defending the other ones. Are there good home school kids and parents? Yes, but if this board any indication of the "norm "then I say the good ones are few and far between. Are there good PS schools, teachers, and students? Yes. I will give it to all of you for making a attempt to help your child and being involved. I am a football coach at the middle school level and some parents have no clue where their kid is or cant pick them up from practice even though when I take the kid home mom is watching TV on the couch. Thats it for now. But I will be back because I still have questions lets hope I can find a educated Home School parent that can answer them. BTW read some of the other answers to this question and you will see way I answered that way in my original post. Its funny "My kid cares more about education so they would never cheat" HS kids never cheat. At least some of you realize that HS kids cheat.

Answer 23

If they were given the answers then yes. But watchful parents can simply stop all cheating by making them test in an area with the parent nearby. It's easier to catch them cheating after all mom is only watching 1 or 2 kids at a time while a teacher is watching 24-30 or more. Kids have to learn at sometime cheating only cheats themselves.

Also most home school kids don't have many tests. Tests are needed to see where a group of kids are. They cause unneeded stress. A home school parent knows what their child is understanding or not and can spend more time teaching a particular concept. We aren't confined to what the school says must be done by the end of the year. We are allowed to work at our pace (faster or slower). We can also teach to our children's learning styles. If you teach how the child learns then the child remembers more.

Answer 24

Hi,

Lol... An honest question.  I am home schooled through an independent study program online.  Well see I could cheat, but it is more complex than that.  See I have multiple choice which are objective and I can find the answer in my book. (which is okay because my tests are open book) Then I have to write essays which are subjective (my opinion or interpretation on a certain subject) these are worth around 50%-70% on an exam.  So as you can see unless I plagiarize my essay's I am not cheating.  But to answer your question of course children can cheat, it's just a matter of whether or not they do. Same as in a traditional school, you can cheat it is just whether or not you choose to do so. I for one do my tests on my own and do not cheat.

Hope I helped! :-)

Answer 25

ive been homeschooled my whole life and no you cant cheat,, its just like any other work form... especially in the test.. because we dont get them until our work is finished and we dont know what questions are in it its all random

Answer 26

u can if ur parents give them the book but no cuase the they take a test from a book with no answers in it