About a decade ago, I heard that California pulled a cross-section of elementary schools out of its files for an experiment. The teachers were instructed to 'stress the three R's' over a period of time. And you know what? The test scores of these youths were higher than those with the regular curriculum.

Though the experiment proved successful, the program was dropped. Far be it from me to probe the minds of the big-wigs, but the only thing I can figure is that they canceled the program for the same reasons they don't adopt safer, cleaner, and more plentiful energy sources.

But my point is: Can homeschoolers learn from this experiment?

Now, I don't mean to 'restrict' our curriculum to Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. I mean to STRESS it. When a student becomes proficient at the basics, it gives them a rock solid foundation in which to build his education. How? Let's take a look.

Reading would naturally come first. Think of it as the cornerstone of your child's education. Reading well leads to its enjoyment. The more he enjoys it, the more he reads, the more he reads, the more he learns.

He'll recognize how words are spelled, how words are structured into a sentence that makes sense, and how the meaning of a word comes through the context. From there, he will branch out and learn other subjects that interest him by reading.

By stressing wRiting, your student will learn to develop her own thoughts by putting them on paper. Result? Another form of communication opens up to her. Letters, resumès, reports, writing as an art form, and grammar will be then be added to your child's educational foundation.

aRithmetic can also be stressed at a very young age. My son knew all his times tables when he was 4. The key is repetition, i.e. stressing. I simply gave him a page of times problems to solve every day, until he had all of them memorized.

By stressing aRithmetic, a teacher can then, branch out to cooking, telling time, shopping, checking accounts, handling money, measuring space and so on into life.

Does stressing the 3 R's sound simplistic? Why not? Those of us with more than one student relish simplicity. It works for me.

(My article Projects In a Pinch shows inexpensive ways to stress Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic.)