Letting go of testing.....

[HopeAnna]

hello!!

I am so excited to be starting our HOD journey very soon but I do have one thing that keeps bugging and while I realize it is just a "public school" mentality if you will, the thought of very little testing sort of leaves me at a loss. I *know* there are other ways to assure knowledge but should my son go to college will he be ready to take a test??? He struggles greatly now taking tests. Part of me feels this is a hold over from his many PS years but I also know that a lot of people in my family are simply not good test takers. I was homeschooled but for the most part it was "school at home" and thus tests were a huge part of that as well. My husband graduated from PS. How do you keep track of where you feel your child is? I know HOD is where we are supposed to be I just would like some encouragement I guess as we start this journey.

Thank you so much!

Hope

[LynnH]

Tests are to be able to figure out what a child knows when they are in a classroom full of kids and the teacher has no clue what the student knows or doesn't know. It is also a way to compare them to other children. In the early years up through at least Preparing you are doing so much with your child you will know exactly what they know and don't know by the feedback they give you during the day. As they move to more independence then you will have written and oral narrations that show you how much they are getting out of the material.

As far as test taking there are subjects where there are tests or optional tests. We don't do Singapore so not sure if it has tests, but I know our math has tests. In Rev to Rev I think there are optional science tests. You could use the grammar reviews in Rod and Staff like a test if you really wanted to although that would lengthen your day quite a bit since you wouldn't do any of it orally. There are vocabulary tests in the Medieval Writing lessons. There are also tests in the state study in MTMM. When you get to the high school guides there are tests for more of the subjects. My ds has severe test anxiety from his days in ps. This gradual progression into taking tests has been good for him and he doesn't get near as stressed as he used to. One other thought, I read one time that narration shows you all that a child knows, whereas tests just show you what they don't know. I would much rather know what my child knows.

[MomtoJGJE]

I think if you school with Heart of Dakota and do it as written, when your kids get to college (adults then) they are very confident in what they know and don't care about taking tests. Maybe that's my unschool side leaking out, but I think they will be able to figure it out when the time comes. And they will be FAR ahead of public school students on how to write essays and papers!

[MelInKansas]

I think daily/weekly/monthly tests are pointless as the others mentioned, because you will already know what your child knows. There are spelling "tests" if you will. I think this is so great because kids who struggle don't need any more places to be told "you didn't do this right." Even the little test type stuff we do have stresses my 2nd born out. She is a perfectionist and would probably do okay in PS because she is smart, but would be upset every time she got one little thing wrong.

There are standardized tests offered probably through your local homeschool association or a friend of mine was going to tell me about a private, Christian organization that offers standardized tests so you can get an idea of where your child is at. I would tend to favor the private organization because I am not wanting my children to get put into any national database. Some people do say this is a good thing to do because it gives the child practice in taking tests. But even if I did that, I wouldn't do it every year and I would emphasize with my child that I just want them to do their best and it is okay if they don't know all the answers. So far we have not done any outside testing, but through my time with them, I am so happy and excited with what my children are learning and how they are retaining it. I just had my 9YO's Sunday School teachers tell me that my daughter does a great job of remembering what they have been studying from week to week or thinking and answering questions about the Bible stories they read in class. It is a true testimony to HOD and the CM method of narration because she was horrible at narration for the first 3 years at least and has really developed in it the past 1.5 years or so. I so enjoy the discussions we now have because she is so much better at listening or reading and thinking critically about what she hears or reads. She is really better at retention and narration than I am.

[TXmommy]

My husband and I both graduated from public school, but I knew that I wanted our kids' homeschooling journey to look different than what we did. Starting out, I wasn't fond of tests, but we did a few. Then we switched to a curriculum that has two quizzes and a test per workbook, and I graded them with grades and averages and everything! NO MORE! We still do the quizzes and tests, but I don't do number grades, and we just use them basically as review, and to say the workbook is done. I put Xs on what they get wrong, and they correct it. I also make quite a few notes and comments to help them along as I check their work. To me, if they know what they got wrong, why they got it wrong, and what the correct answer is, then that's the goal! I like to stress effort and diligence over what "grade" they got. We will be doing HOD for our next school year, so I'm new to it also, but I've dealt (and still dealing) with letting go of "public school" mentality and striving toward a homeschooling experience that's best for our family!

[countrymom]

I agree with the others. A child that has gone through a solid homeschool program will do fine on tests when they are given. Testing is not the best way to assess a child's knowledge and abilities,but of course in a classroom situation it is the method of choice for obvious reasons. My 9 yr old, ending 3rd grade just took the Iowa skills tests and I did absolutely no prep other than to show him a blank bubble sheet and have him answer three questions so he would know what that was all about. We are just finishing Preparing and have done zilch tests or quizzes. He scored extremely well, so his lack of experience in taking tests in no way affected his abilities. I would just enjoy the guides as written.