You might wonder, what about you, Beverly...what do you do?
- Do you test? No
- Have you tested? Yes
- Will you test again? Good question
- Are you against achievement tests? No
Testing is not required here in California. But achievement tests were required of certain age students in the homeschool support group I used to be involved with. So, I tested. What did I learn by these tests? I learned that I'm not good at giving tests to my own children. I learned that my daughter needed to learn maps, charts and graphs. I learned that overall my kids were doing great. Did it help in our homeschooling? I really don't think so. Does that piece of paper sitting in my files that nobody has ever seen do anybody any good? No. Do I regret testing? No. Like everything else in life, it was a good learning experience for our children.
That said, consider this. Achievement tests will give you an overall picture of how your kids are doing. They will help you to see their strengths and weaknesses. They will help you to track their progress over the years. They can also provide practice and confidence for other tests, like college entrance exams and placement tests.
Sometimes just hearing that your kids are tested every year is the key to smoothing over the problems and doubts your friends and relatives might have with you homeschooling.
Testing at home versus testing in a group: I've done both. In my opinion, testing the children at home, especially when they are younger is a better measurement of where they are, because they are in their natural learning environment. It is difficult for a young child to be thrown in a group all of a sudden to do testing when they are used to doing everything in their own home without the distraction of other kids. Older students should probably start testing in a group to prepare for future testing environments.
To prepare for testing, make sure your children get a good night sleep, eat a good breakfast and have a comfortable, well-lit testing area. If testing at home, it might be a good idea to turn the ringer off on the phone. The distraction of even the answering machine can interrupt the train of thought and cause the mind to wander. If you have younger children, you might want to take them to grandma or make other arrangements to keep the noise level down.
Try not to be anxious about the testing. Let your children know that there are questions on the test that are too easy for them, some at their level and some they aren't expected to know. Provide a piece of scratch paper. Make sure you have a good working timer. Tell them to do their best, but don't spend too much time on each question. If they can't get an answer, take their best guess and move on. They can mark down the questions they were unsure of and go back and try again, time permitting.
Here are some other articles around the net on the pros and cons of testing and links to resources that provide testing materials.
