I'm not bashing testing or those who use it for a way to gage how and what their children are learning. Some use it to make sure they haven't skipped an area or to determine what curriculum level to use the following school year. I believe it can be a useful tool. To a point. I fear that there is a danger in homeschoolers trying to use the test as a way to prove the intelligence of their children. Or feeling ineffectual as a teacher when they don't score as highly as we had hoped. Maybe it's because we are criticized for our decision to remove them from traditional school or that we have our ability to teach them questioned but we can stray so far from our original plans for homeschooling our children when we let the view of society cause us to focus solely on performance based outcomes. We don't need to prove to the world that our decision is the best for our family. We only need to look as far as our living room sofa where our 1st grader is learning to read a book. We are a valuable component to our children's education and the home is an exceptional environment for learning. If we do decided to use end of the year testing, let us accept the results with grace, not gloating when our children excel and not feeling like a failure if the grades are not what we had hope. Knowing that every child learns differently. Albert Einstein said it best "If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will spend its entire life feeling stupid." A test is a very small portion of who our children are and will become. Let us strive to teach them that their worth is not based on what they achieve but rather on the fact that they are uniquely and wonderfully made by God to fulfill a great purpose on earth.
As we are nearing the end of yet another school year I hear a lot of talk regarding testing. Many people, including other homeschoolers, are taken aback at our decision to forgo all achievement tests for our children below high school. Yes I know, we should probably make sure they are learning "at their grade level" but we've never felt that a standard test can accurately evaluate our children on all the levels we consider important. To us, education is more than academics. It's the whole child. And no one, or test, can better assess OUR children than we can. I remember it so well, it's hard to believe it's been 7 years ago. Our oldest daughter was in second grade at a local private school. She was an eager learner and studied diligently on her own every night. She always scored at least a grade and a half to two grades above her level. We were so proud. She came home every Thursday determined to study her spelling words, insistent that nothing less than 100% would be good enough for her end of the week test. Yes, she's a perfectionist. Some times she would get that hard earned 100% and other times she would miss one or two words, after all, she was only 7 years old. On those days she missed a word or two she would always come home crying over what she missed and noting which children in the class made a better grade than she did. Maybe the other kids bragged, making her feel less when she wasn't "perfect" or maybe she was just being too hard on herself. Either way, she based her intelligence on the comparison to other students. When we brought her home she slowly began to learn that education is not a competition, it's a personal journey to be the best you can be without looking to the expectations of others. We continued this way of learning with each of our children. We want them to learn how to learn not what to know, how to figure out problems for themselves, to push themselves to excel and to stick with a problem when it's too hard. We strive to reach the whole of who they are, teaching them kindness and patience, perseverance and dedication, to be true to their word and respect their elders. From the time they have been a year old we've been teaching them to be patient and sit still when the occasion arises, such as at church or a wedding. We work to instill in them a desire to put the needs of others above their own. These are skills that can not be assessed by a standard test. These are the things we take into account for at the end of each year. Are we reaching our goals for our children. Are we teaching them what they need to know to be not only productive citizens but to be the kind of person who thinks for themselves and strives to make the world a better place not become a drain on society.
I'm not bashing testing or those who use it for a way to gage how and what their children are learning. Some use it to make sure they haven't skipped an area or to determine what curriculum level to use the following school year. I believe it can be a useful tool. To a point. I fear that there is a danger in homeschoolers trying to use the test as a way to prove the intelligence of their children. Or feeling ineffectual as a teacher when they don't score as highly as we had hoped. Maybe it's because we are criticized for our decision to remove them from traditional school or that we have our ability to teach them questioned but we can stray so far from our original plans for homeschooling our children when we let the view of society cause us to focus solely on performance based outcomes. We don't need to prove to the world that our decision is the best for our family. We only need to look as far as our living room sofa where our 1st grader is learning to read a book. We are a valuable component to our children's education and the home is an exceptional environment for learning. If we do decided to use end of the year testing, let us accept the results with grace, not gloating when our children excel and not feeling like a failure if the grades are not what we had hope. Knowing that every child learns differently. Albert Einstein said it best "If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will spend its entire life feeling stupid." A test is a very small portion of who our children are and will become. Let us strive to teach them that their worth is not based on what they achieve but rather on the fact that they are uniquely and wonderfully made by God to fulfill a great purpose on earth.
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About MeI'm Becca, a former chocolate junkie, herbal enthusiast, curriculum writer, homeschool mom to four active kids, wife to my jack of all trades hubby, blessed child of God. Archives
November 2018
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