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To test or not to test!
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Was wandering what your thoughts were regarding testing and if and how do you go about testing! Is testing Charlotte mason friendly? Do you test at the end of each school year, etc? Trying to determine if it’s worth doing the testing. It really would be more for my benefit!
Some people have no choice due to state law. In GA. we have to every three years starting in the third, but it’s not required to turn in and the state (or county) officials cannot ask them of you. Plus, it’s not required to graduate like it is for the gov. schools. I don’t think it’s valuable the way the gov. schools do it, but it can be useful at home.
We’ve used the PASS test every year since that thrid year. It’s not timed and it’s administered at home. I started timing last year to start getting them used to being timed. I like seeing the comparisons each year and all it does for me is confirm what I already know; my husband stresses about it since he’s not paying that much attention on daily basis and if the test doesn’t show what he wants, then he’ll panic, but not me since I’m not usually surprised by the results. This year or next, I’ll be switching to another type.
I see the benefit of doing something once they get around “4th” gr. or around 9 or 10. They need to be able to take a timed test ultimately and be able to not be able to ask questions in preparation for the big tests come high school age and once in college. Testing is a reality of the rest of the world and they need to know how to do it well-just like any other lifeskill, IMO for them to be successful.
CM did administer tests at the middle and older ages at the end of either the Terms or the year, I can’t remember which.
Here in NH, we have to test or portfolio every year. We choose to do that CAT test available through Seton. I am able to administer it at home when we are ready. I usually do it around April. CAT only tests math and language arts.
I’m also in MN and have to test annually. I tell my girls that it is testing me, not them. It helps me to determine any areas we need to cover more thoroughly. But honestly, I never learn anything from the test that I didn’t already know.
Here in NY, you don’t need to test until 5th grade, 7th grade, and then every year starting in 9th. I’ve had my children tested every year, so they are used to testing. We’ve tried every type of testing there is and finally found the peabody test through someone here and love it. We do it over skype. I love how short and sweet it is. And how the children don’t get flustered by not knowing question after question. Once they miss a few in a row, then they move onto the next section.
We are in Ohio and can do a portfolio review by a teacher or submit test scores. I’ve done both before and now we usually just do the testing because it is the simplest way to meet the law. I get our tests through Family Learning.org and administer them. In Ohio law I could send my kids to the school to test for free, or I pay for tests to do it outside of the school. FLO recognizes parents as qualified to administer the tests. We have done CAT Survey and CAT.
I do test but for the good driver discount for my high school kids – and I have tested a couple of the kids at 8th grade, though I think I may have skipped it for one of my kids since I don’t have a test summary form for that year for that child. I will, however, have my 6th grader tested this year only because she is well and truly terrified of the testing. I would much rather she do poorly right now and get her feet wet with this than do poorly when it matters more – even though I know she knows much of the information.
I also live in MN, and we have to test every year. I hate the tests. We do Peabody, which is less stressful and mostly oral, but still – I know how my kids are doing already! Since we don’t follow the public school’s curriculum, I really don’t care much how my kids compare to them. If they’re progressing through what we are working on, I am happy.
As you can see, I loathe testing. So my advice: if you don’t have to test, don’t.
Also from MN and the kids always test higher than “average”. I find testing a huge waste of money. I know how my kids are doing
Do you guys test mainly at the end of your school year? I probably will test for my own benefit some time in the early summer months when we finish our 108 days required!
I’ve never tested. So far we have lived in 3 states, none of which requires testing. Like PP mentioned, I know how they are doing…I don’t need a test to tell me.
Meant to say 180 days required!
Holly, that’s great that you don’t have to test. We will see how I like it….if it just adds more stress then we probably will not test again unless required by law.
We usually test in March but I ordered the tests and we are actually doing it next week. It is a good break for us from our regular routine. When we test that is all we do – they get the rest of the week off. Since the testing only takes about 3 hours spread over 3 or 4 days they tend to like testing week.
If you do test, I would go over the test before you send it in to see what your child got wrong. The results I get just show the number wrong, not what the problem was about. That is very unhelpful.
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