Testing, testing..1..2..3..
It was that time of year again. End of grade testing? Sure, we can call it that if you want. We homeschool in NC so that means yearly testing for children aged 7 – 16.
Requirements
Parents/guardians residing in North Carolina and desiring, in lieu of conventional school attendance, to home school their children who are at least age 7 but not yet age 16 must:
- Hold at least a high school diploma or its equivalent;
- Send to DNPE a Notice of Intent to Operate a Home School. The notice must include the name and address of the school along with the name of the school’s owner and chief administrator;
- Elect to operate under either Part 1 or Part 2 of Article 39 of the North Carolina General Statutes as a religious or as a non-religious school;
- Operate the school “on a regular schedule, excluding reasonable holidays and vacations, during at least nine calendar months of the year”;
- Maintain at the school disease immunization and annual attendance records for each student;
- Have a nationally standardized achievement test administered annually to each student. The test must involve the subject areas of English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics. Records of the test results must be retained at the home school for at least one year and made available to DNPE when requested. Also, see testing FAQS;
- Notify DNPE when the school is no longer in operation.
Confession time; I love tests. I do. I know that some of you are thinking that I am entirely crazy but I have to be honest. Nothing thrilled my soul more than to color in those little circles each year growing up. I hated “open book” tests. I never opened the book during those. That would have not been as much fun! My children are a lot like me. The girls get excited when it is time for their math tests (every 5 lessons) and they picked out their outfits for our yearly test day the week before. Yep, we are just a little bit crazy. And secretly, I wish I could take the test, too.
This year, the second time for my oldest two, we tested with our dear friend who runs Bindrim Testing. The kiddos were so excited to see our dear friend and I was thrilled to have them take the Woodcock-Johnson. This was Caleb’s first time taking the Woodcock and I think it is a much better fit for him than the CAT. I think all the bubbles drive him crazy and not in a good way. Lydia isn’t 7 but I still wanted her to be tested and she might have been the most excited. (I think she was more excited to see Mrs. Bindrim than the actual test.)
You know what was really fabulous? The results? Well, yes but there is more. This past year has been rough for our family; the arrival of a precious little one, job loss, church loss and a couple of moves. Can we say “stress”? I didn’t feel that we were really hitting the mark as far as our schooling went. I was seriously concerned. Seriously. I had many people telling me that they would be just fine but deep down I was having a little bit of panic attack over how testing would go this year. God knew all about that little hidden panic attack and I know it wasn’t just chance or a coincidence that we were testing with the Woodcock. God knew I needed to see clear results and progress.
Rebekah and Mary did fabulous. (Oh, the great thing about the Woodcock is that I can get the results the same day. Isn’t that lovely? Yes, it is.) They are doing great at working independently and it showed. Even with all the chaos and stress over the past year, they are still progressing. I saw one area for one of the girls that needs a bit of work. I wasn’t surprised and I knew this was a weak area; nothing major but something to work on.
Caleb and Lydia were right where I thought they would be. They are not behind and that is wonderful considering they are not independent workers yet. Caleb’s main issue is getting that pencil to do what his brain tells it to do; a common issue for 8 year old boys. The actual writing for timed sections really threw him. That will just improve over time. Lydia did great! I was really impressed with how well she handled being timed. (I don’t time her much for math drills and such because she’s a talker folks. She has a little story for every problem on the drill sheet.) The main issue for her is that she isn’t reading independently yet. It will be awesome to see the difference that makes next year when she will have to be tested.
Now we are done with testing for another year. Woo hoo!
If you are required to test or choose to test in your homeschool, which test do you use? Do you have issues with having to test? Please share! I’d love to hear all about it.
Um… we use the Stanford Test… sent in to Bob Jones to be corrected, and that takes FOREVER. I’m jealous of the same day turn around. Wowza!
We take tests with our home school co-op, because you have to have a 4 year degree of some kind in order to administer the test.
AND actually — we haven’t tested in a few years, because I have a weak reader. (Or I’m scared of that anyway)… so I was using another form of accountability. BUT — this year is her last year of that.. so I’m going back to testing for 2010-2011. Praying already. LOL We’ll really work on reading this year, I guess.
I love reading your blog b.t.w. Ü