How often do you give your kids exams?

Question

When you are home schooled, how often do you 'test' your children.

Is it after every topic?

Is it yearly? What if you teach all year, and give them a end of year exam and they fail?

Do they repeat as such?

How do you know if they are 'on par' with what they are sposed to know?

Jus curious ??

Answer 1

personally im a student, so I shouldn't be answering your question, but my friend is homeschooled, so i think i might know the answer.

Her parents give her a test for every topic she's done.

After she's done all the topics and all the tests throughout the year, they will give her a final exam for all the topics she made, so she doesn't forget anything.

Hope this helps:)

Answer 2

Curriculum-based tests:

For us, it has varied depending on the child and the curriculum. For instance, my oldest son, now in college, was a very auditory learner so he and I worked together very closely on most of his assignements because he thrived on talking his way through his learning. Because of all the discussion, I fely I knew with 100% certainty what he understood and what he did not understand. My daughter, on the other hand, needs complete quiet and independence with her work to excel. For her, if I did not test her, I would have no other way to know that she understood the concepts, particularly because she is prone to not ask for help if she doesn't understand it.

Some curriculum will only have tests and not have any other practice activities. Tests are needed in this instance just to be sure the information and/or skills have been assimilated.

Standardized Tests:

I am rather fond of these because I like to know how the children are doing in relation to their peers. I don't like tests that only give you a raw score though. I need a breakout of the subtest areas for it to be useful. The IOWA test is good and so is Stanford for giving enough details that you can use the results prescriptively. If I could afford to do so, I would have all my kids tested every year. As it is, they get the test about every 2 to 3 years. I use the SAT (or PSAT) and ACT at the high school levels.

Answer 3

We don't do any tests at all in our house as we're unschoolers so taking any sort of tests doesn't fit with our family's educational philosophy. We don't "do" passing or failing either. Neither do we bother comparing how we're doing or what we're learning against that of kids at school.

I can't tell you whether I'm 'on par' with other 15yr olds in the public/private school system or not simply because I have NO idea what they're learning or what is on their curriculum or whether they're studying the same things I choose to study or not. I'm satisfied with my own learning achievements and that is more than enough for both me and my parents (I'm currently studying french history...all of it in french as my main learning project).

(Living in the bush, there are no public schools or public school kids around here to ask about their school work or the content of their lessons/curriculum. The only kids I know who do go to school are away at boarding school for most of the time; they're only home for a few weeks a year and so school tends to be the very last thing they want to be reminded of in that time!)

Answer 4

I don't give my kids exams or tests. They're not required here.

Actually, I have to take that back. I was putting together some worksheets the other day and said something about it being a way to test to see what she knew and what she didn't and my daughter jumped on it, all excited about the idea of doing a test.  lol.

As for being on par with "what they're supposed to know", supposed to know according to whom? My dd is 10 and has already done square roots and integer work and some basic algebra. She doesn't yet have her multiplication tables memorized and hasn't learned short or long division yet. This doesn't fit with the local curriculum, but does it really matter? She'll learn it all, just not necessarily in the same order.

Here's my view on homeschooling: there's no need to try to meet some outsider's view of where kids should be at. It's a chance to allow your kids to go their pace, whatever it may be. You can allow the time for full mastery instead of just pushing along. This allows a child to be CONFIDENT in himself and his learning instead of feeling like there's something wrong with him because it takes him a little longer than 'expected' to learn a particular concept.

I will add that our own learning is very exploratory in nature; there are no set criteria that I expect the kids to know when we are exploring some historical or scientific thing, or even just reading. Would we give a scientist an exam to see how much he's learned in his research? Would we 'fail' him if he didn't know as much as we thought he should?

Btw, kids in public schools where I live don't repeat grades if they've failed. We actually don't have anything called "fail" here. They just keep being pushed along.

Answer 5

They take tests when it is time for the SAT/ACT.

We see what our children can do every day, if something does not click, we stay with it until it does.

Tests do not show that they can use, or apply what they have learned, and tests are not a necessary tool in home schooling unless it is something the parents want to use.

Questions on the end of a unit, spelling, and vocabulary can be done verbally to gage understanding, and that is more than enough.

Answer 6

We're also unschoolers, and use no testing at all.  Our child, the last one still at home, follows her interests as far as they lead her.  It helps that  all our kids grew up in a Spanish-speaking country,  in an English-speaking home.

Human beings are organisms who LEARN; they don't need teaching.  When our children wanted information on something, we all worked on finding it.  There was never any question of "failure".  Who says what they're supposed to know?  A government agency?  No thank you.

Answer 7

I advocate getting them tested two or three (8th and 11th minimum, more if they don't have above average scores) times using a standard test.  In American we have a few including the Standford Binet and Minnesota.  You have to pay for these unless you state allows homeschoolers to take them for free (NY allows them to take the Regents exams for free).

The way my mother worked it with me was she got her own notebook and made me teach her what I learned and it helped me locate my own weak points when she asked simple questions and I was stuck for an answer.

I personally perfer essays on the topic once a week or once every two weeks in a Format (APA, Chicago, Harvard) with citations.

That is what college will require and better kids start doing them ASAP.

Answer 8

Every family is different, and every state has its own requirements.  Some states require a portfolio of work (usually including test scores) to be submitted for evaluation, and some states require standardized testing at specific grade levels.

The state that I live in does not require either of these; I teach my son according to his particular levels, interests, and skills ability.  The tests where we live are pretty much tied to the public school scope and sequence, which we don't follow; there are things that he knows as far as social studies/history/geography, math, and science that his ps counterparts don't, and there are things that they have studied that we have slated for next semester or next year.

He's in 5th grade now, and as the tests at this level test the knowledge of the ps scope and sequence (rather than his particular knowledge), I don't test him.  I will, starting at the end of 6th or 7th grade, by which time the knowledge factors will be evened out.

I have him apply his knowledge through many venues...unit projects that he has to research and complete, writing assignments (essays, research paper, historical fiction story, etc), dramatize and explain a historical figure's speech, oral or written narration explaining what he has learned, etc.  In his co op classes, he does have quizzes every couple of weeks just to get the kids in the habit of prepping for and taking tests.

I don't give him annual tests, as I feel he's too young; honestly, I work with him one on one every day, and I know what he knows.  We discuss it at length, I monitor his research and his work, and I evaluate his skills on a daily basis.  

In a classroom, this is not in any way feasible...a teacher needs to test in order to know where the students are.  I give quizzes and exams in my middle and high school classes at co op, partly to prepare the students for future classes but mostly so that I know, in a closed-book situation, where every one of my students is.

I hope that makes sense?  It's a completely different playing field, logistically.  If classroom teachers had the ability to work for an extended period of time with every one of their students on a daily basis, they likely wouldn't need to test nearly as much as they do.  My son and I learn side by side throughout the year, so I have a good understanding of what he knows and what he doesn't.

Answer 9

>>When you are home schooled, how often do you 'test' your children.

Is it after every topic?>>

Our curriculum tests at the end of most lessons, called a Lesson Assessment.  Then there are Unit Assessments and Semester Assessments.  They check for mastery of the lesson/unit objectives.  If my son doesn't pass with at least an 80%, we go back over what he missed until he understands it.

<<Is it yearly? What if you teach all year, and give them a end of year exam and they fail?

Do they repeat as such?>>

We do yearly standardized testing, even though it hasn't been required in our former, or current state.  For three years, my DS took the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills), and last year he took the EXPLORE test (from ACT).  He'll take EXPLORE again this year.

We do standardized testing mainly so we can track progress over the years.  It's also helpful when appying for certain programs like talent searches.

Since HS'ing parents are right there teaching/guiding the children, we'd never let them get to the point of failing.  We'd stop and take more time on hard courses until the child was able to master it.  Many HS'ed kids are in several "grade levels" at one time.  This is because their curriculum can be tailored to their individual need.  My son zooms through math & science, goes quickly through history, and needs a bit more time on spelling.

There is no "fail" or "repeat a grade" in HS'ing.  Now if you're tied to a virtual public school, then there are consequences.  Some will not advance a student until they've completed a certain percentage of the lessons in a course.

<<How do you know if they are 'on par' with what they are sposed to know?>>

You can look at the scope & sequence of many HS curricula, or look at the state's standards, do the standardized testing, or plain just "be" with them to know.  My curriculum has a very specific scope & sequence, so as my son masters one lesson, unit, semester, or course, he moves on.