Standardized Testing
This is my last week of school for the summer in our house and I thought it would be a week of finishing up lessons I never got around to. But instead my daughter wanted to be tested! Her best friend went through a battery of tests at school and she is curious! She wanted to fill in the little circles in pencil.
Out came a standardized test prep book for grade 4. She spent 2 hours doing the pretest for math and after lunch she did the test. She said it was pretty easy but her heart was beating very fast as she didn’t want to make a mistake.
The pretest gave me a mental list of what I haven’t covered as yet:
- volume
- the associative property
- feet in a mile! (something we don’t ever learn in Australia!)
- probability
I also went to Educational Warehouse this afternoon and bought the test prep book for Grade 5. ( I would rate this an average test prep book. It is confidence building and looks similar to the standardized tests I have seen.)
I just want to incorporate all of the standards into the Montessori curriculum. Montessori math covers it all and some but sometimes the language differs and the order we present material is not in line with the grade standards. Now I am ready to plan next years math lessons.
Having a year under my belt of homeschooling has given me a lot more confidence in what I’m doing and that is a good thing!
June 16th, 2009 at 12:50 am
No one and I mean no one is more capable, more dedicated, more trained and more passionate than you are about this global education these children are receiving. They are thriving and after a year, the results far exceed what logically could have been expected. And to top it all, they are having a truly amazing childhood. One filled with discovery, freedom to choose their path and freedom to roam intellectually. One very distant from the artificial bounderies of a rigid institutional system that produces automatons and as important, one far removed from the often poisonous peer relations that stifle talent and enthusiasm. What a wonderful journey this family is on thanks to you. What a gift you are giving our children….I am in awe….