August 13, 2025 – To Test or Not to Test?

Mercy Every Minute

Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

Testing the Backwards Way

In Colorado, we are required to test our children every odd year, so this year, we have to take the summer months and test. As silly as this sounds, we normally use the practice test to practice testing. If there is something we don’t know on that practice test, we research it right then. Then, when they take the regular test, they are at least familiar with all the terms and areas of testing. I talk about this backwards testing idea in Homeschooling Backwards. 

As nervous as I always am, my children always test great. Even in those areas where I know they struggle, they come out above average. Even if you are not required to test, here are a few benefits of testing:

• Testing can be used as a gauge to guide us in our teaching choices for the next year. We find out what areas need work, and which ones we can loosen up on. 
• Testing can be that confirmation that no matter how poorly we think we have done, our children have excelled despite us. It encourages us to continue on the journey. 
• Our children learn to take the first of many tests that may come in their academic future.
• Preparing for a test takes conscious effort, pre-planning, time management, and study skills—all of these will be a benefit to them in their future. 

There is super helpful information in the pages of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. Here are articles from two of my favorite authors:

Zan Tyler: The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

Jeannie Fulbright: High School Recordkeeping Plain and Simple

For higher education, preparing for testing can be as easy as one math problem a day or one new vocabulary word a day. So, start researching now and your children will be well ahead of the game! You can start at www.collegeboard.com.

Want to know how homeschoolers test overall? Check out NHERI’s Research Facts on Homeschooling. You will see that God continues to bless the homeschool population as Godly parents take back the responsibility to educate their children at Home. Where They Belong.

~Deborah

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

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Is your high schooler getting ready to launch into college or the job force? Prepare your teen for success with the companies featured in our “High School, College, and Careers” Resource Guide in the Summer 2025 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.

Shelby Hand

Testing to Teaching

I may be in the minority, but I love testing! Let me clarify. When I think of testing, my mind doesn’t conjure up what other minds might: a piece of paper with red markings all over it, followed by a big, circled letter F. In fact, I rarely use grades for my lower elementary students’ tests. (The only time I do is because my competitive children like to have a number/grade.)

My approach to testing is not stressful, but rather informative. To this day, I enjoy testing myself on catechism questions, reciting passages of scripture, naming all fifty states, and even trying to play through a song on the piano without a mistake. These are all “tests,” right? I don’t think I’m alone in approving of this type of test. It informs us of what we’ve learned and what we need to work on. 

The difference in my approach to testing is that there aren’t penalties; instead, we use the information to know we are ready to build on what we’ve learned or to know we need to slow down in an area. When my children are going to be taking a test, we begin with the following questions and answers:

1. Is a test scary? No.
2. What does a test do? A test gives Mom information to be a better teacher.
3. Why do we test? So Mom can know what she needs to do to help you learn better.

You may have guessed by now that the tests I conduct rarely include pencil-and-paper formal written tests. Discussions, practice sheets, and hands-on work can often give the information I need without any pressure beyond my kids’ own desire to do their best.

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About the author

Shelby Hand is the wife of Cody and mother to four daughters. She has a doctorate of education in new learning and is passionate about homeschooling her children to the glory of God. She is the interactive content coordinator at SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

Roger Smith

Why Test?

“Education has to be more than tests and formulas.” ‑ Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy

We have all had test anxiety, and some of us had diarrhea on test day. Yet, no one learns a thing by taking a test. So, why do it?

Tests do have value—limited value. 

Sometimes they provide motivation, sometimes they confirm learning has occurred. Most often tests are used to identify failure.

In our homeschool, we administered one written test each year, but every day was test day. The tests were not on paper. They looked more like conversation.

If a person can have conversation on a topic, they reveal what they know and what it means to them. Conversations are practice for drawing conclusions.

In our home, if a child could talk about what they were learning, they made an “A.” If they could talk with someone outside our family about the subject, they made an “A+.” We focused on learning, not scoring.

The annual achievement test was for training on how to take a test in the future (and to prove we were great teachers!).

Sal Khan is a “real teacher,” and he thinks education is much more than testing. Don’t you?

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About the author

Dr. Roger Smith is a family doctor in rural Louisiana, where he and his wife, Jan, raised four adventurous children who are all grown, making their own mark in the world. He speaks and writes on parenting issues and produces brief videos that can be found on Facebook @ParentingMattersNow.

Brandi Wade (HEAV)

Tests are a Tool

Choosing to educate at home comes with many decisions that have to be made. What’s our teaching and learning style—Charlotte Mason, traditional, unit study? After that, there are choices about curriculum—what do we choose? What’s the most popular? What can we afford? Then, there’s the question about testing . . . 

If you have been around any typical school, whether public or private, you or your child has been assessed. There are placement tests to see where one should get started. There are quick assessments to check for learning and understanding of specific concepts. And then there are those much dreaded end-of-the-year cumulative tests that lurk with the pass or fail you feel is stamped on your forehead. I believe this is one of the leading reasons families choose to homeschool: to save their little ones from this one daunting task. 

Testing, on its own, is a valuable tool. We want to know where our kids are and what they are retaining. But you must use it for the correct reasons and at the correct time. The freedom to test our kids when we feel they are ready, and give them a stress-free environment to do so, are my main reasons for homeschooling. I was an elementary classroom teacher for a number of years before my husband and I had children. I remember this stress-inducing time of the year—for both the kids and the teachers—which zapped the fun out of learning and education. Learning was no longer for personal growth and gain, but it was to pass this huge test at the end of the year to determine whether you were successful or a failure—both student and teacher. 

I think testing should result in the educator learning where the student is academically and growing from that point. Not all children learn at the same rate. It’s somewhat unfair to have all kids take the same assessment based on their age rather than their intellectual abilities. 

I am glad that I get to assess my kids in a stress-free environment and then use the assessment as a guide to what I need to adjust as their parent and teacher—not labeling them a failure while trying to get them to catch up to some arbitrary line of success based on their date of birth. 

Testing should be used as a tool for growth, not for labeling our kids. As homeschoolers, we are blessed to have this understanding and to be able to put it into action. So, when you are thinking of assessments for end-of-the-year progress, think just that . . . progress!

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About the author

A former public school teacher, Brandi has transitioned to freelance editing, writing, and graphic design work and is a content writer for Home Educators Association of Virginia. She is currently raising the next generation of Kingdom Warriors through homeschooling her three boys and serving alongside her husband, a pastor of families. Brandi loves to warm hearts through her devotionals, warm bellies through her cooking and baking, and warm bodies with her crochet and knit creations.

Thinking about testing? Red Wagon General Science includes printable tests and a parent test manual, giving you a balanced way to assess your middle schooler’s learning without the pressure. This course is a good example of how testing can be supportive, not stressful. You’ll find video lessons, text readings, experiments, activities, and even tests, where your learners explore life science from the scientific method through geology and fossils to biological principles and energy to the systems of the human body.