Mercy Every Minute

(From The Homeschool Minute archives)

Grading

Some of us prefer to grade every bit of our student's school work. I choose not to put a letter grade on every paper or workbook page, but I also don't let errors go. We work for mastery before proceeding. Sometimes we have a computer program that does the grading for us. Whether we grade every paper or not, we know our children, what they are capable of, and what needs repeating.

Testing

Testing is really up to the province you live in or the preference of the teacher or administrator (that would be my husband and me). We have decided that we don't need to test our children until they are in junior high or high school because we pretty much know what they know in the early grades. I have friends who choose to test their children every year and love it, and I have friends in other states who are required to test every couple of years whether they want to or not.

Here are a few benefits of testing:

• First, 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 what areas we can go easy on, so summer is a great time for testing as we plan the next year.
• Second, testing can be the 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.
• Third, our children learn to take the first of many tests that may come in their academic future.

Want to know how homeschoolers test overall?

Check out NHERI's Research Facts on Homeschooling:

• The home educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
• Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education or their family's household income.
• Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children's academic achievement.
• Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.
• Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.
• Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

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

~Deborah

dwuehler@theoldschoolhouse.com

Additional articles on grading and testing:

The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing, by Zan Tyler

Grading Middle School and High School Essays With Confidence, by Sharon Watson

Is Your Child a Poor Test Taker? 3 Ways to Improve Scores, by Dianne Craft