Saturday, March 5, 2011

"We don't need no stinkin' tests"

Ok. Maybe that's not entirely true. But a girl can dream, can't she?

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about testing. Not your average school-type tests, not your standardized tests and not your SAT tests. Why? I loathe testing. It puts too much pressure on kids. Why should they learn to test? They should learn to learn.  

Am I saying that I don't test? Nope. Laws require me to do so. Stupid laws. Am I saying that they won't have to take something like the SAT in their future? Nope...unless they don't want to.

I'm just saying that I don't let the thought or the fear of testing consume my boys, or myself. When the time comes and we are forced (yes forced! lol) to test, we do. I'm a worrying type by nature, so generally everything worries me on some level. But in this one area, I'm good.  

It helps to know that I can find resources to help me when it comes time for the boys to take a major test. Our curriculum has an excellent help section on test prep. This helps to me to see what we can expect and how I might be able to help them prepare. Bailey's got another test coming up at the end of this school year. I may take some time to help him get ready, but honestly... I probably won't. 

Instead of making him worry about it before hand, I will more than likely just hand him the test and have him get started. If I don't make a big deal out of it, then he won't make a big deal out of it. And it when it's over, it's over. No nerves waiting on the results or anything. :)

The writing courses that Bailey is going to start taking this month will help him with testing in the future as well. Even though his desire for taking these courses is to help him with his creative writing, they are helping him to be able to write in general. Over time and through the courses, he will learn about compound sentences, sentence fragments, run-on sentences and more. As he gets into high school, he will learn about essay writing and will even be able to take some SAT writing courses.

See...I so have all of this covered. ;)

Hope everyone has a good week!  Can't believe March is here...

2 comments:

Patti~~~ said...

I've never been a big fan of testing, either. Although I always did well in public school as a child, I would fret for days and/or weeks, depending on which test I was studying for, prior ro actual test day.

Fortunately, I live in a state that does not require testing of any kind and I am ever-so-grateful! I've always felt that testing really proves nothing at all. Some folks are wonderful test takers, others are not....period! My son loves learning for the sake of learning, not because he will be "tested" on what he knows, only to forget the information as soon as he fills in the blank.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I always enjoy reading your posts.

Blessings, Patti

Unknown said...

Thanks, Patti! :)