So let's define testing ...

Testing seems to be a theme this week ... at least in my inbox. When should I start testing? How often should I test? Why doesn't Sonlight include testing with their history?

I remember when my kids were younger ... we had just started homeschooling and I was desperate to know how successful I was at teaching my kids. But the longer I educated my children, the more obvious it became that my desire for testing was, at least in part, selfish. *I* needed to be reassured that I was doing a good job. Don't get me wrong ... there is value in accountability. And having a fairly objective evaluation of work is not a bad thing. And bottom line ... where I live, standardized testing is required.

All that being said, each time this question arises, I think first of what I define as testing. Is it really just memorized facts/answers regurgitated on a piece of paper (i.e. multiple choice, true/false)? Don't I really test my kids each time I ask them questions about what they've read? Isn't their retention evaluated each time dad says, "so what did you learn about China today?" over the evening meal? How about when their writing assignment requires them to write a journal entry as though they were a soldier during the winter at Valley Forge? 

I truly believe that the ability to discuss and explain verbally what you've read about is a much better indication of what you've learned than if you simply retain data long enough to pass a written test. I also believe that having to evaluate what you've learned, and organize your thoughts well enough to write an assignment based on that information is the best evaluation of comprehension and retention that exists. 

Standardized testing, report cards, and written evaluations all have their place. But I have long been grateful for the freedom from the classroom paradigm that homeschooling offers. If I were a teacher in a classroom of 10, 15 or 20 students, then a regular written evaluation/test of their knowledge would be essential. There is no way I could keep up with what each student is retaining. However, I have the privilege of learning together with my students ... discussing what they are reading ... and evaluating their written work as a team. There is no need for me to place an additional burden of "testing" on my children. 

After all, testing is defined as the means by which the presence, quality, or genuineness of anything is determined.  What better way to discern the quality or genuineness of my child's understanding than by having him converse with me about what he understands. Let me encourage you to be confident in your teaching ... so much so that you are comfortable with evaluating your child's learning by allowing him/her to teach you!