Take the test!

It's testing season everywhere. I mean literally, 3/4 of my Facebook news feed is full of complaints about testing. PARCC this and SBAC that. FULL of complaints. In the last three weeks, I've been asked if we'll opt out, what my thoughts are and why we didn't opt out. Countless times, countless answers. It's a hard question to answer because I have some conflicting thoughts. Ultimately, he took the test. Here's why:

1) Life is full of stressful situations
Seriously, at least once a month I want to opt out of something. But life doesn't work that way. Sometimes, the only way out is through. I want the kid to learn early and learn often, that you can survive anything stressful with preparation, planning and just a tiny spoonful of luck.

People have asked me why 3rd graders need to face stressful situations and if that's fair. No, of course it isn't fair. But wouldn't you rather your child's first stressful situation be something he knows is coming and that he knows he'll be supported by adults who know and care about him? I want my son to have tons of high stakes testing experience before it really matters. You know? That last SAT- the situation where one more correct answer might be the difference between full and partial scholarship? I want him to have been there a hundred times before, take a breath and tackle it head on.

2)Life is full of less-than-ideal testing situations
Guess what? The DMV doesn't care at all that the guy next to you is making too much noise and you can't concentrate. They won't make sure you have your favorite pencil, a calm testing environment and a nice fresh piece of scratch paper. Neither does the ACT, the SAT, the Bar exam, the Contractor's Licensing Board or any of the other host of organizations that give tests and certifications. Ultimately, you have to get through it with what's in your head and your head alone. Learning how to work it out and be successful on the back end is a hugely important skill. Again, I want him to go through that over and over, until it's a nonchalant "Yep, I got this."

3) Data matters
As the teacher of my student, I want to know that I'm doing a good job. I want to see somehow, some way that it's getting in his head. But I can see this every single day, with his thoughtful questions and his desire to pursue another path. I can see how his math did or didn't make sense that day and read his essay to know he's learning. So who cares?

As a homeschooler, data matters. As a parent of a very advanced academic child, data matters even more. Sure, I can say "Oh you don't understand, he's really smart. He just passed high school Geometry!" All that gets him is a polite smile and a knowing "Oh, yes of course." Which really means "Your mom is a nut." The data makes the argument better than anything I can ever say. Whipping out advanced test scores creates a path for others to understand you and a language to advocate for your kids.

4) Because he liked the test
We just finished SBAC. Because I am the principal of our homeschooling charter, I had the opportunity to observe more than 175 students coming and going from testing. Nobody cried- not one single student. Most left with a smile on their faces and even our most challenged students worked through their frustrations to persevere and complete their testing.

EVERYONE SURVIVED!

Wait... what? Many of the middle schoolers liked the test?? What? That's not supposed to happen! This was supposed to be akin to torture! I saw so on Facebook!

"I liked that there were open questions. I got to make my own answer, rather than pick their stupid choices." (my kid) 

"The essay was fun- I liked the prompt and I got to show off what I know." (A 6th grader)

"Even the math part wasn't that hard, I just explained what I knew and it was ok" (a 5th grader)

"Do we get to do another activity and write again? (another 6th grader, disappointed testing was over)

When it was all said and done, it wasn't that bad! Some of the kids liked the test! My own kid liked it  a lot. He said he was tired, because it was hard to concentrate that long, but that overall it was way, way better than multiple choice bubble tests. 

Ultimately, tests happen. Life happens and stress happens. The successful people are those who see the stress coming, prepare for it and go right through it. As a mom, a teacher, a principal and an adult, I want to give my kid all the tools he needs to tackle challenges- even those that involve 8 hours of testing. He has proven to himself that he can do it. So no matter what the scores say in the long run, it was a success!

Standards-based lesson planning- just say no!

A friend of mine posted recently on Facebook that she was struggling with figuring out how to plan history lessons for her son because the standards were all over the place. She plans on returning him to a more traditional type setting in two years and is afraid that he'll have "holes". So she's been obsessing about what the standards say and how to check that box.

My advice? Dump the standards for lesson planning! I know, as a teacher and school administrator I should be cheering for standards. Standards serve a purpose of keeping schools and teachers on track, ensuring a fair and equal education for all students and bring up the overall level of achievement across school systems. They make it far easier in a mobile society for a kid to move from California to Virginia and then to Massachusetts, hopefully while still staying on track academically.

But as a homeschooler, standards are the last thing I look at when lesson planning, not the first. I'm a strong proponent of interest-based lesson planning. Each summer, we sit down as a family and ask "What do you want to learn this year?" We set goals based on interest with a few mom-required elements woven in as needed. I lesson plan from there, taking into account interest, age, access to materials and whether or not the interest is likely to be long lasting or fleeting.

Every month or two, I check in with the standards of the grade level we're working at in that subject. Are we on track or do I need to tweak an upcoming assignment? Is there a connection I can make in a twenty second conversation to check a box or do I need to dig up some resources and find some relevant materials to cover a topic? If I do need to do that, how can I fit it into the momentum and lessons we already have, rather than throw something random on top?

A simple example of this is the kid's ongoing love of Greek mythology. I can take a standard like this one from Common Core ELA ""CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution." and weave in a study of a particular character like Odysseus or Poseidon. It's a natural fit into something he already enjoys and doesn't require me to sidetrack our studies to check off a box. 

Math is also simple, as it very linear and allows you to simply keep progressing through the standards and making forward progress. However, I often see that families forget the important areas in measurement and geometry because they aren't in the same linear progression. I like to sandwich these topics around something we're already doing in science, or spend a few days before a holiday break doing hands on projects. 

As new science standards and history standards come out for our students, there will be more components to review and check. But by no means, should these standards become the base of your homeschool lesson planning! Standards-based lesson planning is the surefire way to burn yourself out and make your kids lose their love of homeschooling. Even if your intention is for your kids to return to a traditional school environment, don't lose track of why you started this adventure in the first place. No good teacher... or homeschooling parent... sat down with a list of standards and checkboxes and started coming up with worksheets to meet the needs of those checkboxes.

So to every one of my friends out there sitting down with a list of standards before you lesson plan, please- just say NO!