Sunday, November 30, 2008

Why Home School Testing Is Necessary?

By Andy Austim

Home school testing is a highly recommended step for matching your child with the appropriate curriculum. As you'll see, every student is different, with different needs and learning capabilities. If you select a curriculum for your child based solely on age, the child might not be ready for it yet and that can cause problems.

Home school testing can help you find the right home school curriculum for your child. If you don't have the right tools, your child will not learn. The right tools include a challenging curriculum that will spark the child's interest but not be so difficult as to discourage him. If your child is bored, he or she will not try, and home schooling will not succeed. If the curriculum is not interesting to your child, it will not be easy to comprehend and your child will not grasp essential concepts.

Parents who home school their children will find that most companies that sell home school curricula and home schooling products and supplies also offer home school testing. Among the most frequently used test for grade levels from kindergarten through the twelfth grade is the California Achievement Test.

Many topics that are appropriate to a given grade level are evaluated through home school testing. Basic math concepts, word analysis and comprehension are among the test subjects included in the kindergarten level test. Vocabulary, math computation, language and reading are included in the 4th grade test, along with a large variety of other subjects and skills.

There are a variety of options available for administration of home school testing. One option is to have an online company administer the tests. Another is to have the child take the test at home on paper and then mail it in for grading and evaluation. In some cases the parent may give these tests.

Informal home schooling tests are customized for curriculum and parental evaluation of the student. Most home school testing is drafted to be detailed with regard to specific items and requirements. This is why depending on the test, there's a tendency to focus on some goals or procedures but to give less weight to some others.

The data taken from the test should be looked at by a professional. It is essential that home school testing be administered based on what the child has a knowledge of, with no assistance from the parent so that it can be certain that the test can provide an accurate assessment. Needless to say, a child can learn best if the right course of study is presented.

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