shehmeth Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 (edited) Hi, I have a question about Placement tests - if you are using a program that offers different level, and you are doing one level this year, and half-way through the year you do a placement test for the next level... If your child passed the placement test - in other words the test results tell you the child is ready for the next level work... Do you: 1) Finish the level you are in (You still have 1/2 of the program to finish)? 2) Move to the next level? 3) Speed through the rest of the level you are in, focusing maybe only on anything new that you haven't covered or on areas that are good but maybe not as strong as you would want - with some review of those areas where the cild is strong? The move to the next level before this school year ends... 4) something else? Here's the situation at home: We have a 1st Grader; Just turned 6 - exactly a month ago this week. We're doing Horizons 1st Grade Math... (she's very good at math and we supplement with other programs from time to time, not because our Program has any weakness in our opinion, but to change pace a bit; we've noticed that too much repetition (unnecessary repetition) of a concept she nows well, doesn't quite click with her - [i explained how we do this in a previous post - sometime ago] We did the placement test for 2nd Grade -- I just wanted to see [personal curiosity] how we were doing...]... She aced the Placement test for Horizons Grade 2... So according to the test she's ready to do the Level 2 work.. I honestly can't say that I had thought of this possibility - I thought the results would say we're pretty close but not quite there and not that we're there already..... We're still half-way through the program for the Grade 1 level... I'm not sure what would be the best next step for her... DH suggests to finish it up (at pace or speed up my choice) to ensure that there's no gaps that are created by jumping to the next level... As it is, we've been doing 2 (and sometimes 3) lessons at a time (condensing them)... She's very good at it - when a new concept is introduced I do slow down and do that lesson by itself, but when the lessons are basically review/ drill - those we do them in a condensed format... So DH suggestion is to continue like that or condense even more (do more than 3 lessons at a time)... Note: Clarification - when I condense a group of lessons - we do not do ALL the Exercises on ALL the Lessons - I pick and choose a selection that represents the different skills being drilled/reviewed in those lessons. Horizons Math has test every 10 lessons - She's been consistently getting 90-100% on them... She could be getting 100% consistently if her mother wasn't so picky... LOL - a lot of the time the missed points are due to "carelessness" or being hurried on her part-- like in this week's Unit test - she was writing numbers before and after by 10's - she wrote 8 instead of 80 because she was hurrying off... (She has a habit of saying the answers aloud, so even before I see the test I hear her say the problem/exercise and hear the answer, so I know what she meant)... most of the time, is that although she knows how to form her numbers well - when she's hurrying off some of her numbers could be confused with another (for example, a 6 with a 0 if the top part of the 6 is not long enough) - So even when I know she meant a 6 I would mark it wrong on the test... and say "You know that looks more like a 0 than a 6; if someone else was looking at this they could misinterpret this as 0 when you meant 6, and the answer would be consider wrong" - I know it sounds like I'm picky - I'm ok with her working promptly and quickly as long as she's careful when doing that... [Hey, I came in 30-45 Mins late for an Statistic Final when I was doing my Bachelors - took the Test which was a 2 hour test [the professor made it such it would take students 2 hours to do it] and I did it in 30 mins and Aced it- BUT before turning it in I checked my work a couple of times to ensure that mistakes were not made because I did the exam so quickly- MY friends laughed that I came in late and left early - So I understand completely her desired to just do it "fast" because she knows it or because is so easy- but I want her to also work on not only doing the work quickly but checking the work to make sure that what she wants as the answer is what is there on the paper and what anyone (not just me) could see... But I digressed - sorry) I'm looking for your suggestions or if any one has had a similar situation what did you do? Thanks.. Kate... Edited January 31, 2010 by shehmeth spacing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolally Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 We had that situation with one of our kids and we chose to 'fast-track' through the rest of the book. I went through each chapter by giving the chapter test first, if he'd mastered it all we'd move on. If we had some weak spots, we'd go through that section only. I felt better about doing it this way than ditching the book, because I'm one of those moms who worries about gaps. It was a small investment of time in the big picture of our homeschooling years and reassured me that we'd covered everything. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 We had that situation with one of our kids and we chose to 'fast-track' through the rest of the book. I went through each chapter by giving the chapter test first, if he'd mastered it all we'd move on. If we had some weak spots, we'd go through that section only. I felt better about doing it this way than ditching the book, because I'm one of those moms who worries about gaps. It was a small investment of time in the big picture of our homeschooling years and reassured me that we'd covered everything. Good luck! Thanks.. This is a good idea - I hadn't thought of that... When you did the test, and found a weakness and went over those sections again, did you do the retest at the end again? or not? Kate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shehmeth Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 :) Bump.... :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 My experience with Horizons (doing 2 and 3) is that there is considerable overlap in the grades. Remember, they expect you to start a grade after a 3-month break, so they really back up and re-teach the last fourth of the previous year's book. Even if you do the tests and your dd falters at the end, she will have ample opportunity to learn the material in the next level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Thanks.. This is a good idea - I hadn't thought of that... When you did the test, and found a weakness and went over those sections again, did you do the retest at the end again? or not? Kate that's what I did for DS with BJU math. I would retest before moving on to make sure that something wasn't lost in teaching or even rushing. We had a situation that made us have to jump-in mid-year. BUT I didn't feel he would be ready for math 2 since he is in first grade. So I would give the test, cover anything that was missed and then we would go until he got a test that he couldn't pass. We zoomed through a few chapters and we are now on Chapter 11. I think we'll go at normal pace from this point on as it seems to be mostly new concepts. But it's important to remember that much of this early math is practice and drill. So make sure that math facts are covered regularly. We still did mental and paper drills during this skipping period to keep the facts fresh. :) Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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