Testing

[gracesteacher]

I have a five year old girl. We have already started homeschooling. Is there any advantage to testing her?

[Iucounu]

If there's nothing you can think of as a reason to test her, why consider testing at all? I'm just wondering, not casting aspersions in the slightest. I guess that you've probably identified one possible reason: simple curiosity.

 

Another theoretical reason would be to identify learning disabilities, but here I think people that are focused on their children's brightness tend to go overboard-- I've seen people get highly stressed over "low" scores in a certain area that are simply not as high as the child's scores in some other areas, when almost all children will have relative areas of strength. In general, if your child doesn't show any signs of learning disabilities and you are in tune with your child's learning, there's not real reason for worry.

 

Another reason would be to identify areas of relative strength, that would inform further educational decisions. However, for a homeschooler this isn't really necessary IMHO: you don't need the scores to advocate with school admins, you don't need them to meet entry criteria for programs at this age (with the minor exception of some programs like the Davidson Young Scholars program, which won't be much help at your child's age anyway), etc. If your child is gifted and learns more rapidly than normal, you can easily adjust the pace; that's one of the advantages of homeschooling. I suspect that if your child shows unusual aptitude and deep interest in a subject, you'll flexibly adapt too.

 

Achievement testing might seem to help in setting a child's learning at the appropriate level, but I don't think that would be a good reason to spend much money on testing either. Many math curriculums like Singapore Math provide free assessment tests to pick the right level. I'm not sure about reading curriculums, but reading is something where you can easily keep track of a child's comfort level as an involved parent, and there are cheap online tests (DORA being a good example off the top of my head) that can give extra info.

 

ETA: Honestly, if funding is not an issue whatsoever, I might consider doing it just for curiosity's sake, and to learn more about my child. It's just that unless it's necessary, I can think of so many other things that I'd rather my child have to further his development: books, software, classes, whatever. Also, beware of cheap testing, often performed by a psychology intern or someone else unfamiliar with testing gifted children: it seems that you often get what you pay for with gifted-child testing.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Iucounu

[Staceyshoe]

If you have questions, testing may help answer them. Ds went through testing as part of a whole grade acceleration in ps. Recently we did a very thorough psychoeducational eval as part of the application process for a particular program. The psych eval with a psychologist who specializes in giftedness was helpful in ways I never even imagined. The advantage with homeschooling is being able to customize academics for your dc. If you are doing well with that now, there may not be a need for testing.

[gracesteacher]

Thank you.

Honestly I had never thought of testing her. She is a bright girl who is doing things above age level. I just teach her at what seems to be her level at the speed she wants. The reason for the question is we have had two dr's and an RN (she has health issues) ask if we have had her tested. They all know we will homeschool due to health concerns but tell me that knowing the scores will open up a new world for her. I just dont under stand how that would open up a new world

 

I think if the need arises we will worry about testing then

 

 

Thank you

[Terrilth]

We had our daughters tested only because the school board does it for free for homeschoolers. Otherwise we probably would not have done so at this point.