Why I Don't Give My Kids Tests

It's difficult for most homeschooling skeptics to think outside the traditional classroom box. Unconventional methods frighten them. That's understandable, I suppose. A person can't truly comprehend that which he has never experienced. So, many regular folks assume that homeschool is suppose to look like school...only at home. Sadly, many homeschoolers think that too.

But, you can't just replace desks with dining room tables and expect the end result to be dramatically different.

No. Homeschooling is not school at home. It is an entirely different animal altogether and should therefore look vastly different. In its daily liturgy. In its focus. In its very DNA.


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I had a conversation with an extended relative recently. She drilled me on the quirks and oddities of home education. She was not interrogating. She was just curious. When I mentioned that I don't give my kids curriculum tests, she paused.

"Not even weekly spelling test?" came her reply.

"Nope, not even spelling tests." I said. "They're just not necessary."

"But, how will you know if they know how to spell?" she questioned.

"Spelling tests don't show you whether or not a child can spell. They only show you whether a child can regurgitate a handful of words you've given him to memorize."

That was the short answer.

The long answer went a little something like this...

I only teach five kids.

Taking tests are just one of a lengthy list of school "skills" that help herd the crowd, like writing those dreaded book reports, standing in lines in the hallway, and asking permission to go to the bathroom. I don't have a "crowd," and so I don't need to herd.

It's virtually impossible for one traditional classroom teacher with thirty to forty kids to truly assess whether one of those children has mastered all of his twenty weekly spelling words or if he knows all five steps to the long division process unless she uses some kind of black-and-white assessment tool...a test. With a test, she can see at a glance, what each child knows and what he lacks. She can get an accurate picture of how a child's knowledge stacks up against that of his peers, and have a concrete/unbiased report of progress with which to show parents. How else would she be able to clearly articulate a child's progress?

But as a homeschool mom, I sit right next to my kids each day. Much of my teaching is done one-on-one. I can see with my own two eyes whether my son has mastered long division or if my daughter can spell "ominous" correctly. I don't have to report progress to a district. I don't have to prove mastery to anyone but myself. A test would be a redundant display of what I already know.

Tests only measure. They don't teach.

A test is a simple assessment. Nothing more. A test does not teach material. It merely shows what has been taught vs. what has actually been learned. Take an average spelling test, for example. The point of a spelling test is to show how many words a child has memorized in comparison to the number of words that were taught that week. Typically, the test is administered. The test is graded, recorded, and handed back to the child. And a new set of words are taught the following week. But isn't the point of a spelling "class" to teach spelling. If a child misses five words on his test, but is then immediately pushed onto the next week's word list, he never actually learns to spell those five words. What then is the point of spelling class?

In my homeschool, I don't teach spelling words in order that my children can pass a test. I teach spelling skills so that they can each become good spellers. So, I don't waste my time giving tests. A spelling "class" dedicated to a spelling test is just a wasted opportunity. I'd much rather spend that time teaching them to actually spell. 

Tests give a two-dimensional view.

A few weeks ago while administering the annual achievement tests that are mandated by my state, I noticed that my second grader marked a very simple social studies question wrong. The question asked, "Which picture shows the correct way to eat soup?" The corresponding answers showed a picture of a child using his mouth to slurp the soup right out of the bowl, a child using a fork to eat the soup, and a child using a spoon to eat the soup. My son selected the picture showing the child with the fork. Not wanting to tamper with the results of the test, but curious to know his reasoning, I asked him why he marked that particular answer as he did.

"Because the soup in the bowl has lots of noodles in it, Mom. And remember last week you made that really noodle-y Japanese soup? Remember how you said I could eat it with a fork if I wanted to because I couldn't keep the noodles on my spoon? I just thought it would be easier for the boy in the picture to eat his soup if his mom let him use a fork too." 

And of course, he was right. But unfortunately, he was also wrong.

My son chose the picture with the fork and obviously got the question incorrect. But, if we're all being honest, Japanese noodle soup would be easier to eat with a fork.

You see, tests only allow for one prescribed answer. And sometimes, there's more than one right way. I'd much rather celebrate my outside of the box, problem solving kid than encourage him to force his square self into someone else's round hole. An "A" on a test doesn't show mastery of anything beyond the fifty questions on that particular test.

And what's even more noteworthy, a black-and-white test can't assess the most important things in life like courage, empathy, determination, ingenuity, character, effort, kindness, or even intelligence.

Tests are traditional and don't play nicely with my unconventional approach.

As an eclectic homeschooler, I use some traditional curriculums like my most favorite of all math programs. But more often than not, I merge them together with living books, hands-on unit studies, delight-directed learning, and others to create a tailor-made learning experience for each of my kids. Admittedly, these methods and resources don't surrender well to a test. They're often too ambiguous and emphasize the "wrong" things.

Case in point, the WHO and WHEN crammed into a short excerpt of the life of George Washington in a dry-as-dust textbook is just perfect fodder for a test. (Perhaps that explains my childhood disdain of all-things-history. I learned early on that names and dates don't provide much color for the imagination.) But the WHAT and WHY of those same stories found in intriguing biographies like George vs. George or George Washington's Teeth are not as easy to maneuver onto a test sheet. The rote memorization of dry facts and statistics have their place. But, who among us can actually remember when Washington took office? Probably only dedicated historical re-enactors and tweed-coat clad history professors. But, I bet we can all recall why he rose to power in the first place. Those are the stories that I want my kids to know. The WHAT and WHY...those are the facts that textbooks don't always emphasize. Those are the theories and big conversations that don't play nicely with traditional testing methods. 

There will be plenty of time for tests someday.

Other than the required annual state achievement test that they take each spring, my elementary-aged kids never have to slough through tests. Not ever. As I've mentioned, there's just no point.

However come eighth grade, my kids will each begin taking curriculum driven tests -- for one reason and one reason only. Practice.

I want them to have one solid year of test-taking practice under their belts before they have to start taking tests for grades. While I can't assume that all of my kids will go to college someday, I want to ensure that they can if they want to. In order to do that as a homeschooler, they will each have to have an accurate high school transcript and do well on the SAT or ACT.

In addition, we live in a state that grants free dual enrollment for high school juniors and seniors. Eleventh and twelfth graders can take college courses (in a college classroom or online) for both high school and college credit without paying one dime.

Once each of my kids enter these dual enrollment classes, tests are inevitable. I'd much rather give them a soft start to test-taking here at home in the eighth grade in order that they can continue to build on those skills through the latter years of high school. This will not only make it much easier for me to award provable grade point averages, but will also give them some much-needed practice at test taking skills.

My job as a homeschool mom is to prepare my kids for all kinds of life scenarios. Test taking is one of them. I'd rather my children learn proper test taking skills in the safety of my homeschool than in the career-altering trenches of the SATs or worse yet, the college classroom.

In the end

Tests have their place in society. There's no getting around that. But do they belong in a homeschool? That's a question for the ages, I suppose. I can only answer for my home and for my school.

I don't test my elementary-aged kids because as Jeannie Fulbright, homeschooling pioneer and author of Apologia Science, once said,

"If the purpose for learning is to score well on a test, we've lost sight of the real reason for learning."