Once a child starts their homeschooling journey, it is important for parents to keep track of their progress. While this is usually done in schools by using tests and quizzes, there are also other ways to do this for parents who are homeschooling their children. There are different forms of assessments that parents can use to assess their child’s learning progress.
According to author, wife, and homeschooling mom Joy Mendoza, the learning of children isn’t just about what they know but is also about taking what they know and doing something useful and meaningful with it. For instance, once she allowed her children to put up a small business, it allowed them to put the science and math lessons they had learned to the test. They used science concepts in developing their product, while their math skills came in handy when it came to the accounting aspect of the business.
Mendoza says that it is important to give children real-world experience so that they can take the lessons and concepts that they know and apply them in real life. She also gives examples of fun assessments aside from tests and quizzes that parents can give their children:
- Word-To-Sentences – When teaching kids how to spell words, parents can instruct them to apply them in sentences so that they better understand how to use them until they can master these words.
- Re-Test – One advantage of homeschooling is that parents can retest their children. They can restudy lessons until they get them right. It is also important for parents to find out if their children have a learning gap and backtrack and review lessons that they may have a hard time understanding.
- First Quarter Tests – Parents can diagnose their children’s understanding at the start of the year by giving them first quarter tests. This lets them better understand which topics their children know and which topics they don’t know that well. Doing this also allowed parents to focus on the topics that their children can still improve on and skip the topics that they’ve already mastered.
- Worksheets – When it comes to math topics, parents can have their children do worksheets with different questions and sets of problems to assess what they know.
- Games – Parents can also allow their children to create strategy games of their own which will allow them to apply the lessons and concepts they have learned. According to Mendoza, game-making is a wonderful way to integrate different subject areas that children are learning.
- Portfolio – A child’s portfolio contains the highlights of their artworks, quizzes, tests, and other important documents. It allows parents to keep track of their progress throughout the year and see how they have improved while also serving as a memory of their homeschooling.
Even though there are many challenges that parents face when homeschooling their children Mendoza encourages parents to keep going and keep giving their best. She cites Galatians 6:9, which says, “Do not lose heart in doing good because in due time you will reap if you do not grow weary.”
Parents should not only assess the learning progress of their children academically but also in the total person when they are growing. For more homeschooling tips, you can watch episodes of Teach with Joy or visit Plus Network on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
