Momma's Gut: School Stuff

In April, we had the kids take some standardized tests cold turkey with our umbrella school - Anna as a third grader, Noah as a fifth grader.  I told the kiddos to just do their best and not fret if things were unfamiliar to them as it may just be a sign of our curriculum sequence not matching up exactly with whatever curriculum the standardized test goes by.  I reminded the kids this test was just to show ME if there were any gaps I wanted to make sure to double back to address.  I crossed my fingers each morning dropping them off and prayed this would be an accurate assessment of their skills and abilities.  Momma's gut already believes Anna to be super smart and also ... gifted.  She just is and I just know it.  Momma's gut already knows Noah has to work to maintain average, but that he is capable of that and more sometimes.  And that is fair and plenty good enough!  I think I worried about him the most on this test - because if he is not on top of his game, he can totally flop and then we don't really see what his true results are.  We got the test results in the mail a couple weeks ago.

Results revealed that Noah showed up and performed at grade level for just about everything and that was a huge relief!  He had a couple below average categories so those give us good marching orders to double down on or to chalk up to him making careless mistakes, which he can do if he's not ... well. careful.  HA!  And he had a couple ReAlLy below average spots ... that just happened to be exactly the two areas I have fretted for years - those two areas we had him assessed for earlier this year that he is presently working on at language therapy at TSU - Expressive Language and Listening (aka - receptive language).  Wow, was it ever confirming again to have an official assessment confirm exactly where I believe the boy to be!  Glad for his solid results and glad for our not being shocked on the challenging spots for him.  Good work, Noah! 

The other thing Noah's test results confirmed for me was that the extra year I gave him back between 2nd and 3rd grade, that hybrid 2nd/3rd mixture year?  That was the right decision!  It was such a hard call because there was no academic reason to not keep charging forward directly into 3rd reason.  And there was certainly no precedent around us for going that route and it could have certainly been misconstrued as being held back, which it was NOT. But there was just that gut reason that told me he would be better served by reclaiming that year I wish I hadn't rushed him into for kindergarten.  That gut reason that said he would be better served by an extra year under his belt, as an investment, that would pay off for him in middle and high school.  And seeing that with his extra year under his belt, he is performing as an average 5th grader, tells me WOW YES, 5th grade is where he should have been this year and these results would have been so frustrating to get if he was already a sixth grader this year as he was tracked to be originally.  It is such a good feeling to look back and feel the confidence that I might not have claimed when we went with our gut then.  So glad we went with our gut then!  Noah's keeping up and that is a great footing for him moving into middle school.

And then there's Anna.  She is other end of the spectrum of my momma's gut story.  She missed the cut-off for kindergarten by two weeks that year.  While I don't begrudge another year with my baby, I did feel aggravated and swallowed the injustice of it for her because she is smart as a whip and was TOTALLY academically ready for kindergarten that year; I just knew it.  I felt she was being held back, but I let her be little and let it be.  Extra pre-K year at home as a brilliant 5 year old!  Fine, Sumner County. Just fine.  And of course, when she started Kinder, she killed it, slayed it dead.  Kinder was a party and basically a waste of her time, but whatever, it was kinder and she was reading early chapter books with ease and beautiful fluency and comprehension before the year was up when most of her her classmates were still working on letters, sight words, and sounding out basic syllables.  Since bringing her home and homeschooling, it has been so, so flippin' apparent what a gifted brain she has - in how she initiates and completes extra challenges and details in her work, how creative she is in her expression, how easy everything is for her (while working two grade levels above her actual grade level), how mature and challenging her book choices, how much more in depth she goes in her exploration and curiosity and intuition, how she impresses me every. day, and also that blessed, challenging ADD brain of hers!  Having had some years in the classroom myself and seeing the gamut of skill and accomplishment and academic indicators, I spotted Anna a mile away as being just like those students who were labeled gifted.  I have said so for years.  Now, with some test results, I can see it screamingly confirmed again, though I know, I know, I know this is not an actual giftedness test.  Poor homeschooler likely won't ever have one of those.  Just has her momma's gut saying so. HA! And her off the charts performance on all she takes on.  Good work, my Annagirl!

Anna's test results gave her grade level equivalents at high school and POST high school levels across the board.  She was above average in almost every. single. category.  Telling me that silly elementary work is child's play to her and I might need to step up my game - not just having her work at the same level Noah is two grade levels above where she is, but also assigning work that grips her gifted brain and allows her to thrive and engage and explore in a different way than basic responses and assignments would.  Thankful for how she already does this to a degree anyway, but glad for the wake-up call that I can let her loose and let her work differently than I work with her brother.  So interesting!  These test results also confirm that kindergarten year aggravation I endured for her - she was MORE than ready for action that kinder year and these test results scream it to me. 

So, all that to say, our first run with standardized testing as homeschoolers was a raving success.  So glad!  We will keep doing what we're doing and just tweak a couple things along the way. Thank you, Lord, for this confirmation of our gut and for the freedom and fit of this homeschool life.