How we prepare for standardized tests in the 5-Minute Homeschool
In the state of Virginia, our children are required to take standardized tests in math and language arts at the end of each year starting in 1st grade. Growing up, my family always struggled with these tests. So, as a parent, I wanted to make sure my kids were always ready, so I started in Kindergarten exposing them to the types of questions they would see.
For our 5-Minute Homeschool, the potential difficulty to standardized tests is not the material itself. My kids were reading and counting to 100 before 3 years old. Rather, it is learning how to answer the questions. For example, my little one at 5 years old reads everything perfectly well, but she is not used to regularly being asked about what word has __ sound in it, or which word sounds the same but is spelled differently, etc.
Since in the 5-Minute Homeschool, I do not administer traditional tests or require my children to do a lot of traditional worksheets, I like to use a super slim standards-based workbook to make sure my child is accustomed to seeing concepts in multiple choice, fill in the blank, and matching formats.
For our 5-Minute Homeschool, the potential difficulty to standardized tests is not the material itself. My kids were reading and counting to 100 before 3 years old. Rather, it is learning how to answer the questions. For example, my little one at 5 years old reads everything perfectly well, but she is not used to regularly being asked about what word has __ sound in it, or which word sounds the same but is spelled differently, etc.
Since in the 5-Minute Homeschool, I do not administer traditional tests or require my children to do a lot of traditional worksheets, I like to use a super slim standards-based workbook to make sure my child is accustomed to seeing concepts in multiple choice, fill in the blank, and matching formats.
Why I like Common Core GRADE LEVEL 4 Today Daily Skill Practice
- It is in harmony with the 5-Minute Homeschool style of not asking more than 5 questions per day! Sometimes there are only 2 questions in an exercise and usually no more than 3. So there is no added pressure from the workbook to do more in a day.
- Every single question or reading passage is reality based and informative. Yep, there are no fairy tale references or silly non-sense sentences.
- Instead, comprehension passages and language arts exercises are about concepts your kids need to know in social studies and science: Martin Luther King, Jr., what is a community, why do we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, planet earth, characteristics of insects, etc.
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