Target practice

It’s no big secret that I’m not a super-confident homeschooler. Maybe if my kids’ orders had been reversed, I’d be different, but I didn’t get my early reader/early math lover until my third child, leaving me to believe that I absolutely suck at teaching my own kids.

The truth is, kids learn at different rates, and nothing taught me that with more sweaty palms than my oldest needing until she was about seven years old to read a book. And though I believe that kids learn at different rates, I’ve always wondered if maybe she just needed a different teacher to get through to her. . .

Hence, one of the reason we DO have another teacher, through our new virtual school.


But, one thing just happened that has given me a huge confidence boost and made me feel even better about our past four years as a homeschooling family: I found out my girls are On Target.


Just last week, they both were required to complete Scantron assessment tests in Reading and Math. After they finished, I sat back and waited to hear the worst: Your Children Have Learned Nothing At Home.


The results came through yesterday and with my husband looking over my shoulder, I nervously read the letter explaining the three segments each childs’ score can fall into: At Risk, On Target, and Advanced.


They were On Target, both girls, in Math and Reading in their respective grades!


I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gone back to look at these scores, making sure my eyes didn’t trick me, making sure I was comparing their scores against the right chart. Even in the individual “skills” breakouts, there were no glaring issues to indicate that they are majorly deficient in any area.


So, no extra “classes” or worksheets or worries.

OK, I’ll still worry.

But, I feel a heck of a lot better now knowing that I got them this far, and feel relatively confident that I can get them through the next few years with one little step forward at a time.

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