Homeschool may have ended back in early May, but I gave the boys a couple weeks to relax before doing our first ever round of Iowa Tests. We never tested in Texas, but in Minnesota, standardized tests are a requirement, even though no one will from the local school districts will ever see our results.
I tested here in early June. I gave each boy about a week to do the testing, only working a couple of hours each day. Super E went first, followed by Super C; the girl did not need to be tested after kindergarten. Both my boys were nervous as they had never been tested before (aside from Super C's STAR testing in public school years ago). I was nervous for them and I was nervous for me too. After all, we had been homeschooling for 4 years. If those test results came back with horrid scores, my husband would call a quits to homeschool and send our boys back to public school, no matter how passionate his wife has become about homeschooling.
Test results are in and frankly, I'm wowed!
We always knew Super C was a bright kid. He was reading at age 3 and it was a challenge to keep him engaged in public school. He blew the test out of the park.
Super E worried me a bit as his reading didn't come until much later than his big brother. He has his areas that he needs to work on, but even those areas he scored in the top 10% of all 3rd graders. He amazed me.
I'm so very proud of my boys. And to be completely boastful, I'm proud of myself too. I love homeschooling but it is not all sunshine and roses. I receive grunts and groans from my students and we have our days when nothing seems to click. We have those subject areas that we all hate but trudge through (See Also: The Trojan War). Those days are few, but they happen. But to see that all my effort as their teacher has paid off so tremendously makes me just about want to burst.
WE did it! All 3 of us. WE did it!
Congratulations boys!
