Standardized Testing

Our girls just finished a week of standardized testing (IOWA Test of Basic Skills). Adira (Level 8) and Ariella (Level 7) did well and enjoyed it. I'm humbled. I thought my eldest daughter was gifted. After taking the test, I realize she is not as gifted as I thought! She did not do well on the subtraction problems. She is just now learning about subtraction. She does not particularly enjoy it. She did well on language, listening, science, reading, and map reading. She did not do so well on Word Analysis, where you need to recognize (by listening) to a particular sound in a word. She did not do well with counting money or reading a horizontal bar graph where the answer lies in between to integers. Her alphabetizing skills are horrible. I really enjoyed giving them the tests and seeing areas where we can improve.

I might be on the lookout for a better or different math curriculum this year. I might try Math-U-See since it was recommended by a homeschool mom in our group whose son recently received scholarships to universities.