Mike Farris:
This week, my daughter Christy Shipe, who’s now a homeschooling mother, has been talking with me about finding homeschooling resources to fit a tight budget. Christy, one of the concerns that parents might have about this method is how to tell if you’re on track. If you find your own resources and use an assortment of curriculum, how do you evaluate your children’s progress?

Christy Shipe:
Well, there are actually many free tests and evaluation tools that I’ve used online. A great starting place is internet4classrooms.com, and they have lots of links to assessment sites online. The Scholastic workbooks that I’ve gotten from Costco, they also have reading tests in there with an answer key included. And I also really like the site eduplace.com. They have online math and grammar tests.

But, realistically, I do end up writing my own tests about half of the time, especially for science and history, since we don’t use a traditional curriculum in those areas. But I just frequently refer to the scope and sequence that I’m following and usually spend Sunday afternoon outlining the coming week of school, to make sure I’m covering all the bases.

My general philosophy has been to make sure that we’re covering all the bases for each grade, but also have the freedom to explore other areas of interest. So I’ve stayed away from traditional textbooks in favor of lots of hands-on activities, in order to make learning a fun and creative experience.

Mike:
Christy, it’s been terrific having you on the program this week, and I have to say that I’m very proud of your resourcefulness. I’m Mike Farris.