The results are in!!!

Since we homeschool, it's often difficult to figure where the kids stand compared to public and private schooled children...educationally speaking. That being said, for the first time in 9 years, we decided to have Lionel tested. This was the best year to test him since next year he will be in high school. I'm excited to start 9th grade with him in the fall, but I wanted to know what areas we'd really need to concentrate on, if any.

So, in May, Lionel took the Stanford test which is a series of tests taken over a period of 3 days. He was able to complete them in 2 days which was great, but it made me nervous that he completed them so quickly...I thought he'd fail. Anyhow...we knew it would be a while before getting the results back, yet we were anxious to see how he did. Well, OK...I was anxious!! As the teacher, I wanted to be sure we were covering the right materials and that all my efforts were not in vain. I know, it sounds pretty selfish. As much as I want to be a good teacher and get my children to learn the material they need to know, I want even more for my children to learn how to grow to be a Godly man and woman. Their Christian character mean more to me than anything!

Well...this past Friday we found the test results in our mailbox. I was very nervous to open it up, but when I did I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised!! Lionel not only tested well...he tested much higher than he should have in many areas. He tested out of high school (PSP - Post High School) in Social Science, and in other fields (reading comprehension, vocabulary, listening, and science) he tested in 11th and 12th grade. Amazing! He wasn't perfect though...he will need to work a bit on his math skills, but generally speaking, he is good at math. He was at lowest, average in a couple classes (math procedures and language mechanics...grammar), but mostly he tested way above his grade level. Praise the Lord!!!

This fall, we obviously will work on grammar (NOT my forte, so that's probably why he didn't test over his grade level in it...like you can't tell from my blog writing! ha ha) and math more than other subjects. Considering the fact that we missed so much school due to my Dad's health issues, I am exceedingly proud of both of our children. They not only have learned the typical subjects taught in school, they learned quite a bit about life and what it means to live for Christ.

I love you Lionel, and am very proud of you!!! I can't wait to see what we accomplish together this fall!

(If you're interested in having your child tested, I highly recommend the Bob Jones testing service. They were very helpful on the phone and rather quick.)