To all who need test preparation resources,

I just recieved an email from the Erskine Family (HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay) for a great  free  resource at the  Shared School  website:

sharedschool.com

This is an excerpt from their website:

“Use these practice exams to prepare for your state’s assessment exam”

“Every state prepares their own state assessment exams to measure their students’ progress. As a nation we spend over a half billion dollars every year creating theses exams. For core subjects, these exams are relevant regardless of where you live – so we’ve cross referenced all of the released state assessment exams from within the United States.

Whether you are a student, teacher or parent, you will find hundreds of sample exams here for your reference, indexed by grade and subject.”

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Just put into the search engine what grade you are looking for and it will give you hundreds of sample tests you can copy and use.  These are great! 

You can use them to give the kids a practice test or you could use them as part of their curriculum and use them as additional worksheets. 

You can also search specific tests like questions for the CST , ISAT, and many other exams and so on and be specific about what state , and what subject, you are looking for. 

There are other resources on their site as well, such as curriculum standards that may be helpful in your lesson/grade planning. 

Some of it may not be applicable, but some of it is great.

Your State May Not Require Testing!
Check with your state home school laws to see what is required.  Some states don’t require testing.  Others require it on different levels.  In North Carolina, where we live, we are required to take a national standardized test each year, and keep the results on file for one year.

Last spring, I had a new baby and two toddler’s in tow, and I wasn’t sure how we could participate in our local home school association’s group CAT5 testing. 

I had two children we wanted to test.  In the state of North Carolina, you are required to test once a year and keep the results on file for one year.

So I went online and did some research.    I found several companies who will send out the same test that the group was taking, but you can take it in your home.   I found several other companies also doing testing at public sites and at individuals homes.  The amount of options was incredible, prices varied, and really there seemed to be something for everyone.

On the same dates the group met for testing, we were able to test our Kindergartner and Second Grader at home.  The company we used was Family Learning Organization from Washington.  Their website is www.FamilyLearning.org  

The cost was $35 per child.  

You are essentially renting the materials, as it cost many thousands to own the license to them.  They sent test manuals, instruction manuals, and answer forms.  It only takes a few hours to take the test.  You have 10 days from receiving the materials to return them completed.  We had our test results back within a week of mailing back the completed materials.  We were very pleased with their services. 

There are several other good companies out there who provide a similar service including one here in NC whose fee was $46.  After I called several places including the FLO company, I ended up choosing them because of the $35 price, as they were the least expensive one I found and all the companies seemed to offer basically the same service.   They were friendly and efficient and we were pleased with them and will gladly recommend them.

Hope this helps anyone interested in other testing options.