Homeschooling Tips: Make Testing Fun!

The purpose of testing a child, in my opinion to be sure they retain the information they have learned. Presenting a number grade is secondary as far as I am concerned. To test what my kids have learned each week, I use a game I have made up and a website named Brainpop.com. Brainpop.com is a fun site that is used by many schools and organizations to assist with teaching schoolchildren. The subscription is quite inexpensive, at only $20.00 a month (yearly subscription is also available) and is also a great asset to homeschoolers.

Here are my tips for testing the kids using brainpop.com

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #1:

Assign lessons for the child to review. You can have your child choose random subjects they are interested in, you can follow the order of your history book, or you can follow the order of your main curriculum. My children are studying modern times this year from 1900’s to present. So, I am choosing subjects for them based on the years being studied each week. This week I chose “cars” and “cameras” early 20th century inventions.

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #2:

Have the child(ren) do the lesson and take the test version of the quiz. It will test the child and then print the test sheet. You can choose to have the child do the pop quiz first to familiarize themselves with the proper answers, but whether they get them right or not, the printed test wills how the corrected answers.

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #3:

Print the results of the test on Cardstock paper and cut the questions with answers into equal size slips of paper. The reason for printing it on cardstock is to create sturdy card that will last. You can choose to have these laminated if you wish.

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #4:

You can use these question-and-answer cards as flash cards to help your child memorize important facts, but I prefer to make it into a game. You can use any old game board and dice. Chutes & Ladders or “Sorry” are perfect. Monopoly will work well also. Personally, I drew a game board on a piece of card stock and wrote the year 1900 in the center. Then on three of the spaces, I put back arrows so if the child landed on one of those spaces, they had to start over. (I know, cruel, but fun!)

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #5:

To play the game, you:
~Decide which child goes first
~Ask the first child a question
~If they answer correctly, they spin the dice and move accordingly
~If they get the answer wrong, they get to move one space.
~The first child to the finish line wins!

You can alter the rules of the games depending on the game board you choose to use, or you can add extra rules to make the game harder.

Homeschool teaching tip for making tests fun #6:

Play the game at least once a week, adding additional cards (from completed lessons) to the stack each week.

Note: You do not necessarily have to use brainpop.com to play this learning game, I just like the fact that the kids learn with the video and then are tested on what they learn. In addition, the test prints out in such a way that it is easy to cut out equal sized cards. If you choose, you can assign reading, or read to your child and make up your own cards to play this testing game.

At the end of the year, if you choose, you can give a final exam for independant grades. You will be pleased with the results if you play this game reguarly.