Standardized Testing

We just finished our standardized testing. Whew! Now I can have the baby,... I think. The boys took the Standford Achievement Test yesterday and today with the regional group in our area. One of the parents needed to help either proctor the test, assist, do nursery or be a floater. It cost me $28 per test and I think that's a deal since it usually would cost $40 + costs for a proctor to administer the Standford. The CAT test is cheaper but like I said, $28 was a good price.
They put me in the hospitality room. I was in charge of coffee and snacks. I didn't think about my every hour potty breaks but the coordinator did, so this was a good place for me to be. Our 10 yr. old tested with the 4th graders and the 8 yr. old tested with the 2nd graders. Here's some of their responses:

So how was your test?

Yesterday - 10 yr old's reply "Oh, it was easy. I had fun!"

Today - "Some of the math was hard."

How was the Bible section, was it easy like you thought? Did you know what Omnipotent meant? (He thought Bible was going to be a breeze.)

"I remembered from a couple weeks ago when I asked you. It means all powerful.

The science section was kind of hard."

So what did you think about testing? Was it hard? Did you remember to borrow?

Yesterday - 8 yr. old's reply " It was fun, but they asked me about thermometers, and things like how much more in word problems, so I just guessed on some of those. The teacher said it was going to be easy. I asked her if it was going to be 1+1 easy. She said it wasn't that easy. The math wasn't so easy. She also said we shouldn't look at other people's papers because they could be wrong. She was right."

Today - I didn't ask yet. They were the last to finish and he needed to go play.

You might wonder why I test if I don't have to. I don't test every year, but I have tested in 2nd and in 4th. Our 4th grader will test with city schools next year and I wanted to see how he was progressing in Social Studies and Science.

I test because I want them to learn to test. I also test because I already know their weaknesses and strengths but it's good to see how he does in a test situation. Will their weaknesses be worse or will they perform under stress? I also want them to see that other homeschoolers are also expected to really learn. That our homeschool is the real thing, and that they have a responsibility to learn the required subjects for their age and grade.

So now I'll wait for the results to come in the mail. We'll see how easy that test really was.