EXAMS the CM way

As you know, we are gearing up to the end of our first term.  Next week, I'm planning on doing an exam week with Fina.

Exams require no preparation or studying or cramming on the part of the student. (Mom has to prepare the questions). For all the readings, you just choose a few from history, a few from literature etc and ask the child to tell all she remembers about it - a re-narration of sorts. Fina has no negative experience with testing obviously, as she never went to school or had testing of any sorts. She is quite excited about it, as am I.  We take a week, learn nothing new, and do a handful of exam questions a day. It is a week to review what we have learned and to revel in our learning. I want to make it a special time for her. It is kind of a week off school. Sort of. With lots of outdoor play time.

(I think it will also be good for the whole diligence thing. "We are going to do 5 things and then we are done for the day. And I'm recording you. You want to do your best work." Not in a pressure way, though. Of course.)

When I first dove into the whole CM-thing, I thought I wouldn't do exams (they are listed as "optional exam weeks."). But as I've read more about them, I think it would be a great time. And I like the idea of preserving the exam as a record and as a snapshot of her learning. I'm planning on recording her and transcribing her answers, but I think it would be neat for her to come back and hear what her narrations sounded like. I've never recorded her narrating.

Some people also have some of the parts be done with dad, or a grandparent or whatever. Like the recitation and singing and handicraft.

The history and the literature portions are pretty straight forward. I will choose a few stories and ask her to tell me what she remembers. A lot of people give the child an option, "tell me about Boadicea or about Caligula." It isn't intended to review every single thing we have learned, obviously. Just a few random things from each book we are reading.

There are so many "other" things to bring into the exam, that I hadn't thought of at first.

• Who was our artist? Describe your favourite painting. Some people have the child even sketch it.
• Same with our composer. Who was our composer and describe one of his compositions.
• I've kept some math questions blank in her book to use (homeschooling serendipitous event, we are just finishing up MUS Primer - we are right at the end!).
• Geography - show me x, y and z on the globe.
• Tell one interesting thing Paddle has encountered so far in Paddle-to-the-Sea
• I'm going to have her do some of our handicraft right on the spot (finger knitting). Others have the child show a non-family member their work. I suppose that older kids could even teach someone how to do the handicraft.
• Some people do PE, like do 5 push-ups and 5 sit-ups correctly and run 3 miles with mom (see Celeste's exams below). Um, yeah, we haven't done that. Though I'm thinking about having her do one of her yoga episodes while I actually watch, rather than what I usually do when she is doing yoga, which is do dishes, cook, etc. I might video her, if she is ok with that.
• Ask what was her favourite character in one of our "free reads" and why.
• What is her favourite fairy tale and describe.
• Have her recite two poems for me and two Shakespeare passages.
• Favourite bible story so far and narrate.
• Sing a hymn, sing a folksong (we only just started doing folksongs and we only know one, so that should be easy!)
• Tell me one story from Kipling's Just So Stories. Tell me how whoever got his whatever.
• Tell me about one bird from The Burgess Bird Book
• Tell me about your favourite Aesop Fable and moral
• cursive - write your name in your neatest hand
• One cool thing I just came across is AO Exam questions for Nature Studies. https://www.amblesideonline.org/ExamNature.shtml Wow, just incredible!!! AO is really a treasure trove of stuff!!!

Here is a link to the AO term sample exams. I'm using year 1 term 1 as my basis, and I've also looked at two versions (with two of her kids) here and here of Celeste's first year exams at her joyouslessons blog. She has some really great ideas above and beyond the AO exam.

I'm in the process of creating Fina's exam. I will post it here on my blog. And I plan on posting her exam here as well, once she has done it. If not with the recordings, at least the transcriptions and pics.

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So, would you consider doing exams this way with your homeschoolers, as a review and recap and revelling in the learning? Talk to me about it! I'd love to hear about your experience or ideas!

I think even non-CMers could certainly benefit from doing some of these things at regular intervals throughout the year. Even just to take a day and recap some lovely things you have learned over the last stretch of time!