Next week the older 2 kids have CAT-6 testing at school. This happens to matter more than usual because for Vicky, these are the scores used for placement into Jr. High, and for Cameron, this is his chance at redemption, because he's been so lazy and stubborn lately that his scores are actually lower than in the end of 1st grade. GRRRR. So I went to the teacher supply store today and I bought them each a grade-appropriate practice book, for a whopping rip-off of 43 dollars, and got home and made them both sit down and practice. I learned a few things, and here they are: 1. Kids do not read directions. They are too smart for this. Once forced to read the directions they shout "OH OH OH, I KNOW THAT!" and then answer correctly. 2. Somehow they forget that during the comprehension portion of the test, THE STORY IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM TO CHECK! 3. The words and selections on the answer sheet are magic. As soon as the child chooses the correct answer, they all run around and transpose and therefore are inherently evil little marks out to get the child a bad score. Because you KNOW, just like the child does, that THEY DID NOT MARK THAT ONE! THEY SWEAR!! So, I told them both the most important things they can do on a test are take their time, read ALL the directions and ALL the selections (not just stop at the one the could make sense), and for the love of God, CHECK your answers afterwards, as we all know the magic burns out the 1st time they move and they are just physically unable to do it again. That said, they both did pretty well. Vicky whipped through 2 entire sections of the book with only a few mistakes, and Cameron kicked ass. He did only portions of 2 sections but he got all the multiplication AND division right, and I just taught him division 5 minutes earlier. If my kids can just relax and READ CAREFULLY, they are going to own this damn test.

Posted by: Heather
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
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