stacyzme

Hello all. I am Stacy, the mom of a fantastic creative four year old
boy. Since he was born we knew we would homeschool. We are really
attracted to Unschooling since living the unschooling way has evolved
for us before we even had a name for it. But....(and there of course
is one) I live in Virginia and our state requires testing in English
and Math or a portfolio evaluation for those areas.
For those of you with testing requirements how do you handle it, and
how do you prevent the pressure to have your child performing at those
levels?
I can opt out of kindergarten this year, but next year I fall under
the legal guidelines, and moving isn't an option :).

Stacy

Kristie Cochran

Hi Stacy,

It's pretty easy to unschool in Virginia. Most home and unschoolers use
the CAT test (and I hear it's really easy and you administer it
yourself) that you can purchase from Seton Home (in VA, so turnaround
time is very quick). Also, depending on when your son turns six, it
could be another 2 years or more until you have to test him. The
compulsory school age is 6 by September 30th. There are a couple of
area-specific unschooling lists for Virginia. I know there's a
NovaUnschoolers list and I think one for Richmond and maybe a couple of
other places. I'm in the Hampton Roads area and there are few true
unschoolers here, but lots of eclectic homeschoolers. You might also
want to get on the VaEclecticHS list as well. Both the HEAV and Va
Homeschoolers websites have referrals for evaluators, and I know of at
least one that is an unschooler.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do RE or just homeschool under
option 1. My son turns 6 in a month and so if I don't do RE, we'll have
to test next fall for K (I opted him out of K this year).

Hope this helps!

Kristie

stacyzme wrote:
>
> Hello all. I am Stacy, the mom of a fantastic creative four year old
> boy. Since he was born we knew we would homeschool. We are really
> attracted to Unschooling since living the unschooling way has evolved
> for us before we even had a name for it. But....(and there of course
> is one) I live in Virginia and our state requires testing in English
> and Math or a portfolio evaluation for those areas.
> For those of you with testing requirements how do you handle it, and
> how do you prevent the pressure to have your child performing at those
> levels?
> I can opt out of kindergarten this year, but next year I fall under
> the legal guidelines, and moving isn't an option :).
>
> Stacy
>
>

Laurie Wolfrum

We live in Maine and do a portfolio review each year
per state regulations. Perhaps you can find someone
who does reviews who is knowledgeable about
unschooling and an unschooling lifestyle. Good luck, Laurie



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