Breton Village in the Snow, Paul Gauguin. Wikimedia Commons.
After writing my latest post on Charlotte Mason style exams, I received several emails and comments asking how I come up with my exam questions. It has taken me a few years to develop a good sense of just how much is enough to ask on these exams and there are some resources that have helped me tremendously.
First of all, in the Charlotte Mason volumes you will find lots of actual term exam questions that were used in the CM schools. These of course are the best sources of ideas since they were what was actually practiced at that time. The concepts are easily applied to any books and materials you have covered in your own homeschool plans if you look at it from the right angle. Read this section in Volume 3: Appendix Two and perhaps this section in Volume 6: Section Three.
You will find lots of great food for thought on Ambleside Online as well. Here is a link to their Thoughts on Examinations. You can also find a whole list of Sample Exam Questions.
I commented on the exam post that we need to remember that a Charlotte Mason style exam is going to allow the child to show what he knows rather than test what he doesn't know. In the beginning when I was trying to put together our term exams, I had a hard time remembering that concept. Now I remind myself that even my high schoolers like to shine and to share what they know about topics that interest them. I include a variety of activities for the boys to perform during their exams: displays, recitations, drama, artwork, poetry, writing pieces, and oral narrations. I make sure that the exam is not all done with pencil and paper.
More Ideas
Another gold mine of practical ideas and suggestions for term exams is found on lindafay's website, Charlotte Mason Help. You will find her listing for examinations HERE.
You can also join the Yahoo Group that files lots of real examples of Charlotte Mason style exam questions to go along with Ambleside Online plans. AOExams.
Simple Charlotte Mason has two excellent articles: End of Term Exams in the Charlotte Mason Method and also How Much Does My Child Remember?
Hopefully you can glean some good ideas for your own Charlotte Mason style term exams from the resources in this post. If you have any resources you use that I don't have listed, please leave me a comment and let me know.....I am always refining my process.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
10 comments:
Thank you for your thoughtful post as I was one of the folks who wanted more information. I have bookmarked several sites you mentioned and printed off some materials. Hopefully, I can come up with an end-of-term exam for my oldest child at the end of our school year.
Samantha
Hi Samantha,
You are very welcome. Let me know what you come up with..I would love to read your exam questions.
Barb
Thanks for submitting this post to the blog carnival! I'm sure that so many will find this helpful
Thank you for this post. The question I have is, after the exam, how do I determine if their performance is acceptable?
I've read many CM-style exams, and especially have enjoyed lindafay's site. But, I wonder, when the exam is done, what if my child didn't meet up to what I expected of them? Here, I guess I would figure out where I went wrong.
This year we are reading Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia Astronomy book for science. We do narration daily and a notebook page per chapter. So, at the time, the children do know the material. At the end of the year (too long--should it be half years?) what do I expect them to have taken from the book?
1. name the planets in order
2. tell two facts about each planet
3. give some interesting info about outer space
My boys are 6 and 8, in 1st and 3rd respectively. Is this too little? Is this on target?
What if they can't tell me much about each planet? What would other appropriate questions be?
I am not looking for you to hand-feed me what to do, but I am curious if I am on the right track and how to judge if their answers are acceptable.
(This has been in my mind because I have to turn in end-of-term grades for our umbrella school.)
oh, I forgot to sign my name to the question about exam results. I'm Joy, if you care to add it to the post.
Thanks for your time.
Joy,
I think this is where your family's goals come into play. If it was your goal for your kids to remember the planet's names and the order, than I would think that was a good exam question. I like your other two exam questions in your example because they are open ended. The point is to give your children the opportunity to show what they know.
I give two exams per year.
Hope that helps.
Barb
Thank you for your response, "exams are to show what they know." I do understand this premise.
BUT what if, at the exam, they don't show much? Or don't seem to show much? I am wondering how much an 8-year-old would tell about a book we/he read. I guess this is kind of subjective, but how do you measure if they did well or not? I mean our dear mentor, C.M., had to decide if the material the child told about was worthy of passing or not passing, or of some sort of grade (?).
Does the responsibility completely rest on me to provide interesting and living materials (and I'm all for good books!) that they then just absorb and narrate back and learn by osmosis? Is there not to be any laboring on their part?
I am really asking these questions from a wondering heart. I love all I've read from CM, so I am not trying to argue, but to find some answers. DH and I had a discussion about this last night, trying to decide where our to-be-4th-grader would head with schooling requirements next year.
I've yet to see much info about evaluating the exam responses. Maybe I need to read more of C.M.'s works? Can you point me to a specific book?
Thank you again for your time. I want to trust that this way of teaching is an excellent way and enjoy reading from you and others that have btdt.
-Joy
Joy,
So now you are walking into territory I have not researched. I understand you to want to know how to evaluate the exam responses. I have not seen any material on this in the CM volumes that I remember so my response is purely my opinion.
I would take my child's response or lack of response to be what it is....their particular take on an exam question. They may not have internalized the information. Perhaps they did not do careful reading, perhaps the book or text you used wasn't a "living book", perhaps you asked the question in the wrong way.
An eight year old has a long way to go in their journey. If they didn't seem to understand something or couldn't narrate it back this time, maybe in a few years they will.
I might work on careful reading this term or make sure that the daily narrations are really meeting your term or year goals.
Pick ways to sound the thoughts down by multiple means. Oral narration, written narration, drawings, skits, poetry, dictation and copywork. For instance if it were your goal to have them memorize the nine planet's names, use that as part of your copywork, have them make a model, sketch the planets out on the sidewalk, draw them in your nature journal,etc. This way you are using multiple ways to get to your goal. Perhaps your child is a different kind of learner and writing and oral work doesn't get the info down into their long term memory.
I gave you some great links to the CM volumes that I like to read through every year. Volume 3 and Volume 6 are great ways to get started really digging into the CM meat. Take notes and pick a few ideas to implement at a time.
That is my best advice. Taking exams is a skill in itself. I always plan at least one really fun exam question per term for my boys. You will learn what kinds of things your children like to do to show you what they know.
Barb
Joy,
Why don't you email me directly since our conversation is sort of going in depth?
harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
It might be less cumbersome. :)
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Barb,
Great ideas and resources for C.M. exams! I will be preparing for our second term exams shortly.
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