To Test or Not to Test

When people find out we homeschool, there are several questions that typically get asked. One of the top questions is, "How do you know that they are learning enough? Do you have tests?"

*sigh* To test or not to test... it's a huge debate in the homeschool world. Really, it's a huge debate in education across the board. Personally, I don't test my kids. At least not in the sit-at-your-desk-and-answer-these-multiple-choice-questions kind of way. I honestly don't think that is necessary when my kids are 7 and 5. Many people disagree with me. It may be baggage I still carry from my years as a classroom teacher where high-stakes testing was the focus from September until May. I've had enough teaching to the test to last me a lifetime. But how, you may ask, do I know that my kids are learning without testing?

Here's just one example. Today, our neighbor came over to play legos. Not sure how on Earth the conversation got going in this direction. I'm assuming they were reenacting a battle scene because that's what boys do.  This is what I overheard:

A- Okay. You see, in the year 1898 Theodore Roosevelt...
Neighbor- Who's that?
C- He was a leader in the army, but then he later became the president.
A- So Teddy Roosevelt led his rough riders - that's what they called his army - up San Juan Hill.
C- They were fighting the Spanish.
Neighbor- Why?
A- Well, the Spanish ruled Cuba but the Cubans wanted to be their own country.
C- Yeah- the Spanish ruled pretty much all of South America... except Brazil. That's why if you go to South America, they still speak Spanish.
A- Except Brazil. They speak Portuguese.
Neighbor- What's South America?

My teacher heart was so proud of them and I could easily tell that they had mastered that unit. I can honestly say my preschooler and 2nd grader know more about history than I do!