Self-assessment failure

[zathrus]

There is inevitably some discussion of grade level when you are a child between the ages of 5 and 18, whether you are homeschooled or not. The routine answer in our house has become, "We homeschool, so it's complicated. The easy answer is [age minus 5 OR grade in Sunday school

Comments

[ukelele]

I found that it was only starting to dawn on V last year (when she was 7) that there might be some real discrepancies between her skills with some things and other kids' skills. But I think she still doesn't have a good explanation for herself as to how that works.

Which is fine, right? She doesn't need to compare and I don't need to compare; it's just other people who do. (The problem only comes in inosfar as you start needing those grade level equivalents to interface with the rest of the world and get appropriate curriculum/services...)

[zathrus]

Exactly! My kids are comparing themselves to each other, which is getting a bit annoying and I'm trying to emphasize that they should each be learning at a speed appropriate for themselves, not at a speed designed to overtake (or to not be overtaken -- there is a real possibility of J passing D in the near future, which in light of the 5-year age gap, might be a bit tough for her to swallow). I have had conversations with D in which I have compared her performance to what would be expected of her in a more conventional school setting, but mostly because given her younger brothers, she's at serious risk of starting to think she's stupid when she's really not; she's just much better rounded than they are, with no sparkly shiny areas of incredible flashy brilliance. But the rest get compared to the outside world only in adult-only conversations for the sake of getting services as needed. Or at least, that's the goal; kids have ways of turning conversations in directions you didn't anticipate or desire... ;)

Newt