This week is exams week. As usual, we did not do any reviews or recall before we started the exams on each subject. We did have a minor setback though. The other night, the powerline exploded in the middle of the night and was only resolved until afternoon of the following day. We were able to do only one exam in the morning as the heat index was extremely high and with no working fan, we cannot do any examinations. So we just headed out to the play place at the mall and spent hours in there until the powerline was fixed.
Our examinations are always done orally. I write all the exam questions, she answers them on the spot. All of the answers are pulled from her memory, plus she gets to insert her reactions, emotions, and opinion about the subject matter. The only subjects that we do written examinations on are Math and her Baybayin study. For this final quarter of her 2nd grade, we are trying something new.
I added written narration as part of her exam. It's practically the same but the only challenge is how fast can she write what she thinks about. This is where all the years of copywork practice comes in handy. I did not add the written narration out on a whim.
Next year, she will be in 3rd grade. As part of preparation for her 4th grade where she will be required to do written narrations on all her subject, I plan on introducing written narration to her on our 3rd grade. Her final exam this year will be a sneak peek of what she will expect next school year. It is also my way of gauging if she is indeed ready to make written narrations.
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Although our school requires written narrations on grades 4 onwards, I feel that my little learner is very much ready to take on that challenge. I just needed to confirm this through our final exam. And she did exceptionally well! I feared that she might feel overwhelmed with all the writing she will do because I had her retell an entire story. But it's like she is telling me that she is ready to take our narration to the next level.
To add to the challenge, I had her make the written narration using as many tagalog words as she can. My daughter's first language is English even though we live in the Philippines. When she was younger, she even had an accent. Thanks to Dave and Ava, Numberblocks, Alphablocks, and so much more. I've always been told that my daughter will have a hard time communicating with people if she doesn't know tagalog. But I do not regret that she did not learn tagalog first. I see she's communicating rather very efficiently be it with grown ups or kids so there's nothing to regret there.
But I do know that she still has to know how to speak tagalog. That's why I added Baybayin in our Filipino subject. For our exam, I had her write Baybayin sentences. And of course, the tagalog narration of one of the Filipino stories we read. She chose Ang Pambihirang Buhok ni Lola. My instruction was for her to write a written narration of the whole story and to use as many tagalog words as she can. She then asked me if she may still use some english words if she couldn't find the tagalog words she need. I'm fine with that so she went ahead.
When she submitted her narration to me, I was both amused and amazed with how she retold the story. I can see she did try to to use as many tagalog words she can find in her vocabulary. That she did, and very much amazingly so.
Judging by her attitude towards this task, I can see that she is indeed ready for the next step in our homeschooling journey. She is still young for written narration so we will take it slow but we sure are going to move upward in the learning ladder. I can see the glow in her eyes as she was writing the narration and as she was watching me check her work.
She is excited, alright. But that could still be because this is something new and it was an easy story. The lessons will get harder as we push forward and the stories will get heavier and heavier. With what I saw in this task, I say one written narration per week wouldn't be too bad for our next school year. The little learner is already excited for Grade 3.
And she was excited because she is going to be doing new tasks. LOL. I remember when I was young, I was excited for the next school year because I love the smell of new notebook. Oh well, we'll still have to complete all the exams before we move on to the next chapter of our homeschooling journey.
