I am bursting with pride, so I want to share our oldest daughter’s latest success. As I mentioned a few months ago, I was hoping she could start taking classes at a community college this fall. I have been doing a lot of leg work, making sure we dot all our i’s and cross all our t’s. The last obstacle for registration was taking the Accuplacer exam. This is basically a placement test to determine whether a student is ready for college level classes.
In the weeks leading up to the test, I checked out numerous study guides from the library. I was constantly hounding her to read them. As the date approached, I found myself doubting our homeschooling decisions. My daughter, who just finished 9th grade, has never taken a standardized test in her life. I didn’t prepare her for this! What if she fails? What will that do to her self esteem?
The morning of the exam, my daughter was visibly nervous. I tried to play it cool, but I was nervous too. With butterflies in my stomach, I dropped my baby girl off at the testing center. The proctor said that the test was untimed, but that it usually takes about two hours to complete. I hunkered down in my car, expecting a long wait. Three hours later, I was still waiting. I was out of my mind with worry. What could possibly be taking so long? I walked into the testing center and peeked through the classroom door. My was daughter was on a computer, working diligently. I paced the halls.
After nearly four hours, my daughter finally completed the test. She casually walked out the door, with the proctor close on her heels. He wanted to congratulate her on her impressive test scores. She did amazing! She passed the reading and writing sections with flying colors, but she really excelled on the math section. The highest score you could receive was a 300. My daughter scored a 294! He said it was one of the highest math scores he has ever seen! We were both beaming with pride as we walked back to the car.
Being a homeschooling parent can be a very difficult job. Sometimes I doubt my ability to give my children everything they need to be successful. Having the community college confirm that my 9th grader is ready for college was a huge win for our family. I am so proud of my daughter! I can’t wait to see all the amazing things she does with her life.