Assessing ages/levels

[morethanpotatoprints]

I have noticed several posts where people have said their dcs are x amount of years ahead of schooled peers. Do some people do assessment for levels in a formal way or do they do a rough guess. I'm not sure I would like to do a formal route but even dd asked how she would do her sats, and if she didn't how would I/she know how good she was. For me it will be important to know that she is improving and keeping up with at least average ability.
So if you do assessment how do you do it and what criteria do you use and can I have a copy please.
Now for a well deserved glass of wine, it's been a long day!

You can buy sats practice books in places like WH Smith whereby you can work out their rough level. I presume DS's reading level is comparable to an average 9 yr old due to stuff like ORS levels guide. Also he reads books for 9-10 yr olds. Generally, though I don't give a shit anymore and it is one of the joys of home edding! (I do tend to bring it up to my inlaws etc who have told me that I am ''destroying DS's life chances'' by home edding him so it does have its uses!

Thanks Wolves. I have downloaded lots of Sats papers quite a while back, not for H. ed reasons. I have no idea how to work out sub levels though. I have copies of main levels also again from online. I am not bothered as long as she makes progress, but I know that initially she will want some sort of grading. It won't be too bad though as her last teacher wasn't one for levels and didn't tell us anything. It's just a bit of security for the early days for both of us really.

They are doing away with sub-levels so I wouldn't worry about those anyway. (I used to be a teacher and have lots of teachery friends) Levels can be a bit hit and miss anyway. I would only worry about levels if they were significantly different to the average expected for your DD's age and even then, only if you wanted to take a particular route of action. eg I know that DS's extended writing skills are probably below average but I am not worried as I know he is making progress at his own pace.

... not sure what a 'teachery' friend is

Thanks wolves. I know what teachery friends are, lol. Think I have a few too, but unfortunately not primary.
My main problems are literacy and not believing the levels that school indicate, when we actually get them. I am finding it difficult finding books for dd that aren't too babyish, but she can manage, and most of all comprehend (biggest problem). I don't know why but she's reluctant to read atm, but ended Ks1 at level 3 apparently.

Might be simpler to post on forums (not necessarily home ed ones) saying, "Here are my dd's interests and here are some books she has enjoyed recently. Can anyone please suggest some more books along similar lines which are of roughly the same level of difficulty?" People always seem to enjoy contributing to those threads.

Then you don't have to get caught up in assessment. You can just look to her, to what she enjoys and what she feels able to handle at the moment.

After all, knowing which sub-level your daughter is on (even if it were possible to assess accurately) won't be a huge help in finding books for her which she'll want to read.

I did reading tests in the early days, provided by a 'teachery' friend My eldest dd had a reading age of 10 at five years, which doesn't appear to be uncommon from the little I've read here.

Lyraedu. You are right quite common nowadays. Our ds2 was reading age of 9 at 4 years old. After completing compulsory education I would guess he's still aged 9. Its a pity that school has this effect on some children. I blame school as no amount of encouragement from us would get him to read as it wasn't the culture at his schools.

There's a company who used to provide sats testing. I'll see if I can find them, they also provide curriculum packages, or used to.

I bought a set of SATS papers for DD2 in Year 6 (they're easily available) and she went through them, just to satisfy my curiosity. Also, at that time we toyed with the idea of going for a scholarship for a private school and they sent us an example of their entrance papers. When she got 100% on the maths paper in about half the time allocated I knew she was doing quite well!

Since those days I haven't bothered to formally assess her, because I've stopped caring where she is in relation to her peers. I think this happens over time with home ed - we as parents deschool too :)

However, my nephew (who is 12, the same age all but 3 months) brought his school books round the other week and it was enlightening. He is in top sets for everything at school so is a good benchmark. I always thought DD2 was quite poor at English, but I'd say she's at about the same level as him, so that was reassuring. Maths she is so far ahead it's ridiculous - he's doing stuff she was doing about 3 years ago.

Apart from being personally reassuring, I don't think the actual assessment matters much. Schools have to get children to set levels so they have to assess them. At home, I think as long as a child is going forward, learning new stuff and enjoying what they do, they'll progress anyway - often much faster than you'd believe.

Musicposy- that's great! I always read your posts with interest as our DD1 sounds quite similar to your DD2 in terms of character... Always nice to hear a success story. I agree that levels and such are useful guide just to keep track of how things are going. I presume that the reading age tests are available online- does anyone have suggestions for a link to a useful one?

Ok sorry! I've answered my own question with a quick google- it's very obvious!