Week 3: Reading Assessment, Fatigue, and the Learning Curve Nobody Warns You About

Welcome back to The Homeschool Recap. Week 3 was more assessment testing — this time in reading — and it took up a big chunk of time throughout the day. Here's what Week 3 actually looked like: the reading assessment, the routine we clung to, and the fatigue that hit us both by Friday.

Week 3 Was All About the Reading Assessment

Week 3 was more assessment testing, this time in reading, and it took up a big chunk of time throughout the day.

We would spend the beginning of each day taking the assessment on the computer, taking breaks as needed. Like the math assessment last week, we had to do a little of the assessment each day and ended up completing the reading assessment on Friday morning.

Two weeks, two assessments. If you're new to homeschooling through a charter school, this might be your reality too — the assessments come early and they eat into your actual school time. Here's how we handled it.

How We Kept Our Routine While Testing

Every day we would start with Language Arts — either copywork or her 3rd grade Blackbird and Company curriculum — and then progress to her 3rd grade daily math workbook by Evan Moor.

We would take a break as needed.

We would then cycle in daily Geography and Science workbooks as time permitted.

That phrase — "as time permitted" — became the theme of Week 3. The assessment came first, and everything else fit around it.

Our Week 3 Homeschool Breakdown

Here's what our days looked like, subject by subject:

ELA / Language Arts

• Copywork

• Blackbird and Company 3rd Grade Curriculum

Math

• 3rd Grade Daily Math by Evan Moor

Geography

• Daily Geography workbook (as time permitted)

Science

• Daily Science workbook (as time permitted)

Assessment

• Reading assessment on the computer — a little each day, completed Friday morning

The Fatigue Hit Us Both by Friday

I noticed at the end of Week 3, due to the assessment testing, both my daughter and I were fairly tired.

This is all a learning curve for us.

Two assessments in two weeks is a lot — for her and for me. She's the one taking the test, but I'm the one holding the schedule, managing the breaks, and trying to fit real schoolwork around a computer-based test that doesn't care what else we had planned.

What I'm Learning About Homeschool Assessments

• Chunking works. Just like the math assessment in Week 2, breaking the reading assessment into small daily pieces got it done without a meltdown.

• Assessments will disrupt your routine — plan for it. I'm learning to build assessment weeks into my expectations instead of being surprised by them.

• Fatigue is real, and it's okay to name it. By Friday, we were both done. I didn't push. We finished the assessment and called it.

• The learning curve is ongoing. I keep thinking I'll feel like I know what I'm doing soon, and then something new shows up. This week it was reading assessment fatigue.

What Worked in Week 3

• Starting with Language Arts every day. It's become our anchor — no matter what the assessment did to our schedule, we started the same way.

• Taking breaks as needed. Not on a timer, not by the clock — when she needed one.

• Keeping the workbook subjects light. Geography and Science happened "as time permitted," and I didn't beat myself up when they didn't.

What Didn't Work (and What I'm Adjusting)

• Trying to do a full day of school plus an assessment. By midweek I realized we couldn't do both at full volume. Something had to give, and it was the workbooks.

• My own energy. I'm working full-time around this. Assessment weeks take more from me too, and I need to plan for that.

What I'm Learning as a Homeschool Mom

Assessment weeks aren't normal weeks. They're their own thing. Once I stopped expecting Week 3 to look like Week 2, it got easier — and I stopped feeling like I was failing.

What to Expect in Week 4

Week 4 is coming next — and I'll share whether the assessments are finally behind us, whether our math curriculum arrived, and how we're adjusting now that we've got three weeks under our belt.

A Note for New Homeschoolers

If assessment testing is eating into your homeschool days, you're not doing it wrong. This is part of the process, especially if you're enrolled in a charter school. Chunk the test, protect your routine where you can, and give yourself and your kid grace when the fatigue hits.

Week 3 was tiring. But we finished. And that counts.