Tomorrow our homeschool gets inspected by the board of education. They sent us a letter one month ago, summoning us to their offices downtown at 9.00 am. They informed us that they are going to start by ‘testing the child’s knowledge’, followed by an interview, and that we should allow an hour. Oh, and that we could bring in examples of the child’s work if we wanted. It wasn’t long before I found out that at least two other families have an appointment for the same date and time. It is pretty certain that they are going to give the children a test based on the level of middle-of-first-grade in the public schools.

Now the thing is, the law is not very specific about how the homeschool inspection should take place, but it does say that parents can choose whatever educational method, philosophy and progression that they like. It makes it clear that it’s the teaching that is being inspected, not the child’s achievement. That makes me unhappy from the start about the way the inspection has being set up.

Clearly, they believe they can adequately inspect my teaching by setting my child a school curriculum-based test and by looking at concrete work produced by her. I don’t agree with this. Their test is likely to be largely irrelevant to what we actually do: there’s no reason why we should have covered the topics covered in schools. We certainly haven’t covered the techniques that children are taught in school to get the answers to the types of questions that are asked in schools. And in any case Antonia isn’t studying at the equivalent of mid-first-grade level in most subjects. All that is our right.

I feel that learning two written languages is a big task, that we don’t have the same imperative to do lots of writing as schools do, and that being made to produce lots of writing would spoil my child’s fun in learning (what a concept), and slow her down. I particularly need them to acknowledge this, because it’s the one area where Antonia is ‘only’ at grade level, more or less, and I really expect her to slip below grade level for several years, as she deals with another language and in any case writes less than public school kids. That’s our right too.

As for showing work, our nature or city walks, our science experiments, our reading, and especially our conversations don’t leave this kind of trace – but I do have photographs and records and I’m taking a selection of them in. A lot of the other homeschooling parents use Montessori type manipulatives – I’m sure they have even less to show than we do.

If the inspectors had come to our homes, as most of us would prefer, and as the law encourages them to do, they could see the materials, the environment and the kids using these things normally. If they ask to see something in particular, it’s easy to pull it out. And if they asked my dear sweet daughter what she does all day and she said “nothing” or “play” they would have before their eyes the evidence that ‘playing at nothing’ consists of painting, constructing, miscellaneous experiments, manipulatives, writing and figuring out sums, etc…

Apart from that, their procedure is just not nice. I will say nothing of making us get up a couple of hours earlier than usual and dragging us downtown during rush hour. It’s the test situation that bugs me. I know that some areas in the US use testing for homeschoolers. But tests administered to 6-year olds by strange adults in a strange place? With neither the educator nor the student ever having had access to a sample test, or even a rundown of what’s likely to be covered? Does anyone think this is developmentally appropriate? Or appropriate for exams at any age, anywhere?

Developmentally appropriate or not, it isn’t appropriate for my daughter. She has a history of responding badly to test situations and of being very uncomfortable if she thinks she has to perform. She tends to freeze, literally, or burst into tears. She has a bunch of other strategies that she can and will use unconsciously to avoid giving an answer. She’s only just started to talk to French adults if they are her friend’s parents, and if the conversation is on her own terms. She usually still ignores questions that they ask her. Despite being globally at or above the level of their test, she may be psychologically unable to answer their test questions, or indeed any question.

If this turns out to be the case, I fear they will decide to blame it on homeschooling. They don’t get to see how much progress she has made – in psychological resilience, I mean. They don’t get to see that she is happy and confident in her normal environment, having made sure that they only get to see her in the most stressful circumstances that could be devised. They may even decide that she actually knows nothing. I have found myself unable to prepare her mentally for something that she genuinely isn’t ready for. Last night she asked me what would happen if we ran away, locked ourselves in our house and hid. That’s a fair indication of her state of mind, and it’s scary for a parent who has past experience of her nervous meltdowns.

Really she just shouldn’t be put through this inspection… and if I said it didn’t make me angry I would be lying. It’s true that I didn’t write the inspector a detailed letter explaining all this. That, I suppose, is because I don’t trust them enough to let them in on my concerns. I suspect them of being hostile to homeschooling in principle and quick to blame any and all difficulties on the parent. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part. But I can’t help feeling that they should have remembered that some parents pull their kids from school because those kids are fragile and failing to thrive in some way. And they should not subject any child to situations that a child psychologist would deem potentially stressful and inappropriate for the age. And I think most child psychologists would. It’s obviously not the best thing for me to be entering the inspection situation in the frame of mind that I am in, but there you go.

Still, I’ve done what I can. I’ve produced a portfolio/report that I think would allow them to inspect what we do adequately – if they read it! I’ll rustle up a few books, and a small portfolio of math/writing type things that were manifestly done by Antonia without adult help, in case she really proves unable to do the test. I’m packing a treat for afterwards, the favourite soft toy in case things get really desperate, a change of clothes (yup, it could be that bad!), and a drawing book. I found in India that drawing helps her handle stress. Oh, and I’ve promised her a medal. That’s what she asked for. I’ve been wondering about getting one that says ‘Homeschool Inspection Survivor’ on it, but I’ll probably go for something a bit more upbeat.