That word “standardized” in standardized testing is there for a reason and I need to remember that when the test scores come back in a few weeks and show that my 2nd grader hasn’t gotten the traditional standardized 2nd grade history education yet. I’m not worried – I know she’s been getting history education, but apparently it looks differently than that of the other kids.

When I picked the girls up today from their testing site, I asked if they remembered any of the questions and if they thought they knew the answers or if they had to guess at any of them. Maddie said that for the test on environmental studies, they asked her a question that said, “Which black woman refused to give up her seat on a bus and was put in jail for it?” She said, “I choose the one with glasses.” Anyone know if Rosa wore glasses? We’ll find out I guess. She then told me that another question asked her to name the woman who made the first American flag and that it started with a Betsy. Those two she had to guess on.

I panicked for a minute as I thought I’d forgotten some pretty important parts of her education, but then just as quickly remembered that American history comes later on the 4 year classical cycle, and that we’ve pretty thoroughly covered the Ancients by now. I guessed that the standardized tests didn’t ask her many questions about the ancient civilizations.

That’s okay, because I already know what she knows. And we’ll get to Rosa Parks and Betsy Ross soon.