State Testing: An Education Super Fail

It's 4:16 AM.  Instead of sleeping, I'm here drinking coffee and blogging.  Why?  Because today was absolute utter hell in my home, and my daughter just got to sleep about two hours ago.  I'm still running on pure adrenaline and righteous anger.

Let me back up a bit.

Last year, I began homeschooling my children.  The reasons are many, but it mostly comes down to my belief that education is not one size fits all.  My children are both diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, and my son additionally has a diagnosis of expressive/receptive speech disorder.  Both of them also have sensory processing disorder.  Mostly, in everyday life, this means little.  They have coping skills, they are really great kids, and they deal with the things that pose challenges like a couple of champs.  We realize, though, that it is having the freedom to be who they are in a supportive and loving environment which allows them to really shine like they do.  A public bricks and mortar school was not that environment.

K12 seemed to be a perfect fit for us.  I loved the curriculum.  Yes, I am using past tense words here, because I am beginning to realize that K12 is susceptible to the very same pitfalls, in terms of actual education, that any other public school suffers.  Perhaps it hit me extra hard this year because the language arts curriculum reading materials were severely slashed in terms of quantity, while at the same time we received a pile of test preparation materials which seemed more than a bit over the top.  The only reason I can think of to remove so much of the reading materials is that kids struggled with the amount of it, and spending additional time working through it would mean less time spent on test preparedness.  It also affects the kids' grades, and thus the school's reputation.  Now, I'm not blaming K12 for this at all; the state regulates their schools just like any other public school.  If anything, I think K12 is fucntioning exceptionally well given the circumstances and all of the red tape.

I wondered to myself, what would a curriculum look like if the schools were not being judged and the children were not being dragged through this nightmare known as state testing?

Today, I sat beside my daughter as she worked through a math Scantron assessment, her eyes welling up with tears, shaking with frustration, rocking back and forth.  She is good at math, but she hates it.  Her mind is definitely geared more toward right-brain activities than the logic-based, left-brain activities involved in math.  She hates math that is typical for her grade level, but this is the type of problem she had to work on:

Forgive me, since it's been quite some time since this was first introduced to me, but isn't this something you'd expect 7th-9th grade students to be working on?  I know a lot of adults who would struggle with this.  I almost wonder if they gave her the wrong assessment or something, because the problems were almost all at this level of difficulty and this was complete and utter torture for a 3rd grade child who detests math to begin with.

I have no idea what is in store on the actual state testing, but if it's anything like this, I have no idea at all what the goal is.  This is ridiculous.

I hope I feel better about things at some point, but right now I've had a rough day and I'm not feeling very warm or fuzzy about any of this.  Kids should not have to go through what my daughter went through today.  And you know, I'm quite sure that these state tests and district scores won't mean a damn thing in 100 years, but the contributions these children make to the world because of actual knowledge and experiential learning (read: not from tests for pretests for pretests to prepare for the pretest for the actual test) will.  Einstein, Tesla, George Washington, Hippocrates, and Galileo did just fine without all of this state testing crap.

Alrighty, then.

Data Entry

My complaints tend to be minor and few when it comes to K12 and the curriculum.  However, I'm not a fan of the changes they've made to Language Arts (I think it is a scattered, disorganized, diluted version of the previous one), and I absolutely loathe the answer entry forms that I must do after my kids do math (and some other) assessments.  Assessments are printed from an online document, or are in the workbooks provided in the curriculum materials.  The kiddos complete them, and I enter the results in an online form when they're finished.  Instead of making a simple form where we click Yes or No the entire way through, or enter their answer in a box for each item, it goes more like this:

1. Did the student answer correctly?  Yes No
2. Part 1: one point.  Part 2: one point.  Enter the number of points the student earned.
3. 465 - 200 = ____________
4. 76 - 20 = __________
5. Did the student answer correctly?  Yes  No
6. Part 1: one point.  Part 2: two points.  Enter the number of points the student earned.
6. 98 - 45 = ___________

I mean, really?  I can't recall how many times my children have arrived at the correct answer, and I've entered the wrong one, clicked the wrong circle, put the correct answer in the wrong box, etc.  I basically feel like I am doing the assessment after they do the assessment with all of the trick data entry stuff going on.  Very annoying, time-consuming, distracting, and completely unnecessary.  Not to mention the fact that my son is prone to melting into a pouting puddle when I enter something wrong that he got right.  Ugh.  #parentfail

3rd Grade, K12, Teachers, and Learning Coaches

Miss Reezle had an opportunity to meet with the 3rd grade K12 teacher via internet/phone conference today, and for the first time ever, actually expressed an interest in doing math.  I was impressed.  I'm not sure what changed, and I kind of wonder if it is the attention her little brother gets for being brilliant at it, but I'll take it.  Math has been a struggle when it comes time for lessons, and not because she finds it difficult; Reezle simply doesn't like math.  Well, until today.

The conference went well; Reezle enjoyed it, talking about her hobbies (photography and hooping, a girl after my own heart) and excitedly announcing that she was going to send her teacher an e-mail weekly.  Oy.  After reading a few passages and word lists, the teacher asked Reezle if she read a lot.  When Miss Bookworm announced with great enthusiasm that she does, the teacher told her that she'd just been reading a list of 5th grade words.  Reezle grinned proudly from ear to ear.

People are sometimes confused when I mention my children's teachers.  "Aren't you their teacher?" they ask.  Well, yes and no.  They're independent learners, and I do present material to them and explain it in various ways to meet their unique learning styles.  I answer questions when they have them, supplement material that is relevant to our lives and in areas where they need additional enrichment or a better understanding, and basically do the things a teacher does.  K12 calls me a "learning coach".  I don't like the term; I'm not merely standing on the sidelines cheering my kids along.  All parents are teachers.

Each child is assigned a teacher (or teachers, depending on grade) by K12 for their grade level.  This person is the child's primary school contact, does assessments, holds online connect sessions like reading and math groups and other fun and educational events, and helps keep the kiddos on track.  Contact, for us, is minimal, as my children are typically pursuing their own interests and learning well beyond the assigned school day.  We might put in an hour a day of Spanish for attendance, for example, but we're speaking it and going over the words right up until bedtime.  Our learning never really stops, and the kiddos are always walking around with workbooks, notebooks, and pencils in hand.  They love to learn, and my husband and I love to teach them.  It is not uncommon for the kids to be snuggled up in the recliner with Daddy when he gets home, going over binary code or fractions, playing some strategy game like chess or Solitaire, or playing Sudoku puzzles.

Those are a couple of G's illustrations depicting fractions.  And, of course, they read so much and so fast that I can barely keep up with their books!  Not that I'm complaining...

Aimsweb Scores: Little G

I like how they included his Fall, Winter, and Spring scores from Kindergarten.  It seems, by the chart here, that they expect the kids to lose some of what they learned the previous year.  Little G didn't, but then, he was rarely without a book or workbook all summer long.  I'm so proud of him.

Little G: Fall Benchmark Assessment

Little G just had his fall benchmark assessment.

He is 6 years old and in 1st grade (but taking 2nd grade curriculum, soon to be 3rd grade math). I asked if he could be assessed for reading fluency, which they typically do not assess as part of the fall benchmark for 1st graders. His teacher (all K12 students are assigned teachers through their state's school) was super about it and had the assessment up and ready in less than 5 minutes. She's great.


Little G read 115 words per minute. For perspective, Little G reads within average WCPM expectations for 4-6th graders in fall. Crazy. It's a little scary having a 6 year-old who is smarter than you, trust me on this. Ha!

For our next assessment, Mrs. C. has asked Little G to have a book to share with her. He is currently running back and forth from his room with various books, asking, "Mom? Do you think she would like this book? What about this book? Do you think she wants to hear about anatomy? What about cats?" He has two months to decide, hopefully that will be enough time. Heh.

Congratulations to Our Girl

Miss Reezle had her end of year Aimsweb assessment yesterday afternoon. For reading fluency, the goal for the end of second grade is 90 words per minute. Reezle's reading fluency was already 142 words per minute at the beginning of the year, went to 158 words per minute at mid-year, and is now at 179 words per minute. For perspective, most adults read at about 175-180 words per minute. She is 8!

And it's not just her ability to read the material that quickly, she truly does understand what she is reading. Now, I love reading, but I am a very slow reader. Reezle appears to have my husband's ability to devour large chunks of text in very little time, with complete understanding of the material being read. It is not uncommon for either of them to finish a lengthy book in one sitting. I'm so pleased that she has this gift!

Reezle also did a math assessment. She scored perfect on the math at mid-year, so there was really nowhere to go since she was already at the ceiling. The problems were a bit more difficult this time around, and I was concerned when she shrugged and opted to do the test in her head without so much as scrap paper, but she scored perfect again. For a kid who isn't a huge fan of math, that's impressive.

Her K12 teacher and I discussed the coming year in depth, and we both agreed that picking up a language is a great idea. Reezle will be taking Spanish. We also discussed what happens if she chews right through the third grade curriculum, considering her progress thus far. Unless something changes, I stand by my decision to keep her at grade level so she does not become overwhelmed or frustrated. She has an incredible amount of interests outside of or in addition to the curriculum, and being able to master things quickly has provided her with many opportunities to really dig into what she loves. She's been reading biographies about interesting historical figures, watching many documentaries on various topics from history to science to sociology, and taking her interest in birdwatching and identification to the next level. I know I have mentioned this before, but her interest in birds has developed into something our whole family enjoys. We all delight in being able to identify a bird by their song.

We are so proud of Reezle for all she has accomplished this year. K12's curriculum is challenging and very rich, and independent learning requires self-discipline and commitment. Reezle has risen to the challenge in every way, surprising me at every turn. I could not be happier for her, and I know she feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment for all she as achieved.

Congratulations are in order, Miss Reezle! We love you and are so proud of you! And now, a special dinner of her favorite food, and a celebratory cake we will bake and decorate together!

Aimsweb and A Boy With Speech Disorders

At the beginning of the year, my children both participated in an Aimsweb assessment. At the time, I felt it was accurate; it assessed them both as "Well Above Average". They are. No problem.

I'm not one of those parents who demands that my children attain some specific standard, or who believes my children are somehow exceptionally gifted just because they're mine. However, they are academically advanced beyond grade level, and would like for testing to reflect that.

Mid-year, Little G's scores dipped somewhat. He was annoyed with the testing; he remembered he had been assessed using these same measures in the past and he is not one who likes to repeat. Getting him to cooperate was a feat of monumental proportions. So when he had to do it for a third time this spring, he just wasn't having it. Typically, before we sit down for our assessments, I have some time to briefly discuss what we will be doing and why. This time, I was experiencing technical issues with my computer (a Dell N5110, another topic; don't buy a Dell), and I didn't have the time to talk with Little G because I was busy trying to evoke some signs of life from my computer. The test is timed, and he spent the majority of that time shooting me dirty, disgruntled looks and throwing his head back to stare at the ceiling in silent protest. His autism and his enormous ego are sometimes a bit of a challenge.

At the conclusion of the testing, Little G scored Below Average. I was extremely annoyed, and having difficulty pretending I wasn't. I told the teacher assessing him as much, and said I should probably discuss the results at another time. She was extremely understanding and offered me some phone numbers of some people I could contact regarding my feelings on the matter and what I felt ought to be done differently. After all, I said in protest, they were assessing a child taking 1st grade curriculum as a Kindergartner. He certainly would have been less frustrated and the picture would have been more accurate had they assessed him based on where he was actually working. I realized I was launching into an epic rant once again, which I was trying to avoid since the issues I was facing were not the teacher's fault and she didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of my dissatisfaction. I accepted her offer of the contact info, and I decided to focus on anything other than Aimsweb.

But I couldn't. A few days passed. The teacher (she's awesome, I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this) agreed to allow Little G to take the assessment again on a day when we were not experiencing massive technical issues and he could truly focus. As it turned out, we still had some technical issues (did I mention Dell sucks?) but she came up with ways to work around it. And when all was said and done, Little G scored in the Average to Above Average categories across the board. I felt better. Little G felt better.



But during the testing, something occurred to me. My son is not typical. My son is autistic and has a speech disorder which affects his expressive and receptive communication. Even if he had truly scored in the below average range for letter sounds, would it have been because of a lack of understanding or learning? No! His speech disorder complicates matters extensively, and the fact that he is able to compensate as well as he does is highly impressive. Here I was spending all of my time focused on the fact that this standardized test failed in an epic way at assessing my son's actual abilities and progress, to the point that I forgot an extremely important variable: my son's language disability.

Little G knew his alphabet and numbers 1-10 by his second birthday, despite his inability to speak (ah, the wonders of computers). He is anything but below average. I bristled at the scores on the latest assessment, an assessment of the boy who has been tutoring his similarly gifted sister since he was just a preschooler. How could he be able to correct Reezle's spelling and grammar errors and he is scoring Below Average on Aimsweb!? Actually, for nonsense word reading, he scored Well Above Average; it was only the things directly related to how he processes speech sounds which became an issue. Duh. Sometimes I fail to think. And yet, standard tests fail to really assess his knowledge and ability because they do not take his disability into account.

Standardized tests are just a part of the story.

Round 2 of K Assessments

My math-loving little buddy had his assessment today, and is doing great. I will get the actual reports soon and post them when I do. The highlight of his assessment was that he has the green light to go into 2nd grade math if he achieves (I think it was) 95% course completion by the end of March. Since it is the beginning of February, he started 5 weeks late, he finished the workbook, and he can complete a full unit in two days time if I let him move at his own pace, I feel like I can pretty much say that's the plan. He is absolutely beside himself with excitement! I've never known a child to love math like he does.

Have I mentioned he does not get this from me? Heh. I love numbers and have an exceptional memory for them, but I've never been so awesome at manipulating the numbers. So I find my son's ability fascinating and really cool. And I believe it will serve him very well in life.

He is a great reader, too. Kindergarten assessments don't include fluency (words per minute), but there is a site where you can calculate a child's fluency on your own. For Reezle, it was spot-on, and Little G really wants to try it. I'm sure he will rock it.

In other news, I think I might actually, finally get to talk to someone from the special services department at K12. I was kind of disgusted after my experiences locally and decided to focus on other things. It's time now, though.

And I'll say it again: I love homeschooling my children!

Second Round of Assessments

When I decided to take on the responsibility of teaching my children and removed them from public school, I was both excited and nervous. I looked forward to being a part of their learning experience, to taking field trips together, and to feeling like a whole family again. During the two years that Reezle was in public school, I felt as if I lived for weekends and strangers were spending more time with my sweet girl than I was. But I was also really nervous. Education is not something I take lightly, and I was (if I'm to be honest here) a bit unsure of myself. There is an overwhelming message in our society that parents are incapable as teachers and barely equipped to assist with homework, and there was a part of me that believed it.

Today, Reezle did her second assessment of the school year. The first was done when she started homeschool to get a baseline. At the time, she scored off the charts, 'well above average', as did Little G. Today, she did it again. According to the teacher who assessed her fluency, Reezle is reading at 158 words per minute (2nd grade average is 89 wpm, 5th grade average is 139 wpm, 6th grade average is 160 wpm, according to this. Wowza.). She started the year already reading 142 words per minute, so I didn't really expect much in the way of gains between September and February. I guess I should have known better, considering how much she loves to read and how many books she's devoured in the past five months. I am so proud of her! I always had exceptional comprehension and vocabulary, but I was and still am a very slow reader.

She also scored perfect on the math assessment, quickly answering all 50 points worth of questions correctly. I wish her confidence in her math skills matched her ability, but it doesn't. I suppose having a 6 year-old human calculator for a brother probably doesn't help. She doesn't seem to realize she's still way ahead for her grade level. She has a very competitive spirit when it comes to academics.

Thus far, I've been keeping her at grade level work because of her extremely low frustration tolerance and the fact that I wanted to transition her into homeschooling comfortably. However, she is working below her ability and I've decided it is time to start challenging her a bit more. While I stand by my decision to keep her in grade 2 math and language arts, we are working through it at a faster pace now. I echo the teacher's sentiments; we don't want her getting bored...it's difficult to get them back after that. Indeed. I was bored at her age, so I stopped paying attention. I didn't need to pay attention. But by the time I realized I did need to listen, I was out of practice and overwhelmed with frustration. It can be a delicate balance for kids.

In some really fun news, the teacher introduced us to a cool educational website this afternoon called Reading Eggs (it's so much more than it sounds like!) that the kids can hardly wait to start using! There are even books they can read on all kinds of topics, and Reezle is anxious to dig into the history ones.

We're now more than halfway through the school year, and I love this more all the time. The kids love it, too, and there is no doubt whatsoever that we will continue with the K12 curriculum for the coming school year. If anyone reading is considering homeschooling, or looking at different curriculum options, I encourage you to look into K12. It is absolutely wonderful!

Our Happy Monday

Our happy Monday was a busy Monday. I discovered the joys of coffee yesterday, at wits end with this constant exhaustion I feel due to my inability to sleep like a normal person. So today I tried it again, and discovered (or should I say rediscovered?) the joy of heart palpitations. Caffeine and I don't get along. I knew it 15 years ago, but somehow I thought that exhaustion might trump caffeine intolerance. Nope. So, on to my next plan to feel less zombie-like during our school days. You know, once I figure out what that is.

One of the many things I am enjoying about homeschooling is the flexibility of both scheduling and curriculum content. I'm always supplementing with something, and I find that the internet truly is a wonderful resource. A History lesson about the 7 continents and their well-known landmarks, geography, and climate are much more interesting with the aid of YouTube videos. When I was in school, we basically had one or two pictures in a textbook (sometimes) and our imaginations. Videos about the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), the Great Wall of China (Asia), castles (Europe), The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Mt. Rushmore (North America, obviously), penguins (Antarctica), rainforests and macaws (South America), and giraffes (Africa) kept both of the kids engaged and interested. Better yet? They were talking about it for the rest of the day. Good stuff.

For art class, while discussing how Joan Miro lived in Barcelona, Spain and went to study art in Paris, France, we used Google Maps (including street view) to find out what both places look like and how far away from home he went to study (roughly 11 hours by today's travel, in case you were wondering). Reezle decided she would like to visit Barcelona and Paris, especially after we visited the Eiffel Tower via Google's street view. And today, we looked at various images of the earth while we studied the earth's poles and the equator.



An abstract drawing R made for Art using shapes and lines.

With week four of homeschool underway, we're all still loving it. Little G had his assessment yesterday and, like his sister and just as we expected, he scored well above and received the same recommendations as R. Officially, he will be starting some first grade curriculum, probably later this week. He is very excited and keeps asking me to check the OLS (online school) to see if it is there yet, even though I told him it probably won't be until later in the week or possible even next week. He finished his Kindergarten Math book tonight after dinner, so it will be mostly Study Island and working through the remaining Kindergarten lessons in the OLS to keep him busy while we wait for the new curriculum to update on the site.

Reezle will also be starting curriculum for the next grade level because she is assessing out of Math and Language Arts; I'm just waiting to hear back from our second grade teacher on when. I'm just happy that both of them are so interested in learning. Or, um, all three of them if you count the cat; she hasn't missed a lesson yet.

Fall is definitely in the air, with cool nights that bring thoughts of changing leaves, Halloween, squash soup and cups of cocoa to mind. This is my favorite season, the only downside of which is the fact that my least favorite season follows. For now, we enjoy. I hope to make some homemade applesauce with the kids, and we will be making apple shirts soon, which I can hardly wait to post about!

Grade 2 Assessments

Below are the results from R's Grade 2 assessments in reading and math:


That little blue dot at the top of the charts, well above the "Above Average" line, is where R scored. The recommendation on both is, "Consider need for individualized instruction." I did consider that need, and thus we are homeschooling.

Her confidence after seeing her accomplishments in print has soared, and we knocked out quite a few lessons in Math yesterday. She is really looking forward to the Grade 3 Math curriculum.

Little G's assessment is on Monday, and I expect similar results. He is more than halfway through his Math workbook and has 27 of 36 units of Phonics completed, just 15 days into the school year. He keeps saying, "I want to learn stuff." Hopefully when the grade 1 curriculum materials arrive, he will. He's already coveting his big sister's Math workbook.

This year ought to prove interesting! Any doubts or concerns I had are pretty much gone at this point, and we have some fun activities coming up on our Fall calendar. They are happy and thriving, and I couldn't ask for more.

Warm and Fuzzies, Books, and Assessments

Today was warm and fuzzy trade in day!

R and Little G each chose a new book from the prize redemption selection (which mommy needs to replenish very soon at the rate they're going) and they spend the latter part of Language Arts reading their new books quietly to themselves, then to each other, and finally to me. Little G chose Splish, Splat, Splat, a super cute book about a cat, and R chose Do Cats Always Land On Their Feet? (the answer is no, in case you were wondering).


R also had an assessment this afternoon with her teacher contact through the virtual school. She read three stories to assess her fluency, or the rate at which she reads orally. She reads at 140 words per minute, which according to NAEP is a grade 4 average. R is just starting grade 2. She also did an assessment for math, for which she had 8 minutes to answer 20-some questions of varying degrees of difficulty. She wasn't expected to finish all of the problems, but she did. The national average is 10-24 points, and the goal is 15 points. R got 47 points out of a possible 50.

In light of her results, we are discussing moving her up to the grade 3 curriculum so she is challenged. R, of course, is very excited about this because she loves to learn and the idea of new material she has never encountered had her jumping around like a kid waiting for Santa.

Little G has his assessment on Monday, and I expect similar results. He's actually been helping R with spelling and grammar since last year when he was in preschool. He is another one with a voracious appetite for knowledge; he worked from page 60-something in his Math workbook to page 109 in a matter of hours today. I think the curriculum, if we followed it, has him somewhere around page 30. He knows everything in the book, and mastered most of it (colors, shapes, number identification) before he even started preschool, so it's just busy work. I really look forward to getting him into some advanced curriculum so I can feel like I am teaching him something. Meanwhile, he continues to do addition, subtraction and multiplication flash cards and play chess with Daddy, and he works on a grade 2 workbook with various math and language arts material in it for fun. And he reads and reads and reads, which satisfies some of his thirst for knowledge.

I love being a part of this. And I had another great talk with my grandma about it, wherein I admitted that I had wanted to tell her about homeschooling sooner but worried about what she would think. She just kept saying she was proud of me and my kids, and that totally made my day :)

Day Four

I found a way this afternoon to allow G to take first grade assessments in Study Island, so we did two of them. On reading standards for literature, the goal is 70% for students in grade 1. G's scores were as follows:

(a) Asking and answering questions: 90.9% (Ad) Advanced
(b) Retelling stories: 83.3% (Ac) Accelerated

So basically, he is accelerated to advanced...for a first grader. On his 4th day of Kindergarten. He amazes me. G welcomed the challenge and earned a warm and fuzzy for his efforts.

My dear artistic little girl wrote a few sentences about herself to accompany her self portrait for an assignment due tomorrow.


For a bit of Language Arts supplementation and our little post-break reading and relaxation ritual, I bought both of my children a book to help them with issues they struggle with. Little G has a temper, and R sometimes struggles with the concept of sharing. Today, they each read their new book to me, and afterward I read the books to both of them.



In the background is our furry friend, Sticky. I think she enjoyed our reading this morning and afternoon, too.

And finally, for History (or was it Social Studies?) yesterday and today, my little R (or was it G?) had this echo song about the continents. We're all having fun with it together, like most other subjects.

I thought we could put it together with music and add the tambourine to keep a beat. I plan to add our recorder and keyboard to our music lessons, and maybe pick up a little drum set for fun.

Oh, did I mention I love homeschooling my children? Because I do. And they love it, too. And I have to admit it is a lot of fun to hear the school bus drive right by our home, sans squeaky brakes, and know that we've been done with our lessons for 2 hours already and that there is no required homework ahead of us - just some great, quality family time.

Study Island and Day Two

There is a neat little assessment tool which we became familiar (and a little obsessed) with today. It is called Study Island. We all enjoyed it, and the children's scores were as follows:

R

Pretest, reading:
Score: 100%

Phoenemic awareness, word recognition, and fluency (word sounds):
Goal: 68%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

Acquisition of vocabulary; context clues:
Goal: 67%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

Pretest, math:
Score: 100%

Number, number sense, and operations:
a. Place value
Goal: 70%
Score: 90.9% (Ad) Advanced

b. Compare and order whole numbers
Goal: 70%
Score: 90.9%

c. Odd and even numbers
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

d. Money
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

G

Math: Numbers, operations, and quantitative reasoning

a. Counting objects up to 20
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

b. Comparing Numbers
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

c. Ordering
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

d. Dividing in Half
Goal: 70%
Score: 100% (Ad) Advanced

This was actually a bit of fun that helped us all unwind a bit from what started as a somewhat stressful day. The OLS (online school) was suffering from some technical problems, and we (as well as many other K12 families) were suffering right along with it. I found myself thanking my lucky stars that I printed out my lesson plans for the day bright and early this morning before the birds even started chirping. I will make it a general plan from now on to print all lesson plans the night before, just to be extra safe.

Though I was admittedly stressed out, since I tend to prefer things super organized and highly predictable and because I could not access all of the information and was forced to miss out on a really cool connection opportunity with one of our virtual academy teachers, we managed to keep busy and even have fun with our offline studies until the technical issues were ironed out. Even on a stressful day, I still love this experience and felt us finding a bit of a groove today as we worked. I would even go so far as to say the technical issues were a bit of a blessing in disguise because it showed me we work well under pressure and the flexibility of the curriculum is a major benefit for many reasons.


I am witnessing myself some of the things that R's teacher told me last year about her strengths (most places) and the areas where she needs a bit of encouragement (focusing on the details instead of skimming, and counting money). It is a different perspective. It's one thing to hear it and know it, and another entirely to witness it and work with it. And, pleasantly, I am surprised how well R and I work as a team. My concerns are quickly fading, our collective enjoyment of the experience is already growing, and I am feeling truly blessed and incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to witness and be a part of my children's learning experience. Honestly, it almost feels too good to be true.

Today, we enjoyed Math and Language Arts, as we will every day. My only problem there is getting Little G to pace himself. We really need to move ahead for his sake, because he had three days worth of lessons completed in the five minutes - no kidding that it took me to set R up with her words list and book for her Language Arts lesson. I mean, he was done, and everything was correct. I think he could complete that entire math book in a day's time and not miss a beat. Fortunately, he cuts things very slowly, so I set him to work on making a shapes puppet. To quench his mathematical thirst for knowledge, we studied only Math in Study Island. He loved it. Eventually, his 5 year-old attention span won, daddy came home, and the two of them enjoyed a game of chess together.

Did I mention how much I love this? Because I do.

My precious R did a self portrait today as part of her Art curriculum, and I have to tell you I am still in awe of it. She is an artist. She comes by it honestly; her grandma Josephine and cousin Josie are also very creative and talented artists.

We didn't get to music today, but since we put in extra time on most of our other subjects, the plan is to have a lot of fun tomorrow with that.

Today I made a call to the transportation department to let them know that my children will not be attending the local elementary school and thus not taking the bus, so we should not have a repeat of the bus stopping and beeping like it did this morning. I will not miss that, though I do have to admit that I enjoyed watching it drive away with absolutely zero anxiety about the fact that we were not curbside, dressed, backpacked, and ready to leave for 8 hours. I relished making breakfast in our own time, doing school in pajamas again (because we can!), and inviting Sticky and a few bears to join us for our lessons. The big yellow bus, once so anticipated with innocent smiles and hopes and dreams, lost much of its appeal by the end of Kindergarten for my sweet R. I hated that. But the smiles are returning now instead of fading, and there is nothing in this world that could ever mean as much to me as knowing my children (and husband) are happy.

Our First Lessons: Social Studies!

Tomorrow is our first day of school! I know I may have mentioned this before, but I am so happy that we made the choice to homeschool. While I was proud of and excited for my children each year as they began a new school journey, it was always mixed with a feeling of dread and a deep sadness about the extreme detachment that traditional public schools causes. This year? Nothing but joy and excitement! Yes, yes, a bit of nervousness, too - but it's the good, stay-on-track kind of nervous.

I am really looking forward to being part of my children's learning process. I have loved teaching them since they were babies, and suddenly having strangers take over when they turn 5 felt wrong. I plan on making this a fun, family-friendly, very interactive experience, just like I believe learning should be. Learning should not be forced, demanded, or micro-managed. Children are amazing at learning, and even more so when they are actually enjoying it. They need guidance and some encouragement, not force.

My sweet R just completed her first assignment as a second grader! We did a Social Studies lesson today about our national anthem. She learned about Francis Scott Key, how The Star Spangled Banner started out as a poem, what all the words mean, and she finished her lesson by coloring a picture of the flag which is now displayed proudly on our fridge. She scored 100% on her assessment!

Not to be outdone and very anxious to get started, G decided that he also wanted to do his first Social Studies lesson today! He learned about The Pledge of Allegiance, and a little about our location in our country, and he also completed his assessment at 100%. I think he is most interested in getting started on Math and Art, but he really enjoyed looking at the states on his map and finding ours and some of the other states he has visited.

The time has come; Happy School Year 2011-2012!

Designer Curriculum

Today was an exciting day for Little G! His virtual academy 'homeroom' teacher, Mrs. M., called today and G had a chance to talk to her. And, of course, it didn't take him long to find a way to work numbers into the conversation. After asking G a few questions, Mrs. M. asked him if he had any questions for her. "Yes," he said. "What is 4 plus 4?" She said she thought she knew that one, and answered 8. "Correct!" he said, delightedly. His face lit up like it was Christmas, as usually happens when anyone is willing to talk numbers with him.

Mrs. M. and I talked about G's speech, the fact that he is well beyond the Kindergarten phonics and probably the Kindergarten math, and she shared some ideas on bumping up his curriculum. We're going to start him in the later Kindergarten Phonics lessons now, and - depending on the results of his reading assessment, which I am sure will be ahead of grade level - the plan is to get him working on grade 1 Phonics. I was so excited about this, because I was figuring I would just continue teaching him reading and writing using the grade 2 workbooks I've been using for most of the summer. He has been reading books for more than a year, so the sight word flash cards and learning letter sounds is a few steps backwards. I'm glad his curriculum is flexible. That's something a bricks and mortar school cannot offer, at least in such a custom fit way, right now. I told the kids we have a "designer curriculum".

The unexpected twist in plans was that G will be doing a part-time curriculum instead of full-time. I had been slowly coming to terms with this before today, simply because it was taking so long for the issue to be ironed out. Today, we were given options and I feel like, with the input from two teachers, we made the right choice for G. We were given the option of trading History for the Science we really wanted, but since Science is a strong point for me and I was already brainstorming ways to create a Science curriculum on my own for him, I opted to keep the History and have G study grade 2 Science with R. This is one of the many benefits of having two students just a couple of years apart. Mrs. M. suggested that we could log some of G's science studies as Technology.

I'm feeling even more excited about the start of our school year now. Autumn is fast approaching, which means we will have the chance to do some really cool seasonal activities to compliment our curriculum. We will be doing some fun things with apples, thanks to some great experiences from the kids' preschool days that I want to keep repeating. It's a surprise, but I will be sharing soon!