Tomorrow starts IOWA Test of Basic Skills, ITBS, for MilitaryKid, and runs every morning for three days. Several years ago a couple hs friends learned that I administered the IOWA to my kids every spring and asked to join in. We tested in my home and while it was tight the kids used the ‘please stay in your seats and be quiet while the others finish’ time to leave their seats and go elsewhere in my home to play. It was distracting to say the least. The following year another family joined in, and one friend found a church schoolroom for us to use. The room and the church worked great but the hour drive to the church, which meant getting the kids up that much earlier, really made for a very tiring week. Whew, I was so glad when last year another hs’ing friend found a local church with a huge assemble hall for us to use. Our little testing circle grew to 40 HS children in grades 3 – 8, and that’s where we’ll be this week.

We began hs’ing in Massachusetts, ‘99, and as such needed to follow MA rules. Massachusetts at the time—I don’t know if it has changed but I doubt it—did not have homeschool laws but court case doctrine that dictated the rules we followed. One rule was that yearly we either had to develop a portfolio or provide standardized test results to our local school superintendent for his review. Standardized test results seemed to me to be the easier route to go, and since the local school used the IOWA as their standardized test in 3rd grade, I went with that. I figured the local school superintendent would accept test results from a standardized test that his own school used.

That first year ScienceKid was in 3rd grade and he tested great; actually he was at the 99 percentile on just about everything and rarely answered a question incorrectly. A 99% on a standardized test can be thought of as the child doing better than 99 of the 100 children that took the test. The IOWA result page provides detailed information for every sub-test, even breaking down into further detail each sub-test. For instance within the language arts section, one sub-test is punctuation. This sub-test is then broken down into various types of punctuation. The detail information is one thing about the IOWA that I find helpful to my interpretation which includes; how many questions were asked in each area, how many the child attempted, how many he answered correctly, how many the ‘NORM’ answers correctly, the percentile relative to the norm for the child, and then the grade equivalent. Going into that first test back in 2000 I was sure ScienceKid would test awful in punctuation since I knew he did not know how to punctuate. Well, I was partially wrong. While he did answer incorrectly in that section often, he knew much more than most 3rd graders. As a new homeschooler seeing the test results gave me reassurance that my child was doing quite fine and helped me to readjust my expectations.

Once we left MA and moved to DE the incentive to yearly test using a standardized test was eliminated. DE homeschool laws do not require a portfolio review or administration of a standardized test, but I still stuck with doing a yearly test. The reasons are numerous so I’ll share a few with you.

If for some reason I was unable to take schooling through graduation as planned, the standardized test scores are there to show to school officials that my child has a track-record of reaching benchmarks for his grade level and be able to enter school at an appropriate level. The process of test taking is a good life skill, in the sense that life does not happen at a pace that we always want. With homeschooling we get to pace ourselves, which is great, but can also cause an attitude that life revolves around us, so having to emotionally test ourselves, by stepping out of the box, is a something this test provides for us.

Familiarity with taking a standardized test is part of my real-world viewpoint. Since our sons will be taking entrance exams for college; PSAT, SAT, ACT, being familiar with how to take a standardized test is a skill I’d rather they learn now, when the stakes are not high or even existing, then later. During our Elementary Science Olympics I heard a frantic father ask his wife if their 5th grade son knew how to fill in the little bubbles for the test the child was taking. She wasn’t sure but thought that he would be able to figure-it-out. They are opposed to standardized testing, and while I respect their decision I do not see the harm in helping the child learn such a silly-little-skill while they are in our care. Last year after one test MilitaryKid came over to me and informed me that during the spelling test portion he thought he was done, so he put the book away. He had just discovered that he didn’t answer all the questions and could he go back now? I didn’t allow him to do this and while he felt awful that he hadn’t completed the section and done his best, he was that much more careful in future test sections. A little lesson learned when he is in my care then in an institutions oversight.

The focus I ask of the kids is only that; to do their best. To realize that there will be questions that are easy and others that they will not know the answer to. I see the IOWA as a tool for parents to use to find any learning problems or weak areas. I don’t teach with the TEST as a goal or even in mind, but the test can give parents a valuable tool with which to aid their children to get the most out of their learning when they are in a non-threatening atmosphere. It’s better to make needed corrections when they are young and in the safety of their parents care, than when they are out on their own and it’s REAL LIFE. The memory of a 5th grade child asking me what he was supposed to do when the math question was; 15/3= drives me to offer the IOWA to my hs friends. His mom did not realize that this child had not learned this symbol; nor that this was a 5th grade skill. Yes, sometimes we need to step outside our box. Another year when the test results came back one mom was thrilled with how her dd’s grammar score had improved from the previous year. She was sure that her new grammar program and the extra little focus in this area had helped her dd.

So, tomorrow almost 40 homeschool children will start their IOWA testing with me. I won’t wish them luck, just that they do their best.

Earlier in the year silly me stated that I had EVERYTHING we needed for homeschooling this coming year. Pat laughed. Literally he laughed heartily and smiled that all-knowing smile; yea, right, you’ll find something.

I went through my materials, my plans for the coming year and I really couldn’t think of anything we needed.

But wait! Grammar really did need to be changed from Rod & Staff to something else. It had become too technical with little direct application IMHO, so I started searching for an alternative. Should I switch ScienceKid to Rules of the Game or Editor in Chief? Soon I had an order to Rainbow Resource of $150, and by the time it arrived I had another $150 in my wish cart. How did that happen? Once again the order went in, materials came in house, and I wondered how that had happened. Didn’t I have everything?

Today I heard about another writing program in an email; read on-line reviews; and before I knew it there’s another $150 in my Rainbow Resource wish list. I haven’t transferred the items to my cart and pushed the purchase button since I want some time to think about this order. I always do do this. Sometimes a few items leave the wish list, and sometimes a few more items are added in. This order contains a writing program by Jensen, extra practice Singapore-math workbooks for MilitaryKid, and a Grow-a-Frog kit for me. There are still dissection kits to be purchased for the coming year too…….I can hear Pat laughing and giving me that ‘yea-right’ smile, you have everything purchased for the coming year.

Never. No, there’s always something more that i could add in

So, how do folks homeschool on a few hundered $ a year for each child? Is it just a claim or a reality? I know I can’t do it on that. Just trying to cover the basics; at least the basics in my book; grammar, writing, handwriting, spelling, Latin, math, science, history, art, music–piano lessons alone can easily be $1000/year, Logic, reading books, and then there are field trips….. costs way-more than a few hundred $$ a year. I guess I too should admit that ScienceKid did 4 different math programs this year, two writing programs, and MilitaryKid is not far behind on the number of different programs he has used in several different subjects. Science consists of weekly hands-on experiments that use lots of supplies, which adds more cost to our homeschool expense. Thankfully I have the luxury of purchasing items on my wish list, and having more than one grammar or math program in-house. Then there’s the expense of the kids doing Science Olympiad,…..
I think I’ll go place that order with Rainbow Resource…..

Remember the armilladilo birthday cake assembled on Sunday for the Monday Birthday? On Tuesday MilitaryKid suggested that we invite our neighbors to enjoy cake and ice cream with us. He was not referring to inviting neighborhood kids but our retired neighbors; Rich & Maria and Carl & Eileen. Yes, that’s right, he wanted to visit with people 50 to 60 years older than himself. Ahh, the socialization ills of a homeschooled child—LOL!

On Tuesday afternoon MilitaryKid went to R&M’s home and invited them to come by for cake and ice cream in the evening. After dinner he insisted that I not call but that he be allowed to go to their home and let them know that they should come over NOW. When Rich and Maria were here I don’t know what MilitaryKid and Rich discussed since they were in the workshop with the other guys talking while ScienceKid and his Mission Possible partner worked on their SO project. I do know that Rich and MilitaryKid often have lengthy conversations, outiside of Rich’s home, chatting about guns—remember MilitaryKid’s name :-), or music, or the latest garden bugs. Tuesday evening’s visit was a nice visit.

C&E were busy on Tuesday, so yesterday afternoon the scene was repeated again as MilitaryKiid went to their home and asked them to come by. Once here MilitaryKid shared all his Origami treasures with Eileen, showing her how he made a jumping frog, a butterfly, a candy box,….. When I moved our school books from our living room to the school room MilitaryKid had discovered the Easy Origami book kit I purchased several years ago. He had worked through the book, building each object and immediately learning the intricate folding steps. As Eileen and MilitaryKid looked through all his Origami objects, they chatted away; he hearing about a Japanese woman Eileen knew in her college days who could also make Origami objects, and she hearing the names and folding methods being used. How could anyone look at this homeschooling child and think for one moment that homeschooled children are not socialized?

Later in the evening ScienceKid’s Mission Possible partner’s parents and one sibling came by. It was just like a mini-party here with everyone singing Happy Birthday, chatting, visiting and enjoying the evening. After saying good night to our SO friends, ScienceKid saw the clear night sky and took his 10″ scope outside. Eileen joined him there and heard all about clusters, nebulae, galaxies, the planets, and saw the evening treasures. What treasures our neighbors truely are!

We have several rules in our home but one rule my boys love is the ‘No School on your birthday’ rule. It is a rule unique to homeschooling and one that I’ve never found in the ‘REAL’ world. At least to my knowledge it isn’t found in the ‘REAL’ world. Personally I’ve never known anyone who had their birthday off while in public school, nor did I have if off during my 20 year tenure as an engineer. But my boys have their birthdays off, and if a birthday falls on the weekend the birthday child may choose to take either the Monday or Friday off instead. Ahhh, one of the little benefits of being homeschooled.

Monday was ScienceKid’s birthday. He wanted us to go kayaking however we had massive quantities of rain over the weekend in DE so the rivers were at flood-stage. Not a safe choice to go kayaking on swollen, flood-stage rivers, although the weather was gorgeous. His second choice was for us to head to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I personally find this choice funny since a trip to an art museum is rather educational. Who said anything about us not doing educational stuff on their birthday; it’s just that we don’t do normal school-stuff. Anyone familiar with art museums know that they are often closed on Mondays, which is the case with both the Philadelphia and the Baltimore Art Museum.

ScienceKid did not want to head to DC and visit any of the Smithsonian exhibits.

What to do?

Suddenly the light bulb clicked on and he asked if we could head to a cave. Sure!!! Luray Caverns was his first thought but looking at a 4hr drive I decided to find something closer. We headed off to the Harrisburg, PA area, to Indian Echo Caverns and had a wonderful hour walk through a very wet cave. From IEC we headed east–NE to Crystal Cave and toured another wet cave. Wet caves are actively forming stalagmites and stalactites so the formations in each cave were beautiful. Crystal Cave is a smaller cave than IEC, and over the years has been damaged more by stalagmite robbers than IEC. IEC’s tour guide was genuine excited and interested to be in the cave showing it to us, while the CC tour guide had the opposite demeanor. We enjoyed both cave tours and decided that this was a great non-school day, even if it was a bit educatioal.
Once back in DE we headed out to a local restaurant for a Mexican dinner. Of course the meal was complete when the servers came with a small cake for ScienceKid and we all sang him Happy Birthday.

Great Day. We like our Homeschool Birthday Rule.

This day, April 24th in history: while some might remember that Churchill was knighted on this day in 1953; or that in 1800 the Library of Congress was established by President John Adams; or that such famous people as Shirley MacLaine or Robert Penn Warren were born today, something very important happened to me on this date. After 40 hours of labor ScienceKid was born.

Those 40 hrs are engrained in my memory as is holding my baby for the first time and being amazed at how quickly he started nursing. The following 48 hrs were stressful as we waited to learn whether or not our baby had a deadly strep infection. He did not; and when the pediatrician examined him her reassuring words hit my heart; look at him wiggly, look at how he holds his head up.  My heart would never, ever be the same.
Motherhood began for me that day, but little did I realize how my life would change. Where did the years go? How could any of us foresee where we would be today, 14 years later? Sure we knew that this little person would change our priorities, and steal our heart with his smiles. Little did we know that he would test our will as a highly-spirited boy emerged, or teach us so much about how a parent must fight for their child.

The years slipped by; years in daycare, a head-count reduction at work that sent me home, and while I desperately searched for employment DH career took off; ScienceKid started public school, we learned that according to the PS he would never, ever read and that was OK. What a turning point? Several times in my life I can point to an event that changed my life-course.

There was the time in high school when I passed the school councilor’s office, spotted the sign advertising the “Be-an-Engineer-for-a-Day”, but against the advice of the school councilor who said girls could not be engineers, I signed up for the day anyway. I didn’t want to be an engineer but I did want to get out of school for the day. What senior really wants to be in school? Upon returning home from being an Engineer-for-a-day I declared to my folks that I would be an engineer. They were quite shocked to say the least, and tried to convince me that ‘girls could not be engineers’. Working as an engineer for 20 years certainly shaped me.

Then there was the x-country ski trip I reluctantly joined, but thankfully did. I met my husband on that trip.

But another day that sits in my mind as a turning-point was the school meeting where we were told ScienceKid; this very bright, no brilliant child, would never, ever read and that according to these professionals that was OKAY. HA, not on my life would I not fight for this child’s need to learn to read. Determined I searched the internet for information on how to teach my child to read, how to find out what was the underlying problem, and how to fix everything. In this search I also read numerous homeschooling sites and decided that we would start homeschooling. What a life-changing event and I have the public school to thank.

But today is ScienceKid’s day.

His birthday.

Someday, perhaps his birthdate and his name will be in the list of famous folks who were born today.   I too wonder what life changing events will be his? Perhaps one happened this past year when he went to the National Science Olympics held at U of IL; or perhaps it will be this spring when he joins his team at the NSO’s to be held at U of IN, but it will probably be years before we know what they are for him.

Happy Birthday son, I have so enjoyed these past 14 years and look forward to our journey together over the coming years.

Last evening ScienceKid and I watched Steel Magnolias, and when he saw the groom cake he asked for just such an object for his birthday cake. Here’s the finished object. MilitaryKid thinks it looks like a turtle. ScienceKid says it is a dead bear. Well, I tried my best and it is a red inside, just like in the movie. The boys worked with me trying to get it to look just right. And we had an enjoyable time trying to get it just right. We do all agree that I shouldn’t give up my day job to open a cake decorating business.

We women are not the only ones who lose their mind.

Last evening DH ordered pizza for our dinner, went to Wawa’s to get gas, and stopped in to pick up the pizza. They didn’t have his order, so the guy apologized, gave him 50% off, and cooked the two large pizzas AND the chicken parmesan dinner DH wanted. He sat there and waited 15 min for everything to cook, paid for the order, and started out to the car.

Then he looked at the bag and realized that he went to the WRONG pizza shop—Grottos instead of PAT’s You would think Pat would remember to pick up pizza at Pat’s.

So, he stopped over to Pat’s to pick-up what he ordered.

ScienceKid was just a little hungry and ate just one slice of one large pizza.

MilitaryKid ate 2 slices from one large pizza.

Pat ate the chicken parmesan dinner from one place, and the chicken wings that were thrown in for free.

I ate the huge salad that came with the one chicken parmesan dinner, and the chicken wings that were thrown in for free from the other place.

So, do you know how hard it is to fit 4 LARGE pizzas into a refrigerator?

At least we were laughing all night about the goof-up.

Spring is in the air; the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing all day, my car has a nice yellow powder all over it, and so I know oak pollen is in the air. I can tell the pollen is out and about since my eyes feel like they have logs in them too. But yesterday I read a blog written by a mom who is trying to find the good in her DD peanut allergy.

So, I’m trying to find some good in having this allergy; my face is often washed, I’m wearing sunglasses and staying out of the wind, and praying really hard for rain. This is also such a minor allergy, not life-threatening to me as compared to a peanut allergy. Yep, I’m counting my blessings.

Every once in a great while a child surprises his mom, and just that happened today.

It is spring break here so ScienceKid and his Science Olympics partner worked all morning on their Mission Possible event. This build event uses sixteen simple machines, in series to accomplish the task of unrolling an exact length of toilet paper. They are working hard on making the device reliable and sturdy so that it will not fall apart on the way to U of IN.

ScienceKid asked for a blue string; but then it was too weak. I offered to chain it into a thicker string, and came back shortly with the chain for their inspection.

Upon inspection ScienceKid exclaimed to his fellow teenage friend, “Isn’t my mom the greatest!”

Oh my!! So sweet, so sincere. This from a child who does not want to show any affection to his mom handing me the biggest compliment ever. Yep, this one is a keeper.

I’m going through my folders, seeing what wonderful tidbits about Classical Schooling are in there, and making pages for my blog. I’m trying to make pages for those topics I continually get asked about, such as how do I teach outlining? or why does my child hate to write? So, if you are looking for information just leave me a comment and I’ll see if I can make a page to answer your question.