In April Ariana took the StanFord Achievement tests tenth edition at our local Christian school. Yesterday we received the results.

Reading comprehension grade level, 9.3. Reading vocabulary grade level, 7.3. Spelling grade level 8.5.

In math she was pretty much at grade level. Language grade level 3.3. The complete battery said she was functioning at a 3.4 grade level. (oh and just in case you’re wondering, she is 7 and in second grade!)

On the Bible portion of the test, she had to answer 40 questions. She missed one! One!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Daddy thought that was worth celebrating. Ariana thought she’d like to go out for supper and she wanted to pick the place.  Daddy agreed. And she picked….

McDonalds.

In other school news, last week I was gorked out on Zyrtec. During Science I told the girlies, “You should never look directly at the sun. You may go bald.” We were obviously learning about the 5 senses. Elizabeth piped up at one point and said, “I thought you were going to say ’sense of humor.’” She has that one in spades!

Yesterday we read about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in history. As an activity the girlies were to make Queen Isabella crowns. We walked to JoAnn’s for the needed supplies. While we walked we read the history chapter and discussed it.

I noticed a couple of delivery men walked into the building and we just followed them. I noticed the store was devoid of all people. It was as if the delivery men somehow entered the twilight zone and were vaporized out of sight. I noticed the cash register drawers were completely open and there was not an employee in sight. Not a good sign I thought. Then I noticed the cash drawers were completely empty. An even worse sight.

I just knew at any moment the police would storm the building and there I was, standing with two empty cash drawers. I skedaddled our way to the door where I noticed their hours. The didn’t open for another 25 minutes.

Whew! They hadn’t been robbed! At 10 we walked back to the store and bought our crown supplies and never mentioned having been in the store earlier. You never know what might happen.

Last night we started making the crowns. Now I consider myself somewhat of a rebel. I don’t like to follow directions much. The directions told us to use craft wire, but I found paddle wire for $2 cheaper and I got more. The craft wire was 24 gauge and the paddle wire was 26 gauge. I thought that close enough and I bought the paddle wire.

In short it was the wrong thing to buy.  The wire was too flimsy. So I need to get the right  wire and bigger beads.  But here are some pictures at our attempt to make crowns.

Goober making her crown.

Beanie and her crown.

The crown makers.

Goober has been really struggling with grammar lately. It seems she can’t remember what a noun or a verb is. She confuses pronouns and adjectives.  Today we needed to use the radio station’s basement room for our schooling, and they had a white board. I used a different color marker for each part of grammar. I think having her see it, and see the different colors really helped. She could tell Daddy what color adjectives were,  what color nouns, verbs, and pronouns.

She kept telling me “A pronoun is a word that describes a noun. An adjective takes the place of a noun.” Totally confusing those two. A friend had the brilliant idea to tell her, “the first word of adjective is “add”. An adjective adds to a noun.”

Blimey! That was brilliant! I think she got it.

We use Story of the World for history, and are currently in the second book. Now except for Christmas break we have done one chapter a week since September. I thought we were doing really pretty good.

However, Monday I counted the remaining chapters and realized we still have four months of history to finish this book!! FOUR MONTHS!!!

May, June, July, and August.  No summer break. No time off for good behavior. It is work straight through until August and then start book 3 in September.

Uhhh. In a word. No. Not gonna do it. We will attempt to do two a week, which means hopefully we can finish in June. Doing two a week should take us 7.5 weeks instead of 15.

I understand the concept behind SOTW and truly we love it. I just wish they had broken it into smaller bites.

Last week we studied about the 100 years war between France and England. This week we learned about Richard III and Henry Tudor. Tomorrow we read about Ferdinand  and Isabella.

This week Beanie has just taken off with reading.  She is starting to read everything she can…or thinks she can. She doesn’t quite read everything but I’ll often hear her sounding out words. I am just tickled pink.

It was simply beautiful out earlier this week and we walked the 4 blocks to the public library. I told Beanie on the way there I would only check out early reader books for her. I did not want her to check out the same books Goober was checking out but I would help her find books she could actually read.

We found two Bobbsey Twins books  and I think Beanie says there are at least two more at the library, and we found one Dora the Explorer. She found other books as well but those are her favorites. She says she likes them because the letters are big and there aren’t too many words on a page. I like them because she can’t look at the picture and tell me what the word is. I am so very proud I could just burst!

Tonight we were talking and I was encouraging her with reading. I told her the best way to read better and better is to just read. She wants to read Winnie books, a series of horse books Goober has, I told her we would find a special set of books just for her. She wants the Elsie Dinsmore books, or Millie Keith, or The Bobbsey Twins. She also wants to start getting the set of Trixie Beldon books.  I just might do that soon.

We haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. We have just been very busy lately. But not too busy for school…well most days anyway.

Last week Goober took some achievements tests at our local Christian school. The school offers the tests free to homeschool students. Ostensibly I know to increase their enrollment.  We know the principal of the school and he has wanted Goober to attend since he took over the position of principal.

Which while I don’t find it horribly odd, I do find it intriguing. You see her birthday is in July and the cut off birthday for kindergarten enrollment is March 1. She is 4 months too young to enroll in the grade she is excelling at currently.  If we had enrolled her at that school, she would not have gone to kindergarten until last year and right now would only be in first grade.  She is doing mostly 2nd grade work now with a few subjects at 3rd grade. Can you imagine her in first grade? Oh my.

Anyway I digress. Goober is bound and determined she will not go to school. She didn’t enjoy it much at all. She didn’t enjoy getting up at 7am, being in class at 8am and not coming home until 3:15 pm. She didn’t enjoy not taking potty breaks when she wanted/needed to.

She did enjoy her teacher (another friend of ours) and her classmates. It was funny. She would tell me everyday just which of her classmates had their name written on the board.

Here are some pictures of her at school.

I was a little concerned about how sh ewould do with the history and science tests. But she told me she only had math, language arts, reading and spelling.  If she did as well as I know she can, she should have blown the curveon those.!!!! I will be happy with however she did.  I would like for her to be at least at her grade level if not a bit above.

Beanie was fine on Monday. She played Barbies in her room quite happily the whole day. But that night was a different story. She was crying that she didn’t want Goober to go to school. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday she earned herself a new nickname…Clingon! I would almost swear she was attached to me with Saran Wrap.

The Friday before that we had our Home-School Talent show.  Beanie recited The Caterpillar by Christina G. Rosetti.

She was also in a little bell choir with other pre-schooler.

Goober played the piano. Which I’m thinking is a good thing because I don’t think she will have a spring recital this year. 

About the recital. Goober’s beloved piano teacher, Mr.Baily will be moving the end of this month. He highly recommended a teacher and she starts  with the new teacher on the 7th. I haven’t heard about a recital before then however. .

Now if the phonics rules say “Silent e on the end makes the vowel say it’s name” why do we say have and not hayve? And give and not gI-ve

Yesterday I bought some Magic Tree House books for the girlies. I started reading one of them last night and I’m not sure I like it. We just studied (okay watched on Planet Earth) the Arctic and Antarctic in science. According to the video the arctic never loses all the snow and ice. It melts in the summer but they still have snow and ice and blizzards.

The book says,

“During the summer season, the snow and ice melt and the sun shines 24 hours a day.” (Polar Bears Past Bedtime page 12)

Now technically that is correct. The sun does shine 24 hours a day and some of the snow and ice melt but not all of it.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do now. Do I keep the books, or return them and laugh hilariously at the clerk? Hmmmm…..

Last week my girlies and I took a field trip to the opposite end of our state. We visited the Capitol, walked all around it. We even sat in on part of a session.

The top of our capitol.

Inside the dome.

I just love this chandelier! Beautiful.

I thought this was neat.

The floor. I thought it was beautiful.

Bess Streeter Aldrich. One of the best authors ever.

LB1141 is a bill currently in the Nebraska legislature. I am not sure the date it will be debated but it is a bill nonetheless. What does this have to do with a homeschool blog?

Everything! This bill will make Nebraska the toughest state to home-school.  Here is a sampling of the bill. (which can be seen in it’s entirety at http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov)

1. LB 1141 requires the Commissioner of Education “approve” of the
parent’s Rule 12/13 application. Currently, after filing Rule 12/13
materials, parents receive an acknowledgment from the Commissioner of
the Nebraska Department of Education that he has received a request to
file as an exempt school

2. LB 1141 requires, annually, that every exempt school child (home
school) take a standardized test OR submit materials to the Dept of Ed
to determine whether the student is making sufficient academic
progress.
The Dept of Ed will inform parents of the cost of the test and when it
will be administered.

3. LB 1141 requires children at least six years of age, who are bieng
homeschooled for the first time, be tested to obtain educational
baseline data. Simply put, the Dept of Ed wants to test your child
BEFRE they are homeschooled to determine what he/she knows. This
information will likely be used to determine whether the student,
subsequent to the first year of schooling, is making adequate
progress.

4. LB 1141 requires for annual madatory testing to be conducted by
a “certified educator”. The test must be a “nationally recognized
standardized achievement evaluation” or “another assessment tool
developed or approved by the commissioner.

..”

5. LB 1141 requires, in lieu of taking the test, a parent may submit,
as evidence of adequate academic progress, ALL of the following for
each student; a book of lesson plans; a portfolio of the child’s work,
including an outline of the curriculum; copies of homework completed;
examples of the student’s classroom work. If a parent submits
materials in lieu of the testing, the materials will be reviewed by
an “evaluator” approved by the Dept of Ed

6. LB 1141 requires the evaluator to be a certified teacher approved
by the Commissioner of the Dept. of Ed. The “evaluator” may be
selected
by the parent if that person has the approval of the Dept of Ed, but
the bill is silent with regard to the procedure for selecting a
qualified evaluator if the parent does not know a certified teacher.

7. LB 1141 requires that each student show sufficient progress of
academic achievemet. Sufficient progress is defined to mean achieving
the equivalent of 6 months of academic progress in the grade level of
the student having evaluation scores equal to the grade level for
which
the student is placed according to his/her age-group peers in the
public school system. Nothing in the bill stipulates differences in
evaluation for children with special academic needs.

8. LB 1141 requires a student who fails to make sufficient progress as
defined by the evaluator to be enrolled in an accrediated school the
following year UNLESS before the beginning of the next school year:
the
student takes the test again and shows sufficient progress; the child
demonstrates sufficient progress in the opinion of the evaluator
approved by the Dept of Ed; or the Commissioner grants approval for
the
student to continue “under a plan for remediation determined by the
department”.

1. LB 1141 requires the Commissioner of Education “approve” of the
parent’s Rule 12/13 application. Currently, after filing Rule 12/13
materials, parents receive an acknowledgment from the Commissioner of
the Nebraska Department of Education that he has received a request to
file as an exempt school

2. LB 1141 requires, annually, that every exempt school child (home
school) take a standardized test OR submit materials to the Dept of Ed
to determine whether the student is making sufficient academic
progress.
The Dept of Ed will inform parents of the cost of the test and when it
will be administered.

3. LB 1141 requires children at least six years of age, who are bieng
homeschooled for the first time, be tested to obtain educational
baseline data. Simply put, the Dept of Ed wants to test your child
BEFRE they are homeschooled to determine what he/she knows. This
information will likely be used to determine whether the student,
subsequent to the first year of schooling, is making adequate
progress.

4. LB 1141 requires for annual madatory testing to be conducted by
a “certified educator”. The test must be a “nationally recognized
standardized achievement evaluation” or “another assessment tool
developed or approved by the commissioner…”

5. LB 1141 requires, in lieu of taking the test, a parent may submit,
as evidence of adequate academic progress, ALL of the following for
each student; a book of lesson plans; a portfolio of the child’s work,
including an outline of the curriculum; copies of homework completed;
examples of the student’s classroom work. If a parent submits
materials in lieu of the testing, the materials will be reviewed by
an “evaluator” approved by the Dept of Ed

6. LB 1141 requires the evaluator to be a certified teacher approved
by the Commissioner of the Dept. of Ed. The “evaluator” may be
selected
by the parent if that person has the approval of the Dept of Ed, but
the bill is silent with regard to the procedure for selecting a
qualified evaluator if the parent does not know a certified teacher.

7. LB 1141 requires that each student show sufficient progress of
academic achievemet. Sufficient progress is defined to mean achieving
the equivalent of 6 months of academic progress in the grade level of
the student having evaluation scores equal to the grade level for
which
the student is placed according to his/her age-group peers in the
public school system. Nothing in the bill stipulates differences in
evaluation for children with special academic needs.

8. LB 1141 requires a student who fails to make sufficient progress as
defined by the evaluator to be enrolled in an accrediated school the
following year UNLESS before the beginning of the next school year:
the
student takes the test again and shows sufficient progress; the child
demonstrates sufficient progress in the opinion of the evaluator
approved by the Dept of Ed; or the Commissioner grants approval for
the
student to continue “under a plan for remediation determined by the
department”.

1. LB 1141 requires the Commissioner of Education “approve” of the
parent’s Rule 12/13 application. Currently, after filing Rule 12/13
materials, parents receive an acknowledgment from the Commissioner of
the Nebraska Department of Education that he has received a request to
file as an exempt school

4. LB 1141 requires for annual mandatory testing to be conducted by
a “certified educator”. The test must be a “nationally recognized
standardized achievement evaluation” or “another assessment tool
developed or approved by the commissioner...”

8. LB 1141 requires a student who fails to make sufficient progress as
defined by the evaluator to be enrolled in an accredited school the
following year UNLESS before the beginning of the next school year:
the student takes the test again and shows sufficient progress; the child
demonstrates sufficient progress in the opinion of the evaluator
approved by the Dept of Ed; or the Commissioner grants approval for
the student to continue “under a plan for remediation determined by the
department”.

If this bill passes, it will be cost prohibitive for most Nebraska families to continue to home school. My family would be one.

If this bill passes, any home schooled student who failed the standardized achievement test would automatically be enrolled in the public school system. I wonder if any public school student  who failed the standardized achievement test would have to be home-schooled? It only sounds reasonable to me.

The private and/or parochial schools are not at risk in Nebraska.

If LB1141 should pass the legislature, I see we have four options.

• Hang the cost and continue to home school.
• Home school “under ground” so to speak
• Move to Wyoming  and home school there.
• Cease home schooling

In all actuality, it would be cheaper for us to live in WY, home school and have Dear Man travel 45 miles twice a day, than to pay the unreasonable fee Nebraska would place on home school families.

That would add insult to injury. We currently pay taxes to our public school system. We currently purchase our own curriculum, as well as curriculum for a school system we do not use.  I know that is no different for anyone else who home schools, I just think it is horribly wrong.

In the passing of the achievement tests, it will be up to the evaluator to determine if a home school student passes the grade or not.  Sounds oh so fair and reasonable doesn’t it?

I got the best book from Rainbow Resource. It is called Healthy Me and is by Michelle O’Brien-Palmer. It is for ages 5-8 and is just chock full of wonderful activities to do. It has sections on cleanliness, teeth, nutrition, exercise, and safety.

Yesterday we did an experiment with tomato soup. The girlies learned about microbes and hand washing. I rubbed their hand with a cotton swab, then rubbed that in some tomato soup in a low bowl. We put that in a ziploc baggie and watch it every day for 10 days. They say the second or third day you should see the microbes growing. We check it every day for a week and then throw it out.

Today we made soap. I got two bars of glycerin soap. The recipe calls for unscented but the store I went to was out of unscented. I bought muffin tin with heart shapes so we are making heart shaped soap. The girlies picked out lemon oil to scent the soap and the lady at the store (we love this store and they know our names!) gave the girls a tester of Freesia. So we have lemon and freesia soap.

I feel so oh..Little House on the Prairie-ish.

Here are some pictures of the process.

Beanie stirring the melting glycerin.

Goober stirring the melting glycerin.

Half of the amount we made cooling.

On a different topic. We use Story of the World for history. (thanks, sis!) I love it because it’s easy. The girlies love it because it is written in story form. They get coloring pages and maps to do. Here are some pictures of them doing their map work.

Beanie doing her map.

And Goober with her map.

We watched our science “video” this morning. I picked an animal we learned about to study further this week.

I’d like to make a unit study of the lion, but I need some ideas and suggestions. What do you do when you do a unit study? I’ll hit the library for books, use the internet for more information. Am I leaving anything out?