Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 a colossal homeschool mom fail. Between a family emergency, and a family vacation, and not hearing back much from the local high school, the PSAT had kind of retreated to the back reaches of my brain. But it popped up on my calendar as we traversed our way home down the Eastern seaboard Sunday. So I started talking to ds about it, and googling info about the new test format, etc. "Not a big deal for you, just a chance to practice and see how you do." (It's his first year taking it.) "No penalty for guessing, so answer all the questions." That kind of thing. So we wake up this morning (hours earlier than normal because the high school here starts at 7:00 a.m. and test began at 7:15). As I was waiting for the coffee, I was running through the list of important information and had this momentary panic: what if he doesn't remember his address?! (Don't judge: we move a lot and he doesn't engage in a lot of personal correspondence, you know? And did I mention I was still waiting on the coffee?) So I get the helpful mom idea to write it on his calculator (where his name is already printed). Then I feed the boy, drop him at the school, pick him up forever later and all is good. Get him to his cross-country race, drive home and walk in the door. And he mentions that he wrote down "123" for our street number. I stare dumbfounded. Because, you know (and *actually* he knows) that "2301" is our street number. "That's not our address, " I say. "I know, but it's what you wrote on my calculator so I thought it was what you wanted me to use." Yep, in my pre-coffee haze, I wrote the street number from the house we lived in when he was THREE. BUT WAIT!!!!! The story gets EVEN better! We sit down to dinner, and he starts telling us how hard the math sections were. Which kind of surprises me, because he's my math boy. He tells me one of the problems and I start to write it down to solve it. He says, "but you can't use paper." Staring dumbfounded again. "What?" "They didn't give us any scratch paper." "What about your test booklet?!" "I didn't know I could write in it." Yes, seriously. Somehow I had missed conveying this. Somehow he'd missed noticing the other students, you know, writing. (Actually this isn't surprising. It's not the kind of thing on his radar.) Somehow he'd failed to connect the fact that he went into the test with TWO PENCILS to the fact that he could USE THOSE PENCILS. So he did the entire math part of the test in his head. And I'm beating mine against the door right about now. The End. True Story. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy the Valiant Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Oh, this is great! But he kinda wins either way . . . either he (A) blows 'em outta the water with his mental math skills, or (B) sees an AMAZING improvement next year! Hahaha! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 :smilielol5: Thanks for the laugh. :grouphug: to you. He'll get it right next time for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Sounds like it's a good thing you gave him a practice run! My sophomore daughter took it today at her public HS, and a guy in the class with her finished early (or Christmas-treed the answers, more likely), went to sleep and SNORED for half an hour. The teacher tried to wake him up and couldn't, supposedly. What--didn't she have a water gun handy?? Also, the teacher had taken everyone's phones, and this guy had not put his on silent, so he kept getting alerts on his phone during the test. If this counted, or if this child had any shot at NM, I would be livid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Sounds like it's a good thing you gave him a practice run! What grade is ds? How many more practice runs will he have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 a colossal homeschool mom fail. Between a family emergency, and a family vacation, and not hearing back much from the local high school, the PSAT had kind of retreated to the back reaches of my brain. But it popped up on my calendar as we traversed our way home down the Eastern seaboard Sunday. So I started talking to ds about it, and googling info about the new test format, etc. "Not a big deal for you, just a chance to practice and see how you do." (It's his first year taking it.) "No penalty for guessing, so answer all the questions." That kind of thing. So we wake up this morning (hours earlier than normal because the high school here starts at 7:00 a.m. and test began at 7:15). As I was waiting for the coffee, I was running through the list of important information and had this momentary panic: what if he doesn't remember his address?! (Don't judge: we move a lot and he doesn't engage in a lot of personal correspondence, you know? And did I mention I was still waiting on the coffee?) So I get the helpful mom idea to write it on his calculator (where his name is already printed). Then I feed the boy, drop him at the school, pick him up forever later and all is good. Get him to his cross-country race, drive home and walk in the door. And he mentions that he wrote down "123" for our street number. I stare dumbfounded. Because, you know (and *actually* he knows) that "2301" is our street number. "That's not our address, " I say. "I know, but it's what you wrote on my calculator so I thought it was what you wanted me to use." Yep, in my pre-coffee haze, I wrote the street number from the house we lived in when he was THREE. BUT WAIT!!!!! The story gets EVEN better! We sit down to dinner, and he starts telling us how hard the math sections were. Which kind of surprises me, because he's my math boy. He tells me one of the problems and I start to write it down to solve it. He says, "but you can't use paper." Staring dumbfounded again. "What?" "They didn't give us any scratch paper." "What about your test booklet?!" "I didn't know I could write in it." Yes, seriously. Somehow I had missed conveying this. Somehow he'd missed noticing the other students, you know, writing. (Actually this isn't surprising. It's not the kind of thing on his radar.) Somehow he'd failed to connect the fact that he went into the test with TWO PENCILS to the fact that he could USE THOSE PENCILS. So he did the entire math part of the test in his head. And I'm beating mine against the door right about now. The End. True Story. You forgot this: :banghead: I would feel the same way. Sorry it was such a rough test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 What grade is ds? How many more practice runs will he have? My ds? He's 10th this year, so next year is it. I expected him to do pretty well, but I'm not sure even with everything going his way that he'd be quite at NM level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 You forgot this: :banghead: I would feel the same way. Sorry it was such a rough test. Oh yes, I definitely needed that smilie! I appreciate the sympathy. Writing it all out helped me find some humor in it, too. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 We sit down to dinner, and he starts telling us how hard the math sections were. Which kind of surprises me, because he's my math boy. He tells me one of the problems and I start to write it down to solve it. He says, "but you can't use paper." Staring dumbfounded again. "What?" "They didn't give us any scratch paper." "What about your test booklet?!" "I didn't know I could write in it." Yes, seriously. Somehow I had missed conveying this. Somehow he'd missed noticing the other students, you know, writing. (Actually this isn't surprising. It's not the kind of thing on his radar.) Somehow he'd failed to connect the fact that he went into the test with TWO PENCILS to the fact that he could USE THOSE PENCILS. So he did the entire math part of the test in his head. And I'm beating mine against the door right about now. The End. True Story. DD also thought she wasn't supposed to write in the test. She either didn't hear or didn't comprehend otherwise. She said that for some, she did write really lightly on the test and then erased it all! *sigh* I wasn't expecting NM, so it was just for SAT practice anyway. But still, I really need to take some time to cover the bases... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 DD also thought she wasn't supposed to write in the test. She either didn't hear or didn't comprehend otherwise. She said that for some, she did write really lightly on the test and then erased it all! *sigh* I wasn't expecting NM, so it was just for SAT practice anyway. But still, I really need to take some time to cover the bases... Is it horrible of me that I feel so much better knowing we aren't the only ones? :-) I am sorry for your dd though. I think the test could've been *much* easier for both of them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Oh, this is great! But he kinda wins either way . . . either he (A) blows 'em outta the water with his mental math skills, or (B) sees an AMAZING improvement next year! Hahaha! One can hope! He said that the math section had questions that required filling in bubbles to give the actual number answer, not just multiple choice. So I'm putting my eggs in the "amazing improvement" basket -- he's good at mental math but I can't imagine getting precise answers correct quickly in a timed, pressure test... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Sounds like it's a good thing you gave him a practice run! My sophomore daughter took it today at her public HS, and a guy in the class with her finished early (or Christmas-treed the answers, more likely), went to sleep and SNORED for half an hour. The teacher tried to wake him up and couldn't, supposedly. What--didn't she have a water gun handy?? Also, the teacher had taken everyone's phones, and this guy had not put his on silent, so he kept getting alerts on his phone during the test. If this counted, or if this child had any shot at NM, I would be livid. I'd be livid too. Snoring? Why on earth didn't the teacher call for help if she couldn't wake him. Not fair to the other students at all! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) I just remembered... My sister radically unschooled my niece all the way through high school. TBH, my bil wasn't totally on board and provided structure for at least math (Saxon), maybe more. In my niece's first dual enrollment class, she had to ask the professor for instructions on the bubble sheet. He knew she was hs'ed and found it very amusing. My sister felt like a homeschool failure. And just to let you know that the failure was temporary: This niece graduated in Environmental Science from Franklin & Marshall and is now a PHD student at Arizona State University. In fact, she just received some prestigious award/scholarship but the name escapes me...National Science Foundation? My opinion: In the long run, it won't hurt your ds. Edited March 24, 2016 by Sue in St Pete 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Thanks to this thread, I printed address labels to tape onto my oldest son's calculator for his first ACT test. This kid can't remember my cell phone number or our zip code by heart. ACT truncated our street address on the admission ticket. Our apartment number is not there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronghorn Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Sounds like a fun essay topic someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC5 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yikes! Now I'm kicking myself even harder for not pushing more for my son to take the PSAT this month. We made an initial attempt to sign him up, got knocked aside by the local high school, went home to double check my facts (yes he could take it as a 10th grader, yes he needed to sign up at the school and not online), and never made it back to the school to try again. Thanks for posting, so I can add these things to a list of prep items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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