When Life makes HSing hard - What to do when assessments come around?

[FloridaMomTo5]

Ok, I'm about to share a very personal thing, but I need some understanding hs moms to help me wrap up my year. We found out we were expecting baby #4 in November of last year. I was VERY sick all through December and much of January (you can imagine how much of our formal schooling was accomplished). Just as things were getting better we were shocked to discover on February 23rd (18 weeks preg.) that our baby died!! I went through a period of grief where the kids were just about completely on a break from ANY formal schooling. We are just now getting back on schedule as I am feeling the cloud has lifted.

 

As testing approaches I've already determined we will not join. I've decided to pay someone to do an assessment (state requirements are assess or test).

 

Have any of you had similar years? What do you get together for the assessor? Would you wait until the mid Summer to assess and just continue schooling through that time?

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated, and if you happen to know me, privacy is also appreciated.

Thank you so much!

[mom2abcd]

No advice, but I'm sorry for your loss.

:grouphug:

[Jenny in Florida]

First of all, I'm sorry you've had such a tough year. With all you've had going on, it's no wonder school was put on the back burner. And I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

Now, while I haven't had any years that were quite so tough, we did have a couple of years when I was pretty distracted by financial and legal concerns. One year I remember I was starting to put together my daughter's portfolio when I realized we had done NO formal science that I could think of. Panic? Oh yeah.

 

However, when I sat down and started sifting through my notes for the year, I discovered my daughter had done a reasonable amount of science. She had taken 15 short classes with our homeschool group at the local nature preserve, which I had thought of as "fun," not science. She'd watched several PBS documentaries on science subjects. She had attended an event at a local university designed to encourage girls to explore science. She had gone to the local science museum. And she had done a few projects from a couple of science kits with her dad.

 

It wasn't exactly a banner year for the subject, but it looked like "enough" when I printed out the lists and put them in the portfolio. The evaluator didn't blink an eye.

 

By the way, that was also the year we did no formal history curriculum, a fact that also somehow slipped by me until near the end. What we had done, though, was monthly "fiestas" with our homeschool group, each of which focused on a different Central or South American holiday. And, again, she'd watched some PBS shows and some videos from the libary about various civilizations. So, we listed what she'd done and called it good.

 

If it were me, I think I'd try not to stress out about what hasn't gotten done and just focus on what you have accomplished. Make lists of everything your kids have done that is remotely "sciencey," even if it's just a nature walk or hike. List the curricula you have used (even if you haven't finished it), any science-related books they've read, any shows they've watched on TV. I'll bet it'll turn out to be plenty.

Edited April 13, 2009 by Jenny in Florida

[unsinkable]

Beth,

 

I am so sorry!

 

I don't know about Ohio's rules, but in NY we can test or give a narrative assessment. It is possible that if you test and the test results are not good, you could just not submit them and do the narrative assessment instead. Is that possible in Ohio?

 

I think your idea of delaying the assessment until mid-summer is a good one, esp. if it gives you peace of mind.

 

Some ideas I have:

 

Make family fun time purposeful -- play games with math (yahtzee, monopoly), do activities with writing (make scrapbooks w/captions and stories, make books of lists -- like my favorite meals, fav. books, fav. memories), do cooking (reading, following directions and math) watch videos w/ learning slant (Liberty's Kids, Magic School Bus).

 

Don't discount baby steps -- make memorization index cards and have the kids do them every day when they wake up & go to bed. This can take 5 -10 minutes each time and can yield huge results.

 

:grouphug: I am so sorry for your loss!

[TravelingChris]

I would try to find an evaluator who is friendly with unschoolers. I do want to tell you that my youngest did her best on her test last year (we haven't gotten results for this year yet) when I had the worse year ever homeschooling. She had such a disrupted year between her sister's and her brother's very serious medical issues and her breaking bones and being evaluated for possible bone cancer (negative). I was so scared about her test (and her sisters) that I used an option in my state then which was to enroll them in a umbrella school. I am not an unschooler by inclination but that year showed me how much children learn even if the schooling is not as standard as you may like.

[FloridaMomTo5]

Thank you all.

Jenny, I'm glad you mentioned all that you did b/c it really made me think of everything we have accomplished this year. Thankfully this was the year I joined Classical Conversations so I can at least say that for 24 weeks one day a week my kids studied science, history and latin with other children whether I continued the lessons at home or not. ug, I just wish I wasn't dealing with this, but such is life. We did more than that, but it's nice to have at least that ( ;

 

Unsinkable, those are great suggestions! Thank you.

 

Christina thank you as well. I hope your children's health has improved. I have thought about doing the testing regardless, but I've already missed sign ups for any of the groups doing Standardized testing in our area. I have heard that some testing you can do with your children at home, Does anyone know about these?

Edited April 13, 2009 by cbb_momof3

[unsinkable]

Thank you all.

Jenny, I'm glad you mentioned all that you did b/c it really made me think of everything we have accomplished this year. Thankfully this was the year I joined Classical Conversations so I can at least say that for 24 weeks one day a week my kids studied science, history and latin with other children whether I continued the lessons at home or not. ug, I just wish I wasn't dealing with this, but such is life. We did more than that, but it's nice to have at least that ( ;

 

Unsinkable, those are great suggestions! Thank you.

 

Christina thank you as well. I hope your children's health has improved. I have thought about doing the testing regardless, but I've already missed sign ups for any of the groups doing Standardized testing in our area. I have heard that some testing you can do with your children at home, Does anyone know about these?

 

On this page, the PASS test is listed. You can administer that yourself. I use it for my kids and it is very homeschool friendly.

 

Maybe another Ohio mom can chime in and verify if this test is OK?

 

http://www.chesca.org/suppliers.php

[Jenny in Florida]

I have thought about doing the testing regardless, but I've already missed sign ups for any of the groups doing Standardized testing in our area. I have heard that some testing you can do with your children at home, Does anyone know about these?

 

I just ordered this morning from here: http://www.pesdirect.com/

 

I've also used these companies in previous years:

 

http://www.baysideschoolservices.com/

http://www.familylearning.org/testing.html

 

And we did the PASS from Hewitt the first time we tested at home: http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/test/tmain.asp This one is not nationally normed, though, and so isn't useful for reporting purposes here in Florida.

 

These are all inexpensive and easy to administer at home. The question would be whether a test you administer at home will meet your state's requirements. For example, here in Florida, I may use test results for our annual assessment, but only if the test is administered by a certified teacher. So, we go the portfolio route for the official assessment and test every year or two for my own purposes.

Edited April 13, 2009 by Jenny in Florida