STAR Testing Results

I received Julia’s STAR test report yesterday.  This was the State mandated test that she took last May (the first day of which was her birthday).  As a second grader last year, this was her first time in taking the exam.  It was split up over two days, about three hours each day, and a few hours after she got home on the first day (her birthday) she started vomiting.  She felt much better the next day so I took her back for the second half of the exam.

So, how did she do?  Great!  She ranked “advanced” in both English-Language Arts and Mathematics.  This isn’t too big of a deal to her, but for me, as her teacher, its super duper!!  Whew!

Day One

Well, today is mostly done.  That is, Karley is finished.  Julia is procrastinating to get her math finished.  This morning I got up early and made a special treat, chocolate chip muffins.  Somehow even the smell of baking muffins didn’t get them out of bed.  Being the nice mom that I am, I let them get up on their own accord.  At least that was my plan until Quigley heard the neighborhood school kids walking past our house up to the school.  Then he went into wild-man mode and ran up and down the stairs protecting us all from the elementary school students.  That did it.  The girls were awake and not happy about it.  So on the fly I borrowed an idea from Julia’s former school and came up with the “on time ticket.”  That spurred Julia on to eat, get dressed, brush teeth and hair and be ready to start the day.  Karley, on the other hand, also got ready to go but when I told her that we would raffle off prizes for the on time tickets she lost it and cried and cried.  She said the raffle idea was dumb and that it would mean there would always be a loser (smart girl).  She made such a fuss that I sent her to her room and took away her on time ticket.

The tears were contagious and it wasn’t long before Julia was crying too because “math is so hard.”  Aye Aye Aye.  Luckily I’ve had a nice long break and I didn’t lose my cool.  Karley got over her “thing” on her own and recovered nicely.  Julia timed out on her math, completed her other work, and has her math to finish or no dessert (and yes that means I won’t give her a piece of my birthday cake tonight).  Whew!  Only 179 days left!!  (Just kidding)

School Starts Tomorrow!

I would love to say that the loft is tidy and the pencils are sharpened and everything is all set for tomorrow, but the truth is I’ve been too busy to be this organized.  Our desks are buried, there are a few random toys that need to be put away, and we are still missing some of our books.  It seems this summer has been packed with too many fun activities to be ready for the new school year, but here it comes!

It’s so hard to believe that this is my fourth year homeschooling my girls.  Julia is a 3rd grader and Karley is a 1st grader…where has the time gone?  I’m anticipating some complaining this first week or so, but one thing I have done in preparation for this year is to read a LOT of books on teaching difficult kids, motivation, gifted kids, etc.  I’m really hoping that I can use some newly-acquired skills to keep us moving along smoothly, but I guess time will tell.

I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep, a kid-free hour or so first thing in the morning so I can have my coffee and read my email in peace, and two cheery, energetic kids ready to learn.  Well, a girl can dream can’t she?  Besides, tomorrow’s also MY birthday!