It’s testing week around here...

[hawkward]

DS1 opted just to knock it out in one day this year. He worked all morning, is taking a break to go to PE, and then he’s going to finish up this afternoon.

He kind of forgot how to take a timed test and bombed the first section, so I was worried but he’s done well in the other sections and is pulling his score up well above what he needed.

[hawkward]

And he’s done and did overall okay. We REALLY need to work on spelling though. Whew.

[hawkward]

Feb 13, 2020 16:31:06 GMT -6 @pipandme said:

I am SO glad Nebraska isn't a testing state.

Glad your son did well enough on his test.

It didn’t really seem like much to me when we started, but I guess VA is one of the more regulated states. They put families on probation if kids score less than the 23rd percentile. A lot of families here choose to have evaluations or portfolios made instead of the kids have any sort of SN.

Now that we’re doing our own thing and not necessarily hitting all subjects “in order” it feels like an invasive pain in the butt. Like spelling, DS1 is terrible at spelling so we cover the rules but he relies heavily on spellchecker when he writes (which is otherwise way above grade level). Spelling was a pretty big part of the language test and dropped him almost 30 percentiles. It’s crazy.

I’ll be glad when we go to a lower regulation state.

[bunnyfungo]

Feb 13, 2020 16:31:06 GMT -6 @pipandme said:

I am SO glad Nebraska isn't a testing state.

Glad your son did well enough on his test.

When we were moving to the Twin Cities area, I purposely chose to be across the border in Wisconsin rather than on the MN side because WI doesn’t require testing and MN does. I’m sure it’s no big deal, but it was one more hoop that I didn’t care about. Plus we like our more rural life anyway lol

[bunnyfungo]

Feb 13, 2020 17:03:28 GMT -6 hawkward said:

Feb 13, 2020 16:31:06 GMT -6 @pipandme said:

I am SO glad Nebraska isn't a testing state.

Glad your son did well enough on his test.

It didn’t really seem like much to me when we started, but I guess VA is one of the more regulated states. They put families on probation if kids score less than the 23rd percentile. A lot of families here choose to have evaluations or portfolios made instead of the kids have any sort of SN.

Now that we’re doing our own thing and not necessarily hitting all subjects “in order” it feels like an invasive pain in the butt. Like spelling, DS1 is terrible at spelling so we cover the rules but he relies heavily on spellchecker when he writes (which is otherwise way above grade level). Spelling was a pretty big part of the language test and dropped him almost 30 percentiles. It’s crazy.

I’ll be glad when we go to a lower regulation state.

Iowa has basically no rules. Just sayin 😉

[hawkward]

Feb 13, 2020 20:24:24 GMT -6 bunnyfungo said:

Feb 13, 2020 17:03:28 GMT -6 hawkward said:

It didn’t really seem like much to me when we started, but I guess VA is one of the more regulated states. They put families on probation if kids score less than the 23rd percentile. A lot of families here choose to have evaluations or portfolios made instead of the kids have any sort of SN.

Now that we’re doing our own thing and not necessarily hitting all subjects “in order” it feels like an invasive pain in the butt. Like spelling, DS1 is terrible at spelling so we cover the rules but he relies heavily on spellchecker when he writes (which is otherwise way above grade level). Spelling was a pretty big part of the language test and dropped him almost 30 percentiles. It’s crazy.

I’ll be glad when we go to a lower regulation state.

Iowa has basically no rules. Just sayin 😉

I was reading the HS laws there and laughing. You can choose to report?? LOL.

Although when we do go back, we probably will report so that we can do partial enrollment and send them to community college. I was even thinking about doing nursing clinicals for the college so the boys could go completely for free. We’re still maybe five years off from that though. We’ll see!

[bunnyfungo]

Feb 13, 2020 20:37:38 GMT -6 hawkward said:

Feb 13, 2020 20:24:24 GMT -6 bunnyfungo said:

Iowa has basically no rules. Just sayin 😉

I was reading the HS laws there and laughing. You can choose to report?? LOL.

Although when we do go back, we probably will report so that we can do partial enrollment and send them to community college. I was even thinking about doing nursing clinicals for the college so the boys could go completely for free. We’re still maybe five years off from that though. We’ll see!

That’s one thing that WI doesn’t allow, dual enrollment with the community colleges. They also don’t allow you to count any hours that include more than one child per teacher. So you could count private music lessons (1 to 1), but not a co-op. I kind of got spoiled by Nebraska and there were a lot of things that I didn’t know when we moved and wish I had researched more. Not that it matters much with a second grader and kindergartener, but the older they get the more it will be a hinderance. We can’t even count outschool courses.

[hawkward]

bunnyfungo That’s interesting! Here in VA we have no hour or subject requirements. You have to turn in a list of things you intend to teach (but it’s like “math, reading, science...”) and then other than some kind of progress report, that’s it.

We’re the homebase of unschooling (but like the crazy let the child do whatever kind) and there’s a huge homeschool lobby that’s always fighting against HS regulation. It’s pretty interesting.

[violajack]

I'm still debating between doing the portfolio review or testing. I'm not sure how the kinder would do on a computer based standardized test. I miss our ES who came to our house in CA. Now I have to pay money to haul all my stuff out to an assessor to go over stuff. I like the idea of talking through the year with someone, but I'm lazy and would rather stay home.