Testing Week

Along with the fun of teaching Littles come the challenges of excelling with older students.  Testing Week was rather grueling this year. 

In our state, we are legally required to have yearly evaluations done. We can choose to do this by meeting with an approved evaluator and presenting a portfolio of our students' work for the year, or, we can used standardized tests.

The last few years I've opted for the tests for two reasons:

1. They are less expensive than evaluations.
2. They are much more convenient and time saving.

I use the CAT test to test our children. I've used the CAT offered by Seton as well as the CAT offered by Christian Liberty Press. The CLP test is the longer version. That was the one we used this year.  I'm sort of regretting that decision.

Each year there have been some challenges with those who have a natural aversion to test taking. Some of my children have their mother's bent toward perfectionism, so taking a test just for the sake of taking it lends to a tremendous level of stress for them. The fact that they are not *supposed* to know all the answers and always complete each section in the time given gives way to anxiety, confusion, and, yes, even tears. 

I'll just say it now. I hate these stinkin' tests.

My children gain little from the experience. I gain nothing from the results.  I am never surprised by the scores. I know where my children excel and where they struggle. I've simply always looked at testing as a necessary burden to comply with state requirements.

This year my Momma Bear fur is up, though, seeing the extreme stress they caused, particularly for my youngest students.  I'll be researching other tests and evaluation methods for the years to come. 

With all the learning and wonderful ways I watched my children progress in the past year, I loathe to *finish* the year having them feel as though they have failed because they couldn't answer the questions on some silly page. 

As we all know, real learning leads to wisdom.  You can't measure that with number two pencil.

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;"  Philippians 1:9-10 

A Little Preschool Fun

I love working with my Preschoolers and Kinders. 

 

There are so many neat things about home education.  But, this year I've developed a new love for the simplicity and excitement of those youngest years of learning. 

 

I've been working on setting aside time each day to get in some one on one time with the children. One day, Honoree' and I had great fun making this cute little art project together.

 

"Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children.  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands."

Psalm 90:16-17

Spring Cleanup

In the midst of Birthdays and Bunnies, we kept busy with more work on our Still-New-To-Us home. 

 

While all of our efforts were poured into the interior of the house last spring, this year we are working on the exterior.  Specifically, the overgrowth of shrubs, trees, and plants.  It felt SO good to get outside in the fresh air after a long, cold winter.

 

I haven't shared our big news on the blog yet.  I keep meaning to, but the words just haven't come together.  Short version is that we now have our own accounting firm, Foundations Accounting, with our office based right in our home!  Of course, as we prepare to hang our new sign at the door, we wanted to be sure it could be seen.  That put us to work on the 8-10 foot lilacs hedging the front yard.

And, of course, if you give a Mom a hedge-clippers....well, you know how that story goes...

We had this crazy, twisted vine-y thing growing at the side yard.  Watching it last year, it didn't do much but make a mess, climbing so high into the trees, we couldn't reach it.  We enlisted everyone's muscles to take it out.  It had so much liquid in the branches and roots, it dripped for weeks...even months (you know, it's the start of summer that I'm finally writing about all this).  Come to find out, it's some sort of kiwi plant the previous owners planted. Strange. 

 We will likely see more of it as the season wears on. It's holding fast and the roots are buggers to dig out.  I will say, the children really enjoy having the vines to swing from.

I took on the side flower beds as well. They needed major cleaning out.  I have rosebushes there. :)  There are all sorts of other treasures as well that I'm enjoying.  I keep watching for what comes up so I know what needs pulling out, transplanting, and keeping.  More great reasons to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

The gorgeous azaleas, forsythias, our magnolia trees and later, the lilacs colored our yard this spring. Did I mention how glorious it smells when I walk out my door in the springtime here?

 

 

And, of course, I had to bring that heavenly scent inside to savor.

 

I've always said that fall in New England is what redeemed the uprooting of this Midwestern girl.  The overwhelming beauty of the colors of the trees, you can't help but love it.  Yet, this spring found me with a brand new appreciation for the season. There is something about having a bit of the newness and first bursts of color and fragrance after the dry, dark winter days be your very own to enjoy on your own little postage stamp yard in the world. 

 

Well, it just made spring Something to Savor.

 

" 'Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.' "

Isaiah 43:18-19

Rabbit Season

This spring ushered in a new experience for us. We had not one, but two litters of baby bunnies to care for.  Well, to be fair, Benjamin had two litters to care for. He has taken over the care of our rabbits in hopes of making it a successful business of sorts.

I'll first introduce you to Father, known as Snow-flake, though I think Benj has since given him a more masculine sounding title.

 

And, our dear mother rabbit known as Cocoa. She is a stray that came to us last summer.

 

 

The first was a litter of three fuzzy lil' snuggy-pies. 

 

Who, of course, all grew to be Adorable.

 

 Boy, are they fun when they are small!

 

Sadly, just after we moved them to their own hutches, two of them escaped.  Insert teary face. :(

 

However, the sadness was short lived, as a new litter of five babies arrived on the scene. Everyone was elated!!

 

Then the next sadness: Momma rabbit flew the coop...er...hopped the hutch, so to speak.  A litter of five with no momma to nurse them??!!

 

Benjamin to the Rescue!

 

 

Benj was a hero and worked hard to hand feed those babies all throughout the day. They were doing fairly well for a week or so. Slowly, though, they started to weaken and, one by one, we said good-bye to the litter.  Insert more sad tears.

 

By the end, we had one little guy left that Elizabeth named, Endurance, and called Eddie. She took over the nursing care of him, but he still didn't make it. He passed away the day after these photos were taken. *tears*

 

Sadly, our little family of babies now rests in the family plot in our yard. I did have a few real tears as I watched my boy dig the grave on that rainy day. *sniff*

 

A sweet blessing came about a week later.  While driving home, the children spotted one of the bunnies at a neighbor's house hopping happily along. They pulled over and were able to catch him! The neighbor said she had been feeding him for a while.  He was plenty chubby, that's for sure! She said she had seen the other nearby, but the children were unable to find her.

 

They are SO happy to have this sweetie guy home again.

 

So, the sign "Baby Bunnies, Reserve One Now!" came down and the two buns left from the litters will have a permanent home here with us.  No more rabbit breeding in our future, as we seem to have lost our Last Female...unless she or her mother surprise us by coming back again one day.

 

Such is often the way of life and business. Not always what we hope for or plan for, but, by the grace of God, always filled with lessons of love and growth.

 

"Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel of the LORD will stand."

Proverbs 19:21