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| photo by eileenberedo-used with permission |
We had standardized testing a few weeks ago. It's part of the package of using a homeschool charter school. It doesn't bother me, I don't change anything about our homeschool because of it. My kids look forward to it, there is usually a huge crowd of kids to play with on testing day.
Most years, a week or two before, it will occur to me that I should prepare them a bit. So, I will maybe look up the standards for each grade and then introduce any concepts they haven't seen before, just so they won't panic or feel dumb. Most years I do this, but then some years, I don't. This year was one of the years that it didn't occur to me. No big deal, I thought.
I forgot that Amie, my 3rd grader is my school-book loving/intense child. She has learned some of the times tables sitting in with Demi and Teddy, but I never even thought about discussing division with her. Oopps! -it looks like division is on the 3rd grade standards.
So, when I arrived to pick up Amie on the first day of testing, I found my baby girl totally in tears. I felt so bad. It was partly that she heard the teacher call me to say she was done, and she got my voicemail....because I was driving. I didn't call back, because I was 10 minutes away and on my way...but Amie began to worry I wasn't coming, and then on top of that was the whole division sign that she did not recognize.
I used hand motions when I told Sky about it later. Me- standing there with buckets of mom-guilt pouring over me. Not sprinkling over me- pouring over me, like a waterfall.
So, how do you give a homeschool mom guilt? Having a child in tears over not knowing division -Bingo.
We will continue working through Math U See this Summer, and I am going to add in Math drills, so the kids have their facts down cold. Math games, too- are on the menu, because Summer is about fun, right??
I'm not a Math person at all....I kind of have an aversion to flashcards. This whole section of school is a bit hard for me. For Josie and Meg, I had them write times tables everyday in a notebook- over and over and over again. They got it, but it wasn't any fun. I'm thinking I've got to shake things up a bit for my 3 youngest students...the boys don't really have much patience with writing.
So, I stumbled on this program called Mad Dog Math. It's a whole system of drill work sheets already made for you and organized for you...with directions, and timers, and clubs. I need hand-holding with stuff like this. Yes, theoretically it should be easy enough to type up times tables on the ol' computer and print them up and administer them....but somehow I don't ever get past the thought... so, I've learned it's best for me to find something with the planning already done.
I'm pretty excited! The kids, they don't know yet....
We start next week! :)
summer of math, math, math...summer of math, math, math...