Standardized Testing for Homeschoolers? Homeschool Update

 

Well, the time has come that I have dreaded for years. It is to give my oldest her standardized test. Here in the Belly of the Beast state, it is required to be given and sent with her final report for grade 5. I don't think they are necessary. To me, it puts the child in a boxed corner. Like a competition almost. It's like I have to rate her and I don't like it, however, we are still here so I have to do it. I know she will do well on her test, so I guess the problem is me. Did I teach her all the information? Did she retain it? Was I a good teacher? Etc. All these questions in my mind caused me to believe I wasn't a good enough teacher. However like I said in Monday's post, I am not going to give in to fear. I know she got this. Once she does accomplish this we are taking the entire summer off, just to enjoy ourselves from the load of school. So send positive thoughts her way, because her test is in a few days. Cheers to her for passing this test in advance🥂❤️💪.

*Update: Life has caused me to give her the test earlier, and she passed with flying colors, dogs, cats, and various raccoons. We are exhausted from the test. Me prepping her, and her for sitting through it to take it. But I'm proud of her and we will be enjoying our full summer break😎🎉🥂. 

Homeschooling on Fridays

Promising day ladies. Today I wanted to talk about the end of the school week and being creative. Growing up, Friday was my favorite day of the week (I think it's most people's favorite day). In our classroom, I try to use Fridays to get creative. At the beginning of May, I started taking a class that teaches us about herbs and how to make salt baths, sugar scrubs, and many other things. We learned about the importance of plants and how special they can be in our everyday life. This class is being taught by my Sister. Here is the link: (https://linktr.ee/CROWNFittedEssntls) She has a wealth of knowledge and a creative hand. I believe that we women have a special hand in creativity and how we utilize it is very important. I remember when I was a child when birthdays came around, we cousins didn’t have money for gifts, so what we did was create something called fun packs. Let me tell you, fun packs were the thing back then lol. We filled it with games, paper doll people, whatever we could fill it with and we would send it to each other faithfully. It truly would make someone happy to have that fun pack because it was made from love. We took our time doing it so that person could enjoy it :). In homeschooling, you are free to use that creative hand that’s in you to bring forth beauty and life. I set aside that creativity for a while because life takes over and sometimes it's put on hold. But now it's time to bring it back and sharpen our creative skills full circle. We are a special people and can heal many with our gifts and talents. Homeschooling has allowed me to see each child's gifts. Lady C loves to draw pictures and she has a serious eye for puzzles and logic games such as wooduku. Lady H likes to draw but I noticed she watches me more in the kitchen, she loves to sing and seriously looks after her little brother Prince H. Now that I’m beginning to teach Prince H, I noticed he just scribbles everywhere, including the floor lol. He’s being creative in his way. I have the opportunity to allow the children to express their creativity in a balanced matter. I know this post is all over the place, but in a way, it comes together when you think about it. With homeschooling, the world is your classroom. When we take the bus, they are learning about direction and location. When we go shopping, they are learning math, how to save, and the difference between a need and a want. I can cover three subjects by using the world resources in my classroom. Being creative is such a beautiful investment. You never know who may be blessed by your creativity. You can reach many people because we each have that gift in us. So today let's think about how we can use our creative hand to bless ourselves and also bless others. I hope you all have a blessed weekend and I hope I have provoked thought in someone to do something different. Below are some of the things I have created over the years, and I'm working on a few things now.

P.S. I post Monday thru Friday at 9:30 a.m. EST. Occasionally I may post on Sunday since Summer is soon coming 😎.

                 Lady C and Lady H skirts DIY

              A Diy poncho: Each girl have one

                        A quilt for the girls Diy

               vegan enchiladas w/cashew cheese

            Vegan ranch sauce

Tofu eggs and spelt pancakes

              This turned out to be a basket lol

A baby boy blanket