August Wrap-Up

We've been in the swing of school & enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather. I've been cooking outside quite a bit as the wood is dry for the first time all year. Also I'm burning the piano piece by piece, it's VERY dry. We've had only 1 rain in a fortnight & sent up a prayer of thanksgiving. The chickens began moulting in the middle of Aug. & egg production switched off overnight. Our goat contracted mastitis that same week, so we went down from a quart of milk a day, to a pint. I've been buying milk by the 1/2 gal. to make yogurt.

Victor had his first annual standardized test 2 weeks ago & did great. We went w/ the 1970 California Achievement test from Christian Liberty Press because...

1. It was $25.00.
2. California was more scrupulous in 1970. Educational standards were higher then.
3. Since it was so "outdated" we could proctor it ourselves.

I didn't know how I would feel about standardized testing; that's about the only requirement our state mandates. The test fees run anywhere between $25.00- $150.00, depending on the test & proctor. The higher ended tests, (ie. Woodcock-Johnson) will proctor the test directly in your home & give you a professional individualized curriculum recommendation  per child.

Mike & I have only ever known public school testing & figuring that the children will be taking tests publicly sometime in the future, we tried to keep the atmosphere similar. I just made sure breakfast was especially good, hearty, & right before the test. I didn't do school w/ him the rest of that week w/ him & we only did 1 section a day.

I liked it for mostly showing my shortcomings. I could feel my eyes growing big watching him fill in some blanks. It was very clear I had never taught any grammar, capitalization or punctuation. Since we had extra free time that week, we built fairy houses & baked.

We have so much moss, it works out great.

 We made pies, though the picture of pizza. It's more fun to watch cheese melt.

Also Mike was baptized! I'll do a separate post on that once pictures are up.