HOTM Review: Diagnostic ELA/Reading Assessments (12/14/09)

My very first review with HOTM was posted today! I have quoted the article here for you to read, enjoy!

Review: Diagnostic ELA/Reading Assessments by Mark Pennington

December 14, 2009 by Cassie
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As a homeschool parent living in a very homeschool-supportive state I have never been required to have my children take standardized tests. In many ways, this is great for us. But there is a lot to be said for regular testing. As a parent-teacher, you walk away from the experience with a real idea of how your child is performing compared to his peers. Ideally, any weaknesses will be revealed and you can then formulate a plan to strengthen those areas.
The only area I have ever really stressed about educationally is reading and language arts. So very much of education hinges on our mastery of these areas! I am always evaluating and questioning if we are doing enough to prepare our children for a lifetime of learning. I was thrilled to receive Diagnostic ELA/Reading Assessments by Mark Pennington to review!
Let me just start out by saying this is a jam-packed resource. Although it was written with the classroom teacher in mind, every single assessment is totally and completely useable for the homeschool setting. The first 12 pages explain why these tests are useful, if not necessary, for evaluating student's abilities. It is also explained how to go about using and administering these tests. There are 18 different areas that are tested ranging from beginning reading skills all the way through high school writing competency. This would definitely be a resource you could use throughout your child's schooling, no matter what the grade or age. Each individual assessment has a teacher's instruction page which informs you exactly which skills are being evaluated, how to administer the test, and how to record and use the results to help your student(s). Not a single language arts skill area that I can think of is ignored in this thorough assessment package. The assessments are very easy to use and also easy to score, making evaluating your child's skill levels quick and painless for both parent and child.
The fact that this is a multi-grade level resource makes it very much worth the initial investment, especially considering that in e-book format, you can print as many copies as you need for all your students to be assessed on a regular basis. I would very highly recommend this useful tool for any parent who wants a clear picture of how much their child is learning and applying in the reading and language areas of their education.
This item is available for purchase through CurrClick and can be found: HERE.
Cassandra Simpson is a homeschooling wife and mother of four children, ages 1, 8, 9, and 12. She is starting her 6th year of home educating in Indiana and uses a "Classically Eclectic" teaching approach. Cassandra is the Assistant Lead Moderator for HOTM's forum and loves talking homeschool with anyone who will listen! Her hobbies are reading, blogging, sewing, and cooking. You can check out her family's blog at In His Image.

As if you haven't had enough...

Be sure to check out this week's "I Spy" article (written by yours truly) at Heart of the Matter online! You can find it here: I Spy-DIY Gifts, Funny One-liners, and Imperfect Homeschoolers.
While you are there, be sure to find out what's been going on At The Forum! And if you haven't taken the opportunity to join the HOTM Forum, it would be a great time to do so! I hope to see you there!
Keep an eye out for my first two reviews sometime this week! I will let you know when they are published.

Blessings,

Cassie :)

Gingerbread Painting!

I have been wanting to make gingerbread cutouts for the kids to decorate for a while now. I bought all the ingredients last year, but never made them. So last night, we decided it would be fun to decorate some cookies!
It took quite a while to actually make and bake the cookies (the dough has to be refrigerated for 2 hours before you can roll it out) but they turned out very nice! For decorating purposes, i decided it would be easier to glaze them with a white icing and then paint them with food coloring. To make the icing I used the following recipe:
1 c. powdered sugar
3 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. almond extract
To make the icing, you blend the sugar and milk til smooth, then mix in the corn syrup and almond extract. It coats the easiest if you then dip your cookies face down to coat then lay them flat til it forms a slightly hard glaze. Then you are ready to paint! This would also be a great base icing for sugar cookies! We used cotton swabs dipped into food coloring for painting purposes. You don't need to use much of the food coloring, a little bit goes a long way.
What's that you ask? Well of COURSE I took pictures!











Here is Isaiah painting away!

Here was my test cookie, isnt it pretty?











And here, Drew joins in the fun!

Our snowmen very very colorful and festive!











My friends son wanted to paint cookies, too

Heres Jazz painting her cookies with friends.











And of COURSE Joey wanted to paint! We had to be super careful as he kept trying to dip his fingers in the "paint"!

They turned out really nice, exactly like I had imagined them! We all had fun decorating them and they taste pretty good too!

 Blessings!

Cassie  

Review-Homeschooing at the Speed of Life (12-11-09)

I recently read through a great book full of practical advice and encouragement for busy homeschool moms. I enjoyed this book so much, I wanted to share it with you!

Homeschooling at the Speed of Life By Marilyn Rocket (click on the picture to learn more)

This is a book I highly recommend to any homeschool mom that ever has a hard day full of cooking, cleaning, childcare, and teaching. Many of us find ourselves wishing there were more hours in our days. This book can help you find practical ways to make the hours you DO have count! Not only is there tons of great information in this book, there is plenty of encouragement!

Marilyn has included a cd-rom with the book that contains all kinds of great forms and helps. This book will help you organize your clutter (and clear out the clutter you don't need), develop a practical plan for keeping your home clean and running smoothly, develop a plan for teaching your kids life skills, make a chore system that works, learn to use planning and lists to your advantage, and keep your paper under control. She does all this without making you feel bad about your previous attempts to manage your home, that alone makes this book worth the read.

I read this book off and on throughout a day. It is a quick and enjoyable read and definitely worth the time invested! I found it at my local library. and I am so glad I did! Enjoy!

Blessings,

Cassie

What's been going on around here?

I know it has been about a month since I was last here to update my blog, there are million reasons WHY, but I'm not going to bore you with that. How about I just spend our time together here sharing what has been going on in our home in the past month?
As I am sure you have already figured out, we are all moved and settled into our new townhouse. It is a lot nicer then where we were living. The changes in floor plans have presented some challenges for us, but we are making it work. Even though we moved into about 100 more square feet, that space is distributed mostly in the upstairs bedrooms and the fact that we now have 3 bathrooms. We now have a common living and dining room area instead of two separate rooms. This has resulted in no longer having a dedicated school room. I miss it, but at the same time, it is kind of nice to have the bulk of our school things put away out of the main living area. In our dining area, we have our table, two tall bookcases, our dry-erase board, and our workbox racks. It is very uncluttered this way and things tend to stay put up out of the way when we are not doing lessons. My large L-shaped desk is now in our large master bedroom, along with the rest of our school things. We did lose one of our tall bookcases in the move as it was very unstable and cracked as we were moving it. I hope to replace it after Christmas.
The boys' bedroom is downstairs, which is nice because I no longer have the youngest's toys strewn all over the main living area. All his toys are in his bedroom and easily accessible to him. He can get things out as he wishes, but at the end of the day, they all go back into their toy box in his room!  The downstairs bathroom is off of the boys' bedroom and they have their own shower which has been nice.
I love my kitchen set-up. My only complaint is there is really no convenient place to store all my larger kitchen appliances, like my roaster. There are plenty of cabinets, but they are not deep enough or tall enough for certain things. There is also nowhere I can hang shelves like I am used to having for these items. Again, we are making it work.
I have two large patio sliding glass doors downstairs and although they are tightly sealed, as it's getting colder here it is becoming apparent that we need to invest in some insulated curtains to keep the cold out. I am hoping to purchase them for Christmas.
School has been tough since we moved. Naturally, we took our first week here off as I was still getting things unpacked and settled. then we had a half week for Thanksgiving. This past week has also been rough because we have all been passing around a nasty cold. We did school though we didn't get done nearly as much as I had planned to. My goal for the next two weeks up to Christmas is to get as much done as we can. I'm not making any concrete daily plans, just a basic list of where we need to be before Christmas break. We will likely only take a week off as we have lots of catching up to get done.
Joey has been having sleep issues this week since he has had his cold. I am really hoping it resolves itself soon. If not, I may end up reading through Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber again. He is turning into quite the conversationalist and jabbers all day long. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems like he learns a new word every day! He is just amazing. I am in awe.
Hubs is still working as a corrections officer in a work release center 5 days a week (and hating it) and going to school 5 nights a week. I am still searching for a part time job, though I haven't been able to devote as much time to this as I had hoped. Getting settled in took more time than I had hoped it would. I pretty much have to put the job search on hold until after the holidays as most places have already hired their seasonal help. I guess I missed the boat there.
There's really not a whole lot else to share right now. Except that I have been invited to join HOTM's review team! I am really excited about it, and I will be linking to all my reviews here on the blog, so keep your eye out for them. I have two that should be posting this week.
With that, I will bid you all ado until next time, which will not be so far off in the future. Stay warm!

Blessings,

Cassie :)

OK, so I'm a little OCD...

because all these stacked boxes and chaos in the house are driving me up the wall! I am soooo glad I only have to live among this mess a few more days. I am very thankful that I have had the past week to get ready for the move but I am completely over it. Everywhere I turn there is a disorganized mess of things I can't do much about. I have tried really hard to keep things somewhat in order, but it has really been a challenge. The closer it gets to moving day the worse it gets!
Tuesday we pick up our u-haul and then we will gladly be loading all of these boxes into it and getting them out of the way. Unfortunately, it will be short lived, as once they are moved into the new place, it will be a whole other state of disorganization and chaos. But at least I will be moving towards my goal of getting settled in and finding a proper place for all of our belongings, and that is definitely something to look forward to!
It just so happened that we got to see inside our apartment last night. We are completely relieved, it is a very nice apartment (compared to our current abode) and for the most part, we really like the layout. Our dining/living room area is a bit smaller than I expected from looking at the floor plan, but we will make it work for us as we always do. This may mean relocating some of our lesser used school things into another area, but we can live with that.
All of our utilities are set-up to switch over into our name, we put an order in to get cable and internet installed on Thursday (yeah!), we have purchased our renter's insurance, reserved our u-haul, and all that's left to do is pay our deposit/rent and sign on the dotted line. Oh, and move in of course!
Oh, also yesterday a part on my laptop broke (sniffle). It is the casing that holds the screen. It is still working perfectly fine, but will not close. I will be shipping it off to HP sometime next week to get it fixed. I will leave a note here on the blog to let you know when I do as I will not be able to blog while it is away (sniffle) getting repaired. Hopefully the process will be quick and they will return my electronic baby back to me like new!

Blessings,

:) Cassie

Prepping for the Move (how it's going)

Yesterday our closest friends brought us our first batch of boxes. There were about 10-12 total. I know, not a lot for a household of 6, especially a homeschooling household of 6! She said she would be back today to help me with any packing because she knows we are on a tight schedule and need all the help we can get! When she arrived today, a bit before noon, I had already called a nearby Office Depot and they had some boxes waiting for me, so she kindly picked them up on her way and brought them. There weren't a lot, maybe five or six. I decided that I would call a few more places to see if I could get my hands on some more boxes before they bailed them. I was very lucky to catch two places just in time! Thank you Babies R Us and Best Buy!! We ended up with a good 40 boxes or so, and many were quite roomy!
Well, long story short, we worked until about 8 this evening, and I am proud to announce that I currently have 31 packed boxes parked against the wall in my schoolroom! We were really moving! Keep in mind all this with 4 children underfoot (one a toddler), messy bedrooms, and lots of laundry in between. I think we did pretty good!
We don't have a whole lot more that we can do until closer to moving day. We packed most of the schoolroom, everything in the living room except furniture and electronics, both bathrooms, both children's rooms, a few boxes in my room, and one hall closet.
I am not nearly as worried, after today, as I was about being able to get it all packed and moved in time. Of course, the kitchen is always the worst, and most time consuming, and it will likely be done dead last.
We sign our lease to our new place and get our keys Monday, and have to have our keys handed in here by Thursday evening. Please keep praying for things to continue to go smoothly! I will continue to keep you updated!

Blessings,

:) Cassie

Wow - lots of changes heading our way!

SO it has been a really stressful week for us. We have been behind in our rent for sometime now. We had an appointment Thursday to get help. When we took the paperwork into the leasing office, they refused to sign it because they have to agree not to file eviction for 30 days. The lady said she had to speak with the manager because they were planning on filing on the first of November.
It's really ok though, cause we have slowly realized (after taking a hard look at our budget) that the reason we are always behind is because we can not afford to live here. The gas bills are outrageous and if we paid all of our bills on time, we would only have a couple hundred dollars left over for groceries and gas. I had not realized things were so tight even on paper.
So I have been apartment hunting like crazy all weekend. We are trying to get in somewhere quickly so we can leave voluntarily and avoid the eviction process so we don't have the scar on our rental history. We found a place that will actually save us a good chunk of money. There are some downsides to our choice:

• no washer/dryer hookups
• it's third floor with only a small balcony
• we will prob not be able to use our chest freezer - no room
• it's 3 bd with less than 1000 sqft
• its a different school system - which is tough for Jazz
• not a lot of storage so we will be renting a storage unit

But we all have to make sacrifices at this point to live within our means until hubby graduates school in a year. I DO really like how the floor plan flows so that's a plus, and they actually have two really nice playgrounds for the kids. The complex looks very well maintained on the outside, which I can't say for our current living situation. Oh yeah, and did I mention - we are going to save over $300 a month!
Please keep us in your prayers as we undergo this transition! We need so many things to fall into place just right. Finances, time, and our rental record are all huge factors here!
Thanks in advance for your prayers! I will keep you updated.

Blessings,

:) Cassie

Productive day?

Today was a good day, even though we didn't get any school done. Eeeeek!! I know, but I got a lot of other things done - or at least I am so tired that FEEL like I accomplished something worthwhile.

I started my day with an errand-running spree. I went to Walgreen's, the library, and grocery shopping in two hours! That alone tells me why I am so worn out. Grocery shopping alone usually takes that long! But then again, it's usually a family activity. Today I got to go all by myself!

When I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen and put the groceries away. Then I decided that even though my living room is straightened up and vacuumed nightly, it still didn't look clean. So I dusted every single surface, moved furniture and vacuumed, and cleaned out all my little junk gathering spaces.
By the time this was finished, it was time for scouts. Luckily, I didn't have to take the boys, because my mother-in-law offered to take them. I did a load of laundry and played with Joey for a bit until it was time to go pick them up. When we got home, I made the boys supper and fixed a little something for myself. Then I played with Joey some more and tinkered on the net for a few til his bedtime.

Now I am sitting here waiting for the hubster to arrive home from work, struggling to keep my eyes open, making typos left and right as I type - sheesh!

Is it bedtime yet?

Looks like as fun place to work...

A fellow blogger had this video posted on her site and I just couldn't resist sharing it with you! I'm not a big fan of the backstreet boys, but thought this was fun to watch anyway!

Blessings,

:) Cassie

Why is laundry such a pain?

I am not sure why, but I can never seem to get my laundry hung or folded and put away until it has sat in a towering pile in the middle of a high traffic area for several days, been rummaged through at least 10 times to find a specific item, and been drug about the house by the dog and the toddler.

This is a major area of weakness for me. I am praying about it. Maybe the Lord will give one of my children a sudden urge to fold clothes?

Yeah, you're probably right. I should just force myself to do it.

Blessings,

:) Cassie

Who says kids can't enjoy Mozart?

Because I definitely have proof to the contrary! We read about Mozart today in Drew's reading, so we decided to listen to a few selections while he completed a worksheet. This is what happened next...

Blessings!

:) Cassie

Wanna know why I'm so exhausted?

Well, ok, I'll tell you...

Saturday we had Isaiah's birthday party. We played games and had a LOT of fun. Then that evening we had friends over for burgers on the firepit. We all hung out and had a ton of fun. You would think that would be enough excitement for the week, but Sunday I was browsing craig's list and I stumbled upon the perfect desk!! We had already been discussing switching around the school/dining room and living room, so this gave me a reason to get it done soon.
The lady with the desk called me back Monday morning and said they could bring it to us that evening. We called friends and they came over to help us move the heavy furniture. By the time the desk got here, all the other furniture was pretty much moved into it's new room. Hubs got it together in about an hour!
To make a long story short, it is now 11pm on Tuesday and I am finally finished! Everything is in it's proper place and it looks oh so good in here! I can't wait to do school tomorrow in our new diggs! Of course I have pictures...

Here is the view from the playroom side of the room (Joey's area). The kids are playing Life

Here is a slightly different angle

Here is the view from the sliding glass door that leads to the patio. I am really looking forward to having the morning sun shining through!

Here is a good shot of my new desk!! It's HUGE and has lots of places for organized storage. I LOVE IT!! (Can you tell?)

Here is a shot of the bookcases (newly organized).

There wasn't room in the new living area for the papasan chair. I thought it would make a nice reading nook! This is on Joey's side of the room, hence the toys.

Here is a wider shot of the playroom side. I am trying to figure out where else I can put that rocking chair

So there you go! What do you think? I think I will sit on my behind for a few hours now and recover! Phew!

Blessings,

Cassie :)

Workboxes and Efficiency

I have been using workboxes for several months now and I have learned some useful things along the way. I thought I would take the time to share a few observations with you about what is working for us!



I have seen from a lot of mommas say that the time it takes to plan and fill the boxes can be overwhelming. I felt the same way the first few weeks we used them, and I am pretty sure most workbox mommas would agree that's the norm! But as you determine to stick with it (because your kids are enjoying school and getting tings finished in record time) you will find that you develop your own system of filling the boxes and getting ready for your school day.

A few weeks after implementing the workbox system into our day, I decided to change up our curriculum. You can read more about that whole process here.

Now that we are using Tapestry of Grace, and several other classical resources, planning kinda took a quantum leap for me. Instead of just planning out lessons by numbers and pages, now I found I had to dig a little deeper and think a little harder about what each day of our week would look like. So, I developed my own little system, using my own version of TOG's daily assignment grid. Yes, I made yet another custom planning form, but we can talk about my paperwork and forms obsession another time. Any how, I made a custom form for each boy, as they are doing different levels of work (Drew is doing UG, and Isaiah is doing LG) and different types of subjects. I would love to share with you, but I can't get them to upload correctly to scribd.

Anyhow, I plan two weeks out at a time. There is a good reason for this other than the fact that I am killing two birds with one stone. Since we are doing TOG at half pace, what the curriculum lists for one week of work, we actually do in two! It's much easier to just split it up and plan the two weeks at the same time than it would be to plan each week separately. Anyhow, that's my first step, filling out those assignment grids.

The second step is to make a to-do list as I am going through my lesson planning. I list all the copies I need to make, resources I need to find/get, craft and projects preparations, and anything else I want done ahead of time. After I am all done with my planning, I go through my to-do list and complete each task, placing any of the weeks necessary paperwork in my TOG binder in the correct week's pocket.

Now comes the third step, which to many seems like a daunting task, but if you plan ahead and prepare, it will be a breeze! Now it is the night or morning before school and you have to get those workboxes filled and ready to go! This is what I do:

First, I do only one child's boxes at a time. I take all the boxes and spread them out on the table in numerical order. I get out my TOG planning binder and open it up to my assignment grids, which are freshly printed and in the front of the binder. Then I get my stack of papers for the week, and I go through my page and place each subjects work into it's box. I also have in a nearby rolling cart for easy access: glue, scissors, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, etc. That way I can just grab whatever I need for each box as I am filling them. Then I put the filled workboxes back onto the cart and start over with the other child's boxes! It takes me about 10 minutes per child to do this UNLESS I have forgotten to make a copy or I have to find extra goodies to fill empty boxes. That usually doesn't slow me down too much though.

So you see, it's all about your method! It's all about planning ahead! Want proof? Go ahead and do this with your curriculum, tweak what you need to, and see if it makes a difference in your day-to-day prep time. YES, it takes a little more planning and attention to detail ahead of time. YES, things don't always go along with "the plan". BUT it is worth the extra effort! Your daily prep time will decrease and so will your stress level! GOOD LUCK!

PS - If you tried this, or do something different that helps you, please share in a comment!

Blessings,

Cassie :)

Attention All Moms - You MUST Watch This Video!

Kinda puts it all in glorious perspective, doesn't it?

Blessings,

Cassie :)