Home again, home again.....

We have survived the testing! JT handled the whole thing very well. We ended up canceling our reservations with the hotel when I started thinking about the cost of the whole thing. Monday morning we left early enough to have time to get lost if necessary. Surprisingly enough, I managed to find our destination with no trouble.

When we arrived at the test site, I found the site manager who had arranged JT's special accommodations, allowing him to take 3 test sections for 2 days, instead of the standard 2 sections for 3 days. She assured me everything would be fine. When we went to the room where the actual testing was taking place, I told the teacher what was going on.

After the morning session, we got lunch. I asked JT what the hardest math question on the test was like. He told me none of them were hard. I tried again, "Well, tell me about the one that took you the longest to solve." He said, "None of them took longer than 20 seconds." "How do you know that?" I asked. "I counted for all of them!"

Should the fact that he was able to time each question WHILE solving it bother me?

We went back to the hotel at the appointed time. We were asked to wait until they found somewhere to have him take the test. Three other families had made similar deals and were also asked to wait. It took 45 minutes for them to figure out where they should be. I thought all of this was arranged in advance. Silly me! When he finally went to the room, I asked how long that section should take. I was told about 1 hour 20 min. I figured I'd come back up to the lobby in 1 hour, knowing it wouldn't take him as long as they predicted. They came and found me 30 minutes later...he was done.

The next morning, I asked if he could finish the last 3 sections in the morning session, since he had been done early the morning before and had finished the 3rd section so quickly. Morning sessions run from 9- 11:45. They came to get me at 11. He was finished.

The most disturbing thing about this whole ordeal was the fact that other parents were being forced to spend loads of time waiting when they really didn't need to be. Why hadn't they arranged to have more convenient testing? The morning sessions were for the younger grades, afternoons for the 7th-11th. Some parents had kids in both groups and sat there all day. Some had toddlers with them. One mom told me she traveled 1 hr 40 min both ways and had to do it all 3 days.

I guess the cyber schools don't want the kids testing in their home school districts for many reasons. But wouldn't it be easier for them to pay a fee for the kids to do that? Test scores would probably be better. It might even be cheaper than the cost of renting so many locations. I'm sure there are all sorts of politics involved. Maybe I'll check that out before next year's testing.

I'm glad the testing is over. However, it was nice to spend a few hours each day in the parent waiting area. As I spoke with the other families, it was interesting to hear their educational story. No two were alike. Some had started out in brick and mortar. Some had done traditional homeschooling, some a little Christian schooling, some had always been in cyberschool. Under usual circumstances, when I try to explain our family to people, I always feel like the 'weirdo'. My daughter (now graduated) went to Christian school preK to 2nd, moved to public until 5th and then back to the Christian school 6th-graduation. Our middle child, JT, started public, moved to cyber. The youngest is in Christian K and will cyber next year. These people were like me! I felt like I had finally found my clan. No one there expected me to drop my kids off at the public school and be happy with anything they gave me. All of these people wanted their children to be educated in a way that was appropriate for the CHILD. How crazy is that?!

The Dreaded Week is Coming

We must travel to Williamsport this coming week so JT can take the all-important PSSAs. We signed a contract when we enrolled with PA Cyber that we would do this. I have been dreading it most of the year.

Williamsport is approximately a one hour drive from our home. That is the closest test site available. We need to be there at 8:45 am. We are NOT morning people. SO, I decided to book a hotel room to keep from needing to drive there both mornings. We are staying in the same hotel the testing is taking place. We will stay Sunday and Monday evening. I am NOT thrilled that I am shelling out the money to do this. What else can I do? We did manage to get them to cut JT's test days down to 2 instead of 3. They are setting up a private room for him both afternoons to take an extra test. The other kids will be there 3 days. I guess they figure he is advanced and can handle the extra test each day. I understand there isn't much they can do to make this situation any better. I feel a little bad for having to be assertive and insist that they bend the rules for us.

The real problem here is that I am now getting nervous JT won't do well on the tests. I have been giving him practice work off and on throughout the year to get him ready. Most of the math is well below where he is currently working. The reading multiple choice questions are usually a breeze (except when they throw in some off the wall question that even I can't answer)! Yesterday I sat him down to do the long answer reading questions and he totally choked. He was asked to read two poems, find 2 things alike and 1 thing that was different. He wrote the two things that were the same (in sentence fragments) and claimed to be done. When I told him to read the directions again to see if he had done all they asked, he claimed to be happy with his answer. Complete panic ensued! I hope by reviewing the "make sure you read all the directions" rule enough over the weekend, we may still pull this off.

I know ultimately to me, it doesn't really matter what kind of score he gets on these tests. They are not a good tool for measuring his progress for the year. What I am really concerned about would be what the school will think after they bend over backwards to accomodate my needs expecting him to score advanced and he doesn't. Could be a tough sell next year.....