This past week Gwyn and Celee started taking the MSAs. That's the standardized test that kids take here in the public schools. For homeschoolers it's optional. I opted for them to take it for the practice mostly. I want for them to be used to taking this type of test when it comes time to take them later and the tests are more serious. I also am not worried about them doing poorly on them. I think it will be interesting to see what they do well and what we could work more on from the results. The tests here are not norm-based, so they are graded on the content, not on how well they do in relation to other students. I hope that this will give me some info to work with. Maybe we need to work on some things more. Maybe we're doing good or awesome in some things. At least I'll have some data to go on beyond what we do at home. Also, the girls have kind of enjoyed it. Gwyn has more than Celee - she was put into a class with a fun-sounding teacher and two girls she already knew. Celee doesn't know anyone in the class she was put in, but I think it's kind of interesting to them to be reminded what public school is like. I think it will help them handle test anxiety too. It's tough to go into a room full of people you don't know and take a test. I'm really proud of them! Gwyn has one more session this week, and Celee has three more. I'm also super proud of Lyla because this week she finished her Teach Your Child To Read book. She did not particularly enjoy this book. It is 100 lessons long and she went through seasons (the 1st 20 or so lessons, again in the 50s and 60s, and the last 15 or so) were she put up an irrational fight against doing it. But I learned during the first season to keep my cool and we persevered. I will say that we would have chucked it if it didn't work. She did learn to read. And she did have many lessons that were pleasant as the front of the book promised. And even if she denied it at the time, she was quite proud of herself when she would learn something new that she could read on her own. In other news we did had a fake snowday last week. A huge snow storm was supposed to hit us. We were supposed to get between 6-12 inches of snow. Yeah, that didn't happen. It did snow a good bit, but it was mixed with rain and it was too warm so it all melted. Anyway, that pushed the testing farther into this week. The girls have been really sweet to each other about the tests all week. They've made welcome home signs for each other, and fixed snacks for the one coming home. Maybe all these outward expressions of love and harmony had to be equalized somehow because they have all also been at each other all week.
We made our own Sistine Chapel this week. We are learning about Michelangelo and got to look at lots of examples of his art. We talked about how hard it must have been to paint on your back on top of scaffolding for four years. Then we got under the table and made our own. The girls picked their own scenes from the Bible to paint. As much as they love to paint, we're all pretty sure we don't want to have to do it for four years like that. When they were done we displayed it on the ceiling in the entry hall.
After all the testing and yucky weather and fussing this week, Friday turned off really nice. We got out. I took the girls to Oregon Ridge to do a short hike. We did a pretty easy hike and it was only 1.6 mi long. The girls found this tree with huge galls all up it, so of course they had to climb it. I know it shouldn't but this grosses me out for some reason. After the hike we found a geocache on the other side of the park that Girl Scouts had placed. The caches with swag are the best! Then everyone played on the playground until we all got too cold. The wind was nippy!
This weekend each of the girls got some space! Celee got invited to spend the night with a friend from scouts. Gwyn invited a friend to spend the night with us. Even Lyla got to spend the night at a friend's house! To top it off Jason even went out to eat with a bunch of guys. So Saturday night it was just me, Gwyn, and her friend for most of the evening. They made a cupcake bakery, always a good thing. Then we went out for Chinese food. I couldn't resist going out to each with only two kids and myself!
Today we sprang forward and hour and somehow we ended up picking up Celee and getting to the early service at church early. That was nice though to not be in a rush and to have time to take a few breaths before worship. After church I took Gwyn's friend home and then got in the van with Lyla, four other Girl Scouts, and her leader to go to Daisy Day. It was a bit unorganized, but the girls did have fun. They got to make a butterfly that was kind of like making god's eyes. They learned a dance. (The video of that is just precious! Totally embarrass-a-teenager material!) They planted seeds to bring home. They did experiments to learn about taste and right/left dominance. They made a fun-day budget to earn the Money Counts Petal. They made Girl Scout Promise magnets. And they made some new friends! It was fun, and exhausting. Not a good day to wear heels. But they were so cute and I hated to take them off after church. Needless to say, after all the sleeping over and Girl Scouting, we all needed to chill, which we did. The girls all emphatically insisted that they were not tired and could not go to sleep, but they all did before 8pm. Here's hoping that they wake rested and ready for more fun tomorrow.
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