Reading your Terra Nova Results

We finally got our test results back from Bayside School Services. I will be using them again next March because I like how they managed things. I was so nervous, with this being our first test, but it was actually very easy.

Ordering -

I chose the Terra Nova complete Battery Plus because Austin has the patience to take lengthy tests. Otherwise, I would've opted for the survey, which is said to be much shorter.

Administering - 

Once it arrived, I took Austin to the library for testing. It is recommended (but not required) that a non-family member that lives outside of the household administer the test. I didn't know anyone outside of my family and I felt funny asking a complete stranger, so I felt that administering it in a public place was sufficient. 

I sat Austin at a table within my sight, but not with me. We quietly went over the samples together, I started the timer, and walked away. I kept his start and end times on my own page. When he had completed his test, I copied the bubble sheet and sent the originals, with the test materials, back to Bayside School Services.

Results -

I found a very good video of a teacher explaining how to read the Terra Nova results. She also explains grades 3 & 9.

https://vimeo.com/71537495

Our test results show that Austin needs more study in Language Arts. He received a 68 percentile in Spelling, which was only a 15 minute section (Language mechanics 74, Reading 76). 

We had been using an SAT-level vocabulary list and LifePac Language Arts. I LOVE LifePac, but we found it to be very...draggy, wordy, and unnecessarily lengthy for our personal needs. I'm not blaming the curriculum. Language Arts is consistently Austin's least favorite subject. He goes through phases of disliking other subjects, but his feelings towards writing in general are very negative. 

On the performance objective page, I can see where Austin only had a difference of 15 for identifying reading strategies, 16 for analyzing text, and 17 for basic understanding. He scored a difference of 21 for evaluating extended meanings, which is his high point. For spelling, he scored a difference of only 4 for consonants, 7 for vowels, and 12 for structural units.

My conclusion -

I certainly do want to strengthen Austin's spelling and language arts skills. I believe this will be best handled through an English program that is specifically tailored for him. After all, the goal is to master skills that will guarantee us a high ACT and SAT score; not to master 15 minutes worth of spelling questions.

I will continue to impliment McGraw-Hill workbooks. He did two this year, but I wasn't aware of the many other free options among their workbooks and I didn't really know how to instruct materials in-depth back then. I know that we can get more out of these worksheets if I fully instruct them instead of blindly administering them.

I will select a list of literature for Austin and myself to read, hopefully things that neither of us have previously read. Austin will have a choice of several books, but he will not exclude himself to only novels. Also, manga is not an acceptable academic reading choice. He will take hand-written short notes in his composition book, with page numbers, and use those notes to type an essay on the book that addresses the highlights, conflicts, comparisons...and so forth. 

I will also be teaching Austin cursive writing on the 12th week of school next year. We have 11 more weeks of the SAT book that he must complete this August before we begin cursive. He will practice letters, words, and finally sentences. Most importantly, he will master his signature and numbers in word-form. Hopefully, this will strengthen his hand joints (hyper mobility) and build his confidence in me that I am not going to make him write until it hurts.

Bottle Biosphere

IIn science, we moved from single-called organisms to plants cells, which moved us to the organ development of a plant. Our textbook asked us to make a terrarium, so that we could watch the plant organs develop. Being that it is planting season anyway, we made a biosphere out of bean plants. We're currently learning about the organs of the body, which is quite nice to pair with our plant growth.

I browsed a bunch of how-to's for "terrarium" and "bottle biosphere." This is the one I chose to print for our use:

http://weirdsciencekids.com/ecosystem.html

Smaller children may prefer to make a box-like scene of plastic plants in a circular glass jar from the Dollar Tree. That way, they can see the plants and critters and explain their purpose without the fragile, messy parts that require patience or long-term focus.

On 3-25, we followed a print of the website's directions to build our bottle biosphere. We kept a log every 2-3 days. We also named our terrariums as a way to personalize them. Mine was "Mom Bean" and Austin's was "SUPER BEAN (not actually super)." Lol, my kid.

- By 4-1 (day 7 or 8) our seeds began to sprout.

- Quickly after the plant developed sprouts, Austin noticed roots crowding the edge of the bottle and decided that we should re-pot our sprouts.

- Today (4-4-16 and day 11 of growth), we examined the roots while re-potting our sprouts. 

By "we," I mean I because Austin is phobic of buzzing insects and demands to examine at the kitchen table or through the kitchen screen. That's ok. I respect and empathyze with his phobias. I have some myself. I often carry our plants to him for inspection. 

Gardening has provided us with fabulous opportunities to discuss The Lord's plan, creation, and even parenting. God is perfect. He makes humans in His image, yet we are imperfect because of our free will. No matter how perfect we are at gardening, the seed has its own free will as well. Does God watch us with the same hope that we have for our garden? We discussed how we are giving the seed opportunity to grow and how philanthropy shouldn't always have to yield the fruits of labor. Sometimes, just watching that seed grow is reward enough. That's where the parenting conversations start. The process of growing things is amazing to watch. I've had great luck with growing and saving seeds from jaguar marigolds, but this is the first time I've tried to grow a popular edible food. I think my enthusiasm is making this even more interesting for Austin. Thanks to our lesson, we know the complexity of what is going on in the bottle/plant as it grows. Imo, it's so much better than an ant farm. 

(Side note) I also planted sunflowers this year. Yesterday, the wind knocked over my egg carton planter. Luckily, the plants were ready to be re-potted and I believe that I was able to save 5 of 6. Austin says it's the equivalent of "the great flood," but with plants and wind, "Sometimes, God's will is to make you move a little quicker and you can't mess with God's will, ma." 

I showed Austin a video of a Kiwi-Nana, where someone spoofed cross-planting. We went back to our dichotomous key to discuss why these plants cannot interbreed. That lead to a big ole sidetrack about tomatoes. 

You may also enjoy this HGTV playlist of videos, with recommendations:

http://hg.tv/3tb05

I'm going crazy wandering this site now.

Here's a chart or scientific names for the parts of a bean plant:

Ours are developing their trifoliate leaves and one plant's cotyledon has started to wither off mid-stem. Most of the cotyledons are plump and bean-like. I just want to take pictures every single day. They're such rapid growers!