It's that day all home schoolers anticipate with a little excitement and a lot of fear and trembling as our kids are tested at the end of the school year and evaluated for promotion. Our tester Jan was here at 8:45 this morning and it is 5:45 and she's still at it with Michaela! The kids took turns all day with different subjects. We'll find out the results next week.
I made sure Jeremiah got a good night's sleep and had a full tummy this morning. We played in my room until it was his turn and.........it was the most frustrating time EVER!! He wouldn't sit up in his chair. He never spoke above a whisper. He occasionally fell to the floor and rolled around laughing. Then he would cry. Above all, with the exception of a few recognized colors and obeyed directional commands (up, down, under, on top of), he acted as though we played with Play Doh and went to the playground every day all year long! He counted things, "one, two, five". He only recalled three of the eight letters on our coconut tree! AAARRRGGGHHHH! I wanted to cry really.
This was Jerry's first ever assessment and I am sure there was some anxiety for him in speaking with Jan, whom he'd never really spoken to before, but COME ON! We have worked so hard and he has been so successful in so many areas over the last few months. I assured Jan this was not an accurate assessment of what Jeremiah knew and I believe she understood that as well.
Thankfully, my best friend (and special educator) Kim said she would sit down with us over the summer and we would re-evaluate Jerry and his initial IEP and set some new goals for him for the next year. I realize that he will be in kindergarten again, but I am confident that he has met some of his first year's goals. I think we will have more success with Kim because Jerry knows her, responds well to her, and Kim has this almost "stealth-like" way of getting inside Jerry's head without him even knowing it. He'll tell her what he's learned whether he realizes he's doing it or not!
Anyway, there's my day in a nutshell. Kim came and picked Jeremiah up after his test was over as he was doing back flips off my bed out of boredom at having to stay in my room while the others were being tested. There's only so much T.V., so many games, and so much playing with new kitty Neena that any kid can handle in an eight-hour day!!
Above is a picture that Jerry drew for Jan during one of his more cooperative moments. This is a man complete with hair, eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Use your imagination!
Posted by Anonymous
say that 10 times fast!