Day 250: Grumble, grumble.

That was me all day, grumble, grumble.  Kids were warned we needed to tackle co op homework right away because of the plans for Justin's birthday this weekend.  But they couldn't decide on what to start with or how to do it.  Lovely.  And apparently I'm not cured of dizziness, unless I take medication, which I bought tonight, until I can see a doctor about it.  I have a referral, but the doctor called it in, so I'm waiting to hear back from the new specialist about scheduling an appointment.  Ok, fine, I sit and wait, or rather lie down because my head is spinning.  The whining continued all afternoon and instead of cutting us all some slack, I tried to push through.  I'm not sure we learned anything except how to get more on each other's nerves.  Grumble, grumble.  I'm very tired, but we needed milk, so off we go to Meijer while the boys had Bible Bowl.  Justin got a nice treat for his birthday from his Bible Bowl team.  Yeah!

So, one positive of homeschooling is that we are not slaves to standardized testing!  Or any testing whatsoever.  So, when Justin was presented with an actual multiple choice, fill in the bubble test this evening for Bible Bowl, he was completely perplexed!  Yes!  Score one for me!  My 11 year old has never had to take some silly test!  We don't learn for tests, we learn just for the sake of learning!  Proud mama moment right there!  You might be scratching your head or can even argue FOR testing, but my opinion is that it's not needed in the way that it is currently done.  Asking a child, "what do you know about....?" or "what do you think?" are much better questions than pat answers you forget about after a test.  LOADS of research for either side of the issue.  But for now, I laugh and celebrate that one of MY goals has been accomplished: not teaching to a test!  Sure he'll take tests in college or even filling out job applications and such.  But he can learn those skills in 5 minutes with a little guidance.

Anyway, I'm sure lots of you won't agree, and that's ok.  You don't have to.  We aren't all robots, so we all shouldn't be tested like we are.

Not much else to report besides craziness leading up to Justin's birthday on Friday.  He'll be 11 and he's having a lasertag/video game/sleepover Jurassic World party.  He's going to make his own birthday cake, too!  And this is why I don't usually start school before his birthday because it's too stressful trying to do something for it AND homeschooling.  (Same thing on the other end, finishing school by June 4th, which is Benaiah's birthday).  My two summer bookends, Benaiah and Justin.

That's all she wrote for tonight.  The end.  Now sleep.