Homeschooler Taking PSAT at Public High School

See this cute little 13 year old 9th grade homeschooling student? Well she visited our local Public High School today.

BENEFITS of Homeschoolers taking PSAT

Well I've had 2 kids go straight through high school in Public School. Taking the PSAT opened them up to the possibilities of scholarships.

Also, introduced them to colleges.

Lastly, it's great practice for the SATs.

And it's FREE (when taken through the public school system).

Things Never Go As Planned

BLUNDERS WE MADE THIS WEEK with PSAT Testing. Poor Tiger Lilly!

My Tiger Lilly. First of all, I waited to the last minute to confirm through our homeschool board. I thought I was on the list but the coordinator considered my daughter too young and didn't add her to the list. Luckily, they accomadated us at the last minute.

I also forgot to give my daughter her ID. Thankfully, they didn't call me for it and let her take the test since she was on their roster for Homeschoolers testing that day.

Lastly, didn't realize the test was so EARLY! Wow, public school starts at 7:10am in our area and the PSAT test was at 7:17am PROMPLY.

My late sleeper was totally put off by waking up so early to take a long test.

Not to mention - there was a Calculator hiccup. The new T-184 I purchased didn't come with batteries. So at 6:40 am I ran to the gas station to get AAA batteries for it. And...she didn't even get the chance to 'try it out' before the test.

Oh, and what else went wrong? I didn't have time to prepare breakfast, so the poor girl gobbled down a 'Lunchables' for breakfast with a big bottle of water.

Speed Racer...Math isn't going well for him. We are working on a Math Triage plan to get this boy to 'master' Long Division, Decimals and Fractions. You'd think with 2 curriculums it's covered - but I've uncovered the fact the my Speed Racer just writes down 'guestamits' for answers. He doesn't remember his multiplication or division facts cold (which is really needed in order to be succesful in Abeka Math or you will drown). 2 months of math wasted. Ugh. More on that plan for triage later.

THE REST OF OUR CRAZY WEEK

I don't know but there must have been a full moon or something. Nothing went as planned. We didn't finish all of our work scheduled - so we'll just move it to the weekend 'homework' category.

This week was almost a wash.

Monday, on Columbus Day, myself and Hubba went out on a date. Then we carted Tiger Lilly to cheerleading and Speed Racer to dance.

Let's just say - we got through most of the planned Abeka curriculum, but hardly much else. And even the Abeka curriculum suffered since we had some 'just do the work' days without watching the instructional videos. Unfortunately, this always comes back to bite the kids at test and quiz time.

It was really a scheduling problem. I didn't realize that Tiger Lilly taking the PSAT and me being off from work would initiate my kiddos not being motivated to do their daily routine of work.

WORKING PARENT's LOG

FYI: My hubba does the evening shift of instruction and his day starts later (around 7:30pm - 10:30pm where he does sports pickups and Abeka DVD box curriculum facilitation) He's the unsung hero in the house since he doesn't do blog or social media.

Lesson Planning. For the coming week I managed to plan out the lessons. Easy since I just moved 2 days of planned work to the coming week's schedule. I made some days lighter since Tiger Lilly is focusing on CLEP studying.

Meal Planning. Went well. I cheated a bit and purchased pre-made sauces for my crockpot planned dishes this week. Also did some frozen side items so I could just microwave things.

Cleaning. We did it! 1.5 of the bathrooms were cleaned. The main floor cleaned and the kids bedrooms. I have to admit, I didn't do any of that - Hubba managed the task on Saturday past. Me and the kids just maintained. I did start to wash clothes but the clean ones are piled up on the couch in our basement since I haven't been able to get too them. My kids this week seemed to be more playful so I sat between them and did some work.

Work and Life Balance. This is going well. Although my day job got more challenging, the hours aren't creeping into overtime. So I'm able to keep my schedule and flex my time. My part-time business is starting to require more of my time,but the good thing is I can do that while the kids are schooling with me and I am cooking dinner.

Sleep. Got tons more than I have before. Why? Well we had Monday off from work (both Hubba and I). Then Saturday - I declared it mom's sleep in day, and took the kids out of one of their martial arts classes that start at 9am (they didn't complain and I saved some $). I made it a point to take a 30 min power nap each day. Also, I was off on Wed (got to sleep til 6am when I'm usually up by 4am) - and yes, I took my 30 minute nap that day also. This week was great for me getting rest. I made myself do it.