[Jenna]

For those of you who may or may not know, Texas has a series of tests called the TAKS test. This test is important for measuring the standing of an elementary school in terms of how well the kids are learning the concepts they are being taught in each grade. In fifth grade failure to pass this test, means failure for the school year. At the beginning of the year the principal & the secratary (her buddy) were VERY snooty towards me & pretty much tsk tsking about my having homeschooled them for 2 yrs. They held "serious reservations" for grade level placement for my 3 oldest children, telling me they would be extensively tested to make sure they weren't "too far behind" because of my decision. They didn't come right out & say it, but they may as well have said I was an *** for teaching my own kids for 2 yrs instead of leaving them in a school (that at the time) was simply not meeting my eldest's needs. They had even more concerns when I told them that in her previous public school Aspen had special ed (she has ADHD & ODD - that's a fun combo!) & we hadn't found her ARDs yet in the move.

So FF to today - my 2 oldest had their awards ceremony in which both were honored for not only passing all 3 parts of the TAKS test, but each of them got medals for being "commended" in 2 areas (Caeleb was commended in math & reading & Aspen was commended in reading & writing). Aspen was never placed in special ed this year & did the regular workload in her class. They also made the AB honor roll all year, & both got citizenship awards several times & today Caeleb got the tiger award (which is for a combination of grades, attendance, & citizenship) & the "science sleuth" award for his class. Guess they didn't do too shabby for a couple of homeschooled "country bumpkins"!

As a side note of interest - Caeleb's teacher is nearly due with her second child & told me today she is not coming back... next year she plans to begin homeschooling her daughter! LOL Thanks for "listening" to my proud mommy ramblings! LOL

[elibar]

Congratulations Jenna! Doing the happy dance with you!

[AnnB]

WTG Jenna! My DD homeschooled her kids for a while & they were way beyond where they needed to be when they entered public school. Homeschooling can be a good thing In fact, even better than the system because their teacher has a personal interest, it's not "just a job." Perhaps with the problems we're having here in Indiana with school funding & cutbacks it will weed out some of the teachers who are only in it for the paycheck. God does work all things out for good!

[Cheri T]

Hurray for you and your children Jenna!! Congratulations!

[Sherry Lynn]

Ramble away Jenna you have every right to!!!! Congratulations Aspen, Caeleb & Mommy!

[mbc72]

Wow, Jenna that's awesome!! Congrats to Caeleb and Aspen!

[B&K Mom]

WTG Jenna and Jenna's Kids!!!

[trishy]

That is awesome!

[J9Buckles]

Woohoo for you!!!! Congratulations for a job well done!

[Pab]

That's awesome Jenna!! I home schooled my own for a a couple years. They are back in traditional school now. Studies show that most home schooled kids always test out much higher than traditional schooled ones. They believe it's due to the one on one that they get at home. If things get much worse out there though, I may take mine back home again. We just had the third "incident" (sexual in nature) on one of the buses again this year! And my kids go to one of the nicest schools around this area. I am glad it's summer break!

[lorac]

That is just awesome Jenna. Congrats to Caeleb and Aspen.

[KBT]

Congrats Jenna and Kiddos!

[CRS]

Congratulations!! You must be one proud mommy and every right to be!! Make sure you scrap this proud moment!

[Smiles]

That's wonderful! congratulations to all of you!

[podiumchick]

Toot that horn!! I work in public education now and always wanted to homeschool, but my DH wasn't for it. I hate to see how teachers view home educators! Shameful!

[StephRN]

Yay to all of you. A mom knows her kids better than anyone. And a mom that's willing to work with her kids strengths and weaknesses is a gift to humanity. You brag away. You've all earned it.

[SilverSwanMama]

That is awesome! I am a former public school teacher who homeschools her children. I have the opposite attitude of most public school teacher about homeschooling. After 8 years of teaching I knew without a doubt I didn't want my children educated in public schools.

Great news and congratulations on a job well done!

[SandiC.]

Awesome, Jenna. Congrats to the kiddos and to you too. I've got several friends who homeschool and the experience for each is different. One family did it so beautifully, that both their daughters graduated with 18 hrs of college credit and honor societies. It can be done. It takes a great deal of patience and commitment to make it work, and obviously your work paid off. I'm thrilled for all of you.

[Julie - scrapaholic]

Now that is something to be proud of. Congrats!! And shame on the principal and secretary for judging in advance. Your kids sure showed them.

[KFiasco]

Just want to say Congrats! Karen

[Jenna]

truly I'd rather continue schooling them myself but it got too difficult with 3 different grades & one child that needed sooo much help (Aspen). She just stopped working for me. Period. Quit math in the middle & refused to do anymore of it - even hid one of her tests. I just figured perhaps a different teacher & being away from home might help her. They are all doing well now & I agree as far as school issues. I hear the middle school here is rough so I will be very vigilant after next year. If things start to get sketchy I will put my childrens' interests first & bring them home again. I am so proud of them & happy to see the support for homeschooling here too. If I had my way we would have enough to school them all at home & they would all put forth their best effort for me (which the boys did but Aspen didn't & Taliah is also difficult - I guess my girls & I clash LOL). This year curriculum would have been almost $2000.

We did replace the foam letter set that Taliah ate parts of (she chewed up 2 letters & ate the dots to the j & the i). My little goat girl... the teacher gave us the old set since I had to buy the whole shebang to replace it. Taliah will be doing lots of ABC center work this summer! LOL

[Vaughnde]

Congratulations Jenna and How wonderful for Caleb and Aspen!

[Heatheranne]

Jenna, to you and to your kids! This is absolutely wonderful news and I hope that the school can keep up your good work. I love to hear these kinds of ramblings, so do it whenever you care to. I expect that you will be doing layouts of the awards and the smiles to go with them? - I'm looking forward to seeing them. :-)