The box came

Ben’s box of dissection samples arrived today.  I decided to spread the curriculum bills out over the year by not buying them unit I needed them.

I got the last family added to the co-op data base this morning, added in the outstanding checks and debit receipts to the spreadsheet (boy are their fewer receipts to type since we agreed on a budget, and did some of it in cash! I’m beginning to love cash.  You know if you are nearing the end of the budgeted amount because there is less cash in the envelope, and I don’t have to type any receipts into the computer later).  I did a first draft on next month’s budget, wrote the menu and grocery list and started gathering information for M’s report to the superintendent.

(The snarky voice in my head says that when they write me back, instead of being happy that he’s READING they will want to know why he’s “only” reading at this Lexile score.  They do have to point out at least one problem – and if it’s the same reviewer as last year, she actually cares.)

But I feel like I’m actually getting somewhere, at least on the household paperwork.

And I swam this morning.

2 Replies to “The box came”

  1. J’s big box of Apologia biology came yesterday, too.
    Can I ask how you assess Lexile and how you use it? The charter school near us is obsessed with it , and I’m wondering if it would add to my kids’ education.
    Thanks!

    • All I do is google “Lexile score for name of book” then I get some educational listing site with a weird number. Then I google “grade equivalent for weird number lexile score” and get a range.

      The Stamford Achievement test comes with lexile scores, but I heard about them first from the Blog “The Thinking Mother.”

      You can also use them to google lists of books on a particular score, so theoretically the books are as difficult as one your student has already read.

      M seems to be able to read these sorts of books: ones he’s interested in, ones he’s read before and is not afraid of, ones that aren’t too slippery, heavy or musty smelling, and ones he wants to know something from. And all that varies with how his teeth feel in their retainers, what plants are sending out pollen, and perhaps the stage of the moon.

      So far I’ve had better luck with random books M likes than with ones predicted by Lexile scores. But when I want to know how hard a book is he’s read so I can be happy about it, I look up it’s score.

      It’s a lot like checking site statistics to see how many people read the blog today.