Pendleton Home School Association

Here is the Registration Form and this information in PDF format.

Testing Information for 2010

Tues., May 11th                                  

 Peace Lutheran Church

(9th and Carden, Pendleton)

Wed., May 12^th                                                      

 Nazarene Church of Hermiston

(1520 W. Orchard Extension.)

Take the Hwy 207 Exit off I-84.

Go North about 5 miles.

Go through the stop light at Highland and Hwy 207.

At Orchard turn left and go about ½ mile.

Church is on the right.

Testing times:                                      Grades 1-12 9:00-11:30

Please arrive 10-15 minutes prior to testing time. Pencils are provided. Calculators may not be used. Students may bring a book to read while they are waiting for others to finish. They may also bring a snack for break time. Grades 1,2, and 3 each test separately. Students in grades 4-12 test together.

Testing is done by Basic Skills of Oregon City. The test is the California Achievement test (CAT).

The cost is $40 per student. There is an additional fee of $7 for an optional diagnostic profile. The profile gives you more specific information of the content of the questions your child missed.

Testing is required by the state in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. Some school districts require testing if home school students are to participate in public school sports or activities.

Practice tests are available through Basic Skills- please go through the PHSA.bcmi.net website and click on the Basic Skills button. They are reproducible for your own family use.

You can contact them at (503) 650-5282 or www.basicskills.net.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Janet at (541) 443-2920 email: witnesstree@eoni.com

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS April 30th, 2010.

The new Subscription/Membership Form has been added to the forms section.

We changed the fee schedule for this year.  We’ve included gym time in the regular fee instead of charging seperately for it.  The fee for this year (July 1- June 30)will be $25.00 per family.  Please read the By-laws.

The Gym- Rec time is a popular time.  We meet at a local gym and let the children play for an hour.  I believe we are adding more weeks this year so it will start earlier in the fall and go into spring.

We request the information about what curriculum you use in order to provide a resource for others who are interested in that curriculum.

We are always looking for people to be involved and welcome your input.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Why Homeschool.

I found two articles about The Big Question- Socialization, interesting. The first one is at Principled Discovery titled “What is it about socialization?” Then The Rebellious Pastor’s Wife continues the subject with this post- “The Plus Side of Homeschool Socialization.”

Is there a novel floating around in your head? Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month? To learn how it works and some tricks check out National Novel Writing Month at Little Blue School.

Check out the Carnival and find some gems of your own.

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Homeschoolbuzz.com. There are many interesting articles to read but one that caught my eye was “16 Reasons to Read Aloud” at Works in Progress. I read aloud to my children often and this confirms why it’s a good idea. We tend to want to buy the newest and greatest new programs and forget what a great thing just reading out loud can be for our children’s education.

The Charlotte Mason Carnival is up at Homeschoolers. Oregon Style. The list is fairly short this time. Go see if anything catches your eye.

“A Review of the Homeschooling Literature” at Help! My Kids are Smarter than Me! is an interesting, although a tad intellectual, read. One of the things that caught my attention was this:

In the United States, at every grade level, home schooled students’ average score placed between the 82nd and the 92nd percentile in reading and reached the 85th percentile in math. Overall, test scores for home schoolers placed between the 75th and 85th percentiles. In contrast, public school students scored at the 50th percentile, while private school students’ scores ranged from the 65th to the 75th percentile.

And this one can help us all breath a sigh of relief and a possible talking point when those people look at you all horrified as they drop the big question- “what about socialization???!?”

Research also suggests that home schooled students are more sociable than their school peers, as well as more independent of peer values as they grow older.

I’ll leave you with this last article about a study in the United Kingdom about how father’s spending time with their children can effect, for the good, their children’s I.Q.

A big hat tip goes to Why Homeschool for highlighting the last two articles. I glean most of my articles of interest from them.