The membership fee and the sports fee has been reduced this year.  The Membership fee is $20.00.  If you pay it before July 31 the fee is only $15.00!  The sports fee is now $10.00 per family.

We are having park days during the summer- you don’t have to be a member to come and visit.  Contact us to find out days and times.

Note: Important information about changes to the test are below the general testing information.  Scroll down or click here to see.

The tests this year will be held on:

Tues., May 17 at Peace Lutheran Church
Phone: 541-276-7592
(9th and Carden, Pendleton)

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Wed., May 18 at Nazarene Church of Hermiston
Phone: 541-567-3677
(1520 W. Orchard Extension, Hermiston)  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.

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Pendleton Testing times:

Grade 3        9:00-11:15    Optional Plus tests       11:25-12:45

Grades 4-12  9:00-11:45    Optional Plus tests       11:55- 1:00

Hermiston Testing times:

Grade 1        9:00-11:15     Grade 3            9:00-11:15

Grade 2        9:00-10:50     Grade 4-12       9:00-11:45

Please arrive 10-15 minutes prior to testing time. Pencils are provided. Calculators are optional for some tests, but are not furnished. 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 Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)/TerraNova1Survey edition with the optional Plus tests. The cost is $42 per student for the Survey test with an additional fee of $8 for an optional diagnostic profile. The profile gives you more specific information of the content of the questions your child missed.  If you wish to add on the optional Plus tests, there is an additional fee of $13 for the test and an additional $2 for the profile.  (The total cost per student for Survey and Plus Tests together is $55, plus $10 for the profile.)

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. CTBS/Terra Nova 1 Survey is sufficient to meet Oregon’s or Washington’s testing requirement.

Practice tests called “Achieving Peak Performance” are available through the Pendleton Home School Association (PHSA) website.  Click on the Basic Skills button under “links”. Practice tests are available in hard copy or e-book form and are reproducible for your own family use.  If you utilize the PHSA website our local home school support group receives a % of the sales. (Thank you for your support!)

If you have questions, feel free to contact Janet at (541) 443-2920 or 541-443-2922

email: witnesstree@eoni.com

DEADLINE for REGISTRATION and PAYMENT is May 7th, 2011.

CURRICULUM SALE: If you have any curriculum that you wish to sell, there will be a sale area available at each test site. Please have each item clearly labeled with your name and the item price.  Sale items and money are the responsibility of the seller.

http://www.imesd.k12.or.us/programs-services/additional-sis-services/home-schooling

The new things for this year have to do with the Sports Fee.  Last year the Association was able to pay for the gym for Sports due to a surplus in the checking account.  This year that is not the case.  We had to have two sports times in the gym due to the large turnout and we have to pay rental fees for the Recreation Center.  Janet further explains the fee:

“We have approximately 20 days of indoor sports of 2 hours each (Group A and Group B.)  That would be $480.00 if the price stays at $12.00 per hour, but it could cost as much as $15.00 per hour ($600.00.)  We settled on $30.00 per family to hopefully cover all the costs with 15-20 families participating.  If we have money left over at the end of the year, we can adjust the sports fee for the following year accordingly.”

Please indicate which of your children will be participating in sports when filling out the membership form.  Remember: the child must be 9 or turn 9 during the sports season. (Sept.-May)

Remember to read the Bylaws and sign that you have read them.

Looking forward to seeing you next year!

Testing Information for 2010

Tues., May 11   Peace Lutheran Church (9th and Carden, Pendleton)

Wed., May 12 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 called “Achieving Peak Performance” are available through the Pendleton Home School Association website.   http://phsa.bcmi.net Click on the Basic Skills button under “links”. Practice tests are available in hard copy or e-book form and are reproducible for your own family use.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Janet at (541) 443-2920  or

email: witnesstree@eoni.com

DEADLINE for REGISTRATION and PAYMENT is April 30th, 2010.

CURRICULUM SALE: If you have any curriculum that you wish to sell, there
will be a sale area available at each test site. Please have each item
clearly labeled with your name and the item price.  Sale items and money are
the responsibility of the seller.

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.

Here is a baby Chinchilla peeking out of it’s home.

Here one of the parent Chinchilla takes a sand bath.

We were not allowed to pet these ones because of the babies but there was another chinchilla that we were able to pet. It was very soft.

This is a rat, which are very friendly animals to have for pets.

I can’t remember what this was- a small gerbil?

We moved on to the cold blooded animal area, where the snakes and lizards hang out.

This is one of the snakes there- it will grow to be nine feet long. It was just starting the molting process and couldn’t be handled.

The bearded dragon, which originally came from Australia but are now being bred in captivity, being fed.

Two lizards watching us watch them. Can you see the second one? You can make the thumbnail larger by clicking on it.

We then moved on to the fish area and saw some rare species of fish from the Amazon. The kids also got to touch a catfish, see a turtle and lots of other animals.

There are still a couple of weeks left so call Janet to see if there are any open slots.

First we browsed the store. They have many of their items for sale plus specialty foods from other local retailers. It’s arranged in a very pretty way.

This is where they mix the batches that are going to be bottled. We weren’t able to go into it today as they were making a Dijon mustard with horseradish which is very strong smelling. We could smell it standing outside the room.

(Note: You can click on the thumbnails to make them larger.)

The line is very interesting, first there is a person getting the bottles standing up and ready to go then they go to a sanitizing machine. Here are the jars being filled with mustard.

Then the jars move on to have the caps, labels and plastic seals put on. The seals are then heated to shrink them tight and the use by date is stamped on. Then they are boxed up, ready to ship. We were able to hold a bottle right off the line and it was still warm.

Then we were able to go to the development kitchen and talk to the lady that develops new recipes. She showed us what yellow and brown mustard looks like. Here is brown mustard seeds.

Here is what mustard looks like as it grows. It is considered a weed.

I like this one so I am adding it for fun.

We were told some great stories of how the business got started and how it has changed over the years. It was a great field trip!

This is the small holding cell used when they can’t take a prisoner to the county jail right away.

It’s small and without windows. Right next to it, a small bit is visible in the photo, is the police dog’s kennel. It’s where the narcotics sniffing dog stays when he is on duty and at the police station.

The inside of the building was fairly unexciting but then we went outside and the fun began.

Here are the unclaimed stolen bikes awaiting auction.

Here is the D.A.R.E. car that was confiscated from a drug dealer and put to good use.

The children got to see the insides of a police car. They could see all the radios, radars and other equipment up close and personal.

Here the Chief shows us a Spike Strip or Tire Deflation Device. It flattens tires and stops the bad guys in their tracks.

We were able to climb into the bullet proof SWAT vehicle.

Then the Police Chief and an uniformed officer show us what each officer has to carry and wear while on duty.

The Chief spent time answering questions. He stated that a police officer uses advanced reading comprehension, writing and math skills daily. He also answered questions about the Day Time Curfew ordinance and gang activity.

It was a fun, informative time.