Heading back to Princess Josie's Castle-An AKV May 22-29 PTR-TR Started 6/3!

[wdwgirl03]

Hi Leanne! We're back from your new home...we loved it and I know you guys will too. I have lots of pictures (though most are of the animals, hehe!).

 

[leamom2princesses]

Lisa, you took the words right off of my keyboard! You should have seen some of the cakes I've made for my kids' parties!



Your cupcakes are so pretty! I don't even think the monogramming was so bad, especially because it was only on a few.

And congrats on that appraisal! At least all that hard work cleaning up wasn't for nothing.

Thanks B! We are super excited about the appraisal. Now, if the loan officer would call with a closing date...we'd be

 

[leamom2princesses]

YUM !!!

I love me some fudge cupcakes too! My favorite are yellow oddly enough.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Leanne! We're back from your new home...we loved it and I know you guys will too. I have lots of pictures (though most are of the animals, hehe!).

Glad you made it home safely. I've been lurking on your report and loving all the live updates and teasers. Can't wait to see the pics Sarah! We are so excited to stay at AKV-Kidani!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi y'all! Sorry for being MIA....I'm still trying to figure out what our schedule looks like with softball practices nearly every night, girl scouts, and Joe's crazy schedule. We have been on the move but hopefully by the end of the week I will have it all figured out and will have more time to DIS. I did call Disney and double check all of our ressies and I made a few minor changes here and there. Nothing significant. I will post a schedule by the end of the week.

I do have a little snag to work out....we got a revised school schedule and we now aren't getting out until the 28th and they are having testing the last week. I'm hoping we can work out another schedule to get the testing done. We were supposed to be out of school the 19th and every other school district other than ours has been making up hours/days. Not us though. As of today, the entire month of May is going to be testing for Lindsey....I wish I was kidding. Four different standardized tests, Kentucky Core Content Test, Iowa Test of Basic Skills, GRADE, & GMADE. The Iowa test is new this year and it has an entire week dedicated to it. She is being tested 5/3-5/25. Isn't that a bit much for a 4th grader? Maybe I'm wrong and I hope some of my teacher friends will tell me if I am. I've sent her teacher a note hoping we can come up with a plan. Keep your fingers crossed!

Hope everyone is having beautiful weather! It has been gorgeous here for a few days now! Talk to ya soon!

 

[MaryAz]

That is a crazy schedule!! Wow, changes I want to know changes please I am not a teacher but I think that is WAY to much testing, ridiculous! I hope you can get it all worked out. We are missing the last week but no teting-that I know of....

 

[racefanof88]

I can't wait to hear the changes. I can't believe they are testing like that . I don't think they should put kids that age under so much stress. I sure hope you can get it all worked out. What happens to your trip plans if you can't?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That is a crazy amount of testing, completely nuts!

 

[kcandbella]

Oh my goodness, yes that is a bit extreme. Why do they do all of that in May? I know our school does the IOWAs in October, CoGATs in Nov or so, then we have our big ISATs in March. It doesn't make sense to do it for three weeks straight. Even as adults we would be bored by the end of the first week! I would think if she misses a test, she misses it and the school just has to deal with it. I wouldn't worry about it and I definitely wouldn't let it interfere with your trip at all!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

WOW! Leanne
that is so sad; are any of the test used as a promotion test?!?
I am one of those parents that do not believe in (promotion) standardized testing and I can't believe that she has soooooo many I don't like the way the LEAP & GEE (promotion) testing stresses out the kids, teachers, and school officials! I hope you are able to work something out with your school; if it were me, and it the test were not used for promotion I would let her take what she can and pass on the rest. That is really inconsiderate to extend the school year this late in the ball game....as I'm sure you are not the only family with plans already booked!

I am again so sorry you have to deal with this sort of stress just a month out!

Have a great day!
Connie

 

[cinderella crazy]

Wow! That's an insane amount of testing! Alex isn't old enough for that standardized tests but I do know that the kiddos I have in my church choir are worn out after the week of TCAP testing (which is this week). They would be exhausted after multiple weeks of testing. I hope you're able to work something out with her teacher.

 

[leamom2princesses]

That is a crazy schedule!! Wow, changes I want to know changes please I am not a teacher but I think that is WAY to much testing, ridiculous! I hope you can get it all worked out. We are missing the last week but no teting-that I know of....

I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I haven't received a response from her teacher yet, so who knows. I hope it gets worked out also.

 

[leamom2princesses]

I can't wait to hear the changes. I can't believe they are testing like that . I don't think they should put kids that age under so much stress. I sure hope you can get it all worked out. What happens to your trip plans if you can't?

I will try to get our schedule posted. I think 3 weeks of testing is extreme for a 9 year old. I don't think the high schoolers have this much testing.

 

[leamom2princesses]

That is a crazy amount of testing, completely nuts!

I think so too Lessa!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Oh my goodness, yes that is a bit extreme. Why do they do all of that in May? I know our school does the IOWAs in October, CoGATs in Nov or so, then we have our big ISATs in March. It doesn't make sense to do it for three weeks straight. Even as adults we would be bored by the end of the first week! I would think if she misses a test, she misses it and the school just has to deal with it. I wouldn't worry about it and I definitely wouldn't let it interfere with your trip at all!

I think it's crazy too. I don't know about other states but here everything is tied to test scores. I guess they want to cram as much in as they possibly can before the kids are tested. Thanks for your input Kayce. I guess in the big scheme of things you are right....if she misses it, she misses it. I am giving the school admin plenty of time to work something out, if they want to. I just hate the feeling of not knowing what the plan is...

 

[leamom2princesses]

WOW! Leanne
that is so sad; are any of the test used as a promotion test?!?
I am one of those parents that do not believe in (promotion) standardized testing and I can't believe that she has soooooo many I don't like the way the LEAP & GEE (promotion) testing stresses out the kids, teachers, and school officials! I hope you are able to work something out with your school; if it were me, and it the test were not used for promotion I would let her take what she can and pass on the rest. That is really inconsiderate to extend the school year this late in the ball game....as I'm sure you are not the only family with plans already booked!

I am again so sorry you have to deal with this sort of stress just a month out!

Have a great day!
Connie

I agree Connie! Up until a week ago we were getting out the 25th and testing would be done by the 17th. I hope we can get something worked out as well. Seems to me that the kids are being tested repeatedly on the same subjects. This new schedule is a nightmare for a child with ADHD.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I totally forgot to post what kind of sweets I like to bake.....let's see.....any kind of cookie, mandarin orange cakes, carrot cakes, cheesecake brownies, mud slide cakes and all sorts of pies. Oh, and I forgot, fudge, martha washington balls and pralines. Can you tell that I'm hungry right now?

What in the world do they think they are doing testing those poor 9 year olds like that? That's just plain ole ridiculous. Hunter has testing all week this week and he's already complaining.

Hopefully, you won't have to make too many changes to your vacation plans.

 

[leamom2princesses]

Wow! That's an insane amount of testing! Alex isn't old enough for that standardized tests but I do know that the kiddos I have in my church choir are worn out after the week of TCAP testing (which is this week). They would be exhausted after multiple weeks of testing. I hope you're able to work something out with her teacher.

The Kentucky Core testing takes it's toll on Lindsey too. With the addition of the Iowa this is going to be so hard for her. It's just crazy to me that we have to have four differently formatted standardized tests in a 3.5 week time period. I wasn't tested this strenously in college. I hope they are going to be reasonable and over some compromises.

 

[leamom2princesses]

I totally forgot to post what kind of sweets I like to bake.....let's see.....any kind of cookie, mandarin orange cakes, carrot cakes, cheesecake brownies, mud slide cakes and all sorts of pies. Oh, and I forgot, fudge, martha washington balls and pralines. Can you tell that I'm hungry right now?

What in the world do they think they are doing testing those poor 9 year olds like that? That's just plain ole ridiculous. Hunter has testing all week this week and he's already complaining.

Hopefully, you won't have to make too many changes to your vacation plans.

Oh my, those sweets sound so good right now...I'm hungry too. What is a Martha Washington ball?

I think it's ridiculous too. Up to this point Lindsey has only missed .23 days of school all year. Worst case, I guess we will miss the tests on 5/24 & 5/25. I truly hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[Brave teacher]

Even as a teacher, that testing schedule would make me pull my hair out. We are in the middle of state testing right now, and I hate it.

The problem with trying to work something out as far as allowing her to possibly take the test early is test security. NO ONE is ever allowed to look at test materials prior to test date so that the test questions cannot be floated around beforehand. It says that statement in every testing manual for standardized testing. Everyone must take it at the same time. I'd be willing to say that they won't let that one fly. A lot of times, they don't even get the testing materials until a week or so ahead of time.

If it is not used for promotion purposes, then I would say skip it. They may try really hard to discourage you from pulling her out if the tests affect a school performance score.