Surviving At Home

Every year since third grade my oldest daughter has taken the state’s standardized test. For these last two years, I never really put much emphasis on these tests because I didn’t want to make her nervous and I had always believed that these tests were more for showing how well a teacher was teaching than how well a student knew the material.

Apparently I was wrong.

For these last five years in elementary school, the classes have always been divided pretty evenly with students of different “levels”. They were not going to be accused of segregation by putting all the top level students in one class and have all the struggling students in a separate class. But apparently the middle school DOES divide the students in this manner so this annual standardized test has acquired all new importance.

I was stunned when the note came home from the school’s reading specialist suggesting that my daughter start working with a Reading Tutor. We were blindsided because this is the kid who was always in the top reading groups and who always received outstanding grades in reading on her report cards. After I gathered all of her past report cards and was ready to wreck havoc on this so-called specialist, I learned that her test score from 4th grade went down, thus prompting this teacher to test her skills and make this recommendation.

Come to find out from another friend, these test scores are looked at VERY closely by the middle school administrators when they meet in the spring to put these new students into “teams”, or different levels. The same thing will happen when my daughter enters high school. And since our district is so big, they won’t have time to analyze each student. They’ll just see on a computerized report what numerical level she achieved on the test and plop her onto a team. It won’t matter to them that if she had scored only two more points on last years test she’d be categorized in a higher level.

Since we want her placed with other driven and ambitious students in middle school, I’m going to search out a SCORE Learning Center for a Reading Tutor just in case our reading help at home doesn’t help her enough.

I hate to place such an emphasis on these tests but it sure seems like these state tests are almost as important as the SATs.

** This is a sponsored post. **

Most adult women know what a mammogram is and how important the test is in the early detection of breast cancer. Yet, even knowing the importance of a yearly mammogram after the age of 40, so many women put off having the test.

Some women are afraid of hearing devestating results that will change their lives and still others are afraid that it will hurt. Oprah jokes every year about getting her boobs squished and that’s honestly all it is…your boobs get squished for a couple of seconds.

I’m at that lucky age where my doctor recommended a baseline mammogram, which is taken in your late 30s to provide the doctors a general picture of the healthy breast tissue which they will use to compare future results. My appointment was on Tuesday and I survived it! Honestly, it’s not bad!

After arriving at the imaging center and filling out new patient paperwork, I was escorted by a very nice female technician to the exam room. I was literally done within 20 minutes. You put on a gown, the technician puts the film into the machine, and then she positions the breast onto the screen and you get squished. Truly, it didn’t hurt. You’re squished for only 5-10 seconds on each side, just long enough for the tech to go behind the protective screen and push the button.

For each breast they took 2 xrays, trying to fully get all the tissue around the breast. It may sound awful to be “squished” but there’s no pain, just some pressure which is relieved the second the machine releases its grip. If you’ve been through childbirth, this is nothing in comparison. And what’s a few seconds of discomfort if you can detect a problem early and improve your chances of fighting off cancer?

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please take your good health into your own hands and schedule your own mammogram. It could very well save your life.

I can’t resist passing along great contests but you have to move fast to enter!

Erin is a WAHM and is giving away a pair of beautiful and unique, handmade earrings on Mom’s Morning Show TODAY, so go quickly to post a message on her blog for a chance to win! Then listen to Mom’s Morning Show TODAY at 10:30 eastern time to find out if you won!

Good luck!

I have to give a special shout-out to Jen Houck of Blue Ridge Virtual Assistance. She customized this theme for me and I’m lovin’ it!!

Thanks so much for your work, Jen!