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Jul. 23, 2009
NOI - DONE!
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
I got our first Notice of Intent (NOI) sent in for homeschooling! In our state, whenever the child turns 6, you need to send in an official form stating your intent to homeschool, and send it in to any school district of your choice. I sent ours to the local one, so there was less hassle. I made sure that hubby and I both signed it, and sent it certified, as well as return receipt! I got the receipt in the mail, so I know they got it. We are good, official, legal and ready to go!
I was going to send it in for both boys, since my oldest just turned 6, and the other one will turn 6 during our school year still. But I was advised by some wise hsing moms to hold off on the other one yet until next year. That way, they aren't counted as in the same grade and held to the same standards.
We got Ben's piano books in the mail a while ago, but haven't started quite yet. It's been hard to coordinate with hubby's schedule. I really need him here to watch the rest of the kids while we do piano, so neither Ben nor I are distracted by them. Luckily, hubby will start a new job soon and it should be a lot more predictable as far as his schedule goes.
We also got Alpha-Phonics for both boys reading programs this year. It's supposed to be highly recommended, so I'm glad. The BOB Books have helped the boys so much in learning to read, but now we need to take it a step further! They can read simple sentences, but blending sounds (like th, ck, or double vowels) are harder to remember. So this will help a lot.
Ben is taking a test right now that we ordered (the CAT, California Standard Achievement test, like an Iowa Basic), so we'll finish that up this week and send that back in to be scored. It's good to see what kinds of things we should be working on, and what he excels in. We need to work more on telling time, and counting money. He surprised me on how well he can read graphs though, and his vocabulary. The reading comprehension part is harder though, because he has to read full sentences like "Sue went down to the ocean." Like I mentioned above, blending sounds and vowels is hard for a 5 year old! I was surprised that was on there. But it gives us good direction on where to go, and it will be even more helpful for Jack, since he'll take this same test next year.
I still need to order Math-U-See, and history program. I think Story of the World I. Is that fit for a 1st grader? I thought it was, but then saw somewhere that it was for 9 year olds, so I'm not sure which is correct.
Other than that, we will be doing everything else on our own. Our music program will be easy, since that is my forte. Ben will do piano lessons as well.
For handwriting, we are going to try and write one letter a week. I don't care who it's to, or how long it is, but it will be good practice!
Ben will get his first Bible too, to practice reading from.
I also want to get us all into some kind of volunteer work, probably visiting a nursing home. My sister and I did that when we were little, and we have fond memories of it!
For science, we'll probably order some things from Steve Spangler (check him out! He's always on the Ellen show too!).
I have a list going on the comptuer of everything we'll do....I can't think of the rest right now.
I made out well at the dollar store the other day, getting some big cardboard coins to practice money, extra pencils, posters, borders, notebooks, wipe-off boards, etc.
Jack will do things along with Ben, but also still work out of his My Father's World kindergarten book. We got one last year, but he didn't have any interest in reading and writing. So his book was pretty much unused. Turned out perfectly though!
Meg will join us in Circle Time, which we'll do every morning before school. She can listen and join in on the boys' lessons, or do her own thing with Kate, the baby.
We got a free computer the other day from a fellow hsing mom! YAY! It doesn't have internet (and won't), but is filled with educational games. We have been setting a time limit on it, and if there are any fights, it gets turned off immediately.
I had wanted to start school August 1st, but we'll see if everything is ready by then or not. If anything, we'll just start with what we have and add to it as we go along!
Anyway, things are rolling along here nicely, and I'm sure you'll start seeing more regular updates on here soon!
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Posted by mama gooch 
Jul. 23, 2009 - Untitled Comment