We enjoyed the “Best Sledding Day EVER” at Scott Carpenter Park  last week and ice skating is scheduled  One Boulder Plaza in Boulder.  Oh what fun it is to slide on a red slippery sled. 

 Come join Boulder county’s homeschool community. We’re playing together today.

Learn the homeschool basics at a Homeschool 101 Class.

If you need still need more information, Niche does have a volunteers who have offered to help new homeschoolers settle in to the community.    

Joining a new group can be intimidating. Check out the post on  How to Become a Thriving Member of Niche here for ideas on how to make Niche your group.

Oh, we are friendly! Yep. Some days, a bit too friendly.  If the online conversations are driving you crazy, go check out the post on How to Deal with Our Chatty Group.  Don’t leave if we talk too much. There are many ways to work around our friendly nature.

First, use yahoo to minimize the emails.

A. You can choose to either get daily digest (a daily compilation of all the emails that were sent) to avoid filling your in box. This works for people who just want information about events but don’t want to read all the conversation. 

OR

B. You can choose to only get special notices sent to you (which almost never happen) and go directly to yahoo to read messages. This way you control which conversations you read and which topics are interesting to you.

Second, set up filters in your email.  I have all my niche emails send directly to a ‘niche’ folder. I read them when I have time (too often) or when I’m in the mood (unfortunately, always!).   But, hopefully, you have more will-power than I do. 

Third, You can also ignore the conversations completely and just use the calendar to find events that are interesting to you.  You may miss something since not everything gets posted to the calendar, but it may work for someone who doesn’t want all the conversation but just wants events.

Hope that helps

1. Attend park days! I know, I know! Neither you nor your kids are great at making friends in large groups…And all the kids already know each other so your kiddo feels left out. So, don’t plan to make friends. If you make friends, GREAT! But really the goal today is to find kiddos who have something in common with your kids. You are here to scope out the joint! Then, move to step number 2.

 2. Schedule private playdates with any family who seems remotely compatible with you and your family. Start out with one family at a time. These gatherings are definitely most effective at home. If you meet at a park or other location, then the kids have too many opportunities to NOT play together. Lock them in a small house with no other children and force them to become acquainted!

3. Once your kiddo has begun to know some children (and you some grown-ups) plan a small event. Perhaps a larger playdate at your house or at a small quiet park. Schedule a craft day or a game day with your new found friends.

4. Attend park days…but this time confirm that all your new friends will be coming too! That way, your kiddos will have friends attending.

5 Look out for new families who look lost. Now, you’re an established member of the group with a great gang of friends, it’s time to help those new faces acclimate. Invite them over for a playdate. . Lather, rinse, repeat! Repeat! REPEAT!

If your family isn’t a fit, then help them find other families who may be. We are all in this together. By supporting the community, we all benefit.

ONE MORE VITAL STEP!

So, steps 1 - 5 are about acclimating your kiddos to the group… Now it’s your turn. Come play at mom’s night out! Attendance is mandatory, required and a “must do”. Alright, not really, but we’d love to see you there! It’s a great place to meet in a small intimate setting without the bustle of playing children. And also a great place to scope out families who may be compatible with yours.

Planning activities: Plan activities that your child would enjoy and the children who attend will likely have something in common with your child. Attendance at activities is largely based on date, time, location and interest in the activity. If you don’t have good attendance at your first activity, assume that the one of those just didn’t work for folks! It happens to the best of us. Keep trying and don’t take it personally.

Here’s a warning, if you ask what date and time works for people, you will get 1,000,000 and 1 answers. Choose a date far enough in advance that people’s calendars are quiet, then choose a date and time that works for you. Check the NICHE calendar to make sure that there aren’t conflicting events that would draw you desired audience. Then, post your event to the calendar with reminders. Discuss your activity on NICHE. As the event comes closer, discuss it again.

Some activities that have been hosted in the past

1 play date

2. Park day

3 pool

4 museum

5 play date (this is a biggie)

6 candy tour

7 talk by parks and rec department

8 playdate

9 family member’s work

10 grocery store tour

11 play date (did I already say that?)

12 craft day

13 cooking/baking day

14 sledding

15 hiking

16 play date (I think that I forgot to mention that one earlier)

Some activities that you could host… The sky is the limit!!!

Now, go forth and THRIVE!

Homeschooling is quickly becoming a common educational choice.  If you have a child who is struggling, bored, unmotivated or just doesn’t fit in, then homeschooling might be a great choice for your family.  Perhaps you’d just like your family to be more bonded and less hurried.  Or maybe you feel that your child deserves an individualized education. 

Come join the growing number of families who are finding out that homeschooling can provide a quality, individualized education, more content family time and less stress.  This class will provide information about homeschool law, curriculum choices, philosophies and socialization. 

Classes are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month, every month.  Classes are free but a small materials fee will apply. 

To register, or get further information, send an email to cohsmama at yahoo dot com

Options Longmont  meets Thursdays from 8:30 to 3:30.  Classes for 2007/08 year include violin, music, drama, Ameritowne, P.E.,  and many more.  This program is funded by Aurora Public Schools but residency is not a consideration.  Also, many curriculum choices are offered for free such as Rosetta Stone, Singapore math, Daily Grammar.  The creator of this website has her children in this program and we are very happy with the classes.    OptionsLongmont@mho.com Other locations include

Options Boulder kimlancaster@comcast.net 

Options Brighton  http://www.aps.k12.co.us/alternatives/brighton/index.htm  

Options Broomfield  OptionsBroomfield@mho.com 

Options Loveland  lynne@olypen.com

Hope Options School has 2 locations, Broomfield and Arvada. This program is similar to Options with different location and is funded through Jefferson County schools. They will offer services for IEP’s or start them if needed. Meets weekly.  http://hopeoptionsschool.org/

Woodrow Wilson Academy - Home School Connection, a free fine arts and enrichment
program for K-6 grades meets on Tuesdays from 8:30-2:50 at Family in
Christ Church in Westminster. Offer a variety of classes including
art, music, drama, PE, Spanish, Hands-on Science, kindergarten, and
creative writing. www.wwacademy.org

VIRTUAL ACADEMIES - These programs are good for some families but others find the paperwork and work load overwelming. If you try it and enjoy it, great! But if you try it and are overwhelmed, do yourself a favor and try homeschooling without a publicly provided curriculum. Also, talk with other families who “use” these programs to figure out how you can ease the work load while still remaining eligible to participate. The package of curriculum that comes at the start of the year is great fun!  Also, the law recently changed and these programs will now be able to take currently homeschooled children. In the past, they could only take children who had come from a public school in the last year.   

COVA is a virtual charter school.  They use K-12 as their main curriculum. They have optional activities in the communities. They also offer all IEP services and will start them if needed. They offer a computer, free curriculum and an internet reimbursement. If you don’t want the computer from them they will increase your internet reimbursement sometimes. You must do CSAP if signed up with them.

Connections is a virtual charter school similar to COVA. Connections uses Calvert curriculum as it’s main  curriculum. Other subjects are provided by BrainPOP, Discovery Education, Hooked on Phonics, JumpStart, and  Power-Glide  .  Contact the program for various services and details.

Cdela is a virtual charter school serving k - 12.  Cdela uses Compass Learning Odyssey , Glencoe, PLATO Web Learning Network, Apex Learning featuring Beyond Books and Power-Glide. Cdela offers the following student  opportunities: Science fairs, field trips and plans to offer student council and National Honor Society in the future.   Contact the program for other services and details. Please send me information on other publicly funded programs and I will add them to this growing list of resources.

Homeschool Office

St. Vrain Valley School District

395 S. Pratt Parkway

Longmont, CO 80501 

If you live in the Boulder Valley School District, you can mail your LOI to:

Boulder Valley Schools

Dr. Mack Clark

PO Box 9011

Boulder, CO 80301

This Notice of Intent is to notify you that I will begin home educating my child (full name) _________________________ 14 days from today, beginning on (date) ____________  My child is (age) ________ and resides at (primary home address) __________________________________________   The number of attendance hours this school year will be ______ (688 is the minimum).  This averages out to 4 hours per day, 172 days per year.   Test or evalution results for our child will be submitted to (name of independent private school or district) _________________ upon completion of grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.   

Sincerely,  ___________________________________