Homeschooling – there’s so much to consider when you want to give your child the very best for him or her. The thing to keep in mind is that there is no one right way for 100% of the children out there, and depending on where you live, keeping the public school system in your loop may not be required. So deciding on whether or not to file a NOI and what system you are going to use for educating your child will often weigh pretty heavy on your mind.
A Notce of Intent (NOI) is basically a letter you write to your local school Superintendent, informing him/her of your intent to Home School your child/children. You follow it up with a portfolio you review once a year with someone from the school to show your child’s progress. Down side is that while they expect you to present that portfolio and although you may have been contributing to the public school via property taxes – as a home schooler you still have to pay for everything that they are requiring you to sit and prove your success to the school system with. Yep – no financial help for homeschoolers, but they are more than happy to decide if you are doing a decent job of being a parent educator without knowing your child.
The Diva will be 5 in October, making here eligible to go to Kindergarten in the fall or waiting another year until she is 5 when school starts. Knowing what I know about the local school system – she won’t be going to public school here in Bristol, because the school tends to have abysmal numbers. Currently for K there is a well over 20 child to one teacher ratio for the school she’d be going to. Not the numbers that I am comfortable with you can be sure.
Filing an NOI will open us up for scrutiny in a way that is not mandated by CT Law… and I am not too thrilled with that. At the same point filing an NOI will protect us from busybody neighbors who try to report us to DHS for educational neglect or some other ballyhoo. We had a neighbor report us to Animal Control a couple of years ago when I left the dog outside on a cable during a sunny day while I took the kids to the Mystic Aquarium. Fortunately the ACO was familiar with our dog’s breed and knew she was healthy and fine… but having the neighbor be willing to report us in for dog neglect makes me very wary about her doing the same for Educational Neglect.
I have decided to look over a home-school curriculum for a program called Time4Learning – they cover preK-8 and having that program behind us may be the insurance we need in case we do have the neighbor try to be a busybody. The interface is very user friendly and there is an adult control panel for a parent to log into in order to review the child’s progress. I like being able to track and assess the Diva’s progress so we can identify strengths and weaknesses. For Kindergarden they cover Language Arts and Math, but beyond that for grades 1-8 the following items are covered – Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies.
There are other things that we will be and in fact already are supplementing her education with. Dance is one thing. Music will be soon enough if she show’s an aptitude for it…
Hopefully Time 4 Learning’s tools will provide us with a core that is track-able for our needs based on the states ‘guidelines’ that so many try to turn into law.
In the mean time, Dorian and I need to decide if we’re going to enter our daughter into the system via a NOI in order to preemptively protect our kiddo from less than understanding busybody neighbors.
WoolWytch Reply:
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I have been giving this a lot of thought, and the NOI will not be filed – The Diva is in a program that has a longer school year, is more comprehensive than the local public school, and has greater opportunity than the public school official’s would comprehend for a child her age. I don’t want her treated like she’s some brain child, but I want her brains the respect they are due.
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Karen Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 1:05 am
WW – The NOI is just that. A Notice of INTENT. The schools do not have any ability to approve of your course of study nor to evaluate your learning. In fact, they are prohibited from doing so. All they are looking for at the portfolio review is to see if you did indeed present the subjects that state law requires to be covered. That would be the same state law that says “parents shall instruct or cause to be instructed.”
NOI is vountary, not required by law. There are plenty of homeschoolers here in CT who have not filed one, been in contact with their districts and have had no problems. Ask me about that the next time you see me – I personally know some of the cases. (there aren’t alot, I just get around).
The only thing that is a legal requirement is for kids who have been enrolled to be officially withdrawn from the district. That is accomplished by a letter of withdrawal sent by certified mail.
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WoolWytch Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 1:17 am
We decided that we’re just not going to file, based on the very law you quoted above. If nothing else we have a good support here in CT if something did happen.
BTW – neighbor woman did ask. I told her that my daughter was in a private, and well documented program that she was already showing great promise in and likely to fly out of the Kindergarden curriculum by the end of the summer – or Christmas at the latest. Her response – “wow – you’ve really given this thought then”
I was also asked about socialization. Hrm. This one makes me laugh. I told her that I remembered being told repeatedly when I was a child that school was not for social hour, and that if I wanted to talk and play there were playgrounds for that. She nodded her head vigorously and then I re-directed her attention to the vacant house that is next to both our houses and she’s going to call the Bristol Task force for neighborhood blight about it…