Excited but confused!

[Katie in Ohio]

I am so excited because I got to order FIAR volume 1 early (I was going to have to wait till Feb or March)!!!! I shoud have it next week, so I probably won't start till the next Monday. It will be easier with the holiday, anyway.
So, the thing I am confused about is... My dd is 4, she will be starting K in Sept. (Her b-day is in Sept) I want to use FIAR for her curriculum (supplemented with math and phonics/handwriting). I guess my question is, when do the lessons actually start "counting". I mean, as far as the state is concerned, do I have to wait until Sept (or after her 5th b-day) to "count" the lessons toward her 900 hrs a year, or whatever?
Also, if they don't "count" and I do them now (which I will anyway, I can't wait to get started and I think she will love it), but will I go back and repeat the ones I have already done once she is "technically" in K? Or do you go through the books (volumes 1,2,and3, I mean) more than once? I guess you would have to if they are supposed to go to age 8.
Sorry, this has been such a long post! I am probably overthinking this. I just want to make sure I do it right, and in Sept this whole Homeschooling thing is going to be "real" :eek: (although, I think it has been "real" all along!). Any advice would be appreciated.

[Susan in Kentucky]

Have you considered using Before FIAR? I have a 6 yo and twins that just turned 5 in October - I am using both the Vol 1-3 and doing some B4 in between.

I wish I had found FIAR when dd was younger and just started with B4 then.

I don't know what to tell you about the hours - in KY I don't have to keep track like that.:clap:

I would encourage you to use B4 with your dd now - that way you can 'stretch' how long you use FIAR. She will enjoy the Vol 1 things, but B4 may be better to do before you actually start Kindergarten.

Hope I am making sense - hopefully some other more 'seasoned' rowers will respond to you.

[Kendall in GA]

:hi: Katie,

Welcome!

My dd started FIAR when she was 4yo. It was a GREAT fit for her.

Here's what she did:

PreK (4yo): Vol. 1
K (5yo): Vol. 2
1st (6yo): Vol. 3
2nd (7yo): re-row favorites from Vol. 1-3

That's just what we did. One of the beauties of FIAR is that it is extremely flexible and there is NO order in which you have to row the titles. You can do whatever you'd like or whatever works best for your family. (Isn't that a good thing?! ;))

There is no starting point with FIAR...You can pick up any volume and start with any title you want. I chose to primarily work in one volume at a time b/c it was simple, easy and made sense to me.

I encourage you to give FIAR a try just as you're planning. You will not need to "start" over when your official school year begins...Just keep rowing. :)

(Btw, just out of curiosity...Are you sure that you have to keep official records for kindergarten??? It is unusual to have to register a 5yo student...I think that the compulsory age in most states is 6yo...Just double check so that you don't create more work for yourself than is necessary.)

Happy rowing!

[KristenS]

There are LOTS of options in the manual; when folks re-row they're usually doing the options they didn't do the first go-around. I know that's what we plan to do.

My son is in K this year, and he's not required to be enrolled anywhere yet. The compulsory age here is 7, which is mostly first grade.

We don't plan to redo any lessons we did before K just to count them as officially done. We just move on to harder work. Like, he did K math last year and is doing 1st grade math this year. Luckily we don't have to count too many hours (our state doesn't require it but our cover school has suggested ranges of hours). Really, for K, an hour or so a day is plenty.

...being bumped from the computer, but I can babble on more about K if you want. :)

[Marcygirl]

Katie...first of all, you'll want to check to see what the requirements are for your state. In KY, we are supposed to school for 180 days a year, but compulsory age here is 6 before Oct. 1. My son didn't turn 6 until last December, so we didn't even document his K year at all. This year, his first grade year, we are keeping track. We started FIAR 2 years before that.

As other have already mentioned, you'll probably rerow books later, so I wouldn't worry about it. We haven't been as systematic about it as some people (:hi: Kendall) but we definitely go back and rerow books that interest us. There are so many lessons to choose from, there are plenty to go back and do later.

Oh, www.hslda.org is a good place to find your state requirements.

ETA: I took a quick peak at the laws for Ohio, and it looks like compulsary age there is also 6.

[Mary FL]

:hi: and Welcome here! You're going to love FIAR!

[Rebecca]

:hi: Katie!

We're in Ohio here, too. My oldest is 5, turning 6 in January. I started her in K when she was 4 and this year is actually a first grade year for her. I don't have to send a letter of intent to the school until the school year that she is 6. When it does come down to that, we plan on continuing FIAR as we are (we'll cover vol 1 this year, vol 2 next school year, etc). We keep a notebook for each title we row. I print out things for her to do that relate to each book and at the end of the week, we paste all the projects into a spiral scrapbook (from Walmart). She also works on math, phonics, handwriting and Bible study. Once she is "official" with the school district, I'll have her work looked over by a certified teacher who will then sign off on it, stating that she's working to the best of her abilities. There are a few ladies in our church who are teachers and are quite willing to do this for us. That's all. Yes, they say that you have to keep 900hrs a year, but you have to consider what that means in public school v homeschool. Here at home, your dd is going to get way more learning because she is the only pupil in her class. I feel that right now Ruth is leaps and bounds ahead of her ps peers, but only because I have the luxury of teaching her at her level. She doesn't have to worry about me moving on before she gets something, or going over and over what she already knows. It's hard not to stress about it all when it's new. I know. BTDT and not all that long ago!:lol: I've started to relax a lot more now. It also helps to have friends that homeschool and I've got that here and IRL. I am blessed. Okay, this is so much longer than I intended!:D

[molly in cr]

Is she registered with the state yet?

In FL the age is 6, but if you register at 5 you are then required to have the year end test. Just pointing out that while you are allowed to wait until 6, registering early may put unneccessary burden on you.

[CINDY LB OH]

Like Rebecca said, compulsory age here in Ohio is 6, so you don't have to send in any info. to the school district until the school year she turns 6.

So if K is when she is 5, then you don't have to send in any forms until her 1st grade year when she is 6. There is no need to go back and repeat anything once she is 6, you just fill out the forms for her 1st grade year. They don't need to know what she did in K, because the form does not include telling them the "grade" the child is in.

For more information you can go to the CHEO website: www.cheohome.org
They have everything you need to know all there.

As far as the 900 hrs. That is based on a 180 day school year, 5 hrs. per day. But that doesn't mean you are doing "school work" for 5 hrs every day because it all counts towards learning; playing outside, going to the park, educational videos, trips to the library, helping you cook, doing chores, eating lunch, exploring, creating, etc. You don't literally have to keep track of every hour - no one asks for that. But you should, in good faith, provide a daily, learning-rich environment, and then you will have no problem meeting the requirement.

Ohio is a pretty easy state for homeschooling, so don't worry. We use a certified teacher for portfolio review, instead of testing, but you wouldn't need to do that until after the 1st grade year, since that is the first year of reporting for you.

Hope that helps some. The website should also be able to answer all your questions.

[Katie in Ohio]

Thanks for all the advice. Haven't talked to dh yet, but I will probably wait until she is 6 to make it "official". I hadn't wanted to do that at first, because I thought that meant I would have to wait till she was 6 to do Kindergarten. I didn't realize you could just start at that point with 1st grade. (I'm still figuring this all out). :)

So, what book do you recomend starting with? Did you just start rowing (is that the right term?) the first book on the list, or did you skip around? Sorry for all the questions. I am anxious for FIAR vol 1 to arrive soon and I can't do anything but obsess about all this until then! Well, I could get off the computer and clean my house, but where's the fun in that? :lol:

[Marcygirl]

oops...got carried away!

[Marcygirl]

So, what book do you recomend starting with? Did you just start rowing (is that the right term?) the first book on the list, or did you skip around?

Katie..you certainly don't have to start with the first book, but the first book of volume 1 happens to be one of our most favorites and I always recommend starting with it. The Story About Ping. It just makes your first experience with FIAR so wonderful.

[S Michelle]

Katie
I don't know if this will help but we actually started with a few B4 books before we started Vol 1. Just to get into the flow of things. Then once I became comfortable and my kids got used to the routine we started Vol 1.
Hope that helps!