FSAs for Grades 4 and 7

Dear HCOS Families,

Happy 2018! We hope that your year has started well and you are feeling like you are in a positive routine!  

The Foundation Skills Assessments are required for all grade 4 and 7 BC students enrolled in a BC public or Independent School.  Yes, that includes all of our full-time enrolled HCOS students in these grades. Heritage Christian Online School would like to thank you for your child’s participation in writing the FSAs.

REMINDER - By writing the FSAs your child will:

Continue to validate DL education in the eyes of the decision-makers at the Ministry of Education.

Support home learning by giving a baseline evaluation for grades 4 and 7.

Support HCOS in our relationship with the MoE and the continuation of funding for DL programs.

Learn/practice the valuable skill of “Test Taking”.

Contents included in this FSA Package:

This introductory letter ☺

FSA instructions (Please read this package thoroughly before having your child start the FSA booklet. Since you are supervising your child’s FSAs, you are considered the invigilator. This package also includes instructions on how to log into the e-FSA site.)

An individually labeled FSA booklet (This is the only item that you need to return to the school in the return envelope.)

A pre-paid return envelope addressed to Heritage Christian Online School, care of Steve Codling at 32766 Lissimore Ave, Mission BC, V2V 7P5

If you are missing any of the items listed above, please contact Niki Hildebrandt at nhildebrandt@onlineschool.ca to request any missing pieces or to ask any FSA questions!

Please note: The Student Booklet needs to be returned in the pre-paid return envelope and received by November 15th! We would suggest putting it in the mail no later than November 10th in order for it to arrive on time.

Important dates:

October 8 – November 9, 2018 – FSA period

November 10, 2018 – FSA booklets need to be in the mail, returned in the stamped and labeled envelope included in this FSA package.

November 22, 2018 – HCOS submits marked FSAs to the Ministry of Education.

January, 2019 – Your child’s FSA results will be available to your teacher.



Important Information:


We recommend the FSA be administered over at least two different days between the dates
October 15 - November 5. Practice/sample FSAs can be done at any time. You can look them over at PRACTICE FSAs. Both student book samples and online samples are available for you to look at.


Please share with your support teacher when you plan to have your child work through the FSA.


e-FSA – the online sections - the actual eFSAs are only open Monday to Friday from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm PST ONLY between October 9 - November 9.


Each year, some families leave the FSA until the last two days of the time period and this makes it stressful on the parents and the student, especially when a tech issue arises or a question comes up. Please give yourself time by planning to have the FSA complete by the beginning of November.

Blessings!!

October is Fire Safety month!

October is fire safety month. You may not be aware, but the Ministry of Education expects every home educating family to practice fire drills!  This is a great way for your kids to learn how to safely exit any building you regularly visit so they are prepared (and hopefully not panicking) in the event a fire alarm goes off, or there is ever an actual fire.

I would like to challenge you to put together a plan of how to leave your home quickly and safely, with alternate routes plans in the event your main exit is blocked.  Explain the procedure and the reasons for every action in your plan (why we don't pack a bag or check on pets, why we crawl on the floor and check doors for heat, etc).  Then practice your plan!

Also, take the opportunity this month to talk about how to evacuate the other buildings you visit this month so that your kids develop an understanding of the principles that guide evacuations, including always establishing a meeting place in case you are separated.

You know your kids best, so be sensitive to them so that they feel equipped, not afraid.  Reading library books, visiting the local fire department, watching fire safety videos and visiting different websites may also be helpful.  We will continue to address safety concepts over the month.

Some resources you may use:

Safe Kids - Fire (also other safety lessons and tips on this site)
Activity pages and Jeopardy game
Online Games
Fire Facts for Parents and Educators
Planning an escape route video for Elementary Kids (it does refer to 911)
Song with evacuation steps 

Learning about BrainPop

What a great subscription this is!  BrainPOP has a number of video lessons that have accompanying quizzes (that you can send to me), extra facts on the topic, and extra activities. Often, these lessons can be done in 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how many of the extra things your child does! My highest recommendations are for the video lesson, FYI, and the quiz (and Gameup if it works on your computer/device). Some of the extra features (like Activities) need Flash to be downloaded onto your computer to make them work.

To get access to sign up in our class, go to www.brainpop.com and then:



You will need to create a user account with your child, so please do that together and make note of any usernames and passwords you may choose. Then, everything your child does in MY BrainPOP will be tracked and I can view the quizzes so you don't have to remember to send them to me. Also, if your child has already done something on the human body, but you are not sure which of the available 25 lessons it was, you will be able to see their history! I'm excited about the options we have with the subscription! Feel free to log in to look at the wide range of resources available to you. :)

Hello, HCOS Families!

My name is Niki Hildebrandt.  My husband, Bruce, and I were able to host and visit a number of friends and family this summer.  These pictures highlight our summer - spending time with people and helping where we could.   What a blessing!

Canada Day

In Vancouver

Family

I love to explore, try new things and see where God wants to take me.  What a privilege to be called to partner with you and your family in your educational journey!

What a great year is before us that will no doubt have highs and lows, opportunities to learn and grow, and find joy in growing closer to God.  I’m so excited to get moving!

I am interested to know how you would like to do your communicating with me this year as there are lots of options and I want to make sure that we choose something that fits you.  Please email me directly with your choice of reporting style (email, Skype, Zoom, text, phone calls, blogging, etc) so that I know what your preference is (and that you were able to get to this link).

I am also looking forward to talking with you about plans for this year. I have already talked with some of you and I look forward to meeting everyone else. 

May our Father give us wisdom as we all continue to journey to become the people that He has designed us to be.  

Niki Hildebrandt

Welcome to April!

Hello everyone! 

I hope that you were able to enjoy some sort of change up over the past two weeks that brought rest, refreshment or joy in the midst of daily life!  I enjoyed getting to visit with my husband’s family and the 15 hours of driving in the car with him.  ☺

As you may be aware, besides being a support teacher with HCOS, I also teach part-time at a local Christian School in Kelowna.  Bruce and I feel that it is time for me to step out of that role and just work with HCOS.  I’m very excited about this yet I know it will be a big change.  I’m really happy thinking about how I can be a more supportive wife and also commit more time to supporting all of you, my HCOS families.  This means a lot of packing, sorting, down-sizing and managing my time clearly over the next couple of months!  I know that God is leading this decision and I’m looking forward to what He has in store for us.

Many of you may be familiar with our “Learning Commons” which is our school’s expanded library.  They host many school community events as well as provide resources (real and virtual) for our families.  With that in mind here is our learning commons Easter Newsletter with news about new unit study kits, Easter resources, contests, STEAM web links, and the recent subscription survey results.  

We have one term left everyone! Let’s work together to make sure the kids have a great term.  IF I can be of help with something, please let me know.  If you are waiting on something from me, please remind me in case that note fell off my computer in the shuffling that happened during moving my office… I tend to use a lot of post it notes…  ☺

Blessings everyone!