Special Connection Homeschool

Gess is now 8 years old! I am so excited because this means she can finally get in a car without a booster seat! I am also glad because each year reminds me just how far we have come and just how blessed we truly are. I knew nothing about Down Syndrome when Gess was born. We have been through open heart surgery, feeding issues and Gtube placement surgery, ear tubes, vision problems and constant patching, reflux issues, various therapies like OT, PT and Speech. With all of that I can only say that our lives are the better for it all. Regardless of the trials and hardships we have faced, the blessing that Gess has brought to our lives and the lessons we have learned about prejudices, fear and the sanctity of all human life are more than worth any cost we could have paid. We actually do not see these things as hardships, merely challenges to overcome. And overcome them we do! Each new milestone, each new lesson learned, each new discovery made, brings an abundant joy that we wo...

Recently Parentalrights.org held a video contest for people who wanted to make videos promoting parental rights. Here is their winner in the adult category. I try not to get too political on this blog, but I do not believe protecting the rights of parents should be political. I do fear there are real threats to my ability, not only to homeschool my children, but to simply raise my children according to my own belief system. If you too feel that parental rights are at stake I encourage you to visit parentalrights.org and support the parental rights amendment. Together we can keep the government from interfering with the most basic of relationships, the foundation of every society, the family.

Gess was down with a cold a couple of weeks ago and we used that time to discuss some things about germs and what happens when you are sick. We talked about the importance of proper hand-washing, covering your mouth when you cough and your nose when you sneeze. She does these things most of the time, but we really stressed why it was important. To support what we were discussing, I went online to look for a video that taught about germs. I found one at kidshealth.org . At Kidshealth.org they have a whole series called " How the Body Work s ." This covers many areas such as the Heart & Circulatory System, Brain and Nervous System, Bones & Skeletal System, Digestive System, and many others. Gess and I watched the one on the Immune System . It taught her how a cold virus tries to attack the system and what the body is doing inside to fight it off. She has watched it several times now and really likes it. It is pretty detailed so younger children may not really g...