Special Connection Homeschool

One year at a homeschool convention I heard a speaker talk about how important it is to teach reading for pleasure. One recommendation he had for this was to always keep a basket of books around. This must be easily accessible and visible and should be in a spot that is comfortable and inviting for them to go to. The other thing he said you must do is fill it up with books that are 1 to 2 levels below your child's current reading skills. Think about it for a minute. When we want to unwind and relax, even as adults, we tend to choose items that are below our reading level and potential. This is the whole concept behind the magazine. Short stories and articles are easier to take in then an entire book. We tend to grab those when we just want to relax. So while we may be reading on a college level, that does not mean we want to read a college text book every time we sit down to read. Instead we read novels that are generally below our actual reading level. It's the sa...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and today we want to recognize the great work that this man did. People are treated equally under the law (just as they should be) because this brave man, among many other people, stood up for what was right. He did it peacefully and worked through the system to bring about justice. Below are some of the activities I used to try to teach this important lesson to my daughter. The toughest part for me was that I do not think Gess has a true understanding of prejudice because she does not have a true understanding of hate or even dislike. I do not think she can even fathom not liking someone, let alone disliking people for stupid reasons such as the color of their skin. However, since there are many prejudices against person's with special needs, it is a concept I want her to understand. Not to understand so she can feel it, but to understand it enough to fight it. Books : From our library we checked out the book Free At Last The Story of Mart...

We really enjoy homeschooling and would not change it for anything, but my daughter is also very social and loves being around other children, so we are always looking for opportunities to work on social skills. While homeschoolers of typical children have tons of options, there are some set backs for those of us with children with special needs. While our kids are often welcome in local sports, dance and Sunday School classes, the volunteers that run them are often not educated on how to deal with our children. They want our children to come, but they are not sure what to do with them when they do. I have found the best way to handle that is to be proactive in encouraging them and when necessary, training, those who will be leading the activity. Church activities are some of the greatest opportunities for socialization and interaction with their peers. However, Sunday School can be quite the challenge for children with special needs who are not used to the structured setting it...

The start of the new year is a good time to really start focusing on learning more about the calendar, days, dates and their relevance to our everyday life. At the end of last year I shared my desire to really enhance these topics for Gess this year and shared some of the activities I am doing there. This is simply to follow up on that blog (Season, Holidays and Calendar Activities) and share a few more ideas that I have added to it. To begin with I wanted to share how I implemented the thoughts I had on how I might have each month highlighting the season, holidays and other important information. Well, here is the template I made and how it turned out. I first found a blank calendar at familycrafts.about.com and used it to start my template. At the top of the page I have a line to write what month it is. Under that we look at what order that month is (January is the 1st, February the 2nd, etc) and how many days are in it. We then glue on pictures to represent the seasons and ...