Special Connection Homeschool

The weather sure has been brutal lately. We do not live all that far from Joplin and we are so torn up about the tragedy that struck there. We have been volunteering at our local collection center to get supplies to those in need, but I sure wish I could do more. Then yesterday we were in KC for Gess' annual ENT checkup. Right after we got in to see the doctor the tornado sirens went off and we were shuffled (along with everyone else there) into the stairwell. We spent over an hour waiting it out and thankfully we were spared, though Sedalia got hit shortly thereafter and several people were injured. With all this in mind I think it is a good time to remind you of some resources I had found to help teach Gess what to do during a tornado. You will also find these on my blog, Tornadoes and Hailstorms that I wrote a couple of years ago. It certainly has helped Gess. In fact, when we had to leave the doctor's office because of the tornado she quoted the first video and ask...

Gess is 9 now and often asks questions in church. Lately we have had some people come forward for baptism. Gess now wants to get baptized too because others are doing it. She just really wants to be involved in everything we do. However, we are Baptist and believe that the bible teaches only those who are saved should be baptized or partake in the Lord's Supper. It is hard to explain to a child why they can't do these things. Then I had someone else who told me they had an 8 year old girl ask about baptism because she had seen someone get baptized at her church. Being surprised by the question they were not quite sure how to answer and asked if I could write something up to help explain it. I thought, what perfect timing. This is something I want to share with Gess too, so I did more than just write up a paper. I wrote a small booklet made specifically for young kids to help explain baptism. This booklet is meant to explain what baptism is and in doing that it touches ...

Woodbine House has come out with a book called The Kitchen Classroom and I was lucky enough to win one during a Facebook giveaway! The Kitchen Classroom is visually appealing for a child to use. It has color photos of each recipe in the book and it comes with a CD that has full color photos and easy read step by step instructions. For instance you not only read that you need to stir the ingredients to mix them together, but you see a full page color picture of a child stirring. Since I didn't want to print the recipe, we kept the lap top on the table and had my daughter follow the instructions as we cooked. The first recipe we did was Funny Face Toast. Each recipe tells you what level of difficulty they are. This was one of the easiest ones so I figured it was a good place to start. The book focuses on many skill areas and each part of the recipe has a symbol to let you know what area that focuses on. The skills they cover are Math, Science, Literacy, Communicatio...