Special Connection Homeschool

For those of you who do not know, Gess was born with a congenital heart defect and at 2 1/2 months of age she had open heart surgery to repair her AV canal. She also has a mild mitral valve leak. She has done really well since the surgery and has had no special directives for quite some time now. We only have to see the cardiologist every few years and this was one of those years. When you go to the cardiologist they do an EKG and an echo-cardiogram. The last time she had those done (which was a few years ago) she was frightened by them and I think we may have even given on up on the echo because she simply would not lay on the table. Having dealt with some other issues at the hospital this last year I figured I would work with her and try to address her fears ahead of time, so we practiced these procedures at home. During an EKG they place electrodes to your skin and then they use a clip with wires to attach those to a machine which traces your heart activity on to paper. It is...

Speaking of the TOS, have you ever read their magazine? Well, if you want to check it out, now is the time. They are currently offering their Summer 2011 digital edition absolutely free with no strings attached! Check it out and see why I am so excited to be a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew . Take a look at the brand new Summer digital edition of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine . TOS is offering this digital issue of the magazine totally free with no strings attached. Enjoy this free gift from TOS—no registration or email address required to view the magazine! Take a peek here. Then share the link with your friends by clicking on the share button at the top of the magazine pages.

We are really excited because Gess is beginning to take horseback riding lessons. We are not farmers, involved in 4-H nor do we ever plan to have horses. However, we met a wonderful lady who gives horseback riding lessons. She offered to take Gess on one to see how she did, and she loved it! So now, for the next few months, every other Monday Gess will get to ride a horse! She will learn how to care for them, how to properly mount and ride them, and much more I am sure. We just could not pass up this opportunity. It just doesn't get any more "hands on" than this! Her first time on a horse...and up she goes! I did it! There she heads off on her first ride. (Yes the teacher has a tight grip on them, though they did just fine!) I would say she loves riding horses! Oh, and that guy with her, that's her brother. It was his first time riding too!

My goal for Math this year is to have Gess really focus on time, money and measurement. We are using Math-U-See and it is helpful for Gess to have the manipulatives to add with but she's moving really slowly through it. While Gess can add, she still hasn't subtracted, nor has she really focused much on telling time or counting money. She's got some basics down on these but she really needs to focus more on them since they are things she will use most often. I still plan on using Math-U-See this year so all I needed were some materials for these specific lessons. I was posting on Facebook and my homeschool forums and groups asking for ideas for what to use and I was considering some of the Mammoth Math supplements that were suggested. However, last weekend, some local teacher's held a garage sale, and I hit pay dirt! I not only got math work books, I also got folders full of extra worksheets, lessons and math games the teacher's had compiled on their own. ...

I am excited to announce that I am now an official member of the TOS Homeschool Crew ! TOS stands for The Old Schoolhouse and is a homeschooling company that offers homeschoolers a variety of resources and encouragement. As a member of the Crew I will get opportunities to try many different homeschool resources such as curriculum, games, and books at no cost to me. I will then share with you, my readers, what I thought of the products I used by posting my review here on my blog. While I am not getting paid for the review, I am able to sample, and sometimes keep, the products I review for free. So I want to be upfront about that. Up until now (except for the one TOS review I did to apply for this position - TOS Review: The Curiosity Files ) everything I have posted about has been things I have personally researched and used. I only post about things that are helpful homeschooling my daughter who has Down Syndrome. My blog will still be just that. Other than posts that be...

Gess always enjoys the summer reading program . Getting her to read the 20 books is easy. Along with the reading emphasis our library has several other activities throughout the summer. They also have contests each week that encourage the children to participate in order to have a chance to win the prize. Since the theme is "around the world," they had the children make a flag one week and they had to name things about a country during another one. Then sometimes it's random, like when you could help name the fish. Well this week they had a "junk bag" contest. They do the "junk bag" every year. What they do is fill a bag with junk. Then the kids have to make something out of the stuff in the bag. You can add to what is in the bag but you must use everything inside of it, you can't leave anything out. I am really excited because this is the first year Gess did the craft all on her own. Daddy helped her make a boat last year, but we never t...

I am a big proponent of parental rights. As a homeschooler I realize it is imperative that our rights are protected. However, public school parents need to be aware of the threats too. I hear more and more about public schools disregard the beliefs and feelings of parents. Of course education is not the only sphere in which government is trying to obtain control. With the recent health care reform and HIPPA laws, parents are losing the ability to make medical decisions for their children as well. Lately there has also been an emphasis on adding new regulations regarding nutrition. And that's not even addressing the threat from international laws such as the UN Treaty on the supposed rights of the child ( UNCRC ). It is not the role of the government to determine what a child should learn, what medical treatment a child should receive or even what food they should eat. Parentalrights.org has many examples of how parent's have been denied their rights and show examples ...

Well, we had another great year at Church Camp . This is the second year that Gess spent the night. (For grades 1 & 2 they spend 2 days and one night at camp) I have to tell you the funniest thing she did this year. Gess is NOT a huge fan of noise, especially noise from people talking too loudly. At camp they really encouraged the kids to be loud. They said this is the time when you are allowed to be loud at church so take advantage of it. Well, Gess spent quite a bit of time with her hands over her ears, that is until she figured something out. They also have a rule that while you are allowed to be loud, when the leaders need you to be quiet you must obey. So they have this game. If they want you quite they raise their fist in the air and get quiet. When you see that, you also raise your fist in the air and get quiet. The goal is NOT to be the last one talking. It actually works really well and the kids all get quiet and pay attention fairly quickly. Well, after we had ...

At our after church's 4th of July picnic today (yes, I'm aware it's only July 3rd) we were given some left over bananas. What do you do with over-ripe bananas? Well, I hear it makes a good bread. I've never tried before, but since Gess and I started our Kitchen Classroom this year, we try to cook together at least once a week. I thought, what better to bake than banana bread? As usual the first thing we do is check to make sure we have all the ingredients. If we do not, we make a list and go to the store. Since we tried cooking yesterday and ruined a batch of cookies (too much butter...it's a long story) we were out of flour and almost out of eggs and butter. So Gess made her list and off we went to Wal-Mart. Gess has gotten much better since we started our shopping journeys together. She is really learning her way around the store. Today I let her lead and I followed her. She did really good at first. She knew right where the eggs were and while sh...