Special Connection Homeschool

How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids from Apologia Educational Ministries is an inspiring book by a homeschooling mother named Rachael Carman. In the book Rachael shares how she struggles with the revelation that being a parent means that life is no longer all about yourself. She admits that she was actually excited when her son started school because she was more eager to get on with her own personal dreams and desires than she was being a parent. When circumstances suddenly forced her into homeschooling, an option she had never contemplated or considered, she was not eager for the task. Then one day she attended a seminar at a homeschool convention and it transformed her entire perspective. She was now convicted of the immense call and duty of parenting. She tells us "just like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz , I got a new heart." Rachael then shares some biblical principles to help us learn how we can all have a heart for our kids. While you may not have a sim...

Gess still struggles with her writing. It is not only difficult physically for her, but it is also hard on her mentally since she has to focus so hard to do it. Think about it. Writing is multitasking. You not only have to focus on the correct answer to the problem, but you also have to focus on how to write that answer. For kids who do not already know how to write and actually struggle with that skill, writing can be quite stressful. When I find that Gess is stressed I immediately try to find a way to adapt. One thing I do when I find Gess stressed, is I let her dictate the answers to me and write them down myself. You can see her workbook pages here where there were some sections I had her say the answer and I just wrote it down for her. When her book gives her a list of multiple choice answers I will sometimes write them on the board and let her get up and just point out the answer to me (and I will write it down in her book). That not only eases her workload but ...

I am enjoying being a new member of the TOS Crew and I just found something new and exciting that they are doing. They are hosting a blog hop, and you do not have to be a part of the Crew to join in! Below are the guidelines for participation. So come hop, sail, or stroll along (or whatever type of moving gets your fancy) and join in the fun! The Guidelines for participating in the TOS Crew blog hop are as follows: 1. Please grab the blog hop button to spread the word. <a href=”http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=100689&type=basic” _mce_href=”http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=100689&type=basic” target=”_blank”><img class=”alignleft” title=”Crew Blog Hop” src=”http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/devildogwife97/Blog%20Pics/Design%20Elements/TOSCrewSailAlongBlogHopButton-1.jpg” _mce_src=”http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/devildogwife97/Blog%20Pics/Design%20Elements/TOSCrewSailAlongBlogHopButton-1.jpg” alt=”Crew Blog H...

Gess loves playing Yahtzee but up until recently all she really did was roll the dice and keep what we told her to. This year though we have tried to make her part of the game. A big help in doing that was finding a large print Yahtzee score card. It is hard enough for me to read that small card so I never bother to really let Gess try. So, I decided to look for a large print Yahtzee score card and found one on the BoardGameGeek website. It really makes it easy for a kid with special needs to see what they need, how much it is worth and it gives them plenty of room to write it all down! It's great for people with vision problems too. It makes the card 2 pages instead of 1, but that is alright by me. Here is what it looks like. We used Yahtzee a lot over the summer to help Gess practice her math skills. Near the end of last year Gess learned her doubles math facts . She can add up to 9+9 from memory. Yahtzee is a great way to practice doubles (at least up to 6)...

Well, tomorrow will be our first day of school. Gess is really looking forward to getting started again. So am I. I am always anxious for the summer break, but then we get so busy over the summer that I am ready to get back to a normal routine. Our school schedule looks pretty hefty this year. There is just so much I feel we need to cover. Below is our tentative schedule and the curriculum I have chosen for each one. Bible - Various devotionals based off of Bible passages. We will start by learning the 10 commandments Math AM - I plan on separating Math into morning and afternoon. In the Morning we will continue with Math-U-See Alpha. (We only got about half way through it last year.) English - We will be using the Preparing to Build series from Rod and Staff Publishers . Break Science - We will continue working through Real Science for Kids Pre-Level 1 Chemistry unit. Social Studies - This year we are using the Understanding Your Community 3rd G...

While Gesserine has always loved to get in the pool and take baths, she has not been a fan of getting splashed or even letting her face get wet. Showers were not something she was willing to do and getting her to lay her head back in the tub so you could wash her hair was a chore. That was, until now. We had so many other issues to deal with, and since we had very little opportunity to get in the water, swimming lessons were a low priority for us for many years. But as Gess got older I felt water safety was very important. Two years ago we attempted swimming lessons at a local pool. It did not go very well. Gess was 7 and not very familiar with public pools. Generally the only time we had been swimming was when we were staying at a hotel with a pool. There were several people in Gesserine's class and it was one of about five classes taking place at the same time. There was just too much to distract Gess. The staff was kind enough to place an assistant specifically assigned ...

As Gess is getting older we are really working on teaching her important life skills to foster her independence by focusing on things from household work like washing dishes and making her bed to personal hygiene, which not only includes things like brushing her teeth, but how to shower and wash her own hair. Yes, children with special needs have trouble doing these basic things. With Gess being a visual learner I have discovered a really neat resource for helping her learn some of these skills. It's called YouTube . We all know about YouTube and when we think of that website we generally think of silly videos that get thousands of hits, or consider it a place to catch the latest music video or clip from a TV show. Well, I have found a better purpose for this site: learning life skills! Gess was really struggling making her bed. I showed her how to do it, but every time she had to make her bed, she would shut down and say "I can't." I do not remember what prompt...