Special Connection Homeschool

After my first year on the Schoolhouse Review Crew (which was then called the TOS Crew) they changed the year they run from June-May to January-December.  This allows to us to have our down transitional time at the holidays and allows vendors to have their products reviewed in the summer right before the school year starts.  Well that got me thinking.  I actually have a lot of down time during the holidays season myself and we always do at least some school in the summer (particularly with math) to keep Gess practiced.  She also really gets bored if there isn't more structure to her day during the summer.  So I made a decision to restructure my school year too.  I may not always have the privilege of being on the crew but this just makes sense for us. I ordered my new planner and so on January 7 we will begin our brand new school year!  As I typed that I just now realized I don't know what I will do about changing her grade.  After some thought I...

It has been an incredible year and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas ! Here is a special greeting from Gesserine herself on the true meaning of Christmas. Gess began memorizing this portion of Scripture a few weeks ago.  It will be familiar to most of you I am sure.  She got a little confused at the end because she memorized it in the NIV but she wanted to end it like Linus says it using the KJV. Here is what Gess is trying to say at the end, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:8-14

Gess is getting really excited about Christmas and is constantly asking me how many days are left.  The other day we found that the local Wal-Mart was assisting young children in that answer.  Gess gets very excited when she sees the sign.  Oh the wonder of seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.  Here she is standing next to the silly sign, though the flash made the number disappear this was 15 until days until Christmas. It's been a hectic and somewhat sick holiday season around here, but we have done a few fun things to get ready for the holiday and make the waiting fun for Gess.  We actually started a new tradition this year thanks to a really cute gift she received from her brother and his future wife Chelsie.  They got Gess an Elf on a Shelf.  Here is Chelsie explaining it to her while Gess reads the book.  The elf is supposed to be Santa's spy, but we don't really do Santa around here, but that didn't make this tradition any...

No, I am not talking about the holidays. I am talking about the time of year where each of us takes a turn being sick. My daughter was on antibiotics during the wedding due to a sinus infection and then a month later got a nasty viral cold that really had her coughing hard and feeling miserable. This weekend I had a terrible stomach bug. So far my husband has escaped but the month is not over yet!  I had planned on being a part of a Sharing Christmas blog cruise with the crew but never got my post up Friday morning. I waited until Friday because I had some things we were doing on Thursday I wanted to include. Oh well, that's life here at Special Connection Homeschool. There is always one time during the year we all go through some gunk or other. I am praying Monday we will all be well and back in our normal routines. I will hopefully get up the posts about what we are doing to share Christmas then.

A couple of weeks ago my niece got married and asked my daughter to be her flower girl.  I know that my daughter is a bit older than your average flower girl, but my niece didn't care.  She wanted Gess!  As it turns out the ring bearer, who also doubled as a groomsman, was my nephew (brother of the bride) who is an adult who has autism.  Having them both in the wedding made that occasion all the more special.  Robin, the bride, is an incredible statement to family who knows, cares and understands about the needs of others and the acceptance of all. This experience was really great for Gess.  She asks lots of questions about getting married.  She was a flower girl before (when she was four) and has been to other weddings when she was younger, but this is the first one she has been to since she really understood what was going on.  Being a part of the wedding party made it all the more special for her and she did an amazing job. I didn't actuall...

There is a controversy these days about whether or not kids need to learn cursive writing.  For typical kids they claim that technology is making the method obsolete.  While that may be so, I think we are doing a huge disservice to our kids by not giving them skills that can and will help them in life.  For kids with special needs the concerns are different.  I remember reading early on that it was not necessary to teach it to children with DS who struggle with motor skill issues.  I had all these thoughts tucked away in my head not having decided yet what I would do for Gess.  Then over the summer I realized it was time to address it. I generally use my debit card when shopping and every time I sign my receipt Gess wants to sign too.  She used to get really angry when I would not let her do it but we have a system now; I sign the store's copy and she signs mine.  It makes us both happy and she is learning how the paying process works.  It ...

Do you remember my recent review of Samson's Classroom ?  Well I have an update and a very special offer from them I just had to share with you all!  First of all, one of my concerns was about how their game Spelling Scramble was hard to navigate. I just wanted you to know that they have fixed it!  Gess can now play and actually beat the tarantula and therefore enjoys the game a whole lot more. It's not always easy to find an educational game that kids like and Gess certainly enjoys this one.  It's also very  rare to find one that listens to customer feed back and they have done that here so I wanted you to know that. The other thing I wanted to share with you was a very special offer they are hosting through the holidays.  It's one you can't help but take them up on!  (If I was not already subscribed I would do this in a heartbeat.) Between now and December 24, visit www.samsonsclassroom.com and enter the promo code AMAZON12 to pur...

Yesterday was Black Friday and Gess noticed that "name" for the first time, so we had our first lesson in what that day is all about: finding a good sale for Christmas presents.  While finding a good bargain is not a bad thing, I also reminded Gess that around the holidays we need to remember to stay focused on the spirit of the holiday.  If we want to show real "thanks" the day after Thanksgiving, we should give of our surplus to those in need instead of trying to get more "stuff" for ourselves.  Of course I didn't stop her from buying a game she wanted that was on sale, and I picked up a small item or two myself, but we did so with a thankful heart while avoiding the frenzy of the crowds. Our favorite Christmas project is Operation Christmas Child where you pack a shoe box full of gifts and send it to needy kids around the globe.  They even have a method where you can pay online and find out where your box lands.  The last 2 years ours ended up in...

One thing you might not know about me is that I am the missions director for our ladies group at my church.  While I have never been on a mission trip, I am passionate about spreading the gospel and I work really hard to support missionaries and organizations that reach the lost around the globe.  As a mom I try to share that passion with my children.  I don't think there is anything more fun or satisfying then engaging in missions as a family.  While explaining what missionaries do is great, seeing what they do is a lot more fun, especially when it's from the perspective of a child.   Growing Up Wild is a DVD series (my latest Schoolhouse Review Crew product) that does just that. In  Growing Up Wild  you follow the every day life of the Wild family children who live in Papau Indonesia with their parents who are missionaries there.  I reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 4.  Each video has 3 episodes that are about 15 minutes long th...

With this being an election year Gess really learned a lot about our government.  We started back in January when I first began to choose my candidate, became active and eventually was able to be my caucus site speaker and representative.  I think my favorite part of the process was being there watching the official vote count as an observer.  I am not usually as active in politics as I was this year, but I felt that these were serious times that called for action.  I began to get Gess involved in a lot of that activity and preparation and even practiced my speech on her. We talked a lot about policy issues that we felt were important.  We also discussed both major parties and I explained to her how other parties are now trying to have a voice in the process as well.  I attempted to get Gess to watch some of the debates with me but she really dislikes the news and hearing people simply "talk" on TV so I watched those mostly by myself. During that time I s...

My daughter Gess loves books and spends much of her free time reading.  She also enjoys it when we read together.  I have noticed in reading along with her that it really is hard to find quality books and very rare to find good christian ones.  Thanks to the Schoolhouse Review Crew I was able to learn about an excellent resource for christian books, Grace and Truth Books . Grace and Truth Books specializes in books that not only call themselves "christian" on the outside but they must be full of christian principles and truths on the inside too.  Books offered at their website must "glorify God, strengthen His people in their walk, and call all peoples to find joy in knowing His gospel and following Him."  They have about every category of book you are looking for including theology, christian fiction, spiritual life, men's, women's, family, children, and so on.  The books I reviewed were from the Character Building Collection . The Children's Ch...

Apologia Educational Ministries has become one of my favorite homeschool resources so when they asked us to review a book specifically for young christian women I thought I would help them out by reading it.  Journeys of Faithfulness by Sarah Clarkson follows the faith of some great women in Scripture.  The book is recommended for ages 12 and up but after reading it I would recommend it for older ages, probably at least 14 or 15 unless the child is already saved and has a good grasp on their christian faith.  Of course my 11 year old daughter has special needs and maybe that is why I think it's a bit too deep for your average 12 year old.  I guess it would just depend on the child. The book follows the lives Mary and Martha, Mary the mother of Jesus, Esther and Ruth and is written in a format as if telling their story.  I generally do not read books like this that take characters from Scripture and add too or make up what happened in between the pages of S...