Special Connection Homeschool

I have been really eager to tell you about the online reading and math program K-5 Learning ! This website has become this busy homeschooling mom's very best friend. K-5 Learning isn't actually a "homeschooling" program. It is for any kids from grades K through 5. It offers 4 reading and math programs that key in on 8 essential learning skills. It allows your child to learn independently at their own pace and at their own customized skill level. It also has very detailed and informative progress reports so that the parents can see exactly how their child is doing. I know, I know. If you are like me, you are thinking, haven't I heard all of those claims before only to find myself disappointed? Having a child with special needs, I am always hoping that the customization of skill level or parental reports offer more than I am provided. Well, K5 Learning was everything I hoped it would be and so much more! So let me just show you around and share with y...

Reading Eggs is an online website that teaches children to read through fun activities and games. The Reading Eggs program offers various levels from First Steps for preschoolers, those getting Ready For School and Fun Practice Makes Perfect for kids up to about the 2nd grade (about age 7). They also have a section for older students ages 7-13 called Reading Eggspress that helps them continue on in their reading journey. This offers more advanced skills like reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary skills and others. This last month we had the pleasure of reviewing Reading Eggs and we found it to be quite enjoyable. As I mentioned above, Reading Eggs has basically two different categories, Reading Eggs that teaches actual reading skills, and Reading Eggspress that offers advanced reading activities. If you are not a beginner reader you can take a placement test to find out where you will begin. Since Gess is 10, but has special needs, she tested in at both levels. Becau...

I was in a bible study at church not too long ago and learned that only 9% of Christians actually possess a biblical worldview. That fact was simply staggering to me. How could so many people profess to be Christians and yet not understand what the bible teaches? With that fact in my mind I was excited to have the opportunity to review Apologia's biblical worldview curriculum Who Am I? (And What Am I Doing Here?) . This is actually part two in the What We Believe Series , but each unit can be taught individually and does not require any particular order. Since I want to make sure Gess is raised with a proper biblical worldview I was thrilled to have an opportunity to try this resource. I have heard great things about Apologia so I was really looking forward to getting my book. When the box arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find that it contained even more than I had anticipated. I not only received the Who Am I? (And What Am I Doing Here?) text book but also the Audio CD ...

Gess got her own computer for Christmas and we made her a start page similar to ours. It has a calendar, links of her favorite websites, her email (which we are just now teaching her to use) and the weather. I was thinking about how my start page also has news feed and I thought that would be cool for her as well but I didn't think she would find it as interesting as I did. So, I decided to search for a news site specifically for kids and came across DOGO News . I love how the rss feed has images for each article. It makes it visually appealing to Gess and I have actually found her exploring the news feed because of it. This is an example of what she sees. Every article has pictures with it and it appears that most of them have videos too, which really makes it fun. I think this is a great way to start introducing kids to the importance of news and world events. Instead of long boring articles they are short, but informative, visually appealing and usually teach the kids s...

The Math Rider Intelligent Math Facts Game was created by a dad who found out his daughter's were struggling in math. He realized that he needed a fun and creative way to encourage his children to practice their basic math facts. Failing to find a good and innovative way to do that through other games and programs he decided to make his own and thus created the Math Rider Intelligent Math Facts Game . Math Rider takes you on a magical quest through math lands where you ride your horse over obstacles along the way until you reach your goal and earn awards. To jump over each obstacle you must answer the math question correctly. But don't worry, if you can not answer the question correctly or quickly enough, it will give the answer and let you move on. Not only that, but two questions later you will get a chance to retry the problem again until you start to get it right. At the end of the course you are shown a graph of how well you did on each problem and told how many points...