Special Connection Homeschool

On Wednesday Gess participated in her 3rd Special Olympics. (This was the regional one, not the state wide competition.)  Gess was supposed to be in the tennis ball throw, the standing long jump and the 50 meter dash.  I had asked that she not be in the relay this year because we will have to miss that event during the state wide competition and may not even be able to go at all.  Anyway, there was also some other mix up which meant that Gess didn't make it into the standing long jump.  So Gess only had two competitions the tennis ball throw and her favorite, the 50 meter dash. I wish I had more pictures but for the last two years I was constantly taking them and this year I wanted to simply enjoy the event.  We started off early in the morning and Gess was excited to get to ride on the big bus. Once we got there she got her number and was set up for the events. We had a little time before everything began so we hung out in the bleachers with ...

This was our second year to attend the annual GLOW retreat.  GLOW is a christian mother-daughter overnight retreat for girls in the 1-6 grade to encourage them to be involved in missions.  Each year the theme revolves around a different mission field (they alternate each year between home missions and foreign missions).  Last year we went to Hawaii, this year it was Ecuador.  They also have the children participate in a mission project by bringing something to provide for a mission focus. The first night began with a mixer.  Everyone met in one place and they had different activities going on. The first thing Gess jumped into was learning some dances from Ecuador.  They had music going and showed the girls how to dance. They offered them shawls to use.  Here is Gess sporting hers. They had to move and sway the shawl to the music as they moved together in a circle and sometimes in rows opposite each other.  Then they would form a circle and ...

I do an awful lot of laundry in my house so when some of my fellow TOS Crew mates started talking about making home-made laundry soap I became very interested.  Of course my main interest was saving money since I buy a lot of laundry soap, but I also liked the idea that one batch could last for several months.  So I decided to give making laundry soap a try and I thought it might be a fun project to include Gess in. I waited to post about it until I confirmed whether or not I saved money and could tell you how long a batch lasted me.  I heard that it could save you anywhere from $10-$30 and could last from 6-9months.  I decided to make a smaller batch in case I found that I didn't like it or something.  Well, the batch I made lasted me just a little over 3 months, washed about 90 loads of laundry and cost me a mere $8.92 to make.  So yes, it lasts quite awhile, gets your laundry nice and clean and saves you lots of money!  I think I saved about $20 ...

ScienceandMath.com says their goal is to bring the "very best Science and Math videos to tickle your curiousity and entice you to want to learn more about the world around you" and this month I was given a sample of what they have to offer. We recently received the Amazing Science Volume 1 DVD set for review which is a 2 DVD set that demonstrates how to do 23 different science experiments. This certainly is right up Gesserine's alley. There are few things she likes to watch more than science videos, especially ones where they do neat experiments. Well, being able to do the experiments right along with them makes this just about perfect! When the DVD arrived we were currently studying a unit on the weather and had just finished a lesson on clouds so the experiment titled Cloud in a Bottle (which seems to have been skipped on the list online but is included on the DVD) caught both of our eyes. We watched the demonstration which was very thorough. He not only explai...

Classical Academic Press has a wonderful Bible Course titled God's Great Covenant that we had the opportunity to review this past month. We reviewed God's Great Covenant, NT 1: A Bible Course for Children which "teaches the Gospels to students in fourth grade and up, using stories, worksheets, memory verses, devotional guides, quizzes, and a little boy named Simon." Now you know that my Gess has Down Syndrome and is only in what I consider the third grade, but she is an excellent reader and very knowledgeable in her bible lessons so I felt that this would be easily adaptable to her needs even though she is not yet in the fourth grade. For our review purposes we received the God’s Great Covenant New Testament One Bundle which included the student text, teachers' book and audio files. Before you get into the gospels there are a few sections that help set the stage. There is a Historical and Political Introduction, Chronological Introduction, Geographical In...

I have had the pleasure of reviewing a product from Bright Ideas Press this month and I can certainly understand why they say they are a curriculum that mom's love! As most of you know, Gess absolutely loves Science and so I was thrilled to get to choose one of their Christian Kids Explore Science Books. Because Gess has a fascination with the weather and it's a subject we choose to do each spring I chose to review Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space which consisted of the text book and the Student Activity Book Download . The curriculum is made so that you can use it with several different age groups at once and my special needs daughter was certainly able to read and comprehend the material rather well. I particularly loved the way the author wrote directly to the students and shared her own personal stories and experiences in the study. (Like how she used to be afraid of tornadoes.) She also integrated Scripture into each study and since it was written from such...

Every child has to do chores so we actually make doing chores part of our school day. Lifeskills are especially important for children with special needs and since Gess tends to love routine it has been easier getting her to do the chores if they are part of our regular daily activities. As I teach Gess her household responsibilities it is always in the back of my mind that one day she will be living on her own. Therefore, I want to make sure she knows how to take proper care of her herself and her home so fostering independence is always high on my priority list. The first chore we introduced to Gess when she was very young was folding the laundry. Her only job was folding the wash cloths which led to folding the towels which led to folding just about everything. Now she also helps me sort and wash the clothes and has even helped me make our own laundry soap (which I will be blogging about soon). Gess has become quite the helper doing laundry, but one thing she could never q...