Special Connection Homeschool

I am one of those moms who has struggled with her weight most of the time.  Before Gess was born I had actually lost weight and kept it off for 5 years.  Then I got pregnant again.  It's a story many mothers are familiar with.  It took me 9 years to get the weight off, but 2 years ago I did it!   I actually blogged about my journey and shared some tips at Lori's Say on Weight Loss , but I got too busy to keep up with it. I am still in a weight loss club.  It's called TOPS which stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly .  I think having that scale to be accountable to every week has helped me maintain the weight loss these last 2 years.  While in maintenance mode I don't always have to track what I eat, but I try to do so whenever I find myself struggling to stay withing my goal.  I also do it when we have contests or programs at TOPS that require it.  It's good to check yourself from time to time. Anyway, so what does this have to ...

Each year the TOS Crew mates vote on which products they liked the best.  I have to tell you, this was my first time on the crew and I was amazed at how many products I actually liked and now use.  I was excited to participate in the voting and having a say in which companies get awarded. The winners of the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Crew Blue Ribbon Awards  are (drum roll please)...   Favorite Reading Instruction Product:  Reading Eggs* Favorite Writing Product:  Write Shop Favorite Language Arts Product: Progeny Press Favorite Social Studies Product: TruthQuest History Favorite Science Product: Amazing Science * Favorite Math Product: Math Mammoth * Favorite Online Math Product: Math Rider Favorite Foreign Language Product: Visual Latin Favorite Fine Arts Product: Artistic Pursuits Favorite Christian Education Product:  Apologia: Who Am I? * ~~~ Favorite Preschool Product: Before Five in a Row Favorite Elementary Product: All ...

This time of year is always discouraging for me, but now that Gess is beginning to hit puberty it has me in fits!  Finding a bathing suit that is both modest and easy for her to negotiate independently is quite the trick.  Ok, finding something modest is almost impossible to begin with, so finding something that is both will most likely take a miracle.  I know there are "modest" outfitters out there but those are usually very expensive and I don't have over $40 or $50 to drop on a bathing suit. Swim suits aren't the only things.  I am getting so tired of seeing little short-shorts for girls, especially with writing on the back of them.  Why, oh why are we encouraging people to look our children's behinds to read what is written on them and showing off our girl's cleavage even before they have any?  Oh Christian ladies, let us not forget the instruction of the Word. 1 Tim 2:9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and d...

I am a history buff and so I was glad to be able to review Heritage History , a curriculum that gets to the heart of history, or at least a little closer to it.  Heritage History is not your usual history curriculum.  Instead of text books, tests and memorization of dates and facts, the Heritage History program is based on the use of classical, age appropriate children's history books. The history books your child will read are actually history themselves.  No books used were printed after 1923.  While these books are usually without copyright and already in the public domain, Heritage History has compiled together a selection of the best works and sorted them by genre, subject and character.  All of these are in electronic form and can be accessed on the computer, Kindle, Ipad or other devices.  It also comes with Study Aids that includes supplemental materials such as images, maps, timelines and a teacher's guide for you to use to help your student in...

Yes, this blog has been dedicated to homeschooling my daughter who has Down syndrome.  She does have two brothers though who are older, one is 25 and one is 27.  No, I did not homeschool her brothers.  I thought about it often through the years but we never did it.  Anyway, I thought I would introduce you to Gess' brothers starting with Tim.  After high school graduation he tried his hands at a few things before finally deciding to go to college. Tim had actually moved out of the house when he was 18 but this last year of college he came back home so he could spend more time on school and less time working (though he still continued to work part time).  We were so glad to have him back home and having a college student in the house made Gess interested in going to college too.  In fact one morning as Tim was getting ready to head out the door with his healthy breakfast of a cookie and diet soda, I noticed Gess had grabbed her backpack and a cookie to...

Go Science !  Yes, Gess' favorite subject is science so we were rather excited to get to review this product for the TOS Crew .  Go Science is a series from Library and Educational Services that gets kids excited about learning science by exploring motion, weather, electricity, air, the Solar System and much more!  There are 6 DVDS in the series which can be purchased as a set or individually.  We were able to choose 2 DVDs which was difficult because they all seemed very interesting.  Each DVD includes a series of 3 to 6 minute demonstrations that helps to explain certain science principles or phenomenon.  In each one Ben Roy, a fun and lively science educator, leads a group of kids through some sort of hands on science experiment or activity.  He generally has one or more of the kids in the group participate as he demonstrates and explains the science principle that he is focusing on. It should be obvious to my readers by now that Gess is a...

No, we are not at the end YET, but we are getting there.  We had a pretty mild winter which made it a pretty healthy one for Gess, so I guess it was time for her to become ill.  My sweet girl has bronchitis right now so we are taking it easy this week.  It's kind of frustrating because I am ready to bring the school year to a close, but it is what it is. Things are winding down though.  Gess has finished her last AWANA of the season and her gymnastics will be over at the end of the month.  We also finished our last ladies bible study today which gave her play time with other kids, so those structured activities are done.  Now we just have some lessons to finish. As with all of life, once one thing ends another begins and that's how it is with school.  Once it's over summer gets into full swing.  Gess will begin horseback riding next week and at the end of the month the pool will open and we will be buying a pass to spend lots of time there....