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...