Special Connection Homeschool

When we go to the library I find that Gess rents more educational DVDs than she does entertaining movies.  She seems to enjoy learning about new things so when I had the opportunity to review The Fascinating World of Mammals DVD by BrainFood Learning I figured it would be something she would enjoy. The Fascinating World of Mammals uses a mixture of beautiful images and video footage of mammals in their natural habitat while explaining certain facts, key points and vocabulary words for each mammal. The Fascinating World of Mammals is a 52 minute DVD in which they say "children of all ages can benefit from the videos."  While that is probably true I would recommend it for preschool up to around age 10.  However, the vocabulary words on the video are pretty tough so there is something for older students as well I just don't know if they would enjoy watching it as much as the younger children will. The first segment defines what a mammal is and uses exampl...

I want to thank all of my readers for bearing with me this month as I took the Ultimate Blog Challenge which had me post one blog a day for the entire month of July.  With my last post scheduled for tomorrow I figured today would be a good day to celebrate!  Blogging is hard, especially when your topic is based around a certain subject.  Coming up with ideas and things to share is a real challenge.  Participating in the UBC helped me really work at keeping material fresh and new.  I know many of my posts were personal, but as I have said before I think it is important to see what is going on in my daughter's life.  Every experience she goes through is part of her learning process.  Seeing what she is capable of is part of advocacy for children with special needs and in particular Down syndrome. Now that the challenge is over I will go back to my regular schedule of blogging.  My personal goal is to post 3 non-review posts per week. That may no...

I have been working on my posts for the 5 Days of Blog Hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew which is coming up August 5-9 .  There are several topics that will be addressed by other writers.  I am looking forward to reading them.  Some that are on the top of my to read list are: Science Fun Homeschooling with Special Needs A Learning Lifestyle Dad Friendly Homeschooling Being His Hands and Feet. There are several more topics of interest from homeschooling styles, curriculum selections, beginning the homeschooling journey, field trips and so much more. I wanted to let you know what my posts will specifically be about.  Here are my topics for 5 Days of Hands-On Learning. Day 1 - Why Hands-on Learning is Important This explains some reasons hands-on learning is important and how it is helpful for children of all learning styles whether or not they have special needs. Day 2 - Adapting Lessons to Hands-on Learning This post gives some basic examples ...

Our Sports Camp at church was amazing.  The them was "Off the Bench" and they used BENCH as an acronym to remember their theme for each day. B - B e Prepared E - Be an E ncourager N - N arrow Your Focus C - C hange the Outcome H - H ope It was fun to watch Gess apply these principles through the week.  On Tuesday Gess had piano lessons and her instructor, who also helped out at camp, told her that she did a really good job playing.  Gess immediately responded by saying, "You are an encourager!"  It was neat to see her apply that in a way that showed she truly understood what it meant. The next day we were at the store and Gess was looking at some canned goods and she held her hands by her eyes as she looked and said "Look mom I have my focus."  OK, so she didn't quite get that lesson as well, but she was listening! Gess participated in cheer-leading and had a lot of fun.  They said she did really good in the class.  Here she is with one of ...

Art is not my thing, but my daughter, who has special needs, seems to love to express herself creatively so I have to find a way to work that in.  Since my Gess is a hands on learner I thought it would be fun to review Global Art from Gryphon House to tackle art and learning at the same time. Global Art is not just your average art book.  Instead it specializes in activities based upon art and culture from around world.  The goal is not necessarily to make a masterpiece, but rather to experience the process and learn about the culture from where that type of art originated. Each activity is based upon customs, celebrations, discoveries, inventions, or native materials that are used in art in that particular area.  You will find a Did you know segment on each project page that shows the location of the country on the map and gives you a tidbit of information about how that project is relevant to the country.  For instance, Moribana is a style of flow...

Special Needs Homeschool shared the greatest resource on Facebook the other day so I wanted to share it with you.  It's called Visual Fractions .  It helps you visually identify, rename, compare, add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions.  I know this will be a great tool for Gess!

Someone in one of my Facebook groups shared these neat little shoe laces that are great for kiddos who struggle with tying their shoes.  Lock Laces are elastic laces that come with a gadget that locks them permanently into place.  There is a slider which enables you to loosen and tighten them as needed.  I bought a pair just to see how they would work and we love them! Now I no longer have to look for shoes for Gess that will simply slip on or use Velcro.  Of course at a price of  $7.99 each it does increase the overall price of the shoe but to me it's worth it.  Anything that gives Gess independence is a great item.  You can buy them in packs of 3 for $19.99.  I think I may do that next time and use a pair myself.  These really were made for runners and athletes but whatever the reason I am so glad I found them! 

Our church is hosting a Sports Camp this week instead of Vacation Bible School. The theme is getting Off the Bench and is tied around the verse 2 Peter 3:15. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect The local paper came to check it out and shared a few photos.  Gess is in one of them.  She is on the front row there on the bottom left with her hand pointing out instead of up. She is loving sports camp. This is the first year she has participated without me being around.  She probably loves that but I feel I am missing all the fun. Of course with the new grand-baby I have other things I must do anyway and I love the independence it is giving her.

Let me introduce you to Bianca Anne.  Her middle was taken after my middle name.  Gess was a little shy about visiting the hospital but did very well and as you can see, loved the baby! Here is her brother Terry holding his new bundle of joy. And grandma of course.  I watched the little sisters most of the day.  I was extremely tired.  It looks here like I am about to fall asleep too and I can tell you that I certainly could have!

Did you know that people with Down syndrome have a wide variety of emotions?  While you will often hear that people with Down syndrome are always happy , that is not really true! People with Down syndrome have the same range of emotions as everyone else.  Yes, Gess is often happy and pleasant, but so are most kids!  I have taught children in church for many years and I can assure you that most of them are generally happy most of the time but since they don't have special needs that doesn't get noticed as much. That's right.  We notice the kids who are not pleasant.  The kids who get in trouble, act out, are mopey, disagreeable or stubborn.  Well I have news for you, Gess has experienced each of those emotions too.  We all have.  I know kids with Down syndrome who smile a lot and kids with Down syndrome who don't.  I know "typical" kids who smile a lot too, and I also know typical kids who don't.  Do you get where I am going here? ...

On Friday I gathered some of my friends and started a group specifically geared towards homeschooling children with Down syndrome.  There are great resources for general special needs groups, as I have mentioned before, but sometimes it is nice to have a Down syndrome specific discussion.  While there were a few groups with that name they either weren't as active or limited discussion topics.  So I started a group: Down Syndrome & Homeschooling Moms Facebook Group This group will be open to any homeschooling mom who has a child with Down syndrome.  You can feel free to discuss anything related to homeschooling, Down syndrome, parenting, or just life.  You can ask questions, share advice and resources, tell us of your great successes, cry on a rough day or whatever else you feel led to do.  All we ask is that you respect your fellow group mates and don't try to market items unrelated to the topic.  I want to know all about the latest sale on cu...

We have this very old Bible Trivia game that my husband's mom gave us when we first got married.  She didn't give it to us brand new, it was used, but she knew my husband and I enjoyed playing.  When my boys were younger and before Gess ever entered the scene we used to play it quite a bit.  We had a system for dealing with the tough Old Testament questions.  "When in doubt, answer David!"  It's not that David is often the answer, that just seemed to be what the boys would say if they didn't know the answer.  It soon became our replacement for "I don't know."  It was always funny when it paid off and we got it right!  Well, Gess really loves to sit down and play games in the evening.  One night my husband was saying how it would be nice to be able to play that old Bible Trivia game with her.  I immediately got up, went to one of our closets and pulled out the box and said "you mean this old thing?"  He was glad we still had it....

Want to know what is so great about this picture?  I didn't take it.  That's right, my daughter is in the yellow shirt in the upper right corner and I was not even in the room.  Our library has wonderful programs every summer and young girls get to go to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.  However when you get older they now have an American Girl Tea Party.  Gess is finally old enough to go alone.  While I was around at the library in case they needed me I didn't stay in the room with her.  Sure, she has been left alone at classes at church, gymnastics and other things like that but this was the first one where most of the kids were strangers to her.   I am sure Gess could have done a lot of these things on her own when she was younger but I liked to be there in case communication became a problem but I also just enjoyed helping and watching her.  It was during those times that I taught Gess how she was supposed to behave and what was expe...

One FREE Friday I shared a great resource from Answers in Genesis which is allowing you to download their Dinosaurs, Genesis and The Gospel for KIDS video for free !  I wanted to share our experience with this great FREE resource and remind you that you still have time to get your copy for FREE too! We downloaded the video and thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  We then went through the free discussion questions they also provided.  After that Gess took the 4th Grade Science Test that started all the controversy.   Here is Gess' test! The controversy started when a parent who sent their child to a Christian school was actually upset that the Christian school taught the Christian belief in creation!  She posted her child's test on a social media website and the atheists had a field day with it.  I think what bothered them the most was that this curriclum used science to back up the Bible! That's right, this video uses science and dinosaurs...

As I am preparing for my 5 Days of Hands-on Learning Blog Hop I was reminded of this great tool that helped Gess learn the books of the New Testament.  She used these about 3 or 4 years ago but I pulled them out again to practice and show you what a neat idea it is.  Putting the names on blocks really helped her do a better job of memorizing.  It was neat to have the visual cue and great to have her hands actually picking them up and putting them in order.  As I mentioned in my post about Church Camp the fact that she can still quote these without any cues now earned her quite a few points and a prize! At first she tried to stack them but it started to fall. So we laid them on their sides. It's a lot easier once you have them memorized.  They sure were a great tool when she was first learning!

Before you ask, no it's not mine!  I am expecting another grandbaby on July 22nd!  We are very excited!  We are also enjoying as much time as we can with the two older siblings.  Once the baby is born I won't be able to pick up mom and the kids anymore.  My car will only fit the 5 of us.  I guess we will just have to visit at their house or walk to the library together.  Here were some cute shots of Gess and the grandkids from the other day.  Be looking for pictures of the latest addition to this crew next week!

Did you know that people with Down syndrome can get a driver's license?  That thought both excites and frightens me! Gess barely pays attention when she is pushing her cart through the store so I can't imagine her out on the road.  Of course since she is only 11 she has plenty of time to mature in that regard! My daughter has been asking to drive since she was about 7 years old.  My response has been to her that she can drive when she turns 18 and passes the test.  See, I don't want to discourage her from trying but she does need to know there may be obstacles. Many people with Down syndrome do not drive, but there are some that do!  I read a story about one mom who told her daughter that she would buy her an expensive car when she got her driver's license.  She said that because she never thought her daughter would be able to drive.  That was one expensive lesson, but one she was happy to learn. Here is a video about one young man with Down s...

Our library always has fun programs in the summer.  The other day they had a Nutty Professor come and share some fun science experiments.  Well you know that my little scientist just had to go and she had an excellent front row view.  The scientist did many fun things that taught the kids about how atoms move, air flows, water acts in various states and they even learned new terms such as Bernoulli principle.  Gess got to assist in a couple of the demonstrations.  This one was a bottle that kept refilling itself!  To begin she had to pick out her goggles. Then the lady emptied the bottle into the pitcher. Lifting it in the air the bottle would fill itself up! Then they would empty it again and repeat.  What a neat trick! This next picture gives you an idea of how that trick was done.  Look closely at the opening of the bottle.  A hole was also involved. The next time Gess got to assist she got too scared to particip...