Special Connection Homeschool

We don't have cable television or satellite TV.  Now that doesn't mean we don't watch it at all.  We do subscribe to HuluPlus and will rent DVDs.  Still, our television viewing consists mostly of cooking shows  some of which are reality and contest related.  I enjoy Biggest Loser as well and will watch an occasional episode of a sitcom or drama, as long as they don't have too much nudity or sexual content.  We do find that most shows we like usually end up getting ruined by trying to make a statement that opposes our biblically based moral values so we end up having to quit watching them anyway. One thing we have never done is encouraged our daughter to watch the children's networks.  While we would watch some of them during her preschool years I am not been a fan of Disney or Nickelodeon shows for older kids.  I don't need my daughter to mimic a whiny teenager trying to become popular, fawn over boys and act a like a pop star who sings songs I ...

My daughter loves listening to music and has a pretty large selection of Christian CDs.  A few years ago we got her an mp3 player so she could listen to her music on long car rides which is pretty often since we live about 2 hours from any major city.  It has been a huge blessing for her to be able to listen to her own music, especially since she hates listening to what I like to listen to, which is talk radio! As she has gotten older she has started to want to use her mp3 player outside as well as in the car. This has been awkward for her since she hates wearing jeans and doesn't have any pants with pockets to put the player in or hook it to while she is playing.  Her solution was to run around with it in her hand which has caused her to go through a few sets of headphones as she tugs the wires out while running and playing with it. So my husband came up with a solution.  He made a holder for the mp3 player that attaches to her wrist.  Now she can run and p...

Last month I shared a temporary free resource from Answers in Genesis.  They were offering their video Dinosaurs, Genesis and The Gospel for KIDS video for free to Use the Recent Atheist Attacks to Teach More Kids the Truth about creation and dinosaurs.  I then posted about our experience with those videos and how much my daughter loved them as well as the quiz that Gess took at the end of them.  After sending in our quiz to Answers in Genesis we got a letter from Ken Ham and a couple of cards with dinosaur facts and a few quotes from the video. Gess was really excited to receive them. While Answers in Genesis is no longer offering the download of these videos for free I did find a resource where you can watch them online for FREE.  The Kids Answers website has several videos that kids can watch absolutely free. While the videos don't go to full screen they are still entertaining, educational and enjoyable.  Gess spends lots of time there.  She r...

Our schedules are extremely busy, between work, school, family, support groups and church we have several responsibilities to meet each week.  By the end of the day we are beat.  It seems like we never really have the time to do some of the things we enjoy as a family.  My husband and I like to unwind by sitting down and watching a movie together and Gess likes playing games.  Lately it seems that I never have time for any of those things, so we came up with a solution. For awhile my husband and I were watching television shows instead of movies, because they don't require as much time.  However, we find it difficult to find quality programming that we both enjoy.  So instead we decided that we would watch as much of the movie as we could before shutting it off and falling asleep.  The next evening we would watch some more.  We ended up watching the entire Lord of the Rings series (including The Hobbit) that way.  It works really well....

The Schoolhouse Expo started yesterday but it's not too late to get in on it.  There are still 4 days (counting today) of great speakers and if you are registered you will receive access to the recorded sessions that you missed anyway!  I had to miss yesterday due to a busy schedule so I am looking forward to that myself! Tonight I am anxiously waiting to hear Dean Butler and Ray Comfort and have my scheduled all filled out with what sessions I want to catch the rest of the week!  Be sure to register soon and catch up.  Sessions start at 1:00pm EST. You know one thing that is really great about doing a conference this way?  You don't have to choose between sessions!  Every conference I go to I have to skip one person in order to hear another and then I have to pay extra to order the audio if I miss it!  Well not with the Schoolhouse Expo, you get to catch them all.  They are not going at the same time and if you miss them for other reasons ...

Source: TopMastersInEducation.com

I found this really cool cookbook on Amazon today and guess what?  Currently its FREE so here is a good time to snatch it up.  It's called Food For Thought and offers very easy, affordable recipes that come with a quote from the Bible or a person of a faith to stir up some discussion while cooking.  It's a cookbook that every family will enjoy.  There is even a section for young cooks that I am anxious to try out with Gess!   If you want it free act quickly, otherwise it is $14.95.

As much I love hands-on learning you would think I would have tried a lap book by now.  However, they seemed rather complicated so not knowing how to even do it I have shied away from them. Recently I was able to review the lap book project pack Words, Words, Words - Using a Dictionary & Thesaurus from In the Hands of a Child so I thought this might be a good time to try one. Lap booking is really a lot of work and that is one of the reasons In the Hands of a Child has published over 450 lap books.  Since they prepare the lap book project pack for you, it allows you to spend less time making the book so you can use your time actually working with it.  I certainly would not have tried my hand at lap booking otherwise, I can assure you that.  As it was it still took me a couple of hours to print, cut and prepare all the components for the book. Because lap books are something you can hang on to for quite some time it becomes a handy tool for review....

Because Gess has Down syndrome I am always searching for ways to improve her cognitive skills and learning capability so when I had the chance to review the Understanding Child Brain Development DVD from The Family Hope Center I was all over it! The Family Hope Center is run by  Matt and Carol Newell who appear very knowledgeable in child brain development and hold certifications in development and teaching methods as well as Craniosacral and Myofascial Release therapy.  While their knowledge is impressive I do not believe that they are physicians themselves but they do have some on their staff.  I noted that they all seemed to prefer a homeopathic approach and one is even specialized in hypnosis.  Their mission is to help families who have a child with developmental delays and special needs by coming up with a specialized treatment plan to help your family's specific needs. The Understanding Child Brain Development DVD is not only for parents who have a ch...

It's really hard for me to adjust to doing school from January to December.  Right now I am so caught up in the back to school fever that everyone else is in I feel like I need to start school.  However, with all the back to school sales on supplies it is a great time to restructure so we are doing that. My school calendar never actually stopped over the summer and by looking at my reviews you can tell we stayed somewhat busy.  The basics were covered but we certainly didn't do full school days.  So, while we are in the middle of the school year we officially re-started our full time daily schedule last week. I am really excited about the the new curriculum we are using, Logic of English .  I will be writing my review on it at the beginning of September but I can tell you it has been excellent for Gess so far.  It's an entirely different approach that is really focusing on the sounds of the language and therefore really helping Gess with her speech inte...

The Old Schoolhouse Expo is just one week from today and I am really looking forward to it.  As I have said, I haven't been able to attend a homeschool convention for a few years now and I could really use that this year.  I love the encouragement you get but I also love learning new things myself.  I am especially interested in hearing a few of the speakers. My favorite isn't really a homeschool specific speaker but he is someone whose ministry  I have followed and I am excited about his latest movie release Evolution Vs. God .  Ray Comfort of Living Waters has really impacted how I share the gospel.  In fact it was his ministries visual Ten Commandants that we used to teach Gess with. There are also a few speakers who will be talking about the law and our how to protect our homeschooling freedoms. That is a real concern and passion of mine.  I feel we are losing more and more freedom every day and unfortunately too many people think we shou...

Like games , exercise can be beneficial to learning even when you are not doing a lesson.  Exercise gives oxygen to the brain and stimulates brain plasticity which makes it easier to grow new neuronal connections.  In other words, physical aerobic exercise works out the brain as much as the muscles! Whether I am teaching Gess at home or a bunch of kids at church I have noticed that if they do not seem to be engaged in the lesson taking an exercise break can help get them back on track.  It not only helps them refocus but using that energy gets the oxygen moving again and their brain just simply seems to turn back on.  So if your child is struggling with a lesson, getting frustrated, seems disengaged or even just tired, stop the lesson and take a break.  As little as 5 minutes of a physical exercise can make a big difference. Ideas for quick breaks in class are bouncing or dribbling a ball, hula hoop, running laps, jumping rope, skipping, jumping jacks, pus...

Games are a fun way to get our hands-on learning and there are many ways to implement them into your educational program.   One thing you can do is find games that are meant to be educational but I am not usually willing to drop my money on those as they can be rather pricey.  So what I do is either use what games we have or make up my own.  If necessary I change the rules or add my own twist to help my daughter who has special needs. For instance Yahtzee was a good way to learn adding, especially when we were learning our doubles math facts . Gess does great if she uses the large print Yahtzee score card from BoardGameGeek . To help with money we made up a game called Can I Buy That ? War is an easy but excellent way to teach greater than and less than.  Gess was really slow when she first started playing but now she is pretty quick to grab her cards when she wins! Crazy 8 is another good game.  It took Gess awhile to figure ou...

Manipulatives are a great tool to enhance learning and retention.  There is something about putting your hands on an object that helps you remember.  As I mentioned in my first post it really turns a lesson into an experience.  There are lots of ways to incorporate maniplatives into a lesson.  Some curricula come with them but if they don't you can always make or buy your own. Blocks are a great way to put your hands on learning.  Of course we all know about the alphabet blocks and those certainly helped Gess learn her letters.  But they can also be used to learn lots of things.  Here is Gess learning her books of the Bible . All they did here was write the books on the blocks.  Arranging them in order was a fun way to practice. Speaking of alphabet blocks, the other day at the library we saw they had letters made out of cloth.  You can also find puzzles that have letter and number shapes.  They can be pretty cheap.  Thos...