Special Connection Homeschool

I saw this on Facebook one day and thought how truly accurate that is.  How my heart grieves that we can so quickly put away our feelings of thankfulness for greed and envy.  I went Black Friday shopping once and it broke my heart.  As we waited in line for the object of our choice, seeing grown ups fight over things like a Buzz Light Year doll was too much.  Really, do you think that is what is going to bring your child happiness?  Oh man, do we have a lot to learn. So today, instead of a Free Friday post, I decided to help share something that will not only save you some money but maybe it will help free you from the consumerism nightmare that is upon us today. I shared this video before and will probably share it every year.  Before we start spending all that money, let us take a moment to consider what else we could do with all that money.  This video has a bit of a different spin. Instead of comparing the cost of Christmas to bringing clean...

Now that we are on our official winter break I have decided to keep Gess busy by focusing on cooking skills.  I try to do that through the year but too often its just easier to do it myself.  Trying to fit everything in our day is hard enough as it is.  So instead of just helping on occasion we are going to try to cook every day!  She enjoys it, it keeps her busy, she will learn a few skills, and it gives us some quality time together. This weekend she fried her first fried egg.  Well, I she didn't do a great job at flipping it and had help from me to keep her from burning herself.  (I held the pan as she flipped and put it on the plate, etc.)  I cooked a few myself first to show her how.  Hers ended up more scrambled but I managed to help her save one with yolk as she likes that.  I think we will try scrambled next weekend, she does that much better! Right now we are working on the basics, not so much the technique.  I am j...

Online for Life is offering a FREE ebook Abortion - The Ultimate Exploitation of Women .  I haven't read the book yet, but I have downloaded my copy.  It will hopefully be a good resource to dispel the myth that abortion helps women.  Abortion is the murder of an unborn child and the procedure is also harmful to the women who have it, both physically and emotionally. “This important book exposes two of the best-kept and dirtiest little secrets of our day: that selfish men often bully women into abortions and that countless women are profoundly hurt by this ‘choice’ in which they feel they had no real choice. The truth is finally getting out. It’s about time.” —Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author Click on the book to sign up to get your FREE copy today!

The Schoolhouse Review Crew has announced the winners of their Blue Ribbon Awards !  From all of the companies we review they let those of us on the crew vote for our favorites.  Out of 83 companies there are 38 Blue Ribbons going to 28 different companies!!  I have to say there have been some amazing products that have truly changed our lives and I was glad to see most of them win something. You go to the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blue Ribbon Award post to see the list of  ALL the winners.  Below I am going to highlight ones I have either used or reviewed. Favorite Reading Instruction Curriculum: Logic of English Logic of English had the most impact on our educational journey.  I love it because it helped Gess to get some of the things she was missing in other programs, the games make reviewing fun, and the way they emphasize the phonograms has helped Gess in her speech. It was just an all around wonderful product and I am so thrilled that they ...

We have the Seeds of Faith CD and it is really great. Its a fun way to learn and memorize Scripture as well as just enjoy to sing along with and praise the Lord. Gess really loves it! So when I saw they were giving away the Seeds of Praise for FREE between now and Thanksgiving, I just had to let you know now. I am not waiting until Friday!  Click the link below and download.  They make it super easy! Seeds Of Praise: Free Download Through Thanksgiving We want to get God’s Word to every family through music. One way we’re doing this is by offering the entire Seeds of Praise record as a free download. Not only do we want you to enjoy the music, but we encourage you to join our mission by being a Seed Planter.  Feel free to share the link with your family and as many friends as you would like to. It will be available through Thanksgiving.

My middle child Tim is still off at college studying theatre and last month we went to see him in another one of his plays. Tim's girlfriend Chelsie also attends college there and has a part time job at a really neat place called Pottery Works.  This is not a place to go and buy complete works of pottery but a place where you can go to make your own.  They have a large variety of pottery pieces to choose from along with tons of paints and stencils to decorate them with. The day we arrived, while Tim was at the theatre preparing for the show, Chelsie treated us to a Pottery Works experience and paid for us each to make a piece of art.  The huge selection was a bit overwhelming for Gess.  She wasn't sure what to make, but eventually she decided on a trinket box.  She also chose a rose to go on top of it.  At first I wasn't going to do anything but after watching Gess have so much fun, I decided to go ahead and give it a try too.  I made my husband a c...

Gess is getting excited as it gets close to December.  She really loves Christmas and can't wait until it gets here.  She actually starts counting down the days as soon as her birthday is over, which is on October 25th.  While Thanksgiving is fun and family filled, its nothing like the joy of Christmas.  Because Gess has special needs I try to find fun, hands-on ways to teach her about the holidays.  I do not just want her to like what we do, I want her to know why we do it.  That is where Homeschool Legacy comes in.  They gave me the opportunity to review their Once-a-Week Unit Study - Christmas Comes to America and we have had tons of fun learning how all the wonderful traditions that we enjoy came to be. The Homeschool Legacy Once-a-Week Unit Studies are a great way to learn about topical subjects such as Christmas, the Weather, Birds, Knights and Knobles and so on.  What you do is fill four days of school with your usual subjects...

Today marks our 186th day of school for this year which means we have met the legal obligation of the amount of days we must do school.  While I am not quite done for the year its nice to know that I have done what has been legally required of me and can end my year on time!  This is the first year I have done school from January to December and so far I like it.  This is the most hectic time of year for me.  Due the holidays and constant winter illnesses, it is hard to stay on track.  Therefore I have prepared well.  With the classes we did over the summer, we are almost ready for a full holiday break!  I will stop the week of Thanksgiving and not do much until after New Years.  Gess will do some computer lessons to keep English and Math practiced and boredom down to a minimum.  We will also focus on some Christmas lessons and do lots of family activities.  While school will be breaking my blogging will be to a minimum as well. I wi...

This week at our monthly Homeschool Mom's Night Out, one of the moms shared this great resource.  It is Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool which is a FREE online Christian homeschool.  You can do your entire homeschool agenda from this one website or use it as a supplement.  While I don't think this would work well for us for a total curriculum I certainly plan on using it for our history and to supplement some of our other subjects.  It will be nice to have one curriculum that is done for me at least part of the time.  I can't wait to try this out.

My daughter, who happens to have Down syndrome, absolutely loves science.  I think it is because she loves exploring the world around her through experimentation in a way in which she can visually see what she is learning.  With that in mind you can see why we were eager to review Apologia Educational Ministries curriculum Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics ! You may remember how thrilled we were with one of their other products, Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology that we used at the start of the year.  Well, Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics was definitely on that same level.  I love how they have a solid scientific foundation presented in a way that supports the Word of God.  In fact they begin by telling the student that chemistry and physics are "the sciences God created to make everything around you operate as it does"   The rest of the lessons help you explore the world God made through the scien...

As we enter into November the month we focus on Thanksgiving I am reminded of what I am most thankful for in life.  It is the God whom I serve.  The God of the universe, who loved me enough to die for me, while I was yet a sinner.  It is so hard to put into mere words and there is no other source better than the Word itself.  However, there is a clip of something Priscilla Shirer said in one of her teachings.  I think it may be something she says often.  Either way, it moved me then and still does every time I hear it.  Who is this God I belong to?  This God I love and serve?  Here is a glimpse of what He is to me. " He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He’s the keeper of creation and the creator of all. He’s the architect of the universe and the manager of all time. He always was, always is, always will be unmoved, unchanged, undefeated and never undone. He was bruised but brought healing, He was pierced bu...

I started this blog to share homeschooling resources with families, especially those who homeschool children with special needs.  In my blogging I stumbled upon an opportunity to be on the Schoolhouse Review Crew .  That has become one of the biggest blessings in our homeschool journey.  Being on the crew has exposed me to many homeschool products that I might not have found on my own and it has given me an opportunity to share those resources with all of you in my reviews ! Are you a homeschool blogger with an active blog?  Want to try some new homeschool resources and tell your readers about them?  Want to be part of an incredible homeschool community?  Then consider joining the Schoolhouse Review Crew !  Visit their website for more details and requirements.  The deadline for applications is November 8.