Special Connection Homeschool

At the start of 2012 I blogged about the New Year Photo Book we were making that I found at No Time for Flash Cards . I wanted to post again today as a reminder to keep it going.  I also hope to get some new readers in on the fun. We started this a few years ago as a great way to talk about how we "grow up." Gess always seemed to talk about growing up as if it happens once and then suddenly you can do something. "When I grow up I will drive." I didn't think she understood that it is a process that is continually happening. This book is a really fun way to show that progress. When we started the book we went back through old photos and chose one favorite from each year to put in the book. Now at the end of the year we go look for a fun experience or simply funny photo that will represent what Gess was like that year. While we want it to show her size we also want it to show her interests or her attitude and things like that. For this year we chose...

Our tree is decorated, our shopping is done and our gifts are all wrapped. This last week we went and picked Tim up from college for the holidays.  I am happy and blessed to have everyone all in one place. Financially we are having a tighter than usual Christmas, but I am not upset or unhappy in the least.  All of my children will be here, we have a warm home, food on the table, clean water and are free to come and go as we please.  Holidays are not about the stuff for me.  It is about spending time together with those we love.  It should also be about something more.  Christ was certainly not born on December 25 and probably not even during this season.  However, if we are going to have a holiday focusing on Christ's birth, we should also remember that He came for a purpose. He came to save us from our sins.  Jesus was born so that He might die and He died so that we might live.  That is what Christmas should really be all about.  I ho...

I finally started a Facebook page for my blog.  I will share my blog posts there as well as other great resources for both homeschooling and special needs.  If you are on Facebook, please consider joining us!   https://www.facebook.com/specialconnectionhomeschool  

The Voice of the Martyrs is offering a FREE movie titled Jesus: He Lived Among Us for churches.  It is the complete story of Jesus' life here on earth as told in the Scripture.  For an animated movie it is pretty accurate and very powerful. The Voice of the Martyrs uses these in other countries to help spread the gospel.  When presenting the gospel to people who can't read or who simply won't pick up the Bible it is a great tool to use to tell them about Jesus.  Our church received one and used it with our kids class last year.  Here is the trailer. To get your church a FREE copy of this movie visit the Free Jesus Movie website by clicking on the image below.

This year we had the pleasure of attending a special event for persons with Down syndrome and their families.  They first treated us to an incredible breakfast.  Next came the fun.  They had 3 Santas so that the lines remained small.  We never really did the Santa thing, but Gess still likes to see him. They also had lots of fun games and crafts.  Here she is making a Christmas tree ornament for our tree.  I think we left there with 4 new hand made ornaments of various styles! She also made a Santa beard for herself. I think the antlers from her hand prints were her favorite.  She wore them all day. As we were leaving she specifically asked for a picture with the nutcracker. We had such a lovely time!  There were over 800 people in attendance!  Since we live in a small town it was refreshing to see so many other families and children with Down syndrome.  Gess has her few friends, but you know, there really are ...

Gary A. Haugen the President and CEO of the International Justice Mission will soon be releasing a new book, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence .  As you know I am very mission minded and have been an advocate of IJM since I discovered them a few years back.  The work they do to help save people from the bonds of slavery is nothing short of amazing.  As we know there are no victims more vulnerable to the threat of trafficking than those who live in poverty.  They are the ones with out the resources and power to speak out against the oppression that faces them on a daily basis.  Their desperation will make them trust those who actually seek to bring them harm or simply give up all hope.  However, poverty alone is apparently not the only problem.  To address poverty we need to end the senseless violence that surrounds it.  The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence will address thi...

I was thinking the other day about the picketing going on of fast food restaurants and how they want workers there to make $15.00 an hour.  They are complaining that the minimum wage is not a fair wage.  In fact they are beginning to replace the word "fair" with "living."  They want every single person who gets a job to get a "living" wage, which means they can live off of what they make regardless of whether or not the work they do is worth it. Before you start getting all up in arms as if I am looking down on the fast food industry by saying their work is not "worth" a certain amount you must know that I have not only worked fast food, I was raised in it.  My daddy worked fast food almost all of my life.  He managed many fast food restaurants and was sometimes the supervisor of several stores.  I know first hand how physically hard the work can be.  However, while it is hard work, there are basically no skills required for non-management posi...

Since earlier this week I shared about how we made our Advent Candles , for my FREE Friday post I figured I would share some links to some FREE Advent Printables . A Virtuous Woman has a really neat spin on Advent Scriptures.  She offers Christmas ADVENTures in Prophecy which offers 25 readings about the life of Christ that fulfilled specific prophecy. Happy Home Fairy has free printable Bible Verse Advent Cards .  They had a neat idea about adding this to your little elf on a shelf, if you choose to do that.  Heart of the Matter has a Happy Birthday Jesus Printable Advent Calendar that is in the shape of a birthday cake. DLTK has some good preschool craft and printable ideas for Advent Calendar Activities .

I was on Pinterest trying to find some new Christmas crafts to do when I came across this one for Glowing Paper Advent Candles .  That looked so perfect for Gess!  These are really easy and we plan on using these at home.  We only started using an advent calendar a couple of years ago and we have never used the candles.  Since we do not have an advent wreath for our home we will use these.  I made up cards with the verses that we will read as we light one each week.  It will be fun and Gess will be thrilled she had a part in creating it. All you need is: paint 1 toilet paper roll for each candle yellow construction paper for the flame 1 package of flame-less tea light candles glue scissors While traditional advent candles are purple, pink and white we didn't worry about the color.  Instead we cut out a shape to represent each candle so I let Gess paint the candles any color she chose. Next you cut out something to make the flame and g...