Special Connection Homeschool

I made my first attempt with Challah bread this week because I wanted to try it before our first Shabbat. I used the Challah I Recipe from Allrecipes.com . It was pretty good but I was low on honey and think I needed more. It turned out beautifully though. You can find the recipe online. You can also watch a video of it as well. It was helpful to hear and see the instructions. There were things added there that weren't in the text.

I have been wanting to study the Old Testament Biblical holidays for quite some time but I wanted to wait until Gess was old enough to really get something out of it. Now that she is, I am anxious for the new year to begin. See, besides simply studying the holidays, we are going to actually observe them!  From January to December we will do each holiday as it takes place. In fact we are going to observe some of the non-biblical Jewish holidays as well.  We are using the book A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays to help us navigate what to do. They have lots of great information and many fun games, activities, and crafts to go along with them. There aren't really any festivals at the very beginning of our year. They don't really get started to until the spring. It is pretty much Spring and Fall, with just a couple in the winter.  You can see the chart on the back of the book that explains when they are. We also plan on observing the Sabbath, or should I say S...

I got this in my email from Baptist Global Response and I couldn't help myself. I had to share it with you. BGR is a great ministry that truly meets the needs of those they help, both physically and spiritually. It's the place we give to the most, outside of our local church mission offerings. When I got this in email I immediately shared it on Facebook and as my husband has started the habit, we never share anything about giving without actually giving ourselves. So, I purchased: A Safe Place for Young Girls $5 $5.00 $5.00 10 Fish: $3 $3.00 $3.00 Feed a Hungry Child for a day $.50 ...

When I grew up we called it Junior High, but here they refer to it as Middle School. No matter what you call it, this was Gess' official first year out of elementary school. It has been interesting trying to find curriculum to meet her needs but it has worked out so far. She is at least working more independently. My most exciting and newest change has been our math curriculum. I want to write about it soon but haven't had the chance. It is called Life of Fred and teaches math through stories. While you follow the life of this interesting character named Fred you learn math. You practice math facts, learn geography, time, addition and subtraction concepts as well as early algebra. The greatest part is the child doesn't really know that they are learning. It feels like play. My only concern is that since I started at the beginning its all review for Gess so of course it comes easy. However, it is the first time in her life that Gess has been excited about doing math! Sh...

Today we had great fun with our new homeschool co-op. We went to the nursing home and performed The Little Drummer Boy. Gess was asked to be the angel, but she preferred to be a shepherd, so she was! Next we invaded our local grocery store and split up into 2 teams. Each team had a budget of $20 to spend on getting food for a family in need. This needed to be non-perishable items that would make a good meal. Our team lost because we went over. Ours came to $20.43.  That's not too bad though. They picked out some good items. Macaroni and Cheese, veggies, cans of fruit, pasta and spaghetti sauce, juice, cake mix with icing and a few other things.  After that we stopped at the old fashioned soda shop for a treat. Gess got a Dr. Pepper float and liked it!  That was a great way to celebrate Christmas I think. Our final meeting of the year is a mom's only luncheon. I am looking forward to that!

Having our first snow in November is something that doesn't happen too often around here. It came down on a Sunday while I was at church. As I was in the nursery waiting for children to arrive, I got some beautiful shots. After lunch Gess was anxious to play, but first she helped daddy clean off the cars. Then she tried to make a snowball but it wouldn't pack very good. So, she settled for making a snow angel.

For the first time in my life I took the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a novel in a month. It was also the first time I have ever attempted to write a novel at all. I have started a few books that I never finished, but they were all non-fiction about homeschooling, the bible, etc. This was a novel, a book to read just for fun. It was hard, but I did it. Now before you start wondering when this book will be available let me assure you that it never will be. When you are focused on the number of words you don't have time to edit and I absolutely did not do any editing. Not only that, but the story line is all over the place. I was doing a good job of building characters and relationships but it wasn't really going anywhere so I threw in a little crisis which held me for awhile but I didn't feel it was enough. So I added in some other aspects and the story took a major turn leaving the the other crisis completely ignored. There were also characters who I began to develo...