Special Connection Homeschool

I have been having some serious shoulder pain, which turns out to be a problem in my neck. Still, it has made sitting at my desk unbearable and sitting at all unpleasant. I am in physical therapy and it seems to be helping, but it seems like it will be a slow healing process. So anyway, writing is just not happening right now. We have some things going on in school and other activities I plan to write about. I just haven't had the opportunity to get it on the blog. Please don't give up on me and if you would, send a prayer my way! I am anxious to get back to my usual pace again!

In our World of Science book we are learning about atoms so I logged on to Easy Peasy All-in-one Homeschool to find some supplemental ways to explore them. On their Easy Peasy Chemistry and Physics page I found links to these fun interactive helpful tools! At Molecularium we played in the Nanolab. There you could build molecules, zoom in to see their size, and check them out in the different states of matter. Then at Learn.Genetics we found a cool tool that lets you get a feel for the real size and scale of a cell. Use the scroll bar along the bottom to keep zooming in. It's really cool! We followed up with this video showing the size by continuing to look at things that are 1,000 times smaller than the object we are looking at. The music is just background and has no context, so we muted it as we watched. It's really hard to wrap your head around how really tiny an atom is, but these sure do help give us some perspective.

By A+ I don't actually mean that's my daughter's grade, but rather it is the program we are using for math again this year.  A+ Tutorsoft is math program you can purchase to use online or on a CD. It has instructional videos, interactive quizzes, as well as both online and printable worksheets and exams. It has everything we need for one year of math. Gess really struggles with math so we are using the 3rd grade curriculum. Gess has been unable to memorize her math facts so I still allow her to use helps (including counting on her fingers) to help her solve problems, but she is able to add and subtract large numbers that way. We will begin focusing on multiplication and division this year. I prefer A+ over other online programs because the lessons are presented in a way that Gess seems to both enjoy and understand. When it's time to do the interactive quiz I often have her solve the problem on the board instead of a worksheet. She enjoys that. Here she is compar...

With Gess now being in what many call middle school it has been hard for me to find appropriate curriculum. She can read really well and her comprehension is even pretty good, but it is not yet ready for middle school level. Couple that with her inability to read small print and it makes finding a text book hard. We have also been all over the place on science. It has turned out to be Gesserine's favorite subject and many times I have let her choose the topic. Her fascination with weather comes alive every spring and in the winter when she is often sick she focuses on human anatomy and biology. While we have done some studies on plants and animals and various other things, I fear there are some things she has missed. So this year we are doing a full science review. For that I purchased the book The World of Science from Master Books . The book is divided into 7 sections. It covers 6 majors areas of science with the final section being experiments that correspond with the oth...

We officially started school yesterday! I always think I am going to wait until later in September but since all of our friends head back, the pool closes, the reading program ends, and all the other "summer time" stuff ends, we go ahead and start. We had a very productive day! We got in all our subjects including math twice, as well as a haircut, painting class, library time, and the park. I also cleaned two houses, neither of which were my own. I am very excited about the year! I will share our subjects one at a time in future posts.

Not only did I sign Gess up for the library reading program but I also participated. I only had to read 10 books and they can be any 10 books but I always challenge myself to read something outside of my usual reading patterns. They must be new authors, or genres, or something to that affect and I can only check out what I find by browsing the shelves. I figured I would tell you about all the new items I explored because after all, now that Gess is older I don't really read with her anymore so I can't tell you about the books she read. I can, however tell you about mine. Summer Reading List 2015 My first selection was The Aushwitz Escape by Joel Rosenberg. This was on my "to read" list anyway and I was excited to get it. It was an exceptional book and I highly recommend it to everyone. I have done much reading, study, and research on the concentration camps myself and I could tell that while this was fictional, it was very careful to be as historically accurate...

We are at the end of another summer reading program. Our library has the funnest activities year round but the summer ones are always the best. Here are a few examples of what Gess has done most recently. Since Gess is a huge science buff she gets really excited over the Mad Scientist who comes each year. I particularly love how she encapsulates the theme of the program into her presentation. This year it was Super Heroes so she talked about their super powers and used science to demonstrate them!  Playing with your food is always fun. Check out Gess' turtle, Minion cookie, and Chocolate Rocket! The Lego club is always a big hit. Gess loves sitting and building her own thing and I think it is good for her to see what other kids do as well. Gess usually spends her time building the wall and so there is very little time to finish the stuff inside. This is a store. All the kids who completed their reading will get a T-shirt, certificate, be in a drawing for other priz...

This last week Gess was asked to play the piano at our local Christian Women's Club. While they had Gess come and play the piano they also had a boy who has Down syndrome read a story and a boy who has autism do a comedy sketch. All three children did an amazing job and I was blessed to have been a part of it! I am so thankful that they wanted to spend their day celebrating our children's accomplishments. I thought I would share a piece that Gess played with you. It is the hymn As The Deer .

So I am checking out Facebook from Educents and I see this banner come across my feed telling me that Minecraft Math is on sale. That piqued my interest because Gess isn't very fond of math but she loves Minecraft. I grabbed it and figured I would use it as a supplement this school year. Then it happened. Gess heard me telling her dad about it. "Minecraft Math?" She asks. I tell her yes and show her the book. For the next few days she kept asking me if we could do Minecraft Math. I told her we would during school and blew it off. Eventually I realized that if she wanted to do it during the summer I would not stop her! She was asking for math so why in the world was I saying no? So I got them printed up and we started right away. Here are the books we used. The books are still on sale for awhile!  Even so, it's not that expensive. I also picked up the writing one that we will use later this fall. We have completed the one on angles. She really enjoyed it. At o...

I am so sorry I have not been posting. Not only was I healing from surgery but as I started to work and actually cook again I sliced my thumb along with the squash I was working on! It was sore for awhile and that made it hard to type. Then that finally healed and I just couldn't think of what to write about. That's the thing. Usually I have all these summer activities to talk about but due to my surgery we really haven't done much since Gess has gotten back from camp. At least I was given permission to drive earlier than I thought so Gess has still been able to participate in the library reading program. She has actually completed it and been given her awards, part of which is an invitation to the swimming party at the end of the summer.  Other than reading they have fun activities such as crafts and other things. One thing they do every year that we love is give you a bag of junk. It consists of things like an empty paper towel roll, q-tips. a piece of yearn, craft st...

While Gess has Down syndrome, she is pretty high functioning and has attended our local church camp with me going as her counselor. She could participate in most things, it was pretty much a week of her tagging along and trying to be a part of the crowd. That's her every day life. People are warm and welcoming, but after a few minutes of conversing with her they are back to their own conversation and she struggles to keep up or moves off into her own space. They aren't mean and it's not their fault really, it's just life. They are at a different pace and a different communication level. It's tough, but she adjusts and never complains. Then there is life at Camp Barnabas where suddenly, for just one week, her world turns upside down. For that week friends go hand in hand together as one. You want to do a ropes course but happen to be in a wheelchair? No problem! Camp Barnabas can hook you up - literally!  There is nothing they won't help you do! No one stop...

Gess is going off to Camp Barnabas this summer. It is an amazing Christian camp for people with special needs. This will be her second year going. Every day they have a special theme party for which you dress up. This year's themes are Super Hero Showdown, Noah's Ark Water Park, A Knight's Tale, & Blast From the Past. I will start with the most complicated costume we made.     Noah's Ark Water Park Gess loves learning about dinosaurs and realizes they were actually on the ark. While this sounds unreal to some of you, when you understand the average dinosaur was the size of a sheep and know that God didn't have to choose the largest of them all to be on the ark, you get it. They were there!  So she wanted to be a dinosaur. I found this simple and fun DIY Paper Dinosaur on Pinterest . Using the paper as a template I hot glued the paper pattern to green cloth. I actually glued it in the wrong place so it doesn't go over Gess' head, but I felt this wou...

I have struggled to keep up with my blog but I haven't been quite frank about why. I have had some medical issues that require surgery. That's all I am comfortable saying publicly. Today, as you read this I will be under the knife - the first time ever for me which makes me nervous. My pastor has a joke he likes to share about the difference between major and minor surgery. He says its minor surgery when its for you and its major surgery when its for me!  Well, I have watched my daughter go through some pretty major stuff, so I know mine isn't on that level but still, it isn't something to take lightly either. I hope to be up and around enough to write in a week or so. I was hoping to have some blogs scheduled so my down time wouldn't seem to stark but that just didn't happen. I haven't had the energy and what energy I did have was spent preparing my household and family members that I take care of to be ready in my absence. My house is clean and ready. Lad...

Since Gess has special needs we really focus on life skills math. So this summer, instead of just doing "math" we are making sure we do fun stuff that involves math. Part of that includes cooking! Gess loves to help in the kitchen but now that she is almost 14 I am trying to make sure she starts doing things more on her own. This summer we are focusing on following a recipe. To help with that I got her some easy to read measuring cups and spoons. I really don't like the plastic ones because I know that the numbers will wash off soon but stainless steel ones are hard to read.Still, these will work for now. I think I will order the Cake Boss ones soon as they look really easy to use. So far we have baked some cakes. I tried to really let Gess take control of that one! The only thing I did was help her scrape the batter out of the bowl and even out the pan once she poured it in. I was very proud of her. Oh and the cake was so good I caught her sneaking some ...

We signed up for our summer reading program again.  This year's theme is Every Hero Has a Story . Gess is now in the middle school challenge where she only has to read 10 books, but they have to be from the J, YA, or A section. She selected several books but started with a Young Indiana Jones book. She was thrilled they had one in a font size she can read!  Her reading is excellent but she can't read books with normal small print. I also signed up and have to read 10 books. Adults can read from any section but I try to make my own challenges. This year each book must be a different author, but I am not sure what other limits I might set. Anyway, I started with The Auschwitz Escape . I have been wanting to read that since it released but never got around to it. We started reading right away and are already several chapters in. Hubby came in and took our picture! I didn't like putting mine away last night, too much was happening!  What are you reading thi...

All these names can get sort of confusing. What you need to know is that those 3 titles mean the same thing!  “You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks , that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year." Exodus 34:22 Feast of Weeks is, of course, our English term. Shavuot is the Hebrew word for weeks. Pentecost is the Greek term used in the New Testament, but it is the same holiday that is observed above. Pentecost literally means fiftieth for The Feast of Weeks was to occur 50 days after the Passover. You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. Lev 23:15-16 Christianity celebrates Pentecost Sunday as the day the disciples received the Holy Spirit but while this year P...

It was Gess' third year at piano and her recital was last weekend. She enjoys playing and does fairly well. Her biggest challenge is the rhythm of the song. She knows where the notes are but doesn't necessarily hold them the right amount. Her teacher works well with her and I am glad for the experience. Reading music is a great thing to learn! Here was one of her songs: Spaceship to Mars

On Friday May 8th at 2:00pm Clara Dey was laid to rest. She was a 15 month old darling little girl who lost her struggle with Down syndrome. While I love to share the up side of Down syndrome and all the accomplishments that our kids can make, there is a down side to it. The medical problems that arise from that extra chromosome are many and sometimes they cause a life to end before it really even starts. Clara spent a huge portion of her life in a hospital room yet her smile was one of the most incredible things you could ever see. Her resilience was amazing and those who knew her will be forever touched. Down syndrome is about much more than learning difficulties. There are medical complications as well, sometimes serious ones. Their yearly check ups always bring about a sense of anxiousness even when you know all is well. While Gess' heart repair went smoothly and she is now healthy and strong you can't forget that things like Leukemia and Alzheimer's disease are com...

Our celebration of the Passover led us to look for some activities for Gess to do to help her learn about the holiday. I found Chabad.org had a site for kids called the Jewish Kids Club . There you can find lots of visuals, videos, and craft ideas. The Passover Holiday page has lots of great information. Of course this is solely from a Jewish perspective but it really helps to get a feel for how it has always been done. We did two of their crafts, colored some printable pages , and used one kid friendly recipe. I really had trouble finding many of the things I needed for our Seder meal, including a matzah cover. Their Matzah Cover Craft was a great idea! Now I didn't need to buy anything. We used our own stencils and materials, but the idea came from them. We ended up doing the stenciling just like we did our Challah Cloth . Next I found a video teaching the kids to make an Afikoman Bag . I had no idea what that even was! You see during the Passover meal you break a ...