Special Connection Homeschool

We decided to homeschool our daughter before she was born but when we found out she had Down syndrome we weren't so sure if we would still be able to do that.  However, by the time Gess was ready for school we not only knew that we were capable of homeschooling, we were convinced it was the best choice for us. The hardest part of homeschooling a child with special needs was finding resources to use.  I was constantly on the internet searching for information and ideas about how to teach Gess.  There was one time I found a great resource on teaching children with Down syndrome to read.  A few months later I lost the link.  I went back to search for it but and after hours and hours with no results I finally gave up. That's when I decided I not only needed to organize my information better, I needed to share it with others. I figured if I had this much trouble finding information, maybe others did too. Special Connection Homeschool was sparked from that idea....

So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler is hosting a Homeschoolers Around the World linky to sign up homeschoolers by geographical are to "promote more friendship, unity and resources for our families."  Click the link below if you want to add your blog or find other homeschoolers in your near you.  Enjoy!

OK so I learned that people were not commenting because they found Captcha annoying, which I understand.  It can be really hard to read and take several tries to get through, so I finally turned it off.  However, I wanted to explain a couple of reasons why I used both Capthcha and Comment Moderation at the same time.  Some people seem to think that one or the other is sufficient, but it's really not. Comment Moderation allows you to make sure that comments made are appropriate.  I was on a board once where a very sick post was made that churned my stomach.  I never want my readers to accidentally find such a comment on my site, so I moderate.  This is especially important when you have a child with special needs as the focus of your blog.  The world can be so unkind at times.  Please understand why you will never see your comment immediately. Captcha allows you to avoid spam.  If you turn it off your inbox fills up with so much spam it ...

Graphics come in handy for us bloggers but also for homeschoolers.  Finding pictures for worksheets, especially when they will be shared publicly is tricky due to copyright issues.  Things we use for personal use I am not too worried about, I can grab any image I want.  But for things I want to share with others I must make sure I have permission.  Open Clip Art is a great resource for finding the images you need because open in this context means free . "Open Clip Art Library ( OCAL ) is the largest collaborative community that creates, shares and remixes clipart. All clipart is released to the public domain and may be used in any project for free with no restrictions" You may have noticed that I recently changed my blog theme and made a new button with my logo.  Do you want to guess where I got the book graphic from?  At Open Clip Art a quick search for books got me several options. I could have used any of these. But instead I...

I want to thank Bethany at Little Homeschool Blessings for nominating me for the Leibster Award. As she explains it: "The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have not yet hit the 200 follower mark. The award is presented by a fellow blogger as a sort of pat on the back "you've got a great thing started" type of award. "Liebster" is German for favorite." The rules 1. List 11 facts about yourself. 2. Answer the 11 questions given to you. 3. Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award. 4. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate. 5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award. 6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog. My Facts 1.I am a Christian who loves the Lord and serving Him is what I am most passionate about. 2.When I grow up I want to be writer. (OK so I am grown up, but I still have dreams!)  3. I have been married twice...