Special Connection Homeschool

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...

While Gess has been to church camp in the past, I have had always had to go as her counselor.  There are also always some activities she can't do well, or competitions she can't compete in equally, or just some times she can't keep up and needs to rest. This year we did something different.  For the first time Gess went to camp without me.  For the first time my husband and I had an entire week to ourselves. For the first time I was able to leave Gess and not have to worry about how she would handle things or how those watching her would handle her.  For the first time Gess went to Camp Barnabas . Camp Barnabas  is a camp geared specifically for special needs children.  They have camps for ages 7 to adults for every challenge your special one might face such as intellectual, physical, developmental, chronic illness, and more.  Campers are assigned their own counselor who follows them throughout the entire camp experience. They sleep in the cabin wi...

I was so impressed with how well Gess did at church camp this week.  Of course I was her sponsor so I was there to help teach her what to do and help others understand her if she struggled communicating her needs.  She seemed to learn the ropes rather quickly and did very well fitting in.  Her back is to you in the picture above.  She is in the bottom left hand corner.  The empty chair next to her was mine.  Below is the size of the line she had to wait in to even get to eat.  Since we homeschool church camp is Gess' only real experience in a cafeteria. While I occasionally helped her at the beginning she was good at carrying her own tray, getting her own food and drinks, helping herself to seconds and putting her tray and dishes away.  She always ate what she was served and cleaned her plate.  With all the activity she had quite the appetite!  All in all she seemed to enjoy meal time.  Gess also did fairly well in the...

Well, we had another great year at Church Camp . This is the second year that Gess spent the night. (For grades 1 & 2 they spend 2 days and one night at camp) I have to tell you the funniest thing she did this year. Gess is NOT a huge fan of noise, especially noise from people talking too loudly. At camp they really encouraged the kids to be loud. They said this is the time when you are allowed to be loud at church so take advantage of it. Well, Gess spent quite a bit of time with her hands over her ears, that is until she figured something out. They also have a rule that while you are allowed to be loud, when the leaders need you to be quiet you must obey. So they have this game. If they want you quite they raise their fist in the air and get quiet. When you see that, you also raise your fist in the air and get quiet. The goal is NOT to be the last one talking. It actually works really well and the kids all get quiet and pay attention fairly quickly. Well, after we had ...

Gess went to her first overnight camp this year. It was a lot of fun. I went as her sponsor and got to stay in the cabin with her and accompanied her to all of her activities. She did really well fitting in with her peers, but there are still some areas in which she lacks the independence to do on her own. Over all though, I think she had a great experience. This was only a one night camp, which was a perfect way to start. After registering and getting settled in our cabin we began our day at camp by meeting at the flagpole. Each day they stand silently as they raise the American and Christian flags. Once they are up they say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag, the Christian flag and the Holy Bible. Then we were off to the tabernacle for our first service. Our speaker was a man who starts Spanish speaking churches in our area and also travels the world sharing the gospel using a soccer ball. The ball was made of various colors which makes it appealing to the childre...