Special Connection Homeschool

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 ...

Now that we are on our official winter break I have decided to keep Gess busy by focusing on cooking skills.  I try to do that through the year but too often its just easier to do it myself.  Trying to fit everything in our day is hard enough as it is.  So instead of just helping on occasion we are going to try to cook every day!  She enjoys it, it keeps her busy, she will learn a few skills, and it gives us some quality time together. This weekend she fried her first fried egg.  Well, I she didn't do a great job at flipping it and had help from me to keep her from burning herself.  (I held the pan as she flipped and put it on the plate, etc.)  I cooked a few myself first to show her how.  Hers ended up more scrambled but I managed to help her save one with yolk as she likes that.  I think we will try scrambled next weekend, she does that much better! Right now we are working on the basics, not so much the technique.  I am j...

We are doing some school over the summer so this week for our Summer Reading Program Gess read some books that go along with our lessons.  Right now we are studying about the land and are learning about the various resources that come from it.  One of the greatest and most important resources is food. This week we are focusing on food that comes from animals and so Gess chose several books about cows, pigs and chickens.  She started with books about cows and after she read the book Hooray For Dairy Farming she was excited because at the end of the book it had a recipe to make a banana milk shake.   Using milk, that comes from a cow, and ice cream, which is also made from milk that comes from a cow, we added a banana, which comes from a tree, and made a delicious snack.  While I said we , the only I thing I actually did was assemble the food processor and pour the shake into the glass.  Gess could have done it totally by herself if we had a blender...

I am just super excited to tell you about the latest product I reviewed for the Schoolhouse Review Crew - Simplified Pantry .  It is not actually a homeschooling product, but rather something that every family can benefit from.  I grew up in a home where both parents worked and we ate a lot of fast food for dinner. I never really learned many cooking skills and so I always had to cook by following recipes.  Every week I planned my shopping list by the menu I prepared for that week and I would buy only the ingredients for those meals.  That of course always had me running back to the store several times because I would either forget something or have a change of plans.  Many times it meant eating out because if one of the meals didn't work out I had nothing ready to fall back on.  To help put an end to all this needless planning and preparation, not to mention the waste for all those "special" ingredients you buy that are only used once, Mystie Winkler ca...

Last month I shared how I am really trying to get Gess cooking in the kitchen .  We have been diligent about making sure she is a part of cooking at least one day a week.  This week she helped me use up all those Easter eggs she colored by making egg salad for lunch!  This one is great because it's really simple.  Here is how we made it. Your eggs need to be hard boiled, but if you color eggs like we did that part has been done.  Then you have to peel them. This was great motor skill work for Gess.  There is just no better way to teach peeling an egg than to actually just do it.  She did pretty well but she did have some eggs come out pretty choppy.  She obviously peeled some egg with the shell, but sometimes that even happens to me. Then we chopped up the eggs and added salad dressing (generic Miracle Whip), mustard, relish, salt and pepper until we had the taste and texture we wanted.  (We did not measure anything.) Then ju...

Recently I have started teaching Gess how to cook.  One of the life skills she will need most as an adult is to know how to prepare her food correctly and safely.  Gess is now 11 and ready for much of the independence but she still lacks some of the motor skills.  While she can cut with a knife, she does not do it well and is really shy about it because she is afraid of cutting herself.  I must admit I fear that too.  So lately we have started some Home Economics and this last week Gess cooked us both breakfast and dinner.  She did great, with a little help from mom. While cooking alone is considered educational, I thought it would be fun to bring some other subjects into the kitchen.  I found these books at the library to help. We have not had the opportunity to use them yet but we have started looking through them.  Of course Gess is most interested in the first one.  Combining experiments and cooking would be...