Special Connection Homeschool

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...

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 ...

This year as we are studying the Biblical Holidays which of course included the Passover. I really wish I could have kept up with blogging about it while we were celebrating it but there was so much to prepare and do that I just didn't have the time. I still want to share what we did and how we did it so next year I can pull these posts back out for both your sake and mine! The Passover Week celebration had many elements. Each Friday I will post a specific blog for each one.  As they are completed the links below will work. For now just know they are coming. Check back every Friday for the next six weeks to learn more! 1. The Preparation - (Coming April 24) This required work a few weeks ahead of time. It basically was the task of removing unleavened bread from your home and what we learned in the process of the cleansing. 2.  Passover Crafts & Activities - (Coming Soon) We did two crafts, some fun pages, and watched some videos to help our daughter be a ...

Since it is spring break here we decided to take a day to spend with some of our friends who go to public school. We had three friends over today and we decided to do some of the art that Tim did with us during Drama Therapy . The collage was a hit by everyone. Even I enjoyed it!  You take a piece of paper and a bunch of magazines. Then find things you like or words that describe them or just anything you like about you. What do you like to do? What do you like about yourself? How do you feel? It's a great way to be expressive and the kids really got into it. I loved how the children went for words like beautiful, fun, creative, and bright future. Even the word lazy was in the context of "Sometimes I like to be lazy and relax." Don't we all? Here they are finding just the right words and pictures for their artwork. This took up quite a bit of time and they chose to do this over video games. At least the girls did!  It led to some really great conversation too. ...

In following our guide to studying the Biblical Holidays , we have started celebrating Shabbat, or the Sabbath, every week. The basic items needed to celebrate are a table cloth, two candles, bread, and wine (which we substitute grape juice). The bread they make is called Challah bread and they have a specific cloth to cover it on the table. The reason for this is that it is Jewish custom to bless certain foods in a specific order and bread comes before wine in the blessings. However, on the Sabbath the blessing of the cup comes before the blessing of the bread therefore they cover the bread so that it is not shamed in not having gone first. I wanted our table to look traditional so I wanted a cloth myself. The book we are using, A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays , had a pattern for making one. I also searched for a few craft ideas online and settled for my own easy version. I bought a pre-made cloth napkin and used special fabric markers to make it easier for Gess to do it by...

I am sure if you have been on Facebook, Pinterest, and other such places you have seen the Oreo cookie moon phases. Gess is learning about space right now and her text book suggested using paper plates to make the phases of the moon, but I decided to go this route since it seemed a bit more fun. It's really easy: Step 1 - Break the cookie apart leaving the middle in tact. This is the toughest part. Gess broke a few and the middle isn't always in tact but we were still able to use those for some of the moon phases. Step 2 - Use a butter knife to carve the cream out into the desired shape of the moon. Step 3 - Place it on your chart. Repeat until you have all the phases done. We put it on a paper plate. Most people label it, but I did not. Instead I would have Gess tell me what they are or ask her a phase and have her point to it. The phases are: 1. New Moon 2. Waxing Crescent Moon 3. First Quarter Moon 4. Waxing Gibbous Moon 5. Full Moon 6. Wan...

At the start of 2012 I blogged about the New Year Photo Book we were making that I found at No Time for Flash Cards . Now is my annual reminder to keep up with it, or start one if you have not yet done so. Now that Gess is actually getting bigger its still a fun book to do. At 13 the fascination isn't so much about how much she has grown (which she actually hasn't grown at all this last year) but what events stood out to her. Of course, going to Camp Barnabas was her favorite event so she chose that one. When looking at photos to choose from that she couldn't stop laughing at this one of her and her counselor at the pool. This will be our entry this year! I compiled all the pictures last year to show what ours looks like inside. It was another great year and Gess really loves looking back on how much she has grown and think about some of the great experiences she has had.

Gess got a Crayola Marker Maker for Christmas.  It was something she kept asking for.  She must have seen an add for them on the computer because I wasn't even aware that such a thing existed.  We were excited to find that they did and got them in time for Christmas. Gess really did love making her own markers.  It was sort of difficult but with careful instruction she got it down.  Daddy helped her with her color combinations and together they chose what colors to make her markers.  Here she is putting in some of the color. Then you had to insert the inside of the marker so it would absorb the color. It was fun watching it do that. Then you had to place that inside the marker case. The hard part was snapping it into place.  You used the yellow lever and had to press really hard. After labeling the marker you were done.  The label was important because the inside didn't always look like the color. Orange, for instance...

At the start of 2012 I blogged about the New Year Photo Book we were making that I found at No Time for Flash Cards . I wanted to post again today as a reminder to keep it going.  I also hope to get some new readers in on the fun. We started this a few years ago as a great way to talk about how we "grow up." Gess always seemed to talk about growing up as if it happens once and then suddenly you can do something. "When I grow up I will drive." I didn't think she understood that it is a process that is continually happening. This book is a really fun way to show that progress. When we started the book we went back through old photos and chose one favorite from each year to put in the book. Now at the end of the year we go look for a fun experience or simply funny photo that will represent what Gess was like that year. While we want it to show her size we also want it to show her interests or her attitude and things like that. For this year we chose...

I was on Pinterest trying to find some new Christmas crafts to do when I came across this one for Glowing Paper Advent Candles .  That looked so perfect for Gess!  These are really easy and we plan on using these at home.  We only started using an advent calendar a couple of years ago and we have never used the candles.  Since we do not have an advent wreath for our home we will use these.  I made up cards with the verses that we will read as we light one each week.  It will be fun and Gess will be thrilled she had a part in creating it. All you need is: paint 1 toilet paper roll for each candle yellow construction paper for the flame 1 package of flame-less tea light candles glue scissors While traditional advent candles are purple, pink and white we didn't worry about the color.  Instead we cut out a shape to represent each candle so I let Gess paint the candles any color she chose. Next you cut out something to make the flame and g...

Gess is getting really excited about Christmas and is constantly asking me how many days are left.  The other day we found that the local Wal-Mart was assisting young children in that answer.  Gess gets very excited when she sees the sign.  Oh the wonder of seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.  Here she is standing next to the silly sign, though the flash made the number disappear this was 15 until days until Christmas. It's been a hectic and somewhat sick holiday season around here, but we have done a few fun things to get ready for the holiday and make the waiting fun for Gess.  We actually started a new tradition this year thanks to a really cute gift she received from her brother and his future wife Chelsie.  They got Gess an Elf on a Shelf.  Here is Chelsie explaining it to her while Gess reads the book.  The elf is supposed to be Santa's spy, but we don't really do Santa around here, but that didn't make this tradition any...