Special Connection Homeschool

For High School our state requires the following for Social Studies: Three units of history and government, which shall include world history; United States history; United States government, including the Constitution of the United States; concepts of economics and geography Here is how I plan to meet the requirement and teach my daughter who has Down syndrome. Veritas Press is a product I have continued to use since reviewing it. In middle school Gess has completed the first two in the self-paced history courses which were Old Testament and Ancient Egypt and New Testament Greece and Rome . This year she will be completing Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation . That will be part of "world" history. The self-paced series is considered an elementary level curriculum but it offers a way for me to give her one class that I don't have to teach. It allows her some independence that way. Gess loves the way it is presented and with quizzes often done via games, ...

With Gess entering High School I have to make sure that she completes the requirements for graduation. Because she has Down syndrome I am able to adapt the subjects to her current level of learning and capabilities. As we start the 9th grade I am trying to make sure that I have a plan in place. I know that parents who homeschool their child with special needs often want to know what to do for high school. I know, because I am one of them! Well, I am learning as I go but I think I have it figured out! Before I get into the curriculum we need to talk about record keeping. I have been using My Student Log Book s since I reviewed them a couple of years ago. It has been helpful for Gess to track her own work and keep her on task. Here is an example of that from my previous review . While I used it as a visual check list, it is so much more than that! If you utilize all the functions in this book you can keep track of your student's work and easily transport that information on...

Lately I have been entering the adult summer reading program along side my daughter. Once she reached middle school the goals for us have been the same: Read 10 books over the summer. It makes it fun because we often race to see who finishes first. Gess usually wins. They even give adults a break and let them read from any section of the library, but I always chose adult books - until now. Since Gess is entering high school and reading comprehension and books reports are part of her requirements I have decided to use some resources from Progeny Press. I reviewed their guide for Hall of Doors: Dragon's Hoard a few years ago and we really like it. While Dragon's Hoard was on their upper elementary level list of books, for high school I will try using their middle school guides. I will probably only have Gess do one per semester because of how long it takes her to read a book of this length and how difficult it is for her to examine it thoroughly. In the past she always read a ...

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...

As most of you know by now, Gess has Down syndrome. She is a bright girl, can read very well, has great problem solving skills, has a great interest in science, and has a great love for learning. Our struggle is with math. She gets the concepts of what we are doing and with helps can do her basic problems. At age 13 she can now tell time, count money, measure ingredients, add and subtract with objects, but she struggles with memorized facts and therefore can't do problems in her head. Even with what she can do, math is still very difficult and therefore she doesn't like it. All during the school day she never complained, until it was time for math. "It's too hard" she would fret and for a child with special needs that is the truth. It's not hard the way we think of hard. Her mind simply doesn't work that way. Gess is not the type of kid who will complain and whine over every little thing, but math, for Gess, is extremely hard. The memorization thing ...

I don't like to share sales very often, but the Veritas Press Self-Paced History is something that has been a tremendous blessing for us. It enables Gess to work almost totally independently and she is enthralled and fascinated by history in a way she never was before. The fact that it ties Biblical history into secular history is a plus for me. Check out my review last year on their course Old Testament and Ancient Egypt to see just how great this program is. The program costs $199.00 but from now until March 14th you can get it for only $99 ! If you aren't ready to start the course now you can wait until as late as September 1, 2015. I signed up immediately when I realized that. Gess is nearing the end of her Old Testament and Ancient Egypt course so I wasn't ready to begin a new one. You get the subscription for one year but since you go at your own pace your student can finish sooner. We pretty much stretched it out of the entire year so Gess could get the mos...

Last year I reviewed a reading program titled Essential Skills Advantage or ESA . We really loved it and Gess still uses it a few times a week to supplement her other lessons. While you can get some perks with a premium membership, the program itself is absolutely FREE .  The activities are colorful and engaging.  Here are a few Gess has done. Anyway, I love suggesting resources that work for us. That was the main reason I started this blog. When I find a great resource and its FREE, I have to remind my readers about it from time to time. So give ESA a try. I think you will find your child might like it too. It certainly won't cost you anything to find out!

We are getting ready to start back to school on August 18th. This will be Gess' first year in middle school. Here are my current curriculum choices for the year. Language Arts/Speech Logic of English  - We reviewed this last year and I absolutely love it!  However, with Gess' special needs and our other reviews, we have gone rather slowly through the book. I hope to complete it this year. Essential Skills Advantage (ESA) - I am currently reviewing this product but so far we love it! It is affordable and a really great way for Gess to have some independent work in reading. Writing Logic of English Cursive  - I am not sure cursive is going to take or not but I am going to give one more year a try. It really is easier for her when she uses it. It's easier to read and all that, but we have the habit of printing to overcome so I am not sure she will stick with it. Essentials in Writing - We have spent quite awhile on Level 1. This year we are moving up ...

History is one of my favorite subjects but it is the most challenging to teach to my daughter who has special needs. She is such a literal, hands-on learner that it is often difficult for her to comprehend things outside of her personal experiences. That is why I always look for engaging ways to teach the subject. I am happy to report that we found a great tool for that with Veritas Press . For the purpose of my review I received a one year subscription to the Veritas Press Self-Paced History program . We chose  Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt for our course. We also received a set of the  Old Testament & Ancient Egypt Flashcards . I absolutely love that Gess is learning history from a solid biblical perspective! The Bible is part history and it is reliable so that should be the way we teach it.  The program starts with creation and adds in historical events on the timeline as they happen.  Having these compon...

History seems to be the hardest subject for Gess to understand.  Because she has Down syndrome she is very much a hands on learner and she just has trouble grasping things she hasn't seen or experienced.  While she is a great reader she only seems to enjoy books that talk about familiar things. In order to teach her history, I have to get really creative. Thankfully I was able to review a product that has done the creative work for me. Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum from Golden Prairie Press was written by homeschool graduate Amy Puetz.  She absolutely loves history and has presented history in a way that requires the use of all of your senses helping students to not only read about history but experience it as they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste it. For the purpose of my review I received the Digital Heroes & Heroines of the Past: American History Curriculum . The digital version included: Heroes & Heroines of...