Special Connection Homeschool

This month our co-op visited the Fire Station where both firefighters and EMTs where there to take us on a tour of their facilities and vehicles to teach us some basic safety tips.  It was so much fun!  Gess had the honor the of being the one to try on the fireman's suit. Everyone also loves to sit in the drivers seat of the Fire Truck. Of course these things can also be noisy! Seeing all of these were cool but we learned some important things. Fire Safety Tips 1. Call 9-1-1 in case of an emergency 2. Stop, Drop, & Roll - This is the procedure you use when you or your clothes are on fire.      Stop running frantically fueling the flame.      Drop to the ground      Roll around to put out the flame. Don't forget to cover your eyes! 3. Crawl to leave a building on fire, don't walk. Smoke rises so be sure to stay down low. 4. Check doorways before passing through. First look to see if you see smoke ...

Gesserine had the honor of having 3 entries in the in the Southeast Kansas Children's Art Festival. The local art gallery displayed children's art from many southeast area public schools, christian schools, and homeschools. Our co-op had four entries, Gess being one of them. Her entry "Birds" even made the window display! It was exciting to enter an art museum and see your own work on display!  Here is the display with our co-op entries. Gesserine's are the two on the right, the fan and the house.  The other entries are really great too! We had fun looking at what other children had done. The ones from schools were chosen by their art teacher, and they were certainly worthy of it. Here are a few that captured Gesserine's attention. She even voted for the one of the planets as her favorite. The children's art exhibit will be up all month. What an exciting thing to say that your art has been on display at an actual art museum! 

Gess has been studying outdoor activities for a product I will be sharing soon. One of the activities she focused on was hiking. She really got into reading about it and studying it. Her enthusiasm for hiking and camping had her packing backpacks several times a week.  One day I went to brush my teeth and couldn't find my tooth brush or the tooth paste. That is because they were in her room with all her other camping and hiking gear! She just couldn't stop talking about hiking. She was constantly telling me about poison ivy, how to avoid ticks, and what I needed in my first aid kit. We started by making sure we had all the appropriate hiking gear. We put our First Aid kit in a zip-lock bag so we could fit easily in a fanny pack or backpack. Then we headed out to the lake. They have a 1 mile nature trail there with signs to help you learn about the animals, plants, and trees that grow in the area. We were sure to read each and every one. The trail itself was listed as mode...

We recently reviewed Maestro's Classics again and in our study on Handel we learned about pipe organs.  I mentioned how that after my son's graduation we would be able to see an actual pipe organ. Now that we have returned I wanted to share a bit of the tour with you.  Here are the images I shared of the organ in the  Maestro's Classics  post.  It really is an amazing instrument.  It is at the bottom and the pipes are up above on the wall. One of the neatest parts to me is the amount of air needed to play this organ.  Unlike our organ at church that is electric this works like a recorder in that air actually has to flow through the pipes. When they turned it on you could literally hear the air the moving in the other room. It was actually pretty loud.  Next Gess got to see, touch, and play the organ. Her brother is showing it how it is done. Here she is learning that the pedals can actually play music too. Then we got to actuall...

We had our first of two Special Olympic events this year.  While Gess qualifies for state, due to scheduling conflicts we probably won't go.  Here are pics from April 16, 2014. Waiting for the events to begin. Gess ran in the 50m Dash and the 100m Dash.  Look at her determination to run hard.  She took 4th place in the 50m and 6th out of 7 in the 100m. Here she was taking a break after a hard run. In the ball throw Gess took 6th place as well.  This was her first year throwing a soft ball.  She used to throw the tennis ball.  I am sure her arm will strengthen. Her best event was the standing long jump where she took the silver. Here she is adorning all her awards for the day. It was very windy which made it awfully chilly.  We took cover under our hoods to warm up. Here is her smile as she boarded the bus for the ride home.  I think she had a great day.

March 21st (3/21) is World Down Syndrome Day.  This day was chosen because the most common form of Down syndrome is Trisomy 21 which means that the person's 21st chromosome has 3 (tri) rather than the usual pair.  That anomaly is what causes all of the traits and medical issues that are common in persons with DS.  So they chose the 21st day of the 3rd month which makes 3/21 to help bring awareness to Down syndrome. To welcome in World Down Syndrome Day the International Down Syndrome Coalition hosted meet greets at several Great Wolf Lodges around the country.  We were super blessed that we were able to participate to this year.  Gess had the time of her life and was thrilled to go.  Besides the indoor water park, which is the big draw to the Great Wolf Lodge, they have other activities for the youngsters. Gess enjoyed the morning Wolf Walk where they learned about three types of animals.  A wolf, of course, was first. They learned that wolves are...

I mentioned in my last blog how Gess was just one of the crowd at church camp .  Another great thing about camp was that Gess tried everything.  She not only participated in the service but she tried every activity they had.  She seemed to enjoy them all too. Archery was her newest experience.  She needed some serious help with it.  While she looks cool aiming her arrow all by herself it didn't go very far.  In fact, it literally dropped right in front of her. However, with a little help she made it to the target boxes. The water slide was something she had done before but she could never seem to go very fast.  This year, however, she finally figured it out and she zoomed down the slide!  She really loved it. During free time she loved to play basketball.  One of the youth team helped to teach her how to properly make a shot.  Gess got pretty good at it! Other activities she tried were mini golf, t...