Special Connection Homeschool

I had quite the year last year. I had a hysterectomy in June and just as I got my OK to become active again I had a terrible pain in my shoulder which turned out to be from a herniated disc in my neck. That put me down another 3 months. After that my mother's heart failure progressed and my responsibilities for her doubled. So now that things are calm again and a new year is upon us, I have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish. I sat down one day and listed all my goals. I want to read through the bible in a year, memorize more verses, have daily quiet time, exercise, lose 25 pounds, and my list kept growing and growing. Looking down at it all on paper completely overwhelmed me. Then, the Lord started to show me something. My pastor preached a New Year's sermon and ended it by stating that no matter what you were able to accomplish that year, were you faithful to God? If you were faithful that was enough! God had already been revealing this to me in his Word. I was seei...

I have found that timers have been a great way for Gess to transition from one activity to another without any complaint or stress. When we have a break from school (sometimes called recess) I set an alarm. When that time is up, she has to return to her work. Gess has been great about actually doing it. When the timer goes off, she stops and gets right back to work! We also use it to keep track of the amount of time she uses media. If she is on the computer or playing a video game we set it for about 30 minutes and when the timer goes off, she immediately turns the game off. There are exceptions like when she is about to finish a race, lap, or other significant event in the game. I do let her finish that off, but usually she is just done. Well, the last few years I have found that Gess has been more difficult to wake up. I am sure this is pretty typical of teens, but Gess has started ignoring me and hiding under the covers and doing whatever she can to stay in bed. She used to wake...

When I first met my husband one of the hardest things to get used to was how quiet he was. His speech was always clear and audible, but it was never loud. Even when upset his voice remained in an even tone. When he listened to music it was never cranked and he rarely watched TV. I, however, came from a very loud home. My parents always had something turned on. If it wasn't the television, it would be the radio. In fact it was the radio the TV was usually still on, just turned down. Their voices were much louder because they were always talking over something and if you were upset you yelled. These were two very different environments. Having been raised in a loud environment, I was pretty much the same. I screamed when I was angry to make my point, I always had the TV or radio on, and I even loved to fall asleep while watching a show. As you can imagine, this change was quite an adjustment. It was easy enough to get over watching so much TV when I decided it was too expensive, ...

My daughter has Down syndrome and there have been many things that have been difficult for her to learn. From walking and talking to education and life-skills she has had many struggles along the way. Every time I find something successful I long to share it with others who might find it helpful. That was the entire reason I started this blog. However, this post is not about how I taught my daughter to pray. Instead, it is about how my daughter taught me to pray! Prayer is a popular topic to study. The Scripture has much to say about it and yet I find myself struggling to do it. Oh, I sit and bow my head just fine. I even have chunks of my day carved out for just that purpose, but what do I do when I am there? One thing I do is talk. Prayer is a conversation and I am good at that part, but it's the quiet listening I am not so good at. I also struggle with what to say. I have my list and I go down it. I have loved ones who need salvation and friends who are sick. I pray for my ...

Gess turned 13 last October and I have to tell you she is certainly showing great signs of maturity. I have blogged over the years of ways I taught her how to do chores, remember her homework, and regulate her screen time. Well, all the hard work has not been in vain! We seem to have a system that is working quite smoothly! I believe the My Student Logbook was the final tool that helped pull it all together. I reviewed this last September and it is a constant in our daily use now. What I do is list each subject that Gess must complete each day. Below that are other things she must accomplish such as chores, practicing her piano, reading a book, and making her bed.  To motivate her to complete them we have one rule. No Media until every box is checked off. That means: No TV No Computer (except for school related) No XBox No CD or MP3 music. She does get breaks in her day. She can play outside, with legos, color, or any other thing that is not media related. Thi...

There is a video circulating on the web of two preschool children arguing over whether it is raining or sprinkling. One child says their mom said it was raining while the other child's mother said it was sprinkling. They go back and forth for some time defending what their mom said. Eventually one begins to poke the other and for some reason this is supposed to be cute. I disagree. No, its not the cutest argument ever. In fact it reveals one of the biggest problems in our culture today. We are so absorbed in media that we have disconnected ourselves from the very children that are in front of us. Whenever they do something cute we think we need to immediately run and grab a camera for all the world to see rather than actually interacting with them. I find myself falling trap to that very thing. This blog started as a way to share ideas on how to teach children with special needs, especially in a homeschool environment. However, if you want to have readers you need an active blog ...

After I reviewed Media Talk 101 I shared about how I was going to start limiting Gesserine's media . Since then I have unintentionally happened upon other sources that reinforce the fact that too much media is not a good thing. It's not like I already didn't know that but I didn't really seem to live it out. One of those resources was the movie Gifted Hands - The Ben Carson Story . I know it is funny that I keep using media to learn about the dangers of media, but hey, it has its benefits too! Anyway, Ben Carson's story is fascinating. The part that is relevant to media is that he was raised by a single mother. Ben struggled in school and actually thought that he was stupid. Then one day his mother, who didn't know how to read herself, made him and his brother basically cut out television and instead go and read books at the library. They were then required to write a book report about what they read and she pretended to read them. Ben Carson, who once though...

It seems most churches today have a children's church.  They make sure there is somewhere for the kids to go during the worship so the adults can hear and meditate on the Word without interruption and the children can learn things at their own level.  I certainly can see a use for it, but I sometimes wonder if we are not actually hindering growth rather than supporting it. I happen to belong to a church that doesn't have a children's church.  We do have a nursery for babies and toddlers up to age 3, though we are loose with the age limits.  Parents are also welcome to keep their young ones with them.  However, from the point a child is old enough to leave the nursery the children remain during the worship service with their parents.  I must confess we have lost several families because of it.  Most of them leave looking for churches that have something for the kids.  They even sometimes suggest that we don't care about the kids because there is ...

I am constantly telling Gess that she is special.  I often use the word special when speaking to her or about her.  It's not simply because she has special needs, but because she is so special to me .  I think it important for children to know that they are special and loved, especially if that child has something that is sometimes ridiculed or misunderstood like Down syndrome.  I am pretty sure I go out of my way to tell Gess that she is special.  That is why I was so shocked when one time she replied by asking "What's so special about me?" She already knows that she has been blessed with an extra chromosome. Yes, I call it a blessing and emphasize how she has more than we do.  While that isn't the way it is supposed to be and is actually a defect it is how God made her, so for me it's a blessing.  It is a part of who Gess is.  That is one "special" thing she understands.  But there is more. Gess is special in so very many ways.  To...

I shared with you during my review of Captivated The Movie how we were concerned about the amount of media Gess was absorbing.  It truly was affecting her behavior.  After one outburst we put her on a 30 day media fast, inspired by the movie.  For 30 days Gess had no computer time, no video games, no television, and very limited exposure to music.  During that time we saw a tremendous improvement in both her behavior and habits.  She has learned once again to enjoy the thrills of reading and creativity, things she usually loves. Having a daughter with special needs it is really important to me to not only limit her media intake but find a way to help her learn how to self monitor those habits.  For now we have made a visual monitoring system.  It isn't the prettiest thing in the world but we went with materials we already had around the house.  We chose to use colored clothes pins clipped to a board which explains the value of each one. ...

My latest review has been one of the most challenging I have ever done.  God in His infinite wisdom brought this product to us at just the right time and I am so grateful for having seen it.  I am also very eager to share it with all of you!  The Captivated DVD by MediaTalk101 addresses the dangers of living in a media saturated society.   Now before you start to think this is going to be some legalistic challenge to throw out your computer or TV, bear with me.  It is not about that at all.  It is about heeding the call of Scripture to take every thought captive, including those thoughts that come to us through some source of media outlet.  We are indeed saturated by media and whether we admit it or not it does affect our every day life and it is impacting our culture as never before.  They are very careful to point out that media can be used for good, but it can also be used for evil.  It can either make us deeper or more shallo...

With all the negative stereotypes around about persons with special needs and in particular Down syndrome I was very surprised when most of the negative responses to some of my posts have been from parents who have a child with Down syndrome.  They seem to think that only posting positive aspects of what my daughter does gives a false impression about what life with DS is really like.  It also seems to make them feel bad if their child is not able to do what my daughter can do. Let me assure you that it was never my intent to make another parent feel bad.  What my intent was, and continues to be, is to encourage parents to try new things and ways of teaching their child and to show that people with Down syndrome can, and do, great things.  I am aware that not all children with DS will be able to do what my daughter does but I am also aware that my daughter will not be able to do everything that other kids with or without DS can do.  It is not about who ...

We don't have cable television or satellite TV.  Now that doesn't mean we don't watch it at all.  We do subscribe to HuluPlus and will rent DVDs.  Still, our television viewing consists mostly of cooking shows  some of which are reality and contest related.  I enjoy Biggest Loser as well and will watch an occasional episode of a sitcom or drama, as long as they don't have too much nudity or sexual content.  We do find that most shows we like usually end up getting ruined by trying to make a statement that opposes our biblically based moral values so we end up having to quit watching them anyway. One thing we have never done is encouraged our daughter to watch the children's networks.  While we would watch some of them during her preschool years I am not been a fan of Disney or Nickelodeon shows for older kids.  I don't need my daughter to mimic a whiny teenager trying to become popular, fawn over boys and act a like a pop star who sings songs I ...

Homeschooling has its challenges and none are greater than homeschooling during a personal crisis.  It's even more challenging when you have a child with special needs.  I have only had a couple of major events that took me away from my family for a short time and it was tough.  The main concern wasn't what Gess would do for school, but who would watch her while I was away and my husband was at work. Fellow homeschoolers are often a great resource in a crisis.  They know better than anyone the challenges involved and are pretty good at adapting to most circumstances. If your child stays with them they can simply join the family in their lessons.  While it might not be what was listed in your lesson plan, it will be something. When I had to leave town when my father had his stroke we turned to personal friends and church members to help with Gess.  I was simply worried more about Gess' day to day care then how much book work she was doing. You can send ...

My son Tim is off at college and so his girlfriend Chelsie.  Chelsie took a semester off awhile back to be a nanny in Alaska.  It was quite the adventure and was a great experience for her.  Now that she is back in school she is continuing to earn extra money by being a nanny, or sitter, part time for a couple of families.  She is really great with the kids and has many wonderful ideas about how to raise and educate them and knowing that I homeschool Gess she often shares them with me.  She gets these ideas from various places, some are from the families she works for, some from school, some are from research and others are from her own creative mind. One time while we were visiting her on campus she shared something one of the families were doing with their kids.  I loved it and have recently began implementing it with Gess. One of the things we emphasize with Gess is that it is not obedience if you do not obey the first time.  There is no countin...

Gesserine is generally well behaved and strives hard to use her manners.  On most any given day she is respectful, courteous, helpful, gentle, and hard working.  While not perfect, she certainly tries her best and most people would say she was a very well behaved little girl.  But occasionally she will have what I call a melt down where she gets very angry and aggressive.  It's scary because she becomes unreasonable and uncontrollable and seems almost like an entirely different person. Parents of children with special needs have probably gone through similar situations and totally understand what I am going through.  I call these episodes "melt downs" rather than "tantrums" because they are not simply born out of disagreements and wanting to get one's way.  These "melt downs" generally do not happen during times you might think of like telling them to do their chores, stop playing a game, or go to bed.  No, they are random and over things that s...

That sure sounds like a fun topic, does it not!?  Well no it's not and it's very sensitive, but for those of us with special kids it's also a very real concern.  My Gess turns 11 today!  She is becoming quite the young lady and impresses me each and every day at just how "grown up" she is becoming.  Still, she does have Down syndrome and there are some areas in which she is still unable to experience some things that most 11 year old kids do.  For instance she can't run down the street to her friends house alone or go to the store by herself.  If she went school, she wouldn't be walking by herself there either.  She just isn't quite ready for that amount of independence as she easily gets distracted and could end up lost or worse yet, injured. Unfortunately puberty comes upon a person biologically without any consideration to their mental state and can sometimes exasperate things.  I noticed early signs of puberty about 2 years ago and immediate...