Special Connection Homeschool

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 ...

We signed up for our summer reading program again.  This year's theme is Every Hero Has a Story . Gess is now in the middle school challenge where she only has to read 10 books, but they have to be from the J, YA, or A section. She selected several books but started with a Young Indiana Jones book. She was thrilled they had one in a font size she can read!  Her reading is excellent but she can't read books with normal small print. I also signed up and have to read 10 books. Adults can read from any section but I try to make my own challenges. This year each book must be a different author, but I am not sure what other limits I might set. Anyway, I started with The Auschwitz Escape . I have been wanting to read that since it released but never got around to it. We started reading right away and are already several chapters in. Hubby came in and took our picture! I didn't like putting mine away last night, too much was happening!  What are you reading thi...

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!

As most of my readers know, my daughter Gess has Down syndrome. While she is a great reader there are some reading skills she still needs to practice, comprehension being one of them. Like most kids, Gess loves computer games and activities but because of her special needs not all of them work well for her. Thankfully, my latest review turned out to be perfect for her. Essential Skills Advantage is a complete online reading and language program for grades K-6. They have over 20,000 activities to keep your child engaged while they learn. Starting with reading readiness skills and phonics for kindergarten they work up to some great activities such as reading comprehension and spelling for the upper grades. That is where Gess spent most of her time. For the purpose of my review I received a one year subscription to  Essential Skills Advantage . Here is how it works. When you log in you come to a menu with all the activities that are offered. Once they select their activ...

Have I got some fun products to tell you about today! This latest review had us really wrapped up doing some neat hands on activities to help with both reading and math. Learning Wrap ups were created by a teacher who was looking for a new way to teach math facts to students who were not responding to flash cards and drill sheets. Now they are adding even more products that are trying new approaches to reach students. Having a daughter with Down syndrome who responds more to hands on learning I thought I would give these products a try. For the purpose of my review I was given all of these! Learning Wrap ups Basic Math Intro Kit w/o CDs  $44.99 Learning Wrap ups Vocabulary Intro Kit  $35.99 10 Days to Multiplication Mastery Wrap up and Book Combo  $12.99 10 Steps to Addition Mastery Wrap up and Book Combo   $12.99 (I already had the wrap ups so simply got the books but these are great if don't want to buy the entire kit.) 1st Grade Math Learning Pale...

Reading is certainly Gess' strong point. In fact we are at the point in our schooling where she is starting to learn about the literature itself instead of just focusing on did she remember what she read. While that is still very important to me, we are also trying to discover what we can learn from it. With Gess having Down syndrome that is sometimes a bit tricky, but products like Progeny Press make it easier for me. We had our first experience with  Progeny Press  last year when we reviewed their Hall of Door's Book and Study Guide . This year we reviewed  The Courage of Sarah Noble E-Guide . What I love about the  Progeny Press  study guides is that they help you look at what you read with a biblical perspective. Taking a look at literature, whether Christian or secular, they examine the values and lessons in accordance with biblical teachings. It helps your child not only learn to examine what they read to gain a better understanding of it, but tr...

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Reading Eggs, a fun educational website that teaches your child to read.  While we loved the program, Gess has basically outgrown it.  She is an excellent reader.  However, if you have children from ages 3 to 13 this may be just perfect for you.  It has worked well for us with our special needs, but it is great for any child. Right now they are offering a special.  You can try Reading Eggs FREE for 5 weeks!  What an excellent way to see if it will work for you.  This offer expires February 28 so be sure to take advantage of it soon!  Visit the Reading Eggs website to learn more!

Last year I reviewed Logic of English   and absolutely love it.  I have people ask me questions about whether it is good for all kids with special needs, and when they should start it, among other things.  So while in my review I told you about how it worked, here I am going to tell you about what all they have to offer.  I am not an affiliate or getting compensated in any way.  It's just a great product and I want my readers to have as much information as possible so they can decide if it will work well for them. Logic of English has a vastly different approach to learning about English.  You can read that in my review .  They also offer a large variety of information on their website as well as several sample pages for every book they offer.  Read everything and view the video.  It shares a lot about how it works. I reviewed the Logic of English Essentials curriculum.  It can be used for five to six year old students who are lea...

I recently reviewed Time 4 Learning and we have decided to make a permanent part of our homeschool.  Gess loves using the program.  She finds it entertaining and I find it educational.  The program itself is set to up to be its own curriculum but you can also use it as a supplement, which is what we do.  This has allowed Gess to work independently and the parental dashboard allows me to see how she did.  I can see what activities she completed, what score she got, and how long it took her among other things.  This program is definitely worth paying for! Now I have an opportunity to save us both a little money.  If you have never tried Time 4 Learning before you can get a 14 day FREE trial!  If you decide you like it and sign up I get a little something too.  I love that you get try it first and you don't even have to give any credit card information to do so!   If you are interested and want to sign up or just learn more, click ...

Gess had to make a castle for her Bridgeway Academy final class project and I wanted to share more about the process she went through in designing her castle. We began our class reading the Magic Treehouse The Knight at Dawn .  I don't know why we haven't read more of these books but it was really great.  It also did help to stir Gess' interest in the middle ages. As we began to talk about castle design we had Gess read more about castles.  Here are a few books that she chose. This last one If You Lived in the Days of the Knights actually had a really great page that showed a castle and labeled many of the different parts of the castle you might find.  I wish I had taken a picture of it when I had the book at home, but it was really helpful in showing Gess what features would be good to have in her castle. Since using Minecraft was an option Gess was really eager to get started.  Minecraft is a great game, if you haven't tried it, you sho...