Special Connection Homeschool

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ( Rom 1:19-20) I had just memorized these verses when I was received my latest review from Purposeful Design . I was extremely eager and have been very blessed to use the Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation in our homeschool. Jay Schabacker does a wonderful job explaining how God did exactly what Paul said in Romans. Our world was not simply made by an intelligent designer, but with a very specific purpose. It was designed for us . God made each one of us to have a relationship with Him and He made this planet for us to live on. He gave it so much love and care and in it we can see His eternal power and divine nature. It was purposefully designed. The Purposeful Design: Und...

I can't think of a better way to start thinking about the Christmas holidays than with the book I received for my latest review. David Nicholson is a retired teacher and missionary who brought back to life a Christmas story that he often shared with his own children. Originally written by Nan F. Weeks, If He Had Not Come shares the meaning of  Christmas that reveals the true impact that Jesus has made on the world. With beautiful color illustrations this story comes to life and makes one consider what Christmas is truly all about. In the story Bobby and his Father are reading the Bible together on Christmas Eve before Bobby heads off to bed. As they read John 15:22 the words "If I had not come" jump off the page to him. After he falls asleep he hears a voice wake him up abruptly on what he thinks is Christmas morning. Instead he finds himself in a world in which Jesus had never come! There is no Christmas tree with presents underneath, but more importantly there ...

Who wants to hunt for treasure? Maybe a better question would be, who doesn't? Treasure hunts are lots of fun and my recent review had us doing two of them. Clued in Kids was created by a mom who realized that hunting for treasure is a great hands-on way to teach a concept. It is not only fun, but healthy too because it allows the child to get up and move around. For the purpose of my review we received two PDF printable hunts:  Homework Reward Treasure Hunt and Thanksgiving Treasure Hunt . When you get your printable hunt, it is in a PDF booklet form. Both of mine were 8 pages in length. They came with easy to follow directions and the clues were divided into two per page. At the bottom of each clue it tells you exactly where to hide it, so set up is really a breeze!  All you have to worry about is finding something for a prize at the end. While these were beautiful, full color photos, I printed mine in black and white. Each page has an activity that you must do to fi...

My most recent review was from New Liberty Videos a company dedicated to producing Christian movies. For the purpose of my review I received a copy of the  Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This video actually covers topics other than the Dead Sea Scrolls. In all it covers three topics and is about an hour total in length. Let me tell you a little bit about each segment. Dead Sea Scrolls The first segment is the Dead Sea Scrolls , with Joel Lampe. This features what appears to be a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls. While I have heard a lot about them I really was not well versed on their exact significance. Joel did an excellent job of covering a wealth of information in a very short time. I was so fascinated with what all I learned, such as the fact that while they call them scrolls, there was actually only one scroll found completely in tact! He shares how many scroll fragments were found and how they were pieced together to become whole scrolls. I was not aware that...

I love teaching Gess the Bible and she loves learning about it. As she gets older there are deeper and tougher questions to tackle, questions adults don't always have the answer to. How did we get Bible? Where did it come from? How do we know it is true? Apologia Educational Ministries is helping us tackle some of these issues with their iWitness book series. I was blessed to be able to review three of these books for you: Old Testament iWitness , New Testament iWitness, and iWitness Biblical Archaeology . The iWitness book series was created as a way to get "scholarly" information into the hands of those who might not otherwise pick up a book on these topics. They are very visual and presented in an investigative format. They have notes pinned on every page instead of just text. It is trying to help you visualize how you would do things if you were really investigating the issue, piecing information together bit by bit until you come to the final conclusion. It...

This year is bringing lots of change in our lives. My daughter, who as most of you know has Down syndrome, has entered the 6th grade! This transition is exciting, but also a little frightening. I am always trying to find ways to give her more independence and responsibility when she needs it, but I also need to be on top of what tasks she is doing. Thankfully my latest review introduced me to a tool that works beautifully to meet both of those needs. My Student Logbook has come up with a simple, but thorough system of tracking your students work and activities throughout the day. This will not only help you keep them on task but it will allow you to track their progress and hours spent in each subject. This will come in handy when you have to make those transcripts that are necessary to get your child into college one day! Having all this information at your fingertips makes homeschooling record keeping a breeze! It also just helps you keep your child accountable in the day to day...

I think we are all familiar with daily planners but I bet you are wondering what 7 minutes has to do with it. Well, let me tell you about it. The 7 Minute Life is a time management and productivity company which offers tools to help moms organize their lives. They have a unique approach that I am sure many people will find helpful. One of the tools they offer to do this is The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner which I received for the purpose of my review. The point of  The 7 Minute Life  time management system is to take at least 7 minutes to organize and plan your activities for the day. It sounds simple enough and yet so often we aren't willing or simply don't think about taking the time to do it. It is, however, a little more complex than that. At the beginning of  The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner  is a very detailed guide about  The 7 Minute Life  time management system. It explains how it works, how to implement it, how to use the planne...

Don't you just love a good adventure? I certainly do! Thanks to my recent review of  Heirloom Audio Productions I have an exciting one to tell you about! Their  Under Drake's Flag  audio drama is a captivating way to immerse yourself in the compelling story of Sir Francis Drake. I love audio books and dramas because they help my daughter improve her auditory processing skills. Since she has special needs, that is something important to us. However, I was blown away at just how good this particular drama was. It was definitely professionally done and executed perfectly. My whole family was engaged in the entire story. I could listen to it again and again! Under Drake's Flag  is based upon the novel by G.A. Henty. His story of Sir Francis Drake is compelling for many reasons, but mostly because through it you learn real life lessons in character, courage, faith, and commitment which comes from a belief in the God of the Bible. The story begins in England with...

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...