Special Connection Homeschool

I never really intended to stop blogging but life has been really hard. I have had some serious things that have taken priority. I also really struggled with what to write on a regular basis. With Gess in middle school these last few years there really was not anything new to cover. Unlike before where she was always learning a new concept or coming up with a new challenge, we were pretty much settled in.  Like a typical student, we did the same lessons each day and that is really not all that interesting to write about that! This year though, Gess will be starting High School! I have been doing research into high school transcripts and state requirements so she can get a diploma at the end of the next four years. I am learning a lot and so I will be sharing about that! I am in the process of planning next year and getting my curriculum ordered. When I am done you will hear about it! Summer also affords more time for writing and we sometimes do some interesting things worth wri...

I want to apologize for my unannounced absence. My mother's health has been poor and I have just been overwhelmed taking care of her and trying to keep up with school, church, house, and life in general. It has also been difficult for me to find things to write about. Now that Gess is older I don't have as many "ah ha" moments to share. Our school is pretty structured and she is doing amazingly well. I also feel bad that many of the tips on here are now outdated. Information that was once so hard to find is now available in so many places. Tricks that we had to use are now nicely packaged into new curriculum or even software. You know, Gess learned to read without an Ipad or any app for that matter. While I think those tools are nice I actually think that our hands on approach was probably somewhat better anyway. I do think touching objects is better than clicking on them. My plan for this year is to try to blog at least once a week. I realize that barely makes ...

We officially started school yesterday! I always think I am going to wait until later in September but since all of our friends head back, the pool closes, the reading program ends, and all the other "summer time" stuff ends, we go ahead and start. We had a very productive day! We got in all our subjects including math twice, as well as a haircut, painting class, library time, and the park. I also cleaned two houses, neither of which were my own. I am very excited about the year! I will share our subjects one at a time in future posts.

I am so sorry I have not been posting. Not only was I healing from surgery but as I started to work and actually cook again I sliced my thumb along with the squash I was working on! It was sore for awhile and that made it hard to type. Then that finally healed and I just couldn't think of what to write about. That's the thing. Usually I have all these summer activities to talk about but due to my surgery we really haven't done much since Gess has gotten back from camp. At least I was given permission to drive earlier than I thought so Gess has still been able to participate in the library reading program. She has actually completed it and been given her awards, part of which is an invitation to the swimming party at the end of the summer.  Other than reading they have fun activities such as crafts and other things. One thing they do every year that we love is give you a bag of junk. It consists of things like an empty paper towel roll, q-tips. a piece of yearn, craft st...

I have struggled to keep up with my blog but I haven't been quite frank about why. I have had some medical issues that require surgery. That's all I am comfortable saying publicly. Today, as you read this I will be under the knife - the first time ever for me which makes me nervous. My pastor has a joke he likes to share about the difference between major and minor surgery. He says its minor surgery when its for you and its major surgery when its for me!  Well, I have watched my daughter go through some pretty major stuff, so I know mine isn't on that level but still, it isn't something to take lightly either. I hope to be up and around enough to write in a week or so. I was hoping to have some blogs scheduled so my down time wouldn't seem to stark but that just didn't happen. I haven't had the energy and what energy I did have was spent preparing my household and family members that I take care of to be ready in my absence. My house is clean and ready. Lad...

I noticed that Gess was looking over her glasses a lot so I felt it was time to get them checked out. Her appointment went well and we found out the problem was not that they were getting too loose, as I had thought, but that her strong eye had actually improved and therefore it was easier for her to look over, rather than through her glasses!  Her other eye basically stayed the same, but its the weaker eye. Now that Gess is 13 she is really starting to develop her own tastes so looking for glasses was a lot of fun. She looked at the shelf and suddenly discovered a pair of pink glasses and grabbed them hastily off the shelf. We laughed, but they were plastic and its hard to get a good fit for her sometimes, but these did look like they might work. We still had her try other pairs to which she stuck out her tongue at a few of them. Nope, she wasn't liking our picks at all!  She clung to her pink glasses and the optometrist agreed that we could get them to fit well, so we went...

Gess was going to attend her first Valentine exchange party this year since it is our first year in a Co-op. However, it was not to be. Gess had a cold and had to stay home and now she has shared it with me. Gess had actually made all of her Valentine's but didn't get a box. I bought one to wing it since it was a crazy week but while she was getting better I think all the drainage bothered her tummy and she was too ill to go. However, we are still very blessed that Gess has only had two colds all winter and neither of them turned into anything worse. She hasn't had to take antibiotics all winter, so that is certainly worth missing one party! A friend texted me a couple of weeks ago to show me that Gess' health was on her prayer list exactly 4 years ago. That was when she was hospitalized with pnemonia. I will never forget that year and do my best to keep Gess healthy, but a human can only do so much. That was a great reminder to me that God hears and answers prayers! ...

When I grew up we called it Junior High, but here they refer to it as Middle School. No matter what you call it, this was Gess' official first year out of elementary school. It has been interesting trying to find curriculum to meet her needs but it has worked out so far. She is at least working more independently. My most exciting and newest change has been our math curriculum. I want to write about it soon but haven't had the chance. It is called Life of Fred and teaches math through stories. While you follow the life of this interesting character named Fred you learn math. You practice math facts, learn geography, time, addition and subtraction concepts as well as early algebra. The greatest part is the child doesn't really know that they are learning. It feels like play. My only concern is that since I started at the beginning its all review for Gess so of course it comes easy. However, it is the first time in her life that Gess has been excited about doing math! Sh...

I think Gess has to be the only kid I know that just loves going to the dentist. We got our appointment reminder in the mail which was a little clock with a smiley face saying it was your appointment time! Gess read that card and went around telling everyone that on September 9th she was going to the dentist. She was super excited! As it turns out her teeth are great and she has no cavities. Her 12 year old molars and in and guess what? She is 12 so that is good!  She really follows directions and takes great care of her teeth! Last year at this time I reminded you of some resources we used to teach these skills. Be sure to check that out so your child can also have great results at the dentist!

We officially started school yesterday and it went really well. It felt good to have some structure back into our day.  We started by reviewing where we left off. This is important with Logic of English . I want to make sure Gess has remembered all the phonograms before introducing her to new ones.. She has done an excellent job in retention and there are only a few that she missed in her first review. We will have those back  easily by the end of the week! For Math I am using the Mathletics Curriculum Assessments Books to see what Gess needs the most work on before moving forward. We will probably be doing these for the next few weeks. We are also reviewing the letters she has written in cursive . You can see her practicing here. I have also introduced a new Log Book method of keeping track of independent work she needs to do in the latter part of the day. She will have a couple of worksheets each day along with her computer work. The Log Book is a review item th...

We had our organizational meeting today for our Homeschool Co-Op. This is the first year I am participating. I think it is only the third year they have done one. We live in a small town, so its a small group which probably works best for Gess anyway. It will keep her from being overwhelmed. Because it is small I offered to be the secretary. I manage to become the secretary for about every activity I get involved in! I am the secretary of our local Down syndrome support group, I was the secretary of our diet club we had. I was secretary for our church AWANA club for many years, and when my boys were young I was the secretary of our local little league!  Oh well, at least I know how to be a secretary, right!? We meet every other Friday for the school year beginning the 2nd Friday in September. We are planning 6 field trips, a science fair, visits to the nursing home 3 times a year, will have a couple of moms activities, an open house, and an end of the year party planned.  Du...

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 ...

While we won't be starting school for several more weeks, I have been working on getting our workspace organized. I am still looking into to ordering a few more items for our curriculum and soon I will post about what we are doing. We are starting middle school (6th grade) this year, so I am very anxious to see what changes that will bring!  For now, here is a look at our workspace. It is small, but it gets the job done!

Gess tried  dancing when she was 7 years old. She liked the dancing but the recital at the end was a bit too much for her.  That summer we tried gymnastics. At the end of summer I gave her a choice. Did she want to keep going to gymnastics or go back to dance? She was for gymnastics all the way and has loved it ever since! That was 5 years ago. I am saddened to say that our gym is closing down. We were so tremendously blessed to have had it as long as we did. Her coach is an amazing athlete that you probably continue to hear about in the future. I have a feeling he is moving on to coach on a more competitive level. At one time he held the record for the mini-trampoline for Team USA. He is sure impressive. While Gess didn't excel at gymnastics, she certainly enjoyed it! Here she is with her coach, Casey Finley. You might have seen him on TV last year as one of the American Ninja Warrior contestants, or on NBC doing flips on a trampoline while wearing skis before the Sochi ...

Gess had her piano recital last month. She was ready and excited for the recital, more so than usual. That last week I heard her practice more than ever before. Then when she went to preform, she almost froze! It turns out she was bothered by one simple instruction the teacher gave her: to be careful about getting distracted while playing. This wasn't overly emphasized but something a student who isn't used to playing in front of an audience needs to think about. They need to play the piece, not watch Johnny on the front row, etc. We didn't think much about it until Gess ran up to preform and was incredibly nervous. She did this whole cracking her knuckles business that was just precious! I wish I had THAT on camera! She made a big production out of getting ready. Still, she paused and fidgeted and then leaned over and told her teacher she wasn't going to get distracted. Then she finally began to play the piano with more animation than I have ever seen! Her ...

I have to take a moment to congratulate my son Timothy for graduation from Fort Hays State University!  I also have to add additional kudos for being accepted into grad school at Kansas State University to earn his masters degree in Drama Therapy.  I am so very proud of Tim having sacrificed and worked so hard to get there.  He is a first generation graduate.  I have an Associates of Art degree, but not a four year degree.  My parents didn't even have that.  It is wonderful to see each generation get just a bit further.  Here are some pictures from the graduation event. Way to go Tim!! We are so proud of you son! I love you more than words can say!!

Things are starting to slow down for our schooling now that May is here.  Because I am a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew we will be continuing some lessons over the summer, but we will not be on a full day lesson plan.  I will only be working on review material as well as math.  Gess really needs help with math.  Our participation in the summer reading program really seems to be enough to keep her reviewed in all of her reading and English skills. This weekend Gess' brother will be graduating from College.  We are so proud of him and we are all anxious to see him receive his Bachelor's degree.  The highest degree we have in our household is an Associates of Art so that is exciting.  He has two plans for continuing on with graduate school.  We should hear any day if he gets the one he most wants.  I am praying God will direct Him in all of that. Gess' piano recital will be the following week.  This will be her second year.  ...

It was a long hard winter!  I am so glad we are getting to play outdoors again.  During the winter we tend to lock ourselves indoors to avoid exposing Gess to all the viruses and influenza that goes around.  It mostly worked, until near the end of the winter.  Anyway, we had very little time with the grandkids so today was a nice change.  I have to say Gess has finally warmed up to them.  I don't know if it's because she is getting more used to being around little ones or because they are getting bigger.  Either way it was the first time she didn't spend any time going off by herself!  She tried once, but I talked her into staying.  She does love the fact that the girls want to play with her. The baby went with mom and dad but the two oldest spent 3 hours with us today.  We colored. Played Tic-tac-toe. Posed for pictures for grandma. Gess took some too. Then they played outside!

Now that spring is here there is much work to be done.  My husband actually helps to mow at the church and to start the season off Gess and I decided to help him.  It takes several hours to do.  At first Gess played while we both mowed. When I finished my part I took a break and played too. While we played, daddy continued to work. When he was about finished Gess and I went around picking up any trash left on the grounds. I just love my little helper.  Well, maybe she isn't so little anymore. It was such a gorgeous day!  I can hardly believe that three days later it was snowing! I so want spring to come and stay!