Special Connection Homeschool

I am super excited to tell you about our latest discovery! This program is helping my daughter, who has Down syndrome, memorize her multiplication facts. This is really incredible when you consider that she has yet to master her addition and subtraction facts! It's all thanks to this handy resource we found called Times Tales . Times Tales introduces the times tables as stories. Each number is a "character" and in the stories those numbers interact. When they do you unlock the answer to what happens when you multiply those two characters together. The trick is that they don't mention that at all until the child has memorized the stories exactly as written! Gess is an excellent reader and great at memorizing when it comes to bible verses, rhymes, and songs so this was right up her alley. Stories make sense to her - numbers no so much. Now that these numbers have a story she has her facts all figured out! Along with the video you get downloadable resources t...

In our World of Science book we are learning about atoms so I logged on to Easy Peasy All-in-one Homeschool to find some supplemental ways to explore them. On their Easy Peasy Chemistry and Physics page I found links to these fun interactive helpful tools! At Molecularium we played in the Nanolab. There you could build molecules, zoom in to see their size, and check them out in the different states of matter. Then at Learn.Genetics we found a cool tool that lets you get a feel for the real size and scale of a cell. Use the scroll bar along the bottom to keep zooming in. It's really cool! We followed up with this video showing the size by continuing to look at things that are 1,000 times smaller than the object we are looking at. The music is just background and has no context, so we muted it as we watched. It's really hard to wrap your head around how really tiny an atom is, but these sure do help give us some perspective.

All these names can get sort of confusing. What you need to know is that those 3 titles mean the same thing!  “You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks , that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year." Exodus 34:22 Feast of Weeks is, of course, our English term. Shavuot is the Hebrew word for weeks. Pentecost is the Greek term used in the New Testament, but it is the same holiday that is observed above. Pentecost literally means fiftieth for The Feast of Weeks was to occur 50 days after the Passover. You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.‘You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. Lev 23:15-16 Christianity celebrates Pentecost Sunday as the day the disciples received the Holy Spirit but while this year P...

I am excited to share a presentation that Gesserine gave for our homeschool co-op. I recorded it while she practiced at home rather than in front of class. I actually assisted her there and instead of doing that in the video I inserted slides with that information. Turn up your volume as she speaks softly!

I was looking for a song to help Gess review the months of the year. She had this memorized once but since we don't really talk about the order of the months all the time she seems to have forgotten. Since we memorized the days of the week by a song, I thought I would find one for the months of the year too. In doing so I found some really great videos for young kids! KidsTV123  has great quality videos for kids. These songs are really well done and are not as annoying as your typical kid song. I also like that the music is calming and slow. It is easy to follow and gets them thinking about the words rather than just bouncing around. These are really great for kids with special needs! Here is the song we used for the months of the year. We also discovered this one and Gess loved it as right now she is really interested in the solar system! They have several other topics including opposites, countries, states, numbers, alphabet and so much more. You should really check...

Library and Eductional Services is a family owned wholesale distributer. They offer books, DVDs and other CDs that are in line with Christian principles. In addition to offering these wholesale prices to resellers and large groups such as churches, schools, and libraries they also offer their services to homeschoolers. It is certainly refreshing to be able to buy high quality content at discount products. I really love that I know the videos I purchase will have the values I hold dear. In fact, all of their science products are evolution free. As you know, my daughter loves science. It is her favorite subject so when we had the opportunity to review their newest Series 2   Go Science DVDs , I jumped at the chance. Having reviewed and loved the first series of Go Science  I knew my Gess would be excited to learn more about science with these. For the purpose of my review I received two videos from the  Go Science DVDs  Series 2 : Volume 2: Life Science / Weathe...

My daughter Gess is a very curious little girl.  The fact that she has special needs makes me even more thrilled that she is always asking questions and trying to figure things out.  It sure makes it easier for me to teach her.  Lately she has been curious about the food that we eat.  We will be eating something and she will ask, "where did that come from?"  We then have the joy of explaining the method of how we get our food.  When its a fruit or vegetable that is fun.  When its meat, well, we try to be as accurate as possible without spoiling her dinner.  So when I saw that I had the opportunity to review some DVDs titled Curiosity Quest I knew that would be right up Gesserine's alley.  I was even more thrilled when some of them pertained to food! For the purpose of my review I recieved the following DVDs from Curiosity Quest : DVD Combo Pack - Produce  - Mushrooms, Orange Packing, Cranberries DVD Combo Pack - Swimmers of the S...

I believe that Billy Graham has to be one of the greatest evangelists of our time.  I know that people all around the world have been saved through his preaching of the gospel.  Some well known, like President George W. Bush and others just average people like my son Timothy.  Billy Graham had it on his heart to share the message of the gospel one last time with the world. Because of his health he has done it through a video, but it is still the true message that needs to be shared.  I have yet to get through this movie without crying.  I pray that all who see it will have not only their emotions stirred, but their hearts transformed, and their lives truly changed due to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are offering you the opportunity to share this message with your friends for free.  To order your FREE DVD click on the image below. 

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...

OK, so it's not out yet, but it will be in just a few days.  Starting on Monday March 31st the movie Building the Machine will be available to view online for FREE.  I have been very skeptical of Common Core for quite some time.  As more and more states have signed on and began its implementation it has become apparent that it is a nightmare, at least for the public school student.  While I am a homeschooler I am also concerned about how they will eventually want to impose these standards on us. While there is much I still don't know, I do know that I trust the people behind making this film and I am eager to hear what they have to say.  Here is a trailer that might peak your interest.  If it does, be sure to go to the Building the Machine website on March 31st and see it for yourself! 

I found a really neat resource for junior high and middle school students.  While this isn't something I would probably use with Gess, this is totally FREE so I had to share it for those who might find it helpful. Stossel in the Classroom offers FREE DVDs that have segments from his conservative television show.  Accompanied with a FREE Teacher's Guide these are excellent tools to help teach young adults about the free market principles that I believe are essential for freedom. The 2014 DVD is now available.  Be sure to check out this incredible FREE resource by clicking on the DVD below. And don't forget your Teacher's Guide !

During the Schoolhouse Expo I was able to participate in one of the sessions by Ray Comfort.  It turned out that he was talking about his latest video Evolution Vs. God .  While we watched the video during the session I had actually seen it a couple of times myself and plan on sharing it with our youth class this fall.  It is an excellent video and a handy resource to help demonstrate how evolution is a belief based upon faith, not scientific fact.  I personally loved how he ended by sharing the gospel with everyone he interviews.  That is exactly what apologetics should be about, leading others to Christ.  It is good to have an answer for the skeptics, the critics and those who are truly seeking answers but we are definitely not called to participate in foolish arguing.  The answers must, at some point lead those people to look at the claims of the gospel.  It is not our job to make them accept our point of view, it is our job to introduce them t...

Because Gess has Down syndrome I am always searching for ways to improve her cognitive skills and learning capability so when I had the chance to review the Understanding Child Brain Development DVD from The Family Hope Center I was all over it! The Family Hope Center is run by  Matt and Carol Newell who appear very knowledgeable in child brain development and hold certifications in development and teaching methods as well as Craniosacral and Myofascial Release therapy.  While their knowledge is impressive I do not believe that they are physicians themselves but they do have some on their staff.  I noted that they all seemed to prefer a homeopathic approach and one is even specialized in hypnosis.  Their mission is to help families who have a child with developmental delays and special needs by coming up with a specialized treatment plan to help your family's specific needs. The Understanding Child Brain Development DVD is not only for parents who have a ch...

When we go to the library I find that Gess rents more educational DVDs than she does entertaining movies.  She seems to enjoy learning about new things so when I had the opportunity to review The Fascinating World of Mammals DVD by BrainFood Learning I figured it would be something she would enjoy. The Fascinating World of Mammals uses a mixture of beautiful images and video footage of mammals in their natural habitat while explaining certain facts, key points and vocabulary words for each mammal. The Fascinating World of Mammals is a 52 minute DVD in which they say "children of all ages can benefit from the videos."  While that is probably true I would recommend it for preschool up to around age 10.  However, the vocabulary words on the video are pretty tough so there is something for older students as well I just don't know if they would enjoy watching it as much as the younger children will. The first segment defines what a mammal is and uses exampl...

I am sure you heard about the devastating tornado in Moore Oklahoma on Monday.  Our hearts are saddened and our prayers go out to the families who suffered loss during that tragedy.  As a resident of another part of "tornado alley" in Kansas I can certainly sympathize.  We live only four hours from Moore and less than two hours from Joplin which had the most deadly tornado in modern history two years ago today.  Our community has been quick to rise to action to help in both of these tragedies and I am thankful to have been a part of that. While we didn't suffer any damage or get a major hit by the storm we did go through it and there was some wind damage in our town.  We were under a tornado watch the entire day and for us it never went to a warning.  We did power down our technical equipment, such as computers and game systems when the storm became severe so we were down to the radio for our weather updates for awhile.  Around 3:30 in the afternoon ...

A couple of years ago my son Tim and his girlfriend Chelsie were cast in the play Schoolhouse Rock Live.  That's Tim in the front on the right and Chelsie is on the top on the left. And here they are with Gess after the show. They did an excellent job and it really reminded me what a great tool those songs and videos can be.  Gess has since memorized the preamble to the constitution and knows how a bill becomes law among many other things.  I really found Schoolhouse Rock helpful in learning parts of speech and grammar rules. I personally liked how in the play a few of the songs were preformed more slowly making it easier for Gess to understand them.  Tim and Chelsie helped teach the songs to Gess that way.  One was Counting by Fives and the other was Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla which is their pronoun song.  Here is the fast version of that last song. Recently I have noticed that Gess has been using pronouns so much she has ditched proper...

Gess has been taking gymnastics for close to 5 years now.  We are actually very blessed to have a really great coach who has some real time experience on the trampoline.  This past Monday Casey Finley got to show off his stuff on the Today Show as they began counting down to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.  Apparently skiers practice their tricks on trampolines and Gess' coach Casey was there to demonstrate some of those moves.  He is the one the blue jacket. Casey has received some medals for the trampoline and I believe this next video is him when he held the world record for the double mini pass which apparently has been surpassed by now.  Still, it's pretty impressive that her coach held that record at one time. The best part is that Casey is so good with the kids and super great with Gess.  While she isn't one of those kids who has a special gift in gymnastics, she certainly loves it.  I haven't taken any video of her in a couple o...

It has been an incredible year and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas ! Here is a special greeting from Gesserine herself on the true meaning of Christmas. Gess began memorizing this portion of Scripture a few weeks ago.  It will be familiar to most of you I am sure.  She got a little confused at the end because she memorized it in the NIV but she wanted to end it like Linus says it using the KJV. Here is what Gess is trying to say at the end, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:8-14

Yesterday was Black Friday and Gess noticed that "name" for the first time, so we had our first lesson in what that day is all about: finding a good sale for Christmas presents.  While finding a good bargain is not a bad thing, I also reminded Gess that around the holidays we need to remember to stay focused on the spirit of the holiday.  If we want to show real "thanks" the day after Thanksgiving, we should give of our surplus to those in need instead of trying to get more "stuff" for ourselves.  Of course I didn't stop her from buying a game she wanted that was on sale, and I picked up a small item or two myself, but we did so with a thankful heart while avoiding the frenzy of the crowds. Our favorite Christmas project is Operation Christmas Child where you pack a shoe box full of gifts and send it to needy kids around the globe.  They even have a method where you can pay online and find out where your box lands.  The last 2 years ours ended up in...