Special Connection Homeschool

We had a great therapy session last week and I have many new ideas to try again this year. One of my main concerns is tackling the concept of "why." It seems to be one that is hard to grasp for many kids with Down Syndrome, at least at this age, so we are trying to come up with games and activities to help teach it. While I am sharing what we have learned, I encourage you to comment and share things that have worked for you too. I love getting new and fresh ideas! Last year I shared the " Sorting Activity: Why is it Different? " This was a great start in learning to focus in on why something was different and to learn to speak in the negative, "it is different because it is not ______." Another activity to expand on this concept are activity sheets about what does not belong. I found some to use at Schoolexpress.com . I do not even print them out, we just discuss them together on the computer. Share this picture and have the child tell you w...

Gess had her checkup with the ENT and the Ophthalmologist last week. Gess had a really rough winter and allergy season this spring and the doctor believes she needs to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. Her adenoids are large and they do believe that does affect her sinus issues. They say that her tonsils coming out will actually help with her restlessness at night as well as other breathing issues. Gess also has a small hole in her ear they are going to try to patch while they have her asleep. She will have to stay one night in the hospital and come home the next day. She will have to take it easy for one week after-wards (no school that first week) and no sports activities for at least two weeks (so no gymnasitcs for awhile). My original plan was to start school the third week of August, however, that is the week she will have the surgery so we will just put off school for another week or two. I don't want to start for only one or two weeks then stop for one or two we...

I have been looking for a good Science curriculum for Gess and we found Real Science 4 Kids last year at the Homeschool convention. My husband and I were really drawn to it. My only concern was paying the approximately $80 for it when I am not certain if she would be able to keep up with the material. It looks like it is presented in such a way as to make learning it easy and fun, but is it adaptable to a child with special needs? Not being certain we decided to wait and continued with the curriculum I had for one more year. Well, as I was researching what to use this year, I had a pleasant surprise. Gravitas Pubilcations now offers the Real Science 4 Kids in downloadable ebook format . Not only that, but they package it to where you can purchase 1 chapter at a time! I am so excited because now we can test the materials and see if it will be successful for Gess without having to pay a lot of money up front. Of course, if we really love it I will probably be more willing to p...

Gess went to her first overnight camp this year. It was a lot of fun. I went as her sponsor and got to stay in the cabin with her and accompanied her to all of her activities. She did really well fitting in with her peers, but there are still some areas in which she lacks the independence to do on her own. Over all though, I think she had a great experience. This was only a one night camp, which was a perfect way to start. After registering and getting settled in our cabin we began our day at camp by meeting at the flagpole. Each day they stand silently as they raise the American and Christian flags. Once they are up they say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag, the Christian flag and the Holy Bible. Then we were off to the tabernacle for our first service. Our speaker was a man who starts Spanish speaking churches in our area and also travels the world sharing the gospel using a soccer ball. The ball was made of various colors which makes it appealing to the childre...

I received this today in my email and wanted to pass the information along to you all. Help Pass ABLE Act Take Action! Contact Your Representative HELP US PASS THE ABLE ACT IN THIS CONGRESS! Contact Your Representatives to Convene a Hearing and Vote on the ABLE Act Today As you know, the NDSC endorsed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) of 2009 (S. 493/H.R. 1205). The ABLE Act will give individuals with disabilities and their families the ability to have a savings account which could fund a variety of essential expenses for the individual, including medical and dental care, education, community based supports, employment training, assistive technology, housing, and transportation. The funds from the account would accumulate interest tax-free. Another important aspect of this bill is that the funds in the Able Account will not count as assets of the individual with a disability when determining their eligibility for important and life-sustaining federal benefit programs...

Our school year ended rather well, it was just really busy and I have not had the time or the inclination to blog much lately. I have started to make exercise a part of my regular routine and I had to find time for it somewhere. It appears it was blogging and spending time on the internet that took the biggest hit, which is alright with me. I do intend to keep this blog up though, especially through the school year. As we ended this year we were pretty much on all the same activities I had already told you about so there was also not much to tell anyway. I will do an update soon though and let you know where she is in all her subjects. For now, here are our summer plans. We have entered Gess in the Summer Reading Program at the library as usual. Gess loves it and this time I am making her read harder books. She is into some early chapter books and I am really proud of her skills. She is finally using book marks to mark her place because the books are longer than her attention...

It was so exciting to get Gess on the Special Olympics team. I was not aware that they started this at such a young age. Children only need to be 8 years of age to join the Special Olympics. Around here though, they do most of the practices and organizing through the public school so I had to figure out how to get involved. I went to our state Special Olympics website and found the contact information for our area and sent out an email. I was contacted by phone and we worked out the details and Gess was on the team. Each child that participates does need to take a physical. Children with Down Syndrome also must have an Atlantoaxial Instability test to make sure there is no risk to their spinal cord through physical activity. They practiced during the school day at the High School. They were very accommodating and welcoming when we joined them there. We also practiced with Gess some on our own, mostly to make sure she understood how to stay in her own lane for the races. Since ...