Special Connection Homeschool

Gess turned 13 last October and I have to tell you she is certainly showing great signs of maturity. I have blogged over the years of ways I taught her how to do chores, remember her homework, and regulate her screen time. Well, all the hard work has not been in vain! We seem to have a system that is working quite smoothly! I believe the My Student Logbook was the final tool that helped pull it all together. I reviewed this last September and it is a constant in our daily use now. What I do is list each subject that Gess must complete each day. Below that are other things she must accomplish such as chores, practicing her piano, reading a book, and making her bed.  To motivate her to complete them we have one rule. No Media until every box is checked off. That means: No TV No Computer (except for school related) No XBox No CD or MP3 music. She does get breaks in her day. She can play outside, with legos, color, or any other thing that is not media related. Thi...

Since I just shared about how I have used Motivated Moms to help me keep my house in order and also recently blogged about how Gesserine does not get allowance for doing her chores, I thought today I would share some tips on how we motivate Gess to actually get her chores done. First of all we started training her at an early age that she was expected to clean up her own mess.  Singing songs can sometimes make it seem like play.  "Now it's time to clean up, clean up, clean up. Now its time to clean up and put away our toys." Or "Gesserine is a helper. Gesserine is a helper.  Gesserine puts away her toys. Gesserine is a helper." As Gess has gotten older, she has gotten more responsibility and we have had to come up with new ways to motivate her to do her chores.  While we can't always make chores fun, we can help to make them a positive experience.  Below are a few of the ways we do that. 1. Have a great attitude .  If you hate chores, so will your k...

Motivated is not generally a term I would use to describe myself, especially when it comes to completing those every day tasks like dishes, laundry, and scrubbing toilets.   That is exactly why I asked to review Motivated Moms .  My house, like my life, is often in disarray and I needed some extra incentive to get things done.  When I read about my opportunity to review the Motivated Moms Ebooks I jumped at the chance!  Actually I was a bit less enthusiastic, but I knew I needed it for my own good. The Motivated Moms Ebook is a printable chore planning system for us mothers to use but of course it is useful for anyone running their own home, even if you are not yet a mom.  It comes in sixteen different formats which covers daily or weekly lists so there is one to suit just about every need.  I chose the 2014 Motivated Moms Chore Planner with Scheduled Bible Reading in Black and White .  You can also get it in color and without the bible readin...

Life skills are an essential part of homeschooling when you have a child with special needs, but they are really something everyone needs.  I fear that while kids today are learning to read and write there are still some skills that they are lacking, particularly those relating to housework.   I think part of that reason may be the fact that we pay our children for any work they do. While I think finding a way for young people to make money is a good idea, I believe that paying them for work that has to be done sends the wrong message.  Kids today grow up believing that they shouldn't have to do any work at all unless they are rewarded in some tangible way. Too often then not, when children grow up and stop getting paid for doing their daily chores they often stop doing them.  When they move out on their own their house becomes a disaster.  Even those who manage to keep their house tidy seem to do so with a resentful and despondent attitude.  I know th...

You know chore charts are not just for children.  As I have been struggling trying to keep the house work up among all my summer activities, homeschooling projects, exercise, blogging, church activities and other every day life events I realized that I needed a hand.  Since Gess is getting older and taking on more responsibility I though it was a good time to put some order into her routine of helping.  Then Chelsie gave me a great idea that she uses.  By breaking up my weekly chores into daily tasks I don't have to give up an entire day to nothing but cleaning house! Taking her idea and breaking up the daily chores I came up with the following list.  There is one for each of us and an extra one that goes beyond the standard chores.  It's the stuff we do at least once a week to keep our house neat and clean.  What I love about it is that if something happens on that one day I had set aside to clean the house, it doesn't mean that my entire house get...

I posted about our home-made laundry soap a little over a year ago.  It really does work well and saves you lots of money.  I did notice though that some of my whites were becoming a bit dingy so I did add some Oxyclean into the mix.  Now that we know we like it, we make a huge batch at once.  It should last us at least 6 months.  Here is the recipe: 1 Box Mule Team Borax (4lb 12oz box) 1 Box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (3lb box) 1 Box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (4 lb box) 1 Container Oxyclean (1.3lb) 4 bars of Ivory Soap (Or Fels Naptha or any soap you prefer) It is really easy to make the soap and not all that messy.  All you do is dump the box ingredients into your storage container. Grate the bar soap in the food processor. Then just mix it up.  Look at all that soap!  This means I won't have to make laundry soap for half a year!  Better yet I won't have to buy it.  I save so much money with very...

I just had to take a moment and update you on how helpful Gess is these days with the laundry .  She actually does more than just fold now.  She will put the clothes in the wash for me and start the machine.  From there she will put the clothes into the dryer and start that too, although she doesn't always getting the setting just right.  While she is pretty good at folding she seems to be looking at improving her skills.  The other day she seemed to get very creative and had quite the array of clothes on the floor.  I had to run out while she was doing it but my husband left it for me to see because it was quite the sight.  Check it out. She did it all by herself!  Every pair of socks had it's own place and everything! I can't tell you how helpful it is to have a child who can do the laundry for me.  It happens to be one my least favorite tasks!  Thanks Gess!  You are one amazing girl!

A couple of months ago I blogged about how Gess is such a good helper with the laundry and chores .  During chore time she will make the beds, put things away, fold the laundry and even sweep the kitchen floor.  Well recently she has also been helping with something else.  The vacuuming! Just look at her go!  She is actually pretty thorough although I do need to teach her how to get around the edges. (I need to help her do that when sweeping the kitchen with a broom too.)  So, what's so great about being able to vacuum you might wonder?  It's Gesserine's fear and disdain for anything loud! When Gess was a baby she had tubes put in her ears because she had so much fluid built up she could not hear very well.  Once she had those in and could hear better, she became totally frightened of the vacuum.  I had to do all my vacuuming when she was asleep.  As she got older I would warn her when I was about to start and she would leave the ro...

Every child has to do chores so we actually make doing chores part of our school day. Lifeskills are especially important for children with special needs and since Gess tends to love routine it has been easier getting her to do the chores if they are part of our regular daily activities. As I teach Gess her household responsibilities it is always in the back of my mind that one day she will be living on her own. Therefore, I want to make sure she knows how to take proper care of her herself and her home so fostering independence is always high on my priority list. The first chore we introduced to Gess when she was very young was folding the laundry. Her only job was folding the wash cloths which led to folding the towels which led to folding just about everything. Now she also helps me sort and wash the clothes and has even helped me make our own laundry soap (which I will be blogging about soon). Gess has become quite the helper doing laundry, but one thing she could never q...