Special Needs Children

Each one of us thinks that our children are unique and special. And we are all right, they are. Each child comes with his or her own unique set of talents and gifts that enrich the lives of those lucky enough to know them. However, some of us are challenged more than others.

Some parents have children who have special needs. On one end of the spectrum, they can be developmentally delayed, emotionally delayed, or physically delayed. If the experience of having a child wasn't enough, these parents face additional challenges and must make modifications to any program they seek to use. On the opposite side of the scale, is another group of parents with gifted children. They too must face additional challenges and must modify any curriculum they use.

Both of these types of parents struggle with the decision of whether or not they are making the right decision for their child. They are often faced with ridicule by the very people who should be supporting them. If you know any family in one of these situations, please provide support, love, guidance, and prayers for them as they year on this difficult, often rocky but so rewarding journey.

For my family, my oldest child is extremely gifted. My middle child is moderately gifted, and the baby of the family I am still figuring out. My challenge is not seeking curriculum that is challenging enough but finding a curriculum that is challenging but not overly mature for my crew. My decisions are often questioned as many feel that I push my children to hard. In reality, the opposite is true. My to-do list is never quite enough. They are always left with the task of wanting and needing more. To delve deeper has been a mainstay of what we do around here. To see all sides of the story and to draw our own conclusions. For your family, it maybe different.

This is my warning for all of those trying to follow in my footsteps... if your child is "average" you will want to follow a year or two behind. If your child is "gifted" feel free to follow along on our journey. There is a lot of information on this site for a lot of diffrent types of people. I hope it will help you all on your own individual journeys. I wish you all the best of luck!

About Kitchen Moments

From Life Take 1
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Back in 2006, I wrote for a Homeschool Magazine called This Old Schoolhouse. The name of my column was Kitchen Moments. I only wrote for a few months for the online version of this. Today, I copied over all of my old posts for you to review and for easy locating.

I am still working on transferring my homeschool blogs to this one site. Hopefully soon, I will get it all done and then start adding new things for all of you as well. I particularly hope to get my thoughts on public schools up soon and our new adventures with this endeavor as well.

Hi!

Welcome to my newest website. Yep -- another one! I have deleted all of the past sites but am hoping to move all the information from there to this one. So if you are looking for something, please have patience, it is coming. If you are looking for something, email me and I will try to get it to you sooner.

For those who are new, let me introduce myself and catch up on what has been happening in my life. In 1998, I meet and feel in love with a man that I would marry six short months later. We have three boys who we love very much. However, after eight years of marriage, he was in a serious accident at work. Don't worry.... he is well but our marriage did not survive this time. I discovered that he had someone else in his life. Again. Our marriage was already rocky because of previous issues with this, there was no way to recover from it. My world changed instantly that day. I was a wife, mother, and homeschooler. Now, I would become the primary provider, a single mom to three small children, a student trying to complete here degree, and some where in there I needed to find time for me so I could juggle all of these things.

I did it. It wasn't easy on the boys or me but we made it through with God's grace and guidance. Each day was a challenge but we not only survived, we succeed. About 8 months ago, God brought someone new into our lifes. Recently he proposed, and so life again has begun. It never really stopped but today we are on a new path and a new journey than the one that we were on before. I wonder where God will lead us now?

Join us in our new adventures as we look back at the past and prepare for the future. For those of you who know me personally, I have designed another website that is the countdown for the wedding. If you need the link, please email me.