An unlikely friendship formed between Ron and Denver, at the urging of a woman listening to God. Ron is an art dealer and hobnobs with high society. Denver was an uneducated black man from the cotton fields of the south who hopped a train one day. The woman was Ron’s wife, Deborah, who to Denver became known as Miss Debbie.

When “Same Kind Of Different As Me” first arrived at my house, my ten year old son snatched it up and took it away to read. He kept trying to tell me all about it, but I told him to wait until I had a chance to read it and not spoil the surprise. Let me just say that he loved it.

When I first picked up this book to read, I had a hard time getting into it, but as I pressed on. The story pulled me in and by about half way through, I couldn’t put it down.

This book was raw, real, and revealing. In places, it drove me to tears. This book inspired me, challenged me, and caused me to think deeply about a great many things. It drove me out of my comfort zone by the words of a black man with a heart of gold. True friendship was forged through struggles and tragedy, and polished by heartache.

If you are looking for a good read or need to be shaken out of complacency like I was, then I would highly recommend this book.

Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

Last week, I wrote a list of Special Needs Books that I have read. This is my list of books that I want to read.

1. Playing, Laughing and Learning with Children on the Autism Spectrum: A Practical Resource of Play Ideas for Parents and Carers by Julia Moor. You can read more about the author.
2. Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism by Jenny McCarthy. You can read more about the author.
3. Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet. You can read more about the author.
4. The Autism Cookbook: 101 Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Recipes by Susan K. Delaine and Peter J. Bauth. You can visit The Autism Cookbook on Facebook.
5. Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences by Thomas Armstrong You can visit the author’s website.
6. Special-Needs Kids Eat Right: Strategies to Help Kids on the Autism Spectrum Focus, Learn, and Thrive by Judy Converse. You can read more about the book and the author.
7. Autism’s Hidden Blessings: Discovering God’s Promises for Autistic Children & Their Families by Kelly Langston. You can visit the book’s website or the facebook page.
8. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison. Visit the author’s website.
9. Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Processing Issues Lindsey Biel (Author), Nancy Peske (Author). You can read more about this book here.
10. Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World by Sharon Heller (Author). You can read more about the author and the book.

I know it was supposed to be a list of ten, so just consider these bonus reads and don’t tell anyone, okay (thanks).

1. Parenting a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder: A Family Guide to Understanding & Supporting Your Sensory-Sensitive Child Christopher R. Auer (Author), Susan L. Blumberg (Author). Visit the website to read more about the book.
2. Tools for Parents A Handbook to Bring Sensory Integration into the Home developed by Diana A. Henry, M.S., OTR/L, and Tammy Wheeler, M.S., OTR/L. Read more about the book.

I am linking this post up with Top Ten Tuesdays and Hip Homeschool Hop.

Do your kids need to brush up on some of their math skills before you dig into your new homeschool materials and start another year?

Here are some fun on-line games for the kids to use to practice their addition skills:

1. Ants Go Marching
2. Aquatic Speedway Addition
3. Car Wash Frenzy
4. Cone Crazy Add
5. Fantastic Fish Shop
6. Flight of the Knight
7. Snowball Fight
8. Math Magician Games

I can’t wait to incorporate some of these fun on-line activities into our home school day.

What fun on-line activities will you be adding into your homeschooling day this year?

I am linking this post up with Math Monday.

My husband and the kids found this cute little spider.

I have never seen this type of spider around here before.

He really wasn’t very big, only the size of the bolts on the gate.

But he was hairy. He had a red spot on his behind. I panicked just a bit.

He sure looks cute (in the photos).

Jonah (my husband) looked him up and discovered that he is a Zebra Jumping Spider. Or at least that is our best guess. I love how we can find nature type things to learn about even in the city.

What science things are you learning about where you live?

I am linking this post up with Science Sunday .

I always find it interesting when I stop and take a look back at the week. This week had a lot going on as you’ll see.

Visiting Nana

We drove over to the nursing home to visit my Nana on Sunday. Had a very nice visit with her. She had me pray with her and we both cried. I don’t believe my Nana has much time left. She is fragile and very thin. Please pray with me that when it is her time she will go peacefully and painlessly.

Indoor Play Place Fun

Went to the indoor play place (after the nursing home) so the kids could play and we could visit with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids loved it. The twins were finally almost big enough to play. I have enough pictures for a post (so watch for it).

Flat Tire

We were going to go visit my sister (after the play place) and discovered that we had a flat tire. After some phoning later in the week we discovered that we can get it replaced with a used one for fairly cheap, but for now it sits.

Art Fun

We did a fun art project this week. I have enough pictures for a post (so watch for it too).

The Airplane Is Still Missing in Alaska

We ask for your continued prayers. Friends of ours were on a plane that went missing in Alaska – FOURTEEN DAYS AGO! You can visit the website that was set up by the family. Alaska Search Update.

My Aunt Is Coming To Victoria

My mom’s sister is coming for the week to spend some time with my Nana.  I am excited to see her again and looking forward to some great conversations and memory making moments.

Sweet Pea and Me

Yesterday Hosanna spent the day nursing and complaining of a sore mouth. She is two so we didn’t know what she meant. Was she teething? Did she have a sore throat? I don’t know what was going on, but she was miserable and wanting to nurse constantly. This morning, I woke up with a sore throat. Ah, now I understand. So, I will nurse little Sweet Pea as much as she needs. (Update: All the little people and big people in the house are now sick with a cold, we are praying it passes quickly).

My Day At the Mob

Today is my day at The M.O.B. Society. Make sure you hop over and read my post They Love The Dirt, But Not The Bath (but not before you leave some comments here, pretty please).

I am linking this post to Weekly Wrap-Up over on Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Guest Post by Kelly Harbaugh from Tabitha’s Team Inc

When my daughter was a toddler in daycare, her caregiver, Miss Ann, always marveled at how “good” she was. Quiet and mild-mannered, my daughter was labeled “the little angel.” Angel? She was quite skilled at the normal toddler tantrums at home.

As we progressed to the pre-school years, My daughter had the same teacher for 2 years in a row. She loved Miss Amanda, and always had a big hug for her. But never words. However, when Amanda came to our home to babysit, she was floored by the outgoing chatterbox who danced and giggled in front of her. She was in so much disbelief that she called her assistant teacher to witness my daughter’s vocal chords.

Kindergarten came, and still no words for her teacher. Not even a whisper.

After much prayer, counsel from a friend, a talk with my pediatrician, and observance by the school psychologist, it was determined that my daughter had selective mutism.

Selective Mutism (SM) is a childhood anxiety disorder. When a child with SM experiences high anxiety, her body copes by shutting down speech. A child with selective mutism is usually quiet in public and social situations, sometimes even acting as if her body is frozen. However, at home and around family members, the child is lively and talkative, sometimes even bossy.

The most important thing to remember when working with a child who has SM is that selective mutism is a failure to speak, not a refusal to speak. A child with SM desperately wants to talk in social situations but cannot find the ability.

Treatment for selective mutism includes removing the expectation for speech (which increases anxiety), teaching the child skills to lower anxiety, and involving the child in frequent social interaction. Although there is no scientific research behind it, the general recommendation is to not homeschool the child who has selective mutism. On the surface, this makes sense. A child cannot learn to function socially if they are not involved in social situations.

However, those of you who homeschool know that social interaction is not about school. Although we had great cooperation from our public school, we made the decision to start homeschooling our daughter last year. This is what we found:

My daughter made tremendous social progress in the classroom. But the classroom just became another protected environment like the home. She was comfortable enough to talk when she really needed to in class, but she still could not interact with an adult in real life. I believe that school records that show the progress of a child with SM are incomplete. They leave out what happens at the restaurant, the bank, the store, etc. This is the real test of social progress.

Within the first two weeks of homeschooling, my daughter had some amazing real life accomplishments. She spoke to our neighbor in the yard. She told a brand new Sunday School teacher her name on the first day of class. She ordered her own drink at the softball field. For the first time in 5 years of schooling, we were seeing social progress outside of school.

Homeschooling has allowed my daughter to experience a wider variety of social interaction. She is with me as we run errands through town, paying bills, banking, or shopping. She was with me when I had to go to the garage and negotiate a car repair. She followed me through the process of voting in a local election. She is seeing everyday life and standing beside me as we deal with strangers. Life is not made up of 18 kids her own age who have been taught about her condition.

We still have a long way to go, but the progress is obvious. She recently attended her bests friend’s birthday party. When I arrived to pick her up, I was told that she was the life of the party, laughing and telling several stories about her family and her recent vacation. Her friend’s mother remarked, “I think homeschooling has been really good for her. It seems to have brought her out of her shell.”

I think so too.

Note: If you are the homeschooling parent of a special needs child, I would love to have you tell your story here. Please use the contact form to drop me a note.

Thank you so much to Kelly for guest posting and sharing your story.

I am really excited to announce Marketplace Mommies’ first on-line blogging class. I hope you will join me and my friend Dawn (from 5 Kids and a Dog) as we present our first workshop hosted by Marketplace Mommies.

Blogging 101: Creating Content and Building Community will focus on the basics of blogging, but the whole point of the workshop (and daily tasks that follow) is to help you create some new content for your blog and start to build a community or enhance an existing one.

If you want to learn more about blogging, creating content, building a community, and have the pleasure to meet some new friends in the process, then this class is for you.

We made the price low so that it is affordable for everyone.

Seats are limited, so register today!

For many people, fall is a time of year to slow down and begin reflecting on how they want to remember the year. For Jews, fall marks the beginning. The beginning of a new year. Our High Holidays.

As the Jewish calendar is lunar-based calendar, it seems that our holiday, festivals and celebrations jump around on the calendar. In fact, on the lunar calendar they virtually unchanged from the earliest recorded celebrations. This year the Jewish New Year will begin at sundown on September 8th. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown, in accordance with the beginning of our ‘day’ based on a lunar cycle.

Jewish New Year celebration encompass two holy days – Rosh Hashana (pronounce: roe-sh ha-shah-nah) and Yom Kippur (pronounce: yoem kee-pooh-ur) Rosh Hashanah (some omit the last h) literally means head (rosh) of the year (ha shanah) and this year will mark the year 5771. These two celebrations are the most holy days for Jews worldwide. Many Jews will spend their day in worship reflecting on the year to come. Unlike other celebrations of the new year where the primary focus is on rejoicing, Rosh Hashanah is a time for solemn reflection and a day of memorial. Rosh Hashana is a day when the Almighty sits in judgment of all creatures on earth and grants forgiveness to all.

Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement. It is a day to reflect upon our sins and seek forgiveness for our transgressions not only to G-D, but to those here on Earth that we have wronged. Of all the celebrations of the Jewish people, Yom Kippur is our most holy day. It is our most serious holiday and is reflected by the solemn tone of the service.

Yet, not unlike most Jewish holidays there are special sights, sounds and smells associated with these two very important celebrations. The first is a shofar (pronounced: show-far). A shofar is usually a rams horn, although there are several specific animals other than a ram from which a shofar can be made. It symbolizes the ram that was sacrificed by Abraham in Isaac’s place. It’s sound is a call to all G-D’s people to join in worship and remind of of this Day of Judgment. The final blast of the shofar is a sound to behold. It is one long blast, often lasting up to 2 minutes by the most adept shofar blower. In most congregations it will be a man who blows the shofar. It is not an easy instrument to sound!

For these High Holidays, there is special clothing for the Torah. The Torah is the ‘old testament’, the first five books of Moses. They are handwritten and held in sacred regard among the Jewish people. To see each Torah outfitted in it’s fanciest garb is a symbol that this holiday is something special. Most often, they the Torah is dressed in white.

As a child, my favorite part of the High Holidays was always the round challah, sliced apples and honey that were served at Rosh Hashnah and Yom Kippur meals. These two holidays are observed with the presentation of a round challah, symbolizing life and the universe. Often, this challah has raisins to make it sweeter. And the apples and honey are further symbols of the sweetness the new year holds. And, of course there are the pomegranates. Sweet and tart and so much work to eat, but so rewarding. Oh, the memories!

I wish you all a L’shanah tovah (pronounce: Luh-shah-nah-tove-ah) (‘for a good year’). This is the traditional greeting shared among Jews during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. And at the end of Yom Kippur, the shofar is sounded one last time in a long blast. We end by saying ‘Next Year in Jerusalem’, as a way to remind ourselves that we continue to strive for a holy land of peace for all Jewish people.

Sara Hawkins
Saving For Someday
Follow me on Twitter
savingforsomeday@gmail.com

1. Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight by Sharon Heller. Visit the author’s website and read an excerpt from the book.
2. Sensational Kids by Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR. You can read more about the author and her foundation.
3. The Out-of-Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz. Visit the author’s website to read more about this and other books.
4. The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Stock Kranowitz. Visit the author’s website to read more about this and her other books.
5. Autism Spectrum Disorders by Chantal Sicile-Kira and Temple Grandin. Visit Chantal at her website. Visit Temple Grandin’s website.
6. The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for Out-of-Bounds Behavior by Karen A. Smith and Karen R. Gouze. I searched the Internet for an author website and could not find one. You can visit Amazon to read a book description and several reviews.
7. All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome by Kathy Hoopmann. I searched the Internet for an author website for this book as well. Here is a link to the book on Amazon. I borrowed this book from the library a long time ago, but it was one that I will always remember. It was so good. It is a very easy read.
8. The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook, Updated and Revised: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet by Pamela J. Compart and Dana Laake. This is another book where I could not find an author or book website. This book has an amazing collection of recipes for use if you or your child is following the GFCF diet.
9. Raising Your Spirited Child Rev Ed: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. You can visit the author’s website and read more about this book and her other books.
10. I would really love to hear about what you are reading. Insert your book here.

I am linking up this post with Top Ten Tuesday and Hip Homeschool Hop .

NOTE – Please don’t forget to scroll down below this really long list of participants and leave me a comment about what books you are reading.

I am so excited.

Have I told you yet that we are studying ancients yet?

Oh, wait. I just did that.

You can read all about our homeschool plans for this year. When you are done reading, you will know that we are using Mystery of History, Volume 1 for our social studies, history, and geography this year.

We have not started yet because we are still getting used to all of our other subjects, but we will be starting very soon.  I can’t wait to dig in with the kids and have fun.

But wait…

I have a surprise.

I have asked my friend Sara, from over at Saving For Someday, to do a series this year on the Jewish feasts and festivals. I am so happy that she said yes. I can’t wait to learn from her.

Her first post goes up this Wednesday (September 1, 2010).

It is really good! (Yes, I got to have a sneak peak.)

Make sure you come back and read it.

PS – You can read more about the Mystery of History if you are interested.

What are you studying for social studies, history, and geography for this year?