May is the month of Our Lady, so this month I’m sharing Montessori-inspired three-part art cards depicting the Mysteries of the Rosary for FREE. I made these for the boys in our co-op to use in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium. They are a beautiful way to teach your children about the mysteries of the rosary. Here’s what they look like: The wonderful thing about three-part cards is that there are so many ways to use them, depending on your child’s age and ability. You can help your child match picture to picture, then title to title. You can lay out all five cards of a mystery, then ..read more

Here’s a free resource to help your child with (or without) T21 learn the concept of silent e in long vowel words. Most phonics programs require children to practice word families by reading long, drill-like lists of words. Early on, I knew that was not going to fly with my little guy. So, to help him understand silent e, I adapted the word lists to make them colorful, interactive, and full of pictures to boost comprehension and to make reading lists of words more meaningful and interesting. Take a look: Having the silent e in a yellow font helps students remember that it silent. Pictures h ..read more

Spring has sprung! So I made these Spring-themed Picture Addition Cards. Take a peek: These cards provide practice and review of addition math facts within ten and focus on +1 and +2 facts as well as doubles. If your child is just starting with addition, I recommend helping your child master the +1 and +2 facts, and then the doubles before moving on to the other facts within ten. Print these on card stock and laminate, so your child can practice with these repeatedly. Download these for FREE here: Spring-themed addition cards: +1/+2/ doubles factsDownload   Happy Spring! Winter-themed N ..read more

A few months ago, my oldest son told me he has a friend who has seven siblings, four with Down Syndrome. As a mother of a large family who has one child with Down Syndrome, I was astounded. Five biological children, three adopted, four with Down Syndrome and homeschooling? “Peter,” I said to my son, “Please get me her number. I need to talk to that mom and tap into her wisdom.” It took us a while to connect — Sonia McGarrity is, after all, a little busy. But once we did, we could have talked for hours about family life, homeschooling, and Trisomy 21. As we spoke, I realized that the story of t ..read more

Here’s a set of Spring-Themed Tracing Pages I made for my son to keep him motivated with handwriting. These come in color as well as black and white. There are 16 words to trace in color and 16 in black and white. Be sure to watch that your child is using the correct order of strokes when tracing. Muscle memory is so important in writing skills, so we want to make sure they are using consistent and correct stroke patterns. Download them for free here and Happy Spring! spring-words-for-tracingDownload Winter Words for Tracing by Mary Cooney January 14, 2024 FREE Worksheets for Trac ..read more

For those of you who have used my free Short Vowel Stories to practice phonics with your emergent readers, here’s an easy next step: a FREE and adapted version of Teach Me to Read Duets. Fifteen years ago or so, I wrote these little stories for my daughter when she was learning to read. Then, about two years ago, I adapted them for my son with Down Syndrome. Compared to the original version, the font size is larger, there are two spaces between each word, and there are larger gaps between each line. I also broke this book up into three smaller books (A, B, and C), all of which are included in ..read more

This year, the boys in our little T21 co-op are preparing to receive First Confession and First Communion. We are so grateful that a trained catechist has been coming to run a little Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class just for them. They have been learning the names of some of the articles of the Mass, and so I made these Montessori-style three-part cards to teach them words such as monstrance, chalice, paten, and purificator. Here’s a sample: There are eighteen items in this set: altar, altar bells, altar candle, boat, chalice, ciborium, communion plate, crucifix, cruets, host, monstranc ..read more

Here’s a FREE set of winter-themed number line addition worksheets. These focus on the +1, +2, +3 and doubles facts within ten. They’re designed for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs. Here are some sample pages: I include blank sheets so you can write in your own facts: I recommend using colored pegs or counters above the number line to help your child solve each number sentence. Or you can use the addition strips that are included: Download the Winter-Themed Number Line Addition Worksheets here for free: Number line addition – Winter-themedDownload Winter Words for  ..read more

Here’s a set of winter words for tracing. Tracing words of high interest is way more fun than writing repeated letters for my son. So I make sheets like this to motivate him. We intersperse copying letters with tracing high-interest words. And that keeps him going. Take a look at these winter words for tracing, offered here for free. This set comes in color, if you want to print on card stock and laminate, and it comes in black and white, so you can print and go. Use alongside our free set of winter words and picture cards. Download the Winter Words for Tracing here: Winter Words for Tracin ..read more

Here’s a beautiful little Nativity book for your little ones. It is a collection of sacred art accompanied with simple, repetitive verses that go with each painting. Together, these retell the Christmas story in the simplest of words. Contemplating sacred art is a beautiful way for children to pray. Here are some sample pages: The Nativity in Art for Children is available on Amazon. This book was originally created as a set of art cards I made for my son a few years ago. At that point his speech was just emerging, so I created repetitive verses to go with each painting that he could learn to ..read more