This week, meet Grace Bound Books! Below is an interview with Tara Bertic, founder of Grace Bound Books.

Give us a general overview of your company and the products you sell through the Schoolhouse Store.
Grace Bound Books was essentially born when my youngest son Jeremiah was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, when he was four-years-old. I frantically searched for resources and curriculum to teach my special needs child at home and, out of discouragement of finding very little, decided that I would simply write my own. I began writing curriculum for Jerry based on his interests, individual goals, and milestones I hoped he'd achieve through the curriculum. That's when our first title, "Teaching Jeremiah," a comprehensive curriculum for preschoolers with special needs, was written.

Though the majority of our titles are geared towards teaching children with special needs, many of our customers of other preschoolers and kindergartners have commented that they are beneficial for children with no developmental delays as well.

 We do carry titles for homemakers, including "Organizing 101" and "Discerning Dollars," a book about budgeting (another necessity when you're a parent of a special needs child).
"Rejoicing in Rejection" is a comprehensive Bible study for individuals or groups that are interested in learning how to overcome the rejection of loved ones. Grace Bound Books also carries other titles geared towards early elementary students with no learning challenges, and are in unit study format. 

Tell us an interesting fact or story about your company.
We called our company Grace Bound Books because we believe that teaching a special needs child requires the parents, siblings, friends, and other people associated with them, to be blanketed in God's merciful grace. Grace can endure months of struggling to learn just one letter in the alphabet.  Grace can forgive public tantrums, or even private moments of tears "just because." Grace can give us the ability to forgive repeat offenses time and again. Most importantly, grace can give us the ability to teach our special needs children more effectively and efficiently than any public facility ever could, because we love them more completely than any other teacher, aide, or principal could. As an author, it has been my prayer over each completed title, that the grace to teach the materials within accompanies each and every sale.

 How can your products best benefit the homeschooling community?
I believe the benefit Grace Bound Books can offer homeschoolers is that we can give hope to new parents of special needs children that they CAN homeschool their learning-challenged children. When Jeremiah was first diagnosed and we began our quest for how best to educate him, doctors, professionals, and even parents of other special needs children, all had the same advice: "exceptional education learning programs at a public school or a specialized education facility." Being a small company, I am sensitive to the e-mails I receive from frustrated, exhausted, and lonely parents who are just trying to educate their own children and struggling as a result of his or her learning challenges. I am not a professional, but more than willing to share with others what has worked or failed for us and, most importantly, to pray for each of the homeschooling families of children with special needs that contact me.

The other benefit to the unit studies Grace Bound offers is that they are very "doable." Each one is comprehensive in its list of supplies needed (mostly household items) and, whenever possible, we have provided the printables, worksheets, templates, etc. In this way, completing the unit study is really possible, and without having to do much of the legwork yourself.