More words

U can say dark and stuck (sounds like duck, so "duck" means either I'm stuck, swimming bird, or penguin). She can also say head and cry, to say that someone else is upset. So many words coming out now, alhamdulillah.

Trying to login

I've been having trouble logging in, it won't recognise my password, so I have to reset it each time, which does deter from posting and commenting.
All the usual. I'm wondering whether Ia will get offered a place at the nursery at all. It seems to be getting late. If she doesn't I won't mind too much as she is getting more at home now, and it would be awkward having to travel so far, breaking up what have been enjoyable home days. However if they do offer her a place it would be hard to turn it down as it would do her good.
U can say stuck, and back (meaning when someone comes back).

After a weekend of visits....

U can say duck, goose, her name, look and book. She wants to be read to a lot now, especially Thomas books and Topsy and Tim. There is also a picture library book about stripes that she particularly likes.
Ia has helped me make flapjacks and oat biscuits and has spent a lot of time on the activities in her My Little Pony magazine. She did some really good flower drawings as part of the craft activity.
Yesterday we made a model town by covering the table with paper, drawing on the roads and colouring it. Then everyone joined in with making the buildings from Lego. The boys enjoyed this part, but had a rebellion when asked to draw a plan of the model. They did it in the end, although not very neatly, and they certainly regretted making the roads so complex!
Maths at the moment is 3 and 4 times tables. They have also completed their first salaah chart, and it has certainly helped them to remember to pray. Now I should make them another one!
Again they have spent a lot of time in imaginative play and less time reading.

Feels like home

Having a good home day really makes the home feel like a home. Seeing all the resources coming out of the cupboards and off the shelves and being used, having things you need close at hand, alhamdulillah, getting something related, even vaguely, to art done as well as the other lessons.
All this although it has not been ideal, the boys were over excited with having a friend over to join in and their general loudness meant Ia getting less of me than she should have.
What did we do? Maths was finally a change to something more interesting, multiplication basics, although this was revision, they needed it to rebuild confidence. For science we took out the leaves that we put in the flower press last week and drew round them, then adding on the veins and shading them in autumn colours. We labelled those we could identify. Then they used the computer to type out EMQ, 18:45, which we then printed out, stuck on the top of some autumn yellow paper and then stuck on the pressed leaves.
I got them to do a little more on the computer, inserting pictures into text, but then we ran into problems and I left it for next week, insh'Allah.
Ia spent lots of time on iboard, did some sticking, played tea parties and spoke to me at length about her babies, their crying and need for milk, their frienships and other qualities.
U moaned quite a bit, but then had a brilliant time standing on the school tables, singing "Baa Baa Black sheep" (it goes baaa baaa... various non word sounds) waving her arms and then jumping off into my arms.
I was also treated to a show this morning, when the suncatcher pictures they painted in the summer were attached to pencils and the boys played out a story with them. Some members of the audience were rather inattentive, but the narrators made the best of it.

Fascinating Four

U can say "baby" and "cucumber", although I think the latter one means "anything from the fridge".
The boys are getting engrossed in imaginative games these days and are generally coming up with more new ideas for themselves. This morning they put a poster on their door calling themselves and their sisters the "Fascinating Four", there is a password, represented by a series of dots, like in e-mail. They have just finished a secret meeting. I think the new routines are less draining for them and so they have more left for that type of thing.
Getting more into doing a variety of things, yesterday, after studying "tahara" we made a very glittery poster of the words "tahara is half of faith". Ia did a glittery poster of her name. Ia and R did Hama bead designs, and U had a go at the maxi size. Lots went on the floor of course. Maths at the moment is too easy, still doing odd and even numbers, the course needs to move on to something more challenging soon!
Not so much reading has been done recently, but the boys have said that they are enjoying the Moomin books. The "Fish" book is getting better! The comparisons between the lives of the boy and the fish are so detailed. It is such an extraordinary story, written as though it was just so banal, so everyday. This is the cleverness of it, hiding such dramatic events as if they were just an ordinary tale, and in so doing giving so clearly the perspective of a child who knows no other way of life. "Fish" is by L.S. Matthews.
Ia has been playing with various puzzles, drawing pictures and playing dolls with U. She has also watched too much tv, so must do something about that.
Had to go to the supermarket yesterday and the boys were very good about carrying home heavy bags, although they did find it hard, maashAllah.

Busy

Boys have had a busy long weekend playing with friends at various locations and squeezing in their regular lessons in between. Ia had more of a mixed time, with getting too tired, falling over and having little fall outs with friends. I did not help when I dozed off while playing with her. But she has also been very giggly and excited too.
U has mastered opening the fridge and getting things out. She has tried putting things back too, but that is much harder as you have something in your hand, and if you put it down it obstructs the door. She demands to feed herself her breakfast cereal, and also stands at the table demanding workbooks to scribble on.

Autumn Leaves

The day is not over yet but I have the chance to blog now, so I'll take it. L has been here today. The boys were rather excited and therefore silly and although I didn't feel so at the time I now think that they got quite a bit done. The maths lessons were easy so they did two of them (counting objects in groups of 10 and counting on and back in 10s and 100s).
Later we went to the park to look for the signs of autumn. They picked up leaves and found the empty acorn cups left by the squirrels. I took some digital photos before the batteries in the camera ran out. Insh'Allah we can use them next week. When we came back they wrote a few sentences to describe what they had seen in their books and put the leaves we had collected in the flower press. Then I got them to use Word to start writing up their experiences in Wales this year. They type so slowly they only got a couple of sentences done, but they are starting to remember how to underline, do headings and save their work.
Meanwhile Ia and U played with their soft toys. U knows which of the toys are "mine". Ia needs some more attention from me this evening, as she has been so good with keeping herself occupied today, maash'Allah.

djuuuz

I gave the bigger three juice this evening and U threw her milk to one side and said "djuuuuz".
Ia had her teeth counted for the first time at the dentist's this morning. Boys each needed a tiny sealing filling, but not in the same teeth as eachother! Ia was all clear, alhamdulillah, and was very pleased that the dentist liked her trousers!
Had a group day, marred by J having a huge tantrum and having to be taken out of the building to calm down. From everyone else I was happy with the work done. I started to read "Fish" to them, and although there were some protests I think that they are actually intrigued by the story, they were certainly asking lots of questions. The book begins by describing the life of a boy living with aid worker parents in a poor, war torn country.
For geography we drew plans of the room, trying to emphasise the relative size and positions of the items of furniture, hoping that they will grasp the way in which maps and plans must be accurate to be useful.
Ia showed that she can still recognise the words red, blue and green. She also enjoyed colouring and playing some imaginary games. U showed that she can occupy herself with scribbling for quite some time.

Jealousy

If I read a book to Ia U wants a different book read to her at the same time, even if she likes Ia's book and asks for that as soon as Ia has finished with it. U has also tried out biting today, to express her anger, Ia's trousers were thick enough for her not to get hurt. We got some new books from the Book People today so they spent some time on those. Ia and U got a Dora book, so now it is clear that U can say "backpack".
Boys did the first maths assessment, which they enjoyed doing as usual. They started out confident of scoring 100% (although this has never happened yet in a maths assessment), but were not too disappointed with not achieving this as at least they scored within two percent of each other, which is what really counts. The spelling work was far less popular but we got through that, along with a couple of other topics.
It is becoming difficult to blog in the evening as U is now refusing to go to sleep before me, which is something Ia did too. This is regardless of how short a nap she may have had in the day. Maybe I'll just have to get up earlier!

English, Arabic, Quran and History

U can say "mine". She has requested her favourite board books and wants J to read them to her.
First group day went well. Boys finished their stories off too early and so were left with not much to do, which I wasn't prepared for. Ia played games and coloured with the other younger ones. A bit more variety would help her so I need to plan her "work" out too. Boys have used reciter.org this evening, and, as everyone is appreciating my cooking more than usual, I have made a salmon quiche and a carrot cake.

Almost Monday

...and I can't believe its got here so fast. The new routines and approach should start from tomorrow. Up to now we've been easing into the plan, getting adjusted.
A busy few days, visiting friends, being visited, fitting in the planned for number of maths lessons.
S has given the boys new pencil cases with compartments that pop out all over. They love them!
U climbed a tall slide's ladder in the park, saying "up, up", and slid down saying "down, down".

Getting at Home with Home Days

There is a new timetable emerging with our new routines. I wrote some sort of timetable up and stuck it inside a kitchen cupboard. Once a couple of outstanding things have been cleared we can start trying to keep to it, insh'Allah.
This morning the boys began by watching Crocodile Hunter and then they went to their room and spent most of the rest of the morning playing something with toys. Ia spent some time on the computer then we did a few pages of workbook, (she could still recognise the words "red" and "blue" from Sunday.) Later I read to her and we played a game. U did some scribbling.
When it was time for the boys to do English the girls looked at books quietly(!). J had a huge tantrum, which spoiled things a bit. Got a maths lesson done too (right angles). Otherwise they read and watched TV and I cleaned and planned. I just need to get a bit more into the day before I get really happy with it.

Nature Reserve Trip

Today, maash'Allah was a beautiful, crisp autumn day, just right for spending a lot of time walking and for visiting the nature reserve. Today's topic was "Autumn Fruits, Seeds and Leaves". The ranger who led the session began by talking about the signs of autumn, they then went on to think about what a seed needs to grow, and the parts of a small plant. They also learnt about different ways that seeds disperse and looked at some examples of seeds. Then we all went outside (20 children in the group) to play a suvival game, hide acorns like squirrels, collect fallen leaves and hunt for hidden acorns, (and fail to find most of them). Then we all went back inside to do leaf rubbings and plant chikpea seeds. It was an excellent session and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
While the boys and I wew doing that Ia and U were at H's house. U has learnt how to go downstairs there. Ia enjoyed playing and colouring.
On the way this morning we also called in at the library. R has already finished his first book, so probably they will be out of reading material again in a couple of days. U chose a book with shiny stars in it, and I think she said "star" to it. It is time to read Ia her books now!