I doesn't like...

The boys have been out and about with H lots these past couple of days. Yesterday it was just me with the girls and the seemingly endless painting.
I've been doing short maths activities with Ia. Today we did an investigation of the combinations made by picking out 5 cubes from a selection in three colours, (2 red, 1 blue, 2 green, etc). Then she wanted to see how it would work with totals of 6 cubes. She recorded the results on the whiteboard.
Both girls have also been keen to act out their current favourite library book "I don't like Gloria", by Kate Umansky. Colin is a small dog and he is not impressed by the arrival of cat Gloria into the family home. Gloria eats his food and sleeps on his special cushion. The only thing that unites the two is their dislike of the next new pet, Jeffrey the rabbit. Ia and U can play this out endlessly, but there is no actual fighting, just "looks". I struggle to stay interested, in my role as owner of the pets. Of course we've read the book over and over too. U goes upstairs to read it by herself, but I still hear her rendering it into her own grammar "I doesn't like Gloria".

Messy

More busy, disorganised days house decorating means not much more than maths and Quran recitation being done. Yesterday the boys woke up early, ready to go cycling, only to find that it was raining. They spent the whole morning waiting for the rain to stop, counting the hours, deciding to wait half an hour more before giving up, etc. Funny that the day's maths work was about measuring time, if it is 9:16 now what time will it be in half an hour, and so on. Well, they got a ride in the end, and today too. So lots of exercise being done if not much else!
Yesterday I drew fish bowls on the whiteboard, Ia placed red cusinaire rods (fish) in the bowls, and we counted the different combinations of fish. Today she has not felt too well, as she demonstrated by throwing up on the floor of B&Q.

Hard at work already?

No! With H home it is hard to shake off the weekend feel, so it is a slow easing back into routine. Although I hope it is really just me who feels they are hard at work at anytime! H took the boys out cycling today. Ia is trying, but she finds it such hard work getting the pedals round she can hardly start thinking about balance.
So we got back to maths today. The boys did a page of subtractions and J joined in with some activities with Ia. I began by putting some bricks in a pot, getting Ia to estimate then count the number inside. Then she repeated this, with me doing the guessing. We discussed how the outcomes would be different if we were using 1cm cubes, or potatoes inside the pot. Next we played the game where you count out some bricks, then use a cloth to conceal the removal or addition of a few bricks before having the other person guess what you've done. We played that quite a few times. Lastly Ia wrote out the numbers 1 to 10 on the white board, firstly copying, then free. She finds using the whiteboard more interesting than paper.
U has found the draw-over-wipe-clean books. Tatty as they are, as soon as they came out everyone wants a go!

A book

We are still on post-Eid holidays. We've had guests, and from today its back to house painting, starting with downstairs ceilings.
Aside from that, on our last library visit I noticed a new book on the shelf. I look through the children's fiction to help the boys to pick out titles. If the three of us look we can usually find enough to keep them going for a week or so.
I found a book called "Ida B", by Katherine Hannigan, and the blurb begins "Ida B Applewood believes there is never enough time for fun. That's why she's so happy to be homeschooled and to spend every free second outside with the trees and the brook."
I brought it home to see if it could be of interest. Ida B loves to play outside, with the trees and brook as her friends. Her first days at school are difficult, she is miserable so her parents decide to withdraw her and homeschool her instead. After a few years her mother gets cancer and Ida B is sent back to school. She resents this deeply, and resolves to make no friends and to withdraw from her parents. The rest of the story shows how she gets used to the situation until she is fine with school and restores her relationship with her parents. (The mother survives).
The writing style is fun and expressive, and that makes it pleasant to read. But what is this all about?
Of course this book is for children, but as a mother it is quite horrifying. Its like a worst nightmare, you home ed your children, but get cancer and become too sick to continue. Your child hates you for sending her back to school and cuts herself off from you. Your fun loving, full-of -questions child no longer speaks or looks you in the eye. May Allah keep us mums in good health for the sake of our children.
And then what does it say about homeschooling? The parents withdrew Ida because she was unhappy, but then look, when they are unable to cope the trauma the family would already face from the cancer is compounded by the trauma of returning to school. Does the author imply that it would have been better for Ida B to have stuck it out from kindergaten and just got used to it?
Are the parents to blame for withdrawing her too hastily? The author stands over us saying "What are you doing with your child, what if it goes wrong?". And Ms Hannigan has a degree in education of course.
And about never having enough time for fun? We don't really know where that goes. And what would the child reader think I wonder?

How was Eid?

Alhamdulillah we passed a busy Eid, visiting family and friends. I even got prepared this time! The boys put decorations up and "helped" me make choc chip muffins. Can you imagine the help given by two excited boys using an electric whisk which has a button marked "turbo" on it? I also tried cookies, but these always look more like splodges when I make them. Tastes the same!
I think for the rest of this week we'll take it easy, finish learning about Ibrahim (as) and read.

A little history again!

Beha Ed-Din describes that around 1190 the Marquis of Tyre commissioned a painting depicting a Muslim horseman trampling over the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, and the horse was also urinating. This painting was then carried around the market places of Europe by priests clad in hair-cloth, in order to encourage the people to join the Crusades. the King of the Germans, Beha Ed-Din asserts, was one of those to respond to that painting.
Whether this account can be taken fully at face value cannot be assumed without the use of other sources of course. Rumour itself being a strategy of war. Beha Ed- Din does not claim to have seen it himself. A story of this kind could equally be used by either side against the other.
Propoganda- the past and now are not so far away.

This week as Eid approaches, inshAllah and the Hajj gets underway home ed for us will be more about things of deen, inshAllah. Today we read more about Ibrahim (as), and we started to look at some of the ways to improve our dua, inshAllah.

It all adds up

We liked the window pictures we saw here, and today Ia made her own version. Jazakallahkhair to the sister who posted that artwork. I took a photo to post, but once again I found I was unable to upload the photo. After clicking "upload" it simply redirected back to an empty image selection box. Any ideas?
These past few days everyone has made themselves very busy. I don't really know what they've been doing in their room, but it has taken up lots of time! The girls have painted and done "baby games". The boys have been very disappointed to learn that the city of Acre eventually fell to the Franks after such a prolonged effort from Salah-ed-Din. It was a lesson in itself to realise that this is history, not fiction, so it won't always work out the way you think it should! They are so used to childrens' stories where the character they support comes out on top!
We have been continuing to learn about the life of Ibrahim (as), episode by episode, recently covering the building of the Kabah and the incident of the Sacrifice. Instead of doing separate Hajj related study this year I am just trying to cover the life of Ibrahim (as) as thoroughly as possible, making the links to Hajj clear. InshAllah I will finish off this topic during next week.
Today we also learnt/ relearnt Arabic colour words using the activities found here. The boys mastered the exercises quickly, maashAllah, and its given me some ideas on games to follow this up with. Maybe we can do the same with French too! We did French colours on Monday, didn't we? Time passes so fast, alhamdulillah!
That reminds me. Getting on with things here at home, I do sometimes wonder how my children's educational experience compares with others. Not in the sense of is it better/worse, just what are the differences or similarities. For example, amongst the regular gloomy school related stories I hear on the radio, (how do most parents feel about that?), I heard that the government is stressing the learning of a modern foreign language in primary school. Then I heard a teacher talking about teaching French in her classroom for half an hour a week. Half an hour a week? Long ago, when I used to run an after school French club, we had about 45 minutes a week, and it doesn't go far! So what is my point? If half an hour a week is enough for government announcements, fanfares or whatever, just think of all the little half hours the home educated child spends on all sorts of things. Its all learning, its official!

Slow

Last week the garden was soggy, now it is frozen. But Ia must be thinking about flowers as she decided to make some today. U has proudly produced some works of art which she insists must go on the wall, even if they consist of only a squiggle and pva glue painting, with not much stuck on.
It has been a slow week. Monday was bad tempered, Tuesday was calm, and since then it has just been slow. Today we are doing an investigation to find out which of 4 materials is best at slowing down the melting of an ice cube. The whole thing is being drawn out by the coldness of the kitchen, but its more data to collect. I did take a photo, but after several failed attempts to upload it, I give up! We are using foil, bubblewrap, a woolly glove and cotton.

A visitor!!!

The boys had a friend over for a day at the weekend. He was a much appreciated guest. Everyone vied for his attention. U climbed up the bunk ladder and yelled "Help!" over and over. This was the day after showing us how she can go up and down the ladder by herself now. Ia made frequent loud remarks about this and that, U produced old board games and said "Play this". Generally the guest was not allowed a moment to himself.
Also over the weekend R got the electrical bits and bobs out and made a tiny fan, with a motor and foil. Since successfully assembling the circuits at the Science Museum, I think to his own surprise, he has developed an interest in this.
Today we looked at some of the French resources on Primary Resources, learning the colours. We also did a temperature investigation, with more practice at reading the thermometer, and this evening the boys each traced a map from "Atlas of the Quran" showing the migration of Ibrahim (as).

Wildlife, chat and history

Ia has been enjoying watching video clips of wild animals on the Arkive site. This followed on from yesterday’s mountains study, when we looked into animals living in mountain habitats. We followed the links from the Woodlands site, (homework help section) watching the video clips, then we looked at the Rocky mountains site. The boys selected that site to choose a couple of animals to take notes on. They also enjoyed the quiz on what to do on encountering bears and other bear knowledge.
Ia and U glued some coloured paper shapes. Interestingly U sorted the shapes by sticking all the blues and greens on one side of the paper and the reds and pinks on the other.

Today did not go to plan! H was unexpectedly home, so could take the boys to Jummah. This meant that I could take the girls to a little ones learn and play session. I thought the girls might enjoy the different company, but I think they would have rather stayed home! U tried to have a very animated conversation with a sister there. She can pull very odd faces when trying to make a point. I heard her saying “When it gets dark outside we can switch the light on”. The sister humoured her for a while, lack of feedback did not put U off . U is very chatty, maashAllah, and assumes any child who does not talk as much is younger than her. She said of her “peer group”, “These babies want to eat all our breadsticks!”
I suppose it is about expectations. Ia expects her friends to not just chat, but to advise and make comments. She told me that her good friend B advised her that her hair looks best when her plait or ponytail is worn over her shoulder, under her chin. Ia complained that this might be nice, but it tickles too much.


Otherwise, we have come across more fascinating history in the book on Salah-ed-Din.
I like this stuff so much I do feel the need to share it! It’s the detail you see, the bringing close of long ago lives.
We are currently reading about the siege of Acre, by the Franks. The people inside the city are holding out against continuous bombardment from the stone hurling mangonels . The city walls are weakening, and the harbour is blocked, leading to famine. The army of Salah-Ed –Din is outside the city, supporting the people inside and continuously engaging with the Frank army. This goes on and on. Both sides receive reinforcements. To try to help the starving citizens a Muslim ship sets off from Beirut, disguised as a Frankish ship.
The Muslims shaved their beards and dressed in the clothes of the Franks. They placed pigs on the deck of the ship and then stocked the hold with food. When they got to Acre they pretended to have come from far away, with food for the Franks. When they were challenged they said they assumed the Franks had captured Acre, but if not then they’d go to the Frank army with their supplies. Then they said that another ship was approaching, so the Franks who had approached them should go out and warn that ship too. While this advice was being followed they took their ship into port, much to the joy of the hungry inhabitants of Acre.
Another insight concerned the way in which messages were passed between the city and the army outside. Messengers would tie money and papers into a belt, and then would swim to the city at night. To confirm arrival the messenger would send a bird back. To protect letters from the water they would be tied in oiled silk.

Normal

A very normal day. So what does that mean?
I started today with painting the banisters. I’ve been doing various painting jobs for weeks. I took last week off as it has become so boring, but boring jobs still have to be done. I can’t manage more than an hour or so a day, and its best done first thing while the children are still sleeping. After that a few housework jobs, then the children woke and needed feeding, dressing. The boys read and played psp.
Then we go into the morning. U wants audio books, then to be read to. I read to the boys. Having recently finished books, we are going back to the history of Salah-ed-Din, which we had taken a break from. Today we read an interesting account of how copper pots full of highly flammable substances were used to hurl at siege towers and set them alight. Attempts were made by the crusaders to prevent the siege towers from being set alight by draping them in hides soaked in vinegar, and this was successful against the technology of flammable substances Salah-ed-Din’s army had with it. Many failed attempts were made to set fire to the towers until a new man from Damascus came forward with his own “recipe” for “fire pots”. With these he demolished three huge towers within a few hours. Clearly this is a heavily biased account, but all accounts are biased and the details are fascinating.
After that, as the time for Hajj is close insh’Allah, we read from Goodword’s “Tell Me About Hajj”. Reading a few pages a day will make a good revision, insh’Allah. It’s nice that we are learning about the life of Ibrahim (as) at the moment too, so enjoying these two sides to the same “story”. Alhamdulillah. I didn’t plan it to be that way!
Also this morning the boys and Ia made posters to illustrate the mountain environment, showing the different types of plant life to be found at different heights of the mountain, learning about the “snow line” and “tree line”. By this time it was already time for Zuhr (kids get up late) and time for the boys to do their Quran, from the book and the computer.
In the afternoon the boys wrote a story. R’s was really good, maashallah, J’s was slapdash. Ia did some handwriting practice and read a phonics reader. U set up a toy picnic and a car in the living room. I’ve abandoned that room for now. It’s a dump for whatever I don’t know what to do with! I shouldn’t use the word “living room” to describe it, “cat’s living room” would be better, as it contains the “cat’s chair”. U also played with sand, magnet letters and coloured.
Today’s maths for the boys was fractions revision. Then in science we began looking at the hot and cold topic, just an introduction. Once again we finished off activities in the evening, in between the cooking and the baking.
I’m keeping things very light for Ia just now while she is interested in beginning to read.
So, a normal day, with its good and its not so good. Alhamdulillah.

Quick

I don't know how we got anything done today as the boys kept having to break off to yell at each other and wrestle, but we got through our regular stuff all the same.
The girls and I went into the garden this morning while the weather was still good. I tidied up a bush and the girls began clearing up leaves. There are lots of bulb shoots under the leaves, and the crocus bulbs in the pots we planted in Ramadan have started to point through the soil. I can't take a photo, as my camera only does "blur" for close up.

More reading

Scratchcard art. Well, scratchcard something. Its just here to add a bit of colour to the page!

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading Ian Serraillier’s “The Silver Sword” to the boys. We finished it last week. At first they were not so keen, but as the story went on they became involved in it and wanted to know what would happen next. I don’t think they would complete a reading of this book independently just now, mainly because the context of the Second World War would be too strange for them, but by reading it together I could explain a bit of the history to them as we went along. That way it made more sense, and they could benefit from the general knowledge aspect too. I read that book so many times myself as a child, it’s the same copy, I still have it, (I looked after my books).
We went to the library today and they chose their usual type of books about giant hamsters, detective dogs, lion adventures and so on. That library visit and the subsequent reading of library books was the only useful thing we did today. Otherwise we were just lazy, lazy, lazy! Well, its not so bad, once in a while! Alhamdulillah.

Study update

We have now come to the end of our habitats study for now. The last section was on changing habitats. All the other ideas I come across need outdoor work which would be better done in spring when the minibeasts are easier to find, inshAllah.
We've been working through a few textbook pages recently, but there are three other activities worth mentioning perhaps.
1.Concept checking with food chains. I wasn't sure whether the boys really got how food chains work, so I asked them each to devise a different food chain using reference books we have on deserts and rainforests. There are no food chains in there as such, just various information about what different creatures eat, so they had to read widely and piece it together.
2. Badger Wood is a game about the consequences on wildlife of cutting down a wood to make room for a road. Follow this link, then click on "play", then "games".
3. Today we watched a presentation from Arkive Education, (look in 7-11 Geography, topic "Habitats and Humans"), and discussed what we saw.

Reading

Ia kindly shared her colouring kit with her brothers today.
And so the days roll on, alhamdulillah.
Today when we read in Ibn Kathir’s “Stories of the Prophets” : “In Surah Al-Anbiya too Allah tells us that He rescued him (Ibrahim (as)) and Lut (as) and they went to a blessed land…” it meant something more to us after our visit to the museum yesterday. Ibrahim (as) had confronted his people and he had confronted the king, and no one could win the argument over him, but still they rejected.
“Have you not considered the one who had an argument with Ibrahim, about his Lord, because Allah had given him kingdom? When Ibrahim said, “My Lord is He who gives life, and causes death,” he replied, “I give life and cause death.” Ibrahim said, “Surely Allah brings the sun from the east, so you bring it from the west.” Thereupon he, who disbelieved was confounded. And Allah guides not the evildoing people.” ( Al- Baqarah 258)
For someone with such pure tawheed as Ibrahim (as) how terrible would be those horrible idols and the people's attachment to their disbelief. Rescue seemed like a good word.

Jumbled

Today and yesterday. I hardly know how to start. So many different moods, little chunks, not blending together at all. Sometimes the mood is set for a day, busy, good, productive, stressed, messy, thoughtful, surprising. Sometimes it can be all of those.
Yesterday I began the day by fainting, which would not generally be seen to be a good start, and my failure to be up and about on time led to the cat being accidentally shut out from the room where her litter tray is, and, in apparent desperation, after I failed to understand her strange noises, she used U's duvet instead. That was the messy bit.
The surprising bit was how much moss the roofer cleared out of the gutters.
The productive bits were that Ia asked to read her phonics books again, and that we went for a day out museum visiting today. This was also the busy part, and the stressful part too. We took the train to the British museum, and then the Science museum.
First of all I wanted to visit the Mesopotamia galleries in the British museum, seeing that we have been studying that. It was interesting, but myself and the boys all found the museum an unpleasant place to be. That place is full of idols, they are everywhere you look (it feels like). It just makes you want to get away as fast as possible, saying "auzubillah" with every step. The Egyptian mummies are right next door to the Mesopotamians, but they didn't even want to look, although I had not let on my feeling to them at that stage and they are interested in history. They just felt uncomfortable. Alhamdulillah, that this what the perished nations are supposed to teach us really, not to follow their ways, they have perished and their idols and wealth could not save them from that. But Allah will never perish. That was a thoughtful moment.
The boys decided that the local museum, with its friendly collection of Roman coins, fossils and town artefacts is better than the British museum!
Anyway, the Science museum is wholesome enough, but it is SO crowded and noisy, U had a tantrum, even Ia started crying over nonsense at one point. Its worth going, but it certainly is stressful.
We've also come to the end of our reading of "Muhamed Man and Prophet" by Adil Salahi. The last chapter, describing the end of the Prophet's (saw) life, is written in such a moving way. The author brings to us so strongly the shock and sense of loss of the people at that time, it is very moving to read. Also the details about the Prophet's last days, how he would go to see the Companions praying together in the mosque, and they would be so happy to see him there. Such amazing times in which those Companions lived, the enormity of living your life from day to day with the expectation that at any time Allah could reveal something that would cause you to change yourself and your life beyond anything you could have imagined. They were ready for whatever changes and sacrifices to be asked of them at any time. How about us?
So many thoughts and feelings jumbled together. What will tomorrow bring? Alhamdulillah.

Monday

Today we were learning about the time when Ibrahim (as) was thrown into the fire by his people. "We (Allah) said "Oh fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim!" (21:69)

Over the weekend we made a second visit to the local museum, because the boys were keen to look again at the bits we had to rush past last time. This time they found drawers of medieval coins and keys, and drawers of fossils.

Today, between our usual work they devised a tv shedule, and "presented", amongst other things, the news. J also decided to make a cardboard robot model and Ia asked to read a couple of phonics books, which I think she has mostly memorised, but its a start, inshAllah.

Sometimes I get surprised by what someone has picked up and remembered. At the weekend I planted some garlic outside. Noone was with me, so I did not think anyone had picked up on what I was doing. However, today I heard R explaining about planting garlic in pots. So you don't always know how or why learning takes place, it just does. SubhanAllah.

The ups and downs of spontaneity

Something I like about home education is being able to do things when you feel like it, and when you look outside and the weather tells you that today would be a good day to....
visit the local museum. It was our first visit and the boys were impressed. It is basically a local history museum, but there were lots of practical things for the children to do, even things for U to handle. There were activity sheets aimed at just their level, and another Ia could join in with too, and of course we had the child focussed displays to ourselves.
The visit gave good knock on effects for the rest of the day too, as the day's sheduled work was finished more smoothly than usual. Alhamdulillah.
In other thoughts, when travelling on public transport with a two year old beware of unwelcome announcements. "I done a poo in my pants" U said loudly. "No you haven't" I say shusshing her and eying nearby commuters. Well, she hadn't- she was just bored and looking for some reaction, time for another retelling of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.

Something Colourful

to brighten up these dark, dank November days. Wrapping paper collage.

Lots of hedgehog work going on in science. Hedgehog "property particulars", hedgehog menus, hedgehog diaries with descriptions of determined hedgehogs "shuffling on", finding tasty insect treats in the farmer's garden.

We're making lots of use of the Explore mountains site (learn about mountains, in sidebar), and the Woodlands section on moutains. Reading the information, watching the animation links, and noting down some main points. Primary resources also has some powerpoint files on mountains, which are good for further leads. All these sites divide the topic into useful chunks, which we can look at one at a time.

Reminder

Each little point on this cauliflower spirals up with lots of little spiral points coming out of it. SubhanAllah. It is so precise. Just seeing this vegetable is a reminder of tawheed. Well, I just have to keep looking at it.

We've had a very sociable weekend, including a chance for the boys to meet up with a group of their childhood friends. That was a treat for me too, because I do really enjoy seeing them all together, racing about.

Frost and Verbal

First "whole-garden-frost" of the year.

U is a very verbal child, maashAllah, she has a good vocabulary. Sometimes , however actions are better than words. When she cleans her teeth U brushes, looks at the sink, says "spit", then swallows. That really isn't the idea, you know?

Little Bits of Bite Size Learning

Jam tarts with letters on. Can you just about make them out?
I like this bite sized learning approach. Lots of short, concentrated activities, but returning to a topic very regularly.
Ia benefits from this type of style. I like to do lots of what I think is called "pre-adding" activities. Yesterday Ia and I laid out several sheets of different coloured paper, assembled some toy animals and arranged them in the "field", the "sandy place" and the "muddy place". Then the animals went around visiting each other. Ia counted how many animals there were already in one place, decided how many would be visiting, and worked out how many there would be once the visitors arrived. There are lots of variations to this. Today we played shopping, with 1p coins only, buying two items at a time. This is adding, without mentioning adding.
Something else the bigger three have been doing is looking up animals on the Arkive site. Ia loves the pictures and the boys wrote out all the creatures they could find beginning with the letters J, R and I. Later they were "being" those creatures. Ia complained that her cubs kept being eaten. Boys wanted to be top predators, Ia wanted to be something cute and furry.

Continuing habitats study

English Nature has a useful habitats unit, (scroll down on link page) which we have been working on.
We actually began with an article from a gardening magazine which told us about hedgehogs, blue tits and bumble bees, and how to build nesting boxes for them. It would be nice to build something, but it looks far too complicated.
Then we moved onto the English Nature unit, "Habitats- Are Our School Grounds Hedgehog Friendly?". Well, first we have to change that to garden, but its easy to adapt. I have not used all the lessons, things like sketching parts of the garden would be met with groans, and as I imagine the main purpose of that activity is to get children observing the environment I think that it is less necessary in such a familiar place as the garden, which we have already examined in the course of this study. The boys probably know its less accessible areas much better than me anyway, as they are the ones who go crawling under bushes to retrieve balls they've hit there.
The lesson on food chains was good though. We made the cards for different living things, but as we didn't have 30 children to hold one each, we just laid them out on the floor, and removed the ones which got eaten/killed. We found out any information we didn't already know about what each creature eats and is eaten by, using Arkive and Wikipedia.
Today it is the hedgehog fact file activity, finding out more details about the hedgehog. InshAllah I'll use the rest of the lesson suggestions over the rest of this week and next.
Considering the large number of cats which hang around this garden I don't think we should try to encourage any hedgehogs here. Its a stressful place for wildlife, we see very few small birds. Obviously hedgehogs have their defences, but still...?

What is the meaning of "Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear"?

My under 5s enjoy lots of picture books from the library. Usually these books are very simple, funny or moral. Sometimes there is something different, even surprising. Take for example the much used with early years, "Farmer Duck". It looks like the usual fare but when you read it you find its practically revolutionary propoganda. Fat, lazy farmer makes inarticulate, oppressed duck do all the farm jobs while he lies in bed, shouting down to duck "How goes the work?" (note odd word order). Oppressed duck arranges uprising with other animals during which farmer is thrown off the premises. Duck then presides over joyful peasant/worker rural idyll scene where all the animals co-operate together, under apparant leadership of duck.
That was a surprise.
Then take "Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear", by Mick Inkpen. On the back the blurb says, "Being clever is not all that counts. Mick Inkpen's funny and poignant story explores this simple theme." However on reading it it is striking how this story is nothing to do with cleverness.
The Silly Big Bear displays all the qualities of a 18 month old child. He cannot use a spoon to eat peas, cannot use a potty, hides by covering his eyes, scribbles on walls, loves bubbles and bouncing and crashing about. Then it says "And he will disappear your trouble inside a hug", then it goes on to say that when all the bubbles have blown away, when the bear is gone "...we will miss him more than anyone."
WHAT!
Who is the bear? Why does he go? Why do we miss him so? A book for little ones with an apparantly sad ending?
These are my suggestions.
Is the Silly Big Bear the sweetness of little ones, and a warning to us adult readers to enjoy their babyhood before they grow up? The hug from a little one is sweet enough to disappear a trouble. The story suggests that the bear will not be coming back.
Is the Silly Big Bear the innocence of toddlerhood, the joyfulness of laughing at funny things, and the enthusiasm of small children, which we all go through, and then we leave behind forever as we take on the cares of growing up? Silly Big Bear is full of this type of carefree joy.
So why is he so big (he can hardly fit on the page)? Is it because when you have a tiny person in your home they seem to take up the whole place with their things and their mess and their noises and their demands? Does the Silly Big Bear remind us to savour that, for its specialness? Is he so big because for a small person, their feelings and experiences fill up the whole of the world, as they see it?
Well I can't ask Mick Inkpen, so I'll have to just wonder.
And this is why I don't read fiction, except to my children, so that my thoughts will not be overrun by distractions from the rememberence of Allah.
And although this story has reminded me to notice as much as I can before it passes, it also reminds me that whenever you give a work of fiction to a child to read it is like having a stranger sit down with them to explain their take on life. That's a thought, isn't it?

Mountains and maps

More puzzle maps here. Good for mountains topic.

One of those days

when we all got caught up in something or other. The lid of this "vehicle" lifts up and two boys can squeeze in. Later there was an elaborate game involving the pop up tent and a lot of blankets in the front room, which added to the fact that to make the vehicle the box had to be first emptied out onto the floor, means that that room is now fairly trashed. U was looking for something in the filing cabinet toy drawer, and then decided to get all the puzzles out, so this room is pretty much gone too. On the up side, the above mentioned projects left me free to wash a window upstairs.

Any work? Snippets. Page of maths, comprehension, reading seerah, Quran recitation, French DVD followed by French reading, wordsearch and picture labelling, revising mountain ranges on a map, recording the names of mountain ranges on a Powerpoint slide.

Yesterday evening U organised the other three into lessons. She sat before them and told them to write letters, then numbers and draw pictures. Then they had to draw lines, then a map. She praised them for finishing their "work" too!

So why does it seem that the day has run away?

Maybe because I have to start potty training U - and have made no progress at all.

Photos

Some by me.

And some by boys, while I'm not looking.

Groups and keys links

As part of the science habitats topic this week we have been looking at groups and keys.
At crickweb there is this very useful activity for sorting. Go to keystage two, science, habitats.
At sciencenetlinks there is a fun game for grouping creatures by various criteria. The boys also did the second follow on activity from there today. I'm having trouble with a direct link, but go to the home page, then lessons, scroll down to the 3-5 section, click on Classification2 A Touch of Class, again scroll down to click on touch of class again. It takes a while but is worth it!
J and R also told me about a game called Buzz which uses the format of an identification key.
To finish off we devised a key for identifying a bee, (based on the one in the textbook).

Who is learning?

Autumn colour.

New shoots. What could they be?

Ia started a CVC wordbook today.

U wanted me to help her build a castle with blocks, she said "You can, you're a genius!". This use of vocabulary almost beats her complaining that she can't find her telescope, (its a torch).

The boys began the study of the life of Ibrahim (as), by listening to me read an "overview" version of the history to them. So that was three lots of history reading today!

And still I think it would be good for them to learn some more Arabic vocabulary! They have the means to do this because they can read it, alhamdulillah. We should all learn more. Why should I be concerned? I just want to keep doors open for them. So many people are trying to learn or improve their Arabic. If you have familiarity with the sounds and basics of the language as a child it should be that much easier should you wish to continue your studies more seriously when older. Yes? So this evening the boys went through the lesson they studied with an auntie last week (may Allah reward her), in order to teach me. I was listening, and learning. If they think they are teaching me, then they are revising. I'm a bit slow to catch on, so I think we'll need to go through that again. Maybe Ia could listen in next time too.

Monday

Heathers are so beautiful, subhanallah.
It is Monday evening already! So quickly. Alhamdulillah.
Today we returned to our history project. We looked at the decline of the Sumerians, the invaders who conquered and then were overthrown themselves, until the Old Babylonians established their own empire in Mesopotamia. Through all this the Sumerian culture with its religion and writing survived, and was adopted by the new peoples. We will be looking more at this tomorrow, inshAllah.
We also continued with French, I like the really slow, relaxed feel to it and this is also helped by the way in which the girls like watching the cartoons too, so I don't have someone distracting me in the background!
Ia has played the Phonic Pop and Letterlifter games from ictgames (link in sidebar) and has been looking at ways of making 6, using red and brown ribbon snips. (see below).


Even the boys have done maths on the computer today, using games from Topmarks (link in sidebar).

Other things

We found one, tiny woodlouse in the pitfall trap!
The boys have been playing on their new scooters.
The girls have been playing "going in the car" games with their new dolls.
U was asked by some girls a few years older than her to play the teacher. She stood in front of them, counted to 10, then initiated a game of "Simon says", with a variety of instructions. I was impressed.
Ia has been doing well with her handwriting. She also enjoys designing gardens with the Changing Blooms game.
I have been painting walls.

Mountains

This week we started compiling a project on mountains. After having a quick whizz round some mountains facts and photos we looked at some of the references to mountains made in the Quran. Another sister kindly gave me her list of mountains references to use, and the boys have been putting them onto Powerpoint slides.
There are a lot of references, subhanallah, they could not copy them all, so we categorised into sections. For example there are many references to the mountains being firm, fixed, steadying or rooted, such as "Have We not made the Earth as a bed, And the mountains as pegs?" 78:6-7.
Also, "....and has set on the Earth firm mountains lest it should shake with you..." 31:10.
There are also several examples of the mountains in obedience to Allah in worship, such as in Surah Al-Hajj:18, where the mountains are described, along with other of the creation, as prostrating to Allah.
We also looked at the historical mentions of mountains, such as the mountain which crumbled after Musa (as) requested to see Allah, the Prophet Muhammed's (saw) receiving of the first revelation whilst in the cave on Mount Hira, and so on.
Then, today it was time to go to the map to locate the major mountain ranges. I really liked the downloadable World Features Puzzle map I found here. It took a while, and the help of an atlas to correctly place all the features, especially the rivers and lakes! (Later they did the online Europe puzzle map too). I hope we will return to that map in about a week's time, to see what we can remember, inshAllah.
I'm going to try alternating between history and geography projects, from week to week, so that we can have flow throughout the week on one topic, but then have a change so it doesn't get boring. This week was geography, next week its back to Mesopotamia, inshAllah. I'll see how it goes.

Habitat links

Useful places to learn more about habitats.
1. English nature (go to the primary resources section)
2.Nature Grid
3.Environment agency, design a habitat game (Changing Blooms)

Habitats

We started the habitats topic last week by looking at different habitats within our garden and the creatures that live there. Some microhabitats included the stagnent water above, home to tiny, wriggling worm creatures. I have looked up a real name for them, but can't be sure of their id, being so tiny! There was also the usual, under a stone, under old piece of wood etc.

I read somewhere about putting a flowerpot upside down, as above, to entice small creatures in for observation. None came, so we've set up a pitfall trap, (works like a hefalump trap). There are little creatures still about. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!

On a walk this weekend we saw the black duck above.

Yesterday felt lazy, in an offputting way. Things got off to a very slow start. Apart from the pitfall trap, the boys did some maths, looked online at some information about mountains (project pre-reading), did some recitation and we all watched another episode of the French DVD. Actually, using the DVD like that holds their interest really well. In the middle R asked me for a banana, using the French he had just learnt!

Then, at the end of the day we went off to a party we had been told about a few hours earlier. I wasn't really in the mood to go any where, but alhamdulillah it was good to make the effort because the boys met some other boys their age and had fun with them for a couple of hours.

Maths

I don't mention it often, but we do do maths! For example we made the shapes above from a book of nets. I've also been finding the stuff on Primary Resources very useful. This morning we began maths by watching some of the powerpoint slide shows on 3D shapes. Shape is both an easy and difficult topic I find. The practical side can be fun, but there is so much vocab to go with it. The visuals really help to put it all together.

The girls have been playing with Moon Sand, and Ia has been playing a sample version of a game called Nanny Mania, where you clean up mess and look after the baby super fast. I need to be able to rush about like that nanny!

Sumerians

For this week's study of the Sumerians the boys have done quite a bit of online reading.
Here are some useful links
1. Easy to read, with a map. (Go to Ancient world, then Middle East, then Sumerians)
2. For older readers, with a bit too much detail on the kufr!
3. British Museum, easy to read, and some interactive activities. Their favourite!

Today the boys have finished their first Powerpoint presentation, a Sumerians project. Part of my recent panic was about not doing enough for ICT. Alhamdulillah, I found my way to Powerpoint!

A few thoughts

After Ramadan it is time to review and decide what to do next. Also to check on how far we’ve got on various projects.
Reading. Still in progress. In “Man and Prophet” we have reached the time of the conquest of Makkah, and the changes that took place in the weeks that followed it.
In the story of Salah-ed-Deen we have seen him consolidate his power in Egypt, and then move north, dealing with the squabbling princes of various castles and cities. The Franks were in the area for the crusades and Salah-ed-Deen wanted to drive them out, but first he had to deal with the disunity amongst the Muslims, some of whom sought allegiance with the Franks against him. At the point we are now it is about 1185 and Salah-ed-Deen has taken control of much of Syria, including Damascus and Aleppo, has had an excursion into Nablus and Jenin, and is making repeated attempts to control Mosel. It seems that the other men of power around him were somewhat unreliable, not keeping to their word or always sticking around.
Quran. The boys have accepted use of the “computer tutor” into their daily routine. Ia is not too interested in Arabic letters.
History. We have started looking into the history of the Sumerians, as part of the background study for contextualisation of the history of Ibraheem (as). The Sumerian culture preceeded Ibraheem (as) (if he has been correctly placed in the Babylonian era), but the Sumerian culture is the basis for that. Interestingly we found out that the Sumerians believed (in addition to their idol worship) in a great flood that wiped out all the bad people, with only a few being saved on a boat. In their version the boat was manned by a king, and their gods were involved too. But interesting that they had distorted knowledge of what happened to the people of Nuh (as). They also had beliefs which stem from the story of Adam (as).

Also, about something I heard on the radio. It was the usual LEA or NUT man cites “major socialisation issues” with home education. Apart from the usual wondering “What on earth…?” I thought, probably there are socialisation issues, in that schools seek to socialise children into uniformity, all learning the same thing at the same time, fitting into the system. Home education is very “individual” and socialises differently. Maybe that lack of conformity is the major issue. The problem, as the authorities see it, is that children will not be moulded as they wish them to be. Being different, even in a productive, constructive way, is anti-social? It means you are not socialised to conform, accept and be as a cog should? Oh well, even less to worry about there then.

Ramadan Plate Photos

They do look better close up, and you can even read the writing on them too! I'll be saving them for next year, inshAllah.

Eid Mubarak

Can't believe it is Eid already. I haven't prepared anything! As usual. Allah is the best of planners.

Garden Sunshine

Alhamdulillah the boys have completed their target of 15 fasts. Now they are really in the mood for Eid! Getting very excited. So we are keeping it light today, just a few short sessions on a few topics.
Our quote for the plates today : “The Prophet (saw) went out of his house on the day of Fitr, prayed two rakat, and did not pray before or after it.” (Ibn Abbaas)
This is the evidence for there not being any sunnah prayer to go with the Eid prayer. I chose this quote mainly because it is short enough to go on the plate, as compared with other evidence about the Eid!
We wrapped up the science moving and growing topic today. I’ve done everything I can find on it, suitable for their level. Next we’ll do habitats, insh’Allah as the weather is still holding up, alhamdulillah, and we can still make use of the garden. Even today we’ve seen a pair of robins, a magpie at the bird table and a squirrel digging in the flowerbed. It always digs in the same spot. If I cover the hole over it soon gets dug again. I thought they dug to bury something? What could be there in the same shallow hole each time? I can’t see anything?
The garden is still looking scruffy, and the grass has been worn away so much where the boys play cricket. The batting pitch is a muddy puddle when it rains, and the bowling run up is not much better. But there are still new flowers coming, a tiny pink one in the rockery, tiny white ones on a big bush and even a new chrysanthemum. I don’t know much about garden plants, least of all most of their names! Today U has taken me for a “feely” walk round the garden, during which she wanted to touch different flowers and leaves.

No more photos

Until I get a new battery for the camera.
Last week ended with pleasant weather, so we went to the park and woody hill, as previously postponed. The bigger 3 had several races down the long grassy hill, with lots of “falling over” and grass stains on sleeves.
This morning we have observed the movement of an earthworm. This is part of the moving and growing topic. The boys had some trouble finding any worms, then the first one appeared half dead. The idea was to show how the worm uses muscles to move.
Today’s Ramadan plate was extra sparkly, with plastic jewels. We have about 35 plates on the walls now (including U’s) and I’m happily surprised that everyone has maintained interest in making them throughout the month, alhamdulillah. Actually U is so into the routine now that she gets the blank plates out of the drawer for everyone herself.
Today’s quote “”Whoever stands in prayer in Lailatul-Qadr out of faith and seeking reward then his previous sins are forgiven” (Bukhari)
Rather belatedly, being the month that it is, I’ve got the boys to include 10 minutes each per day with the Quran “computer tutor”, in addition to their other recitation. I hope, insh’Allah, this will be a way of expanding their Quran study, and that we can sustain it. Its only 10 minutes a day (for now!) but insh’Allah even this modest amount is better than nothing.

Still Learning

We've had some lovely time meeting with friends recently. And otherwise, we continue as usual, alhamdulillah. I can't complain, not at all, alhamdulillah this quiet and settled period of life is a blessing, when you think of the turmoil and suffering around the world, and nearer by too.
It does leave me with not much to write about!
For the last two days the boys have been writing long stories. I can see the influence of books they have recently read in the style. After last week's intensive work on direct and reported speech, their grammar was better, but they still forgot to start a new line for every new speaker. The textbook would have them draft writing out twice before making a neat copy. Surely this just tempts young writers to cut their stories short, if they think they have to copy it out again? Obviously that's what happens in the real world of published writing, rewrites, alterations, corrections. But what about the fake world of exams, where there is no time to correct? That's the dilema of the textbook style I suppose. Prepare them for writing, or prepare them for exams? I'm not worrying about it myself, I'm just wondering what the rationale is. I'm just looking for a balance between creativity and accuracy.
That reminds me. Just as the paper could go through the printer again, it ran out of ink. But, alhamdulillah this has a good side because I thought of doing something different as a result. I downloaded worksheets , and they filled them in on the computer. Maybe this is obvious - but it took an ink shortage for me to break away from the thought that everything has to be printed out. This is probably because I went to school before computers got into the curriculum.
Which leads me to my other recent thoughts, that I must DO MORE. I must look for more new ways of working. I must move forward.

Today's quote on the Ramadan plates was
"Fasting is a shield by which a servant protects himself from the fire."

Back to Work

Looking back I think I was unwell in the last few days, hence my attack of laziness. But back to work now!
We are getting through the glitter supplies on the Ramadan plates. The boys are rearranging the plates on the wall, planning how to get the best effect, planning where the next one will go.
Today’s quote was
“The suhoor is a meal of blessings, so do not leave it, even if one of you just takes a gulp of water, since Allah sends mercy and His angels seek forgiveness for those who take Suhoor.” (Ahmad)
The boys are fasting again today, and talking about the suhoor reminded me that on the Jewish Day of Atonement I think that the fast lasts from one sunset to another, so if we feel hungry we should think that Allah has been merciful to us in giving us the suhoor, and shortening our fast. It could have been made so much harder for us. Alhamdulillah.

For science we’ve been making use of materials from primaryresources.co.uk. Now that the printer is back working again (we found the paper feed had been jammed by a battery, keychain and a small bit of yellow plastic) I’ve been printing out some worksheets, and a very loud time was had as they filled in their skeleton measurements.

Ia has done some practical maths, adding and subtracting from collections of apples and oranges, and also jumping onto numbers less or more than. I think she needs more oral maths vocab work.

In our reading about Salah Ed Deen we have reached his early campaigns in which he accompanied his uncle, who went on to take power in Egypt. Later in the day the R found that he could replay this campaign on one of his computer games!

Pause

Today's quote for the plates was

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqoon (the pious)" 2:183

The plates are looking good on the wall now, and the boys are becoming more careful in how they decorate them! Just practice I think. We returned to the plates today after a week of going through the chapters on the Quran in the "Eemaan Made Easy" series. We've been keeping up with the usual maths and English, reading and Quran. Ia has her days of wanting to do a lot, and other days not much.
There is a bit of the "middle of Ramadan lull", going on that I usually experience each year. The first part has such excitement to it, and the last 10 days are full of rush, seeking the last of the blessings before the month is over. This stage is very calm and settled, leading to our "plodding along" style of working just now.
But lots of creativity all the same. The "things to make" books have been taken out, and now there is masses of chopped up packing carton all over the floor.

Conkers

Yesterday was warm and breezy, just right for going to a wooded hill top, and for running down a long grassy slope. (Not me- the kids - obviously). However someone unexpectedly turned up to fix the bannisters, so the plan was off. Instead we went to the library, and on our way we collected conkers. And there were so many of them. I have never seen so many conkers lying around uncollected in my life. This was on a main route, opposite a big park. Where I used to live you would only find the split or mucky ones unless you went out early. We passed a couple shovelling conkers off their driveway. They told us "There's loads, the kids are not allowed them at school for health and safety reasons, it's madness". So just because you can't take it to school, does the shiny conker lose all its appeal?

This morning it seems we are having our first autumn gale. I stayed up after fajr, to try to get some work done. After a while I thought I'd go rest. It was then I heard the ominous drip, drip, drip coming from the loft. So I've been up there, arranging containers under the drips.

Reading about Salah Ed Deen

There hasn’t been anything that bloggable. The boys do enjoy making posters, or display items, but only sometimes. Mostly they would be happy for me to just read stuff to them. And they will often readily choose to do a few written exercises over something more creative. So the last couple of days were a bit book orientated.
I also went to an Islamic talk, which is always reviving. I come away thinking “must work harder, must work harder, must sleep less”. I find that very motivating.
On the way back from the talk I popped into an Islamic bookshop which I hadn’t been to before and there we found “The Life of Saladin” (should be Salah ed-Deen?), by Beha Ed-Din, who was a contemporary of Salah ed Deen, accompanying him for some years. Obviously this is a translation of a translation of a translation, Beha Ed-Din died in 1234. But what a gem to find, the boys were excited, we had to rush straight to the cashpoint (opposite). (We had been looking for a life of Salah Ed Deen book for ages).
We have started reading. The style is a bit heavy, but I love the dialogue details, “The Sultan said this”, and “I said that”. For example today we read about a time when Salah ed-Deen was in control of Jerusalem, with the Franks and their English allies encamped nearby, soon to attack the city. The city emirs were afraid, and suggested that Salah ed Deen should go out to meet the Franks while they would stay behind to defend the city. Salah ed Deen feared that the emirs were actually planning to flee the city. He and Beha Ed Din stayed up all night worrying about what to do next. In the end Beha Ed Din advised the Sultan that all he could do would make an extra 2 rakat of prayer between the azan and iqamah of Friday prayers in the Aksa mosque, and pray a dua from hadith, whilst prostrating, which basically said that he had made all the worldly effort he could and he turned the matter over to Allah for help. The Sultan performed the extra prayers and made dua, causing tears to fall from him. Following that were several days of disorder and confusion in the camp of the Franks as the French and English disagreed on what action to take. On the Monday the Frankish army departed.
What a story of the power of faith and dua.

Aside from that, we have found this website! Ia has been using the Transport to Reading section, and the boys were even doing a MATHS game in the knowledge box bit.

Today's activity

Variety helps. Last week we were concentrating on some of the rulings concerning Ramadan, and there is still much more to do of course. But Ramadan is also the month of the Quran, so continuing the study of the pillars of Emaan, we started learning about the Quran, in the context of the third pillar, Belief in the Books.
We made posters on the "Names of the Last Book", the Quran, al-Kittab, al-Furqaan and the Thikr, and learnt about the meanings of those names.

Planting

Ramadan is a time for refreshment and revival. It's a boost for the imaan, that should, inshAllah help us through the year. The extra ibaadah we do now can strengthen us in the months ahead, reminding us of the good habits we should maintain and helping us shed the bad habits for good, inshAllah.

So today we planted bulbs; crocuses and bluebells. Like a good deed planted in Ramadan, inshAllah the effects (on us) of those deeds will still be there in the early spring when the flowers will, inshAllah, show us their colours. And the flowers themselves will be a marker for that. When we see them we can remember that we planted them in Ramadan, and be reminded of the intentions made in this month. It is reported that the companions of the Prophet Muhammed (saw) used to pray to Allah during the six months before Ramadan to extend their lives so that they can fast Ramadan, and in the six months after Ramadan they would ask Allah to accept their fasting of Ramadan.

So Ramadan should not be forgotten straight after Eid!

The photo is of a tiny hazelnut sapling that I accidentally dug up whilst digging a hole for a rhododendron that I also planted today. When it came out we could see the hazelnut that it had grown from. There are no hazelnut trees in sight, so I guess a squirrel must have buried it there. I planted it back, nearby, inshAllah it will grow. I was thinking that it would be nice to have hawthorn, holly and hazelnut in the garden, and, alhamdulillah, I have uncovered all three.

Ia was very helpful in the garden today, maashAllah, she kept working for hours. The boys dropped in for the planting bits, and the Ramadan thoughts, but they prefer the garden for cricket!

Autumnal Sunshine

Today was a truly beautiful September day, maashAllah. We went to the woods today to witness the trees in their autumn rituals, producing crab apples, beech nuts, helicopter field maple seeds, haws and sloes, all in obedience to their Creator, Allah. While the natural world around us fulfills it's life cycles in total submission, the Ramadan rituals for us humans are more a matter of choice. Not that fasting for the Muslims isn't compulsory, of course it is, but fasting is a very personal matter, if someone wishes to break their fast in secret, who can stop them? The hawthorn tree cannot choose to produce blackberries this year, but a human being can decide not to believe, not to fast. This is what makes fasting so special. Only Allah knows whether you have really done it or not, and there is unique reward for that, a drawing closer to Allah.

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (saw) said that Allah said "The Fast is for Me and I will give the reward for it, as he (the one who observes the fast) leaves his sexual desire, food and drink for My Sake. Fasting is a screen (from Hell) and there are two pleasures (moments of happiness) for a fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord. And the smell of the mouth of a fasting person is better in Allah's Sight than the smell of musk."(Al-Bukhari)

The boys wanted to fast today, but I forgot to wake them up for suhoor. R was not impressed. I took the trouble to point out that they could still keep the "good conduct" part of the fast, as we learnt about in yesterday's activity. If anything keeping temper controlled, and avoiding cross words is a harder part of the fast for them than the leaving of food and drink! It certainly adds weight to be able to say, "Don't argue with your sister, you should be fasting from that type of behaviour!", and so on!

Of course I forgot to take a camera to the woods, so it's a garden picture instead. Aren't those berries a wonder though? SubhanAllah.

Plates and links

Ramadan decorative plates in progress. Today's quote was

"He who does not desist from obscene language and acting obscenely (during the period of fasting), Allah has no need that he did not eat or drink." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Ia has been doing a lot of her learning online recently. She is still working on letter and sound recognition and this website has proved very helpful. It is so straight forward to use, and responds excellently to error. She has also made lots of use of links from here, for maths and English. For now she seems to prefer dealing with these things on screen, rather than using books, cards or puzzles.

U has just informed me that she needs to go to the dentist because a bit of one finger nail has broken off.

Noticing

Being the first fast, today proceeded more leisurely than yesterday. Yesterday was rush, rush, rush, cramming the day full, but today there didn't seem to be the need. As usual Ramadan brings a different feel to the day, a peaceful mood. Even the morning air felt balmy, it was a beautiful day here, maashAllah.
The boys chose to fast today, and kept it until the end, alhamdulillah. Last year they kept 10 days, this year they are aiming at 15, inshAllah.
We got some of our usual things done, but what I really noticed today was how U is expressing herself more and more. How funny the thoughts of a 2 year old are. She thinks she is going to grow up into a brother and wear "pants", she found that she couldn't do up her own pyjama buttons, so that means "I'm not big now", she likes using the word "either", to mean also or as well, "I want banana either". Between everything else, there should always be time for conversations with U!

Ramadan Mubarak (and skeletons)

Ramadan Mubarak!

"Whoever observes (fasts) during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's Rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Bukhari)

It has been a busy day, alhamdulillah. The girls made bracelets. Very important. The boys did bits and bobs of all sorts, including a Ramadan chapter from the Iqra textbook/workbook set "Our Faith and Worship". I use it selectively, as I'm not sure about all of what's there, but the boys like the workbook mix of puzzles, gapfills, short answers, diagrams etc. It certainly offers a good format into which to fill your own content.

And what about the skeletons? Our first science unit this academic year is on moving and growing, so I'm looking for related links, starting with human skeletons.

Try this, this, also this, and this one, finally this.

I'll make those links less clear next time, ok.

Nearly Ramadan

We have come across a couple of interesting stories from the history of Islam today. The first came up in our continued reading of the seerah of the Prophet (saw). We have reached the time of the digging of the trench around Medina. At that time there was near famine in Medina and many of the sahabah were very hungry. They used to tie stones to their bellies to reduce the hunger pains. (Lets just hold that thought for the coming month).
One day, during work on digging the trench, Jubair ibn Abdullah (ra) noticed the Prophet (saw) had two stones tied to his stomach. Thinking of how hungry he must be Jabir asked to be excused, went home to his wife and asked her what food she had. She had only a small goat and a little barley, but she set about cooking, while Jabir went back to invite the Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) asked Jabir about how much food he had, and said it was plenty, so he asked all the other sahabah from the dig to join the meal. Jabir was so worried that he did not have enough food for so many, but when the Prophet (saw) dished up the food there was plenty, even enough to distribute to other people outside. Allah had blessed this meal and made it plentiful.
This story was noted in the history by Ibn Hisham.
The boys loved this story, and wrote it up, (which was the day’s English exercise).
The second story they liked was linked to the ayat we studied today, as part of our Ramadan preparation, “And eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread…”2:187 When this was first revealed, “of dawn” was not revealed, and some people were confused and tied to their legs or placed under their pillow, two threads, one white and one black, and went on eating until they could differentiate between the two. There is also a hadith about someone asking the Prophet (saw) about this, and so it was explained, and “at dawn” was revealed as well.
We read about this in the Tafseer of Ibn Kathir.
Those were our Islamic studies for the day. They have also been sitting in the garden, reading about dinosaurs. If I ask them to choose their own topic it is usually castles or dinosaurs.

Preparations

I suppose there are two ways to get ready for Ramadan, the personal preparations, and the home ed ones. But the two overlap, and insh Allah we all learn more. Last week I was reading "Fasting in Ramadan" by Dr Abdul Karim Awad. This was good revision for me and helped me organise my HE Ramadan plans. I have plans, but won't be sharing them in advance in case of falling short! Instead I will record whatever materialises out of them as I go along, inshAllah.
Today I started making use of that very useful looking TJRamadan site. We read the introduction to the book mentioned above, then looked at the lunar cycle links on TJRamadan.
I thought that this year we will make paper plate decorations, highlighting quotes from Quran and hadith about Ramadan. Why paper plates? Because we usually have food on plates, but we are fasting, so we have knowledge about fasting instead.
Today we studied "So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan) he must observe Saum (fasts) that month...." 2:185

So those are the plates, as I mentioned before we are not artists, but we have fun!

I've been...

Alhamdulillah. Now I'm back and its time for me to get ready for Ramadan!

Mostly History

The boys are very interested in history at the moment. I prefer them to learn about Islamic history, because there is so much to learn and benefit from there. We read about the life of the Prophet Muhammed (saw), his companions and the earlier Prophets too. Then there is all the rest of the history of the Muslims, in the centuries after the Last Prophet (saw). I have done very little on that yet. It’s all history that we can learn and read about together. Anyway, the boys want to learn about ancient empires and other civilizations or peoples too, so today we were looking for Aztecs, found this, and later read some of the other sections too. Of course Aztecs and many others worshipped idols, and I was pleased to find that the boys were not interested in reading the details about the Aztec religion, it was their decision to skip over that, alhamdulillah.
Later I used this link from Educating the Muslim Child, and they spent some time on the names of countries, capitals, continents and oceans.
Following their achievements in reading Surah Baqarah I decided to read to J and R about the night prayer (Tahajjud) of the Prophet Muhammed (saw). They loved the following hadith to the extent that they were laughing out loud in wonder, imagining themselves following such a long prayer. I just wanted them to know that what they have done is great, but there is so much more to aspire to, insh’Allah.
Hudhaifah ibn al-Yamaan said:
“I prayed with the Prophet (saw) that night when he started soorah al-Baqarah. So I said (to myself), “He will make rukoo after 100 ayaat.” But he carried on after that, so I thought, “He will finish it (the soorah) in two rakahs.” But he carried on, so I thought, “He will make rukoo when he has finished it.” Then he started soorah an-Nisaa and recited it all, then he started soorah aal-Imraan and recited it all. He was reciting slowly; when he came to an ayah in which there was glorification of Allah, he glorified Allah; at an ayah which had something to be asked for, he asked for it; at mention of seeking refuge, he sought refuge (with Allah). Then he made rukoo….” Muslim and Nasaa’i

Conversations

Over the summer I've had various home ed conversations. Weeks ago I met a sister in a park who said that home ed would be her worst nightmare, as she usually couldn't wait to get all her kids out of the house so she could clean it. That cleaning thing comes up a lot. People say, how do you manage to find time to spend on the children when there is all the cleaning and cooking to be done? It baffles me really. Is there any better way to avoid housework than the worthy pursuit of being with ones' children?
Yesterday I met a couple of teacher/tutor sisters who although confident about teaching other peoples' kids were not so about their own. They felt there was a different relationship with their child when it came to learning. I don't understand that. It seems to me that there is a difference between a mother and a housekeeper, but a mother and an educator are one and the same thing. Are ironing and washing up really seen as part of mothering? I would happily allow someone else to help me with those chores, or even pay them if I could afford to. But hand over the kids and let someone else have all the fun of seeing them learn? That would be me being robbed.
A couple of days ago my new neighbour asked me which school I'd registered the kids in. She managed to maintain her cheery, bright expression through her obvious surprise when I told her I home ed. Then she went on to say that the schools round here aren't much good anyway. Wonder what she'll do with her toddler when the time comes.
An HE friend told me recently how the coach of her kids summer sports programme took her to one side one day and asked her to explain more about HE as he had seen how lovely her children were and would rather his 8 month old turned out like them than like the rest of the kids.
This collection of thoughts from bits of conversations doesn't lead to any coherent conclusions. But I'm always shocked by the idea that some people prefer to spend time with the housework than with their kids.