=

Ia and a friend were out in the garden again today, spotting changes in the garden, such as new growth on bushes, the first tiny unfurlings of new leaves. They also took clipboards and drew some of what they saw. Then we used simple rulers to measure the heights of some of the bulb shoots. After that they came in and made pictures using coloured paper and tissue paper.
We also did some maths today. When the boys were about 5 I had a balance scale, which I used to help demonstrate equality of number. I don't have that now, so I had to resort to other tactics today. I drew an "="sign in the middle of a table top whiteboard. Then I placed five cubes on either side of the = sign, in various groupings, and kept asking the girls to check whether the number was the same on each side of the = sign.
Next I used dates on 3 plates. I put two plates on one side of the = sign and one plate on the other. Then I arranged dates, sometimes equally, sometimes not, asking the girls "If I give this number of dates to you,(on the left of the sign) and this to you,(on the right of the sign) is that fair/equal?" In this way they could understand that it was only fair, or equal, if the number of dates on each side of the = sign was the same. I continued in the same way, then getting them to draw numbers of sweets, and using the + sign to group sweets on the left of the = sign. I hope inshAllah that this could help them understand the meaning of = sign, as after all this is only a symbol. It only aquires meaning because we attribute that meaning to it. As adults we just take its meaning for granted as we are so used to it. I wonder what the little ones make of it when they encounter it at first?
According to John Holt, a lot of confusion in maths comes from not understanding the underlying concepts and meanings that we express in the codes of numbers and symbols. I've expressed my own understanding of what I read of his work there. Hope I understood right!

The Treasure Seekers

Today I began reading “The Treasure Seekers” by E Nesbit to the boys, after their morning read of stories of the sahabah. Although my boys do enjoy reading themselves, Alhamdulillah, sometimes the type of funny or adventure stories they prefer are quite simple in their vocabulary and style. This helps the boys whizz through the story, but I’m not sure how much good it does for their vocabulary or comprehension skills!
Some time ago I read the “Silver Sword” to them, so it’s about time they heard something else. They really enjoyed the first two chapters this morning. It really is a funny book. Also there is lots to read between the lines, so good practice at deducing meaning. For example when the next door neighbour finds a half crown coin in the hole the children dug seeking treasure, and then he amazingly finds another, we are expected to understand that the neighbour placed those coins there to be found, although this is not explicitly stated. As I’m reading it to them we can talk about these things as they come up. Otherwise it might pass them by!

Muffins and Maths

Lastest bake from R and J.

When the boys were about 5 I used workbooks from the Scottish Primary Maths scheme, Heinemann Mathematics. I really liked these books because they are really clear, they progess very gently and there is not too much to do on any one page. The boys really enjoyed these books too. We started with Heinemann Mathematics 1, continued with set 2, and used a little of set 3. At that time these books were already old, and only available through WH Smith. I was able to buy them in mixed packs, that is one of each of the workbooks 1 to 7 and the shape and measure books. These books are still in print, but I can only find them packaged in multiple packs, that is where you buy 7 or 8 of the same workbook. So, I decided to get the old copies out and start on them with the eraser! The paper is quite good quality, so its been ok. I started from book 4 of set 1, because the earlier books are on counting to 10, which Ia is confident in. Over the weekend Ia has completed all but one page of book 4. It seems these books are a hit with her too! I have also been using the Collins Primary Maths reception set with her, but for simplicity and clarity I still prefer the old Heinemanns. InshAllah I'll be erasing J's work from his book for U to use in years to come!

Today has been sunny and mild, maashAllah. A chance for some gardening, and whilst we were out walking today we saw crocus flowering too.

Surah An Nasr

Recently I posted about how the boys studied Surah Masad with another sister. I really liked the way she covered that with them, so I decided to copy the idea with other short surahs. Last week I read the tafsir of Surah An-Nasr to them, from Ibn Kathir. They also completed the exercises on the surah from the Iqra Short Surahs workbook. This week they wrote out the translation of the surah, with illustration. They drew a representation of crowds of people entering Islam and also teardrops. The teardrops represent the tears that Ibn Abbas is said to have shed on hearing this surah, because he recognised that it signified that the Prophet's (saw) mission was complete and that his life with them would soon end.

We have also made a focus of reciting this surah daily, as part of their regular recitation. InshAllah spending this much time on a surah, returning to it little and often, will help them to remember what they have learned. I hope, inshAllah, to continue this approach with more of the short surahs.

Park blossom and garden shapes and colours

Pink blossom in the park today.

Garlic shoots.

Sunny.

Naturalistic.

Dark green and spiky.

Curvy.

Keeps on flowering.

Tall, spiky, light and dark.

Quick link

Some days a lot gets produced on paper, and on other days we use the computer a lot. Thursday was a computer day. We watched some videos from the Harun Yahya site. Its a mixed bag, so you need to be very selective.
In science I started a new topic on solids and liquids with the boys and used several resources from Primary Resources.
The boys also baked another chocolate cake. It turned out well, alhamdulillah, but they need to be a bit more careful about reading the instructions in the right order and accurate measuring. A few more tries and they should really get the hang of it. If they sustain the interest that long!

Calmly organized

Allah (swt) is Al-Hameed, worthy of all praise, and I am grateful for a good day today. Ia is making good progress with her handwriting, as she could copy the French colour chart straight from R's work today, maashAllah. She also enjoyed the company of a friend today, and they did a couple of activities together. First was a maths activity. The girls made shopping pictures, drawing three items, then drawing round pennies to price each item. They also wrote the price, in numbers. Then we talked about how many pennies would be needed to buy different pairs of items from the pictures.
After that we spent some time looking at a book about the seasons, discussing the season of winter. Then we went into the garden to look at all the amazing shapes and colours to be found among the shoots sprouting there. The girls were excited to spot all the little clumps of shoots, including all those hidden under large shrubs or close to the fences. We also looked at the twisted shapes of the branches of the old apple tree, which adjoins our fence at the back. Later Ia drew the picture below, of the tree, the shoots and, of course, the winter aconite! The more closely you look the more amazing Allah's creation becomes.

Having got through all their work at a good pace today the boys made these cakes, with almost no help at all! And they taste good too!

Winter Aconite

So you can see what it looks like, a picture I didn't take.

Calmly disorganized

Today is so calm and still, maashAllah, after all the wind and rain. It must be having an effect on me because although today is totally disorganized I don't mind at all!
We've had some carpets changed today, so this morning I was shifting furniture about. The boys have been very busy in their room, writing in their secret notebooks and drawing detailed maps of imaginary places. The girls have been playing together. I have read to them all, but there is no point trying to do much else until I shift all the furniture back. I'll let them enjoy racing about in an empty room for a little longer first!
The boys have tried out a trampolining lesson, which they really enjoyed. I thought it would appeal especially to J, as he had perfected a forward flip on the bed, before he got too tall for that sort of thing.
The little yellow flowers I posted about recently have been identified as winter aconite by my mother. There are more of them coming up all the time. Any one who feels the drabness of winter should really get some winter aconite!

Painting and project

Its been a busy weekend. On Friday afternoon my computer gave up. The power supply went and it cannot be turned on. Replacing it has resolved the issues I had with photos, and this new one does not make a noise like a plane powering up for take off. The thought of being computerless was not good at all. Alhamdulillah we were able to sort it out.

I may be able to easily post photos again, but this does not improve the pitiful quality of the actual photography. However, the picture above is of the Jannah project we finished last week.

I used fabric as the backing material, which I think worked well, but is not so good if you transport the work anywhere, which is what we did and why it now looks so crumpled! The boys used glitter paints to write the title "Jannah", and to add some other embellishments of their choice. On each piece of paper the boys copied out a hadith or verse relating to the description of Jannah. For example we used a fruit shape for a description of the fruits, gold painted paper for the descrition of the clothing and so on. I used "Jannah, The Garden from the Quran and Hadith" by Adem Yakup as a reference, although I chose to only use hadith from the well known collections.

Always trying to work harder!

I always intend to blog better. More interestingly, more often. But, this is what you get!
Similarly I always intend to make best use out of whatever resources I may have around. Its harder actually putting this into practice, but almost daily I'll promise myself to work harder. I don't do relaxation well. Its constantly "must work harder" that goes on in my head.
Long ago, before printers, there were transfers. Remember those? If you wanted printed lettering you lined up the transfer sheets and rubbed the letters onto the page. Kids had transfers as alternatives to stickers. I still have some, given to me by grandfather, so they must be at least 25 years old! Ia had fun with them yesterday, rubbing the letters onto the page. So 25 years on they work as well as they did new. Unlike my printer, which never worked properly and now doesn't at all.
Ia also read a couple of her easy readers. I'm using a set from Oxford Reading Tree called "Songbirds". U has memorised a lot of the words and, keen to be involved, she often says the words before Ia gets a chance to read them. This is annoying to Ia, I'll need to start sneaking off from U to do reading with Ia.
Over the last couple of weeks the boys have had a focus on Surah Masad. This began with a study session another sister did with them on the tafsir of the surah. Following that up I did some extra work on it with them using the Iqra Short Surahs workbooks, and they recited the surah frequently too. This week they had another study session with the sister where they wrote out the translation of the surah onto coloured paper and decorated the page with cut outs of flames, silvery discs to represent the wealth of Abu Lahab, and a twisted string to represent the palm-fibre rope. the result looks really good, mashAllah, and we've stuck them on the wall.

And next.....

Last week we came to the end of the biography of Salah-Ed-Deen. Shortly before he died he made peace with the Franks and the English and shared the territories between them. His troops had come to a point where they were choosing to disobey orders rather than fight, so he felt that he had no choice but to make peace. This surely was disappointing for him as he had determined not to give up until the invaders had been expelled. He apparently commented that the treaty would result in loss for the Muslims, meaning that the enemy would strengthen themselves within their newly agreed territories, then they would come out to fight again in years to come. This was indeed what happened.
From this week we are reading from “Torchbearers of Islam" by Noura Durkee, published by Iqra. This book is part of a series we have read from before, telling stories from the lives of the sahabah.
Today has been a day of mixed moods. Ia has been very industrious, maashAllah. This morning she wanted to play pet shops with real money, so lots of coin recognition practice. This afternoon she has joined in with the day's French activity (drawing and cutting out clothes shapes, making a poster and labelling, sort of rehash/revision of last week's activity), spent ages cutting up little pieces of paper, sticking them together and wrapping them as gifts and threaded a bead necklace.
The boys got all their normal stuff done and made three powerpoint slides on the Himalayas, part of a round up on this topic. The coming weeks need to be a time for starting new topics, inshAllah, as we've exhausted a few subject areas. I also need to find INTERESTING ways of consolidating vocabulary learning in Arabic, that would need several interesting ideas a week, so any contributions most welcome!

First Flowers

Look carefully and you can see little, yellow flowers, the size of peas. Here there is a group of them, there are other individual ones in other parts of the garden. I don't know what they are called, but even if they are common weeds they are a cheery sight, the first flowers of the year. MaashAllah.

Eggs and Chips

Doing the eggs and chips activity is a marker point for me with early maths. I read about this activity in a book, whilst I was in my HE researching period, when the boys were three and Ia was no more than a pregnancy in progress. Today I did egg and chips with Ia, as I have done with all the children I have been involved with at that age. The way in which the child responds to egg and chips can tell you a lot.
To play egg and chips you need lots of cut out egg and chip pictures and 5 plates. The object is to set up different combinations of eggs and chips on each plate so that each plate holds a different combination and so that there are 6 items on each plate. The child has to do this themselves with only an absolute minimum of input from the adult. You can’t show them how to do it. Then, when they’ve arranged the items you ask them how they could record this onto paper, and again let them record it anyway they prefer.
I found that Ia got off to a good start but later needed to be reminded a few times of the total allowed on each plate. She was good at self correction, although she was clearly tempted to take the activity beyond a maths puzzle and into a story about a family meal (this plate is for the dad…).
Her choice of recording was to draw the plates, each within its own box, so a clear layout choice! I asked her if it would be possible to record it with numbers too, and she was able to write the combinations. MaashAllah. Eggs and chips is always so interesting.
Sorry the photo is not so good, but I really didn't expect to be able to post it!

Writing Poems Together

Sandcastle

A tall sandcastle
The sea gushes around it
Like a moat

Giggles

Peals of happiness
Such funny laughing non-stop
Infectious

A haiku has just three lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 or 8 and the last line 3, 4 or 5. Why not have a go!

What is…a blanket?
A blanket is a huge bed covered with dreams
A blanket is a soft wonder world
A blanket is a warm radiator
A blanket is a secret hiding place

What is frost?

Frost is frozen fingertips of coldness
Trampled frost is sherbet crackling
Frost is a breath from a freezer
Frost is icing sugar dusted

Busy Monday

Everyday I put a message in a bottle and
Put it in the sea
I hope someone will reply
And send one back to me.

®

It’s a nutchase
I need to bury my nut quick for the winter
I need to hide my nuts in my nest
A jay, he stole my nuts, then went up a tree, I go too, ouch, splinter!
I ran like a cheetah up that tree
The squirrel is gaining, what to do, I’ll go to my nest.
He’s gone, he stole my nut, I tried my best
He, the squirrel, is gone, I am like a cheetah to outrun that squirrel!
(J)

Yesterday was generally productive, alhamdulillah. In the history of Salah-Ed-Din we are nearing the end of his life. Clearly he was suffering problems of low morale in his army. The army is described as not trying, having no will to continue. At one point they surround a small encampment containing the English king Richard I, but lack the will to act against it, despite the Sultan visiting the squadrons to give them morale booster speeches. Richard I is reported to have paraded in front of Salah-Ed-Din’s troops, with no one moving to challenge him. Salah-Ed-Din was so angry he actually had to leave the area for a time, to calm down.
Now that we’ve spent a few months introducing French I thought it is time to use and remember some of the vocabulary a little more methodically. Yesterday we revised some colour and clothing words with the DVD, then we made “catalogues”, by cutting up old clothing catalogues, sticking pictures of clothes into folded paper books and labelling them in simple vocab, “un pantalon gris” and so on. InshAllah, I won’t make mistakes with this!
With Arabic letters for Ia I tried using pipe cleaners (from a craft set) to form letter shapes. This seems to work well as you can keep manipulating the pipe cleaner until you get it right, and then it stays like that! We made some and stuck them onto paper. I used tiny bits of pipe cleaner for the dots, this is not as good, but using a different material would be disjointed.
Ia also did an activity on ways of making six. This is now very easy for her, alhamdulillah. I drew three sets of two circles and asked her to stick six stickers into each set, so that each set was different. She made 2/4, 3/3 and 1/5. Then she wrote the numbers underneath.
They are all still into this phase of playing complex imaginary games. Even U got to be included in some of them yesterday.
I am still mostly unable to post photos. When I click "done" a message comes up from windows, and after that it is impossible to get the image onto the post. I allow 5 attempts per picture. Occasionally it could let it through.

Time flies (again)

Allah is the best of planners. No sooner did I decide to get properly back into routine than I came down with a bug. Still, everyone kept busy. The bigger three spent almost the whole of Friday in the living room, door shut, the floor laid out with toys, in a complex game which had "levels". U and I spent the day together, mostly reading books. I got the boys out briefly to listen to Beha-ed-Din's gripping account of the seige of Jaffa (full of twists and turns, last minute "as the Sultan was pen in hand, about to sign the treaty, I whispered in his ear..." drama.); and to do a bit of maths.
What else. So much new growth to be seen in the garden, alhamdulillah. There are loads of bulbs peeping through the earth, some are actually getting tall now. There are also clumps of other things I cannot name, and the garlic is starting to show through too.
So, back to the routines tomorrow? InshAllah.

How time flies!

Its almost a week since I posted here. How fast the time passes. Its a sign of the Hour, subhanAllah, time passing faster. Its like those cartoon calenders, where the dates on the pages fly off faster and faster.
One day we visited a traditional flour mill, saw the machinery turning, bought the lovely wholemeal flour in sturdy brown paper bags. Another day Ia enjoyed a visit from her favourite cousin, and was ready to go back and live with her at the end of the day. Won't you miss us? No, then thinking it might hurt my feelings, yes, but its not so bad!
Another day, at a friend's home, who also has a daughter called U, (actually she's where I heard and took the name from).My friend calls her daughter to help her pick up the crying newborn. My little U, filled with self importance at auntie's request, rushes to be in charge of the baby, and is devastated to find that a much bigger girl has got there first.
Yesterday we were studying this:
"As for those who are glad, they will be in the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, for ever, as long as the heavens and earth endure, except as your Lord wills : an uninterrupted gift" (11:108)
It is hard to imagine timelessness. In this world everything ends, we are so used to that. And we want things to end, even when we enjoy them. We don't want to eat ice cream non-stop, play the same game on and on. We copied the verse into paper circles, because circles have no end, and just as we are happy with the circle as we know it, we will be happy with the timelessness of Jannah, if we make it there, inshAllah.
That was part of an ongoing, occasional project on descriptions of Jannah. I'll describe it better when it is concluded, inshAllah.
And when the children eventually get up this morning, (I can hear one coming now), its really time to get back into routines again, or make new ones, we'll see!