Growing

When I wrote the last post I was really too rushed to think! Then yesterday we spent a day out with friends, returning home too tired to do anything much. And now another day has passed.
I'm in a thinking about planning stage, a looking ahead stage. It's not just me though! Whenever I read about other bloggers planning, my mind will turn to reviewing my own plans. It's good to review, reassess and refresh.
My planning thoughts at the moment are not so much about what we are learning, but how it gets distributed throughout the days. For us learning seems to work best when we concentrate on a topic, get it done and move on. This doesn't apply to subjects like maths or English of course, those just tick along in the background, but other topics like the study of a Prophet, or a geography theme need our consistent attention, otherwise we lose our thread. A few months ago I was alternating history and geography week to week, but we just slipped out of that. In the end I try to look at the wider picture and aim for a good mix throughout the year, inshAllah.
So, at the moment we are in a book theme, with "The Wheel On The School", and we are working on the Yusuf (as) project. Today R traced a map (he always chooses the map), of the area where Yusuf (as) lived, and J wrote about Yusuf's (as) family members. the boys are also working through the activities on Engineering Interact, which they are getting into a bit more now. Today they did the electricity section, which they are quite interested in anyway.
Ia and U played together a lot today, and Ia chose to use some computer CDs, including her French one.
We also went into the garden for a while, although it was a little cold. The sunflower seeds are growing well, by the will of Allah. Alhamdulillah, we have seeds sprouting and bulbs emerging all over the place (it feels like). Today Ia and U helped me plant some nasturtium seeds, into the ground this time. I have probably gone a little over board with the seeds!!! But, inshAllah I'll fit them all in somewhere.