Thoughts and day

A few days ago I was listening to a radio program which was discussing a poetry anthology which came out in the late 1960s. It was described as really engaging the teenage school goers who read it, to the extent that students would fail to return their copies at the end of the year. (I know, they're assuming love of the books here, not that the kids burnt or lost them, well we shouldn't be cynical, even if the programme maker was looking back to his/her youth with rosy tints). The poems were meant to involve, stir, connect with pupils. The poet Michael Rosen spoke on the programme, he compared the style of teaching then to now. He said that nowadays students spend 30 minutes in a classroom to achieve a learning outcome (his words as close as I remember). Then, they were expected to develop a feel for the poetry (those are my words, giving you the gist).
So, is he right? Has school education become hemmed in and outcome driven? Is the National Curriculum a prison of wrong and right answers? Are results of the tick the box type?
I'm not giving a verdict on it, I just found that Rosen's statement opened up questions for me. If the National Curriculum is really like that, then the materials produced for it's delivery must be moulded that way too. Is that why the science we've been doing recently is dull, and the English comprehension texts too shallow? Because science is not dull, and texts should be brimming with meaning.
I do not want our English comprehension lessons to take about ten minutes, because the answers are obvious and the text gives us little to ponder on. I do use lots of extra materials for science, but I need a base, to organise topics. I can think up geography topics, but not science ones, for that I need a guideline. Maybe I need to look elsewhere.

Today began with the boys having eggy toast (three slices each), followed by a pear. While they ate I read a short Islamic story (We've finished the book about Belief in the Angels), and then a chapter from "The Wheel on the School".
Next up was Quran. Ia and U did some colouring and workbook, then they sat together to do their Quran, as U has joined in too, of her own accord, she likes the Quran songs, as she calls them, and she has picked up quite a bit too, maashAllah.
Next the boys did English comprehension, and spelling. My mother gave me an old book of spelling lists, belonging to my sister. It has lists of words printed out for each age group. When I tell them that this book says that children aged nine should know this list of 544 words, they jump at the chance to prove themselves. If I say I'll give them 10 words to learn, they are bored, bored, bored, if I challenge them with the idea that boys of 9 should spell 544 words, they love it. Strange. Competitive. Would have put me right off.
Next I made lunch (only two hours after breakfast, but they were complaining of hunger), the boys read "The Bubblegum Tree" and "The Joke Machine", both by Alexander McCall Smith. Then they moved on to rereads of Enid Blyton Five Findouters.
I also sat with Ia to do some phonics on Education City in the morning.
In the afternoon the boys did maths, a little French on Education City, I read to the girls, U did puzzles.
After a break we started a dummy run on the lapbook thing. I thought I should do some try outs on a general, easy topic, rather than starting with Yusuf (as). So, we started with spring. We have some sheets with pictures of spring stuff, so we made the little booklets, each taking a group of pictures, (birds, butterflies, insects and flowers). This went well, alhamdulillah. Need to continue that.
Ia is really into it. This evening she has made two booklets using cut out pictures of animals. I have labelled the pictures lightly in pencil and she has gone over that with felt tip. She thought of most of what to say. We'll stick them in her scrapbook. I could do pictures, but have been lazy about the camera in the last few days.
Final note, R and J's sunflower seeds have begun to germinate.