Creative stuff this week

Ia finished a bag she began a year ago, then made another as a gift for a friend.

T shirts by the girls.

T shirts by the boys.

Snow!

My neighbour's beautiful apple tree.

History through literature

I'm working on a literature project with the boys at the moment. I've decided to do three of these per academic year. Last year we read lots of books, but only did a project on "The Wheel on the School", by Meindert Dejong.

Over the last few weeks I read aloud "Tamburlaine's Elephants", by Geraldine McCaughrean. It is a historical fiction based around the sacking of Delhi by Timur i Lang, in 1398.

I think it is beneficial to study some literature, but at the same time think it is important to choose books that have something above entertainment value. "Tamburlaine's Elephants" has the dual function of providing study of good writing, and an introduction to a historical period.

Following up the reading the boys have researched the use of elephants in war, and the life of Timur i Lang. I got them to make notes from their reading on one day, then write the notes up the next day on the computer. InshAllah we'll do various other activities based around the book, then I'll print out their work and we'll assemble a lapbook.

On a completely different topic, this link is useful for learning about teeth.

Weekend Stuff

What is the collective noun for fungus? A fest? A fest of fungi.

Art.

Needlecraft.

Wednesday

Lots of colouring going on here at the moment.

The girls helped to make lunch.

Ia and U watched some slideshows from Primary Resources today, as science study. I would especially recommend "The Thrush's Nest" and "Frog Life Cycle".

Ia's Monday

Ia and U began their day with play in their bedroom. Then they decided to get the playdoh out.
In between Ia wanted to make a start on her work, so she did some pages from her phonics workbook. She also read two pages from her current Ladybird book.

Ia loves to do craft type things. Sometimes though, in the hectic mixof dealing with the boy's work, U's needs and household things, the relaxed time and space for creating can get squeezed. So, I've put a reminder to myself to make sure I facilitate these activities better.

Also I've organised some computer time each day for Ia, so she can make use of sites I've subscribed to.

As part of her English work I've decided to try out book based projects. Ia noticed me looking at a lapbook project idea based on "Owl Babies"by Martin Waddell, on Homeschool Share. We have that book, and she immediately wanted to do the project, (although it is actually aimed at children below her age). So today we read the book together, (she read what she could) and did one of the sections I printed off from the site. When we return to this project we'll read the book again, the idea being that she will learn to read more of it each time, inshAllah. I'll use some printouts, and I'll do some other language based work of my own, inshAllah

Ia also did some maths today, used Education City and recited some surahs along with the computer.

Meanwhile U was doing some art and craft.

Finally, Monday is the day for learning a new Arabic letter. The slow progress through the letters continues. I use every tip and technique I can find for this, but it is hard work. It seems like the alphabet will never end...but must not give up.

The book below gives some light relief.

After a busy week

Today I took the girls out on their scooters. We saw some beautiful trees and leaves, maashAllah.

A couple of weeks ago I started making up a weekly task list and fixing it to the wall. I started it just with the boys, so they could see clearly what was to be done every day, and so they wouldn't keep asking me over and over! This has worked really well, alhamdulillah, and I have started using it for Ia too.

Also, after a couple of experimental weeks, I have a clearer idea of how to organise Ia's curriculum. The trickiest part has been breaking down the English into the various skills (phonics, reading, handwriting, writing, comprehension) and making sure that a balance is achieved over the week. Next week I'll be trying out a new arrangement. Let's see if it proves satisfactory!

Until then it is time for sports, friends and acting out stories with Dora the Explorer cut outs taped to coloured pencils.

Other things

What have the boys been up to? This week's English involved writing poems. I'm always worrying that they don't do enough (educational) ICT, so I got them to copy the poems up on the computer. I don't know why I fret over ICT like this. I don't know of anyone else who worries about it. Anyway, this morning they made a spreadsheet, next week they'll start learning about addition on spreadsheets, inshAllah. Tomorrow I'm planning for them to start working on a context setting presentation on the people of Firawn, inshAllah. Ancient history through ICT? (I'm trying to convince myself...)

Also, they've been enjoying the volcano kit they received as a gift. Made the plaster mould yesterday, painted it this morning, then...

erruption around lunchtime! They loved it!

autumn lapbook

Ia's autumn lapbook! To make this we've used lots of resources from the Nature Detectives website, plus pictures from the pack we received from them in the post. The cover picture being the first example!

Inside we have the "Not a leaf falls but He knows it" page, from last week. the "How Many Leaves?" book is a printout from Enchanted Learning.

I stuck the pages onto card which made the book quite heavy, so I used a cut down plastic page protector as a pocket for it.

Under the conker pictures are some adjectives describing conkers.

Inside the apple cut out Ia copied out "Allah gives us fruit of various colours", from the meaning of ayah 35:27.

The templates for the other mini books came from Homeschool Share
and the stickers and pictures came from the Nature Detectives.

Autumn harvest

My neighbour, whose apple tree grows just beyond my fence, brought us this bag full of apples today. Allah is the Provider. This year has been a bumper crop. So wonderful that everyday I see the tree on which these apples grew. Alhamdulillah.
These last couple of days have gone by in a whirl. We have been outside, in park and garden, making the most of some warm sunshine. The boys have begun a project on Musa (as), and Ia has continued with autumn themed work. On top of that we've been keeping busy with the routine subjects of English, maths,science and Quran.

Not a leaf falls but He (Allah) knows it

I am working on an autumn theme with Ia at the moment. Yesterday she made this. The writing says "not a leaf falls but He knows it", which is part of verse 59 of surah Al-Anam.

I had pressed the leaves for about a week before we used them here. Auntie Z had the nice idea of using a leaf cut out to write on.

Looking Forward Again

Today was a back to work day for us! I was looking forward to getting stuck back in, but needless to say, things did not go exactly to plan!
Over Ramadan I got fed up of the boys asking me numerous times a day, "What is the work for today?", so this morning I made a weekly task sheet, filled in all the details for today, and stuck it on the wall. It works the same way as my list in a notebook, but is viewable to the kids. Just as with my usual list, we ticked it off as we went through the day. I did struggle a bit with the boy's increased timetable, together with Ia's work, but I should get used to it soon, inshAllah. Having everyone get up earlier would certainly help!!!
We did start a couple of new projects today, more on those as they develop, inshAllah. HE is a constantly changing and developing situation I find. Once again I'm finding myself seeking improvements to our ways of working, increasing our scope, inshAllah.
Ia and U were happy to make use of some of the craft things and activity books they received over Eid, alhamdulillah.
U was back on iboard again today, working on the story of the Three Little Pigs. The activity provides a background for you to set the scene and insert speech bubbles, which you write yourself. U loves to write text. As she types she tells the story aloud to herself, (of course the text she types goes something like this "jygfreumngdtyhkubjk...097;"). then, as she assigns the speech bubbles, she has the characters telling their part of the story. It is funny to watch!
(By the way, when I checked the iboard link this evening I found there is free demo access, so do go visit if you have a child between 3 and 7 years.)

Holiday week

Ramadan has gone by, and now it really feels like autumn outside.

I have 1001 ideas (ok, not exactly, but it seems that way!) for home ed stuff to do in the months ahead, inshAllah.

But for this week the kids are having a holiday week, while I search for even more resources online!

Back to business next week, inshAllah.