Work and play balance

So far this week the kids have been able to spend lots of time with friends, alhamdulillah. Yesterday friends came to us, today we were the ones to go out visiting. Ia and her friend decided to do matching colouring pictures, with lots of glitter too. As you can see the two girls co-operated closely on their work, maashAllah! I think they were just let down a bit by some of the felt tips running out. By the way, the sheet is about putting the right shoe on first.

These meet ups with friends have been in the late afternoons, so we've been getting the work done in good time.

Today the boys began by finding out their pulse rates. We compared their pulses while lying down, then after gentle walking, then after lots of running. R also managed to take the cat's pulse, at least he thinks he did.

Next they did some English work, finding out some information about football, and writing a brief report on it. I'm thinking of making some time table changes to our English work, probably reducing the number of days I include it in the plan, allowing more time for the other subjects. After all they can easily develop their English skills through the other subjects, and since adding the Pashto work the timetable can feel a bit crowded.

Also today, for Islamic studies, we made use of the new TJ unit on the month of Muharram.

Ia did her usual work, bit of workbook, bit of lapbook, bit of Education City, reading, Quran.

I am grateful for this pleasant and productive day, alhamdulillah, although there is something strange about such normality, in the face of the ongoing horror in Gaza.

Monday work

Over the weekend I was feeling in need of a bit of a kickstart. Everything seemed to be going so slowly. Maybe it is the cold weather, the dire news coming out of the radio.
I wasn't expecting much out of today, but, alhamdulillah it was a good learning day.
The boys studied the tafsir of Surah Ash-Sharh. The tafsir is short, but a good reminder about how we should spend time worshipping Allah. We have a lot of spare, easy time, compared to our fellow Muslims elsewhere.
The boys wrote out the meaning of the surah, and I stuck the work on the wall.

Later on we were having some trouble with factor trees. If you ever have such a problem, try this link.
All four of them looked through this information about having tonsils out.
Another trip to the newsagents for a small treat was also required today as R has memorised Surah Al-Alaq.
The boys got this and the rest of their work done by three, after which time they had a friend over to play.


Ia is progressing with her Arabic letters studies, although I think the type of worksheets above take more time to colour than they are really worth, alhamdulillah!

She is enjoying using this book, we add one new page per week. Nice and slow! Then practice it every day. She also works through the short vowels fat'ha, kassrah and dhammah every day on Tajweed in English. All this was frustratingly slow at first, I used to restrict her to only the first half of the fat'ha section, but the fruits of the effort have shown through now, alhamdulillah, as she is now comfortable running through practice of the whole lot.

As well as her other daily bits and bobs I have started a new literacy lapbook project with Ia. It is called "All About Me", and the aim is to help her develop independent writing skills, beginning with simple sentences about herself. As I've mentioned before I could just as well do this in an exercise book or journal, but nothing motivates Ia better than a lapbook and she'll be much happier doing the work in this format, even if the actual sentences are the same.

New post

today at Always Learning Resources.

Review of the week

It has been an odd week. Plans were made, then unexpectedly changed.
The boys enjoyed attending two football fun days, during which time I had planned to do more with just the girls, but I got a bad cold, and had to scale down my expectations to match my reduced abilities!
Then there was the issue of the car, which you may recall went out of action the day before Eid, and was finally declared unfixable. H had to trade it in, and is still waiting to collect its replacement. We certainly were not expecting that.
We've also had guests, and today H has borrowed a car to visit his relatives, (as postponed from Eid). The car can't fit all of us in it, so U and I stayed home. This morning we went out to the park.
So, does all this mean that the home education timetable, carefully scribbled out on to task sheets last weekend, went out of the window? Of course NOT, alhamdulillah. Obviously today I have had to abandon the plan, but the rest of the week we've squeezed the timetable around the rest of the goings on.
As posted below Ia finished the Elmer lapbook, and she's continued to add bits to the rainforest project. I have found this to be an excellent way of working on a factual topic with Ia. While she colours in, or cuts out bits of lapbook stuff we talk about the rainforest topic. The book on the rainforest comes out at every session, while we recheck bits of information, or decide what colour to shade the flowers in. I have read that whole book through to her, but this frequent revisiting really helps to secure the topic, making it something familiar. The process of making things during these revisits prevents them from becoming boring. Alhamdulillah, this really works with Ia.
The boys have been continuing to work through their various subjects. They are learning about the heart at the moment in science and this week they used this excellent link to learn more about the circulatory system. I think the explanation on that is really clear.
In their private reading they've finished reading the Great Explorers book, and are now reading the "Usborne Encyclopedia of Planet Earth", (both recently given to them).
Now I'll just get back to my extremely over quiet day with U.

Elmer Lapbook

This week Ia has finished off another project we've been working on for a while. She did this as her English work on Mondays. The main aim of this project was to improve reading and spelling.

We borrowed the book, "Elmer" from the library, and we read it often. I used the extracts found here, to help Ia read by herself. We made use of some of the other discussion ideas from that link too.

The circle book (top left), was for colour vocabulary, so as the cut away slice moves round different colour words are shown.

The folds on the right of the lapbook are also vocabulary based. They all use words found in the book. The green one is for "ordinary" and "different", the centre one is for "rain cloud".

The other two folds at the bottom are collections of happy words and describing words.

The Spot the Difference thing I found by doing an "Elmer" search. It doesn't teach much, but Ia enjoyed colouring it!

I also got her to do some handwriting copywork, using extracts from the story.

What is a normal day?

If I'm going to describe a normal day, I'll have to start by pointing out that normal days vary with the seasons, and the amount of time we can have outdoors. Here I'm going to talk about a normal weekday in the winter.
On a normal day we stay home, do not have visitors and we do home ed. On other slightly less normal days, we stay home, have visitors and do home ed. This may happen once or twice a week. (Not including weekends).
So a normal day starts with me doing breakfast. If I'm not feeling lazy I'll cook something, maybe scones or pancakes. The boys read at breakfast and the girls cover the tables with small toys. After that the girls often go to play and the boys do some computer based work; at the moment it is often listening to an audio clip, then using the Rosetta Stone Pashto course. I usually read aloud to the boys at this time too.
Then we start on the lessons for the day. I have a list of what we are going to do, but I let them choose the order in which it is done. The boys usually start first, then Ia will come down and do something. Then the boys will go off for a break and I'll just be working with Ia, and it just alternates like that through the day. If the weather is good enough the boys might kick a football round the muddy garden for a while.
We stop for lunch and prayer breaks, and at the moment Quran work is being done just after Zuhr.
I try to vary what is actually done in each subject area. Sometimes in science, for example, we'll be working on a lapbook, sometimes they'll be doing questions from the textbook, sometimes an online activity or a worksheet I've taken from the internet, set reading or something practical.
Also on a normal day there will often be some physical education activity to attend in "after school" time. So some of us go out to that.
What about the housework? I do bits and bobs in between lessons, or while the children are working on a maths page or whatever. Mostly just the basics, washing up, laundry. I do the main clean at the weekend. I also snatch bits of time on the computer.
Then almost before I know it it is the evening and I need to do dinner, wash up some more, tidy up, get kids to bed, read aloud to the girls, bake, do planning, blog, clean the kitchen, then that is it, go to sleep!
A normal day at home is dominated by the work shedule! We usually start around 9am, and go on to 4 or 4:30pm. We don't work continuously through this period, not all the three bigger ones will be working at the same time all the time.
What I like about home ed, apart from being with my children, and always learning, is that I can just be myself. I think that is why I found the workplace so emotionally exhausting, all that keeping up the act! But a normal day for me, at home, doing the home ed, is a day of me just being myself and enjoying the company of my favourite people. Alhamdulillah. Really such a blessing to have these normal days.

Crafting update!

Ia completed this piece of needlework today, maashAllah, with help and guidance from Auntie Z.
I framed it inside two pieces of card and stuck it on the kitchen door.
This morning I posted another project on Always Learning Resources. Something Ia did in the summer. It featured briefly on this blog, but now I have posted a fuller description, alhamdulillah!

After Maghrib

After maghrib prayer J, R and Ia decided to do this.

It kind of began last week when our old Paddington Bear (which my grandparents gave me when I was a child) was found to have a large hole in the foot from which stuffing was dropping all over the place. I could have struggled a repair job I suppose, but none of the kids liked the bear, because it was too hard. So, I suggested cutting the old bear open to retrieve the stuffing, so that one day we could make something with it. Much fun was had destuffing the bear. Then, today, of course, they wanted to make something with it.

Those of a nervous disposition should look away now.

Which do you think is Ia's?

The one on the right.

They are all very pleased with their efforts.

It took almost two hours.

In progress

We got the work completed before lunch time today, so that everyone could enjoy having friends over to play in the afternoon.
Although the boys are now working on Pashto regularly I don't want to totally give up on the French, and have them forget what they have learnt so far. So, we did some French today, and I noticed that their pronunciation was better as they read through dialogues in the textbook. I think this must be the result of the Rosetta Stone trial that they used, alhamdulillah. I will try to stick to doing some French on Fridays, using traditional methods, although if I could afford to do so I would probably be tempted to get French Rosetta Stone too!
Ia and U have been doing some work on an early childhood lapbook I purchased from Hands of a Child. It is on rainforests. This is the first time that U has really been joining in with a project mainly aimed at Ia. She is not absorbing facts in the same way as Ia but she is, inshAllah, learning something.
Although I've been making our own lapbooks I became curious to try a ready prepared kit, hoping, as usual, to pick up more ideas from it. We do seem to have churned out quite a few of these projects recently, alhamdulillah! The children have 3 projects currently in progress. I timetable them to be worked on in small chunks. Sometimes a project will run for weeks. On one day only 15 or 20 minutes may be spent contributing to a project. And we don't work on a single project everyday. Sometimes, if a project seems to be dragging on I might try and concentrate more on it for a day, to get it finished off. This way of working seems to suit us.
And so another week has sped by, alhamdulillah! Time to change gear for the weekend.

On a bright morning

Sometimes you need a bit of a change, especially during the cold, dark months, when the garden is muddy and the park equipment never gets dry!
Yesterday morning we went out to get J a small prize for having memorised Surah Teen. This may seem like a modest achievement for a boy of his age, but we didn't really start working on memorisation until about a year ago. As far as I'm concerned memorisation of Quran is the work of a lifetime, so the best I can do with the children is establish the habit of constantly being in the process of working on it, inshAllah.
Anyway, when they have achieved a goal I get everyone a small prize, just something cheap from the newsagent. So we went to buy that, then we went on for a morning walk. The sun was low, and the frost was still evident on the long grass, but everyone ran about and got some fresh air, and it was good to have a change, alhamdulillah.

Pleasing Allah Lapbook

Today Ia completed another lapbook. This time it is an Islamic one. If you would like to see a full description please visit Always Learning Resources.

From the weekend

My parents visited over the weekend and brought with them various educational type gifts, which were put into use straight away.

Testing PH.

Ia, of course, had something to make.

Then today we were back to our home ed routines.

Recently we have aquired some non fiction books, on various topics. Usually the boys are not that interested in just reading these books in their own time. There are so many story books they would rather read before getting round to the non fiction. So, for this week, in the reading slot, I'm asking them to spend some time reading non fiction by themselves. I usually read aloud to them at that time, but these kinds of books have too many illustrations and diagrams to make that interesting. By doing it this way they will quite happily read the books.

Tag response

I was tagged by Muslimah Trying to Home Educate.
The rules are to list 3 ahadith you'd like to pin up in your masjid and why.
Then you must tag to other bloggers..
I'm not very good at tags.
Let's say, here are three ahadith that we all need to be reminded of, as no one is immune from falling into bad habits.

1.Bukhari Vol 8 Book 73 No 67
narrated by Anas bin Malik
The Prophet (saw) said "None will have the sweetness (delight) of faith till he loves a person and loves him only for Allah's sake and till it becomes dearer to him to be thrown in the fire than revert to disbelief after Allah has brought him out of it and till Allah and His Apostle become dearer to him than anything else."

2. Bukhari vol8 bk 73 no 84
Narrated by Abu Huraira
The Prophet (saw) said " The worst people in the sight of Allah on the Day of Resurrection will be the double faced people who appear to some people with one face and to other people with another face."

3. Bukhari vol 8 bk 73 no 90
Narrated by Abu Huraira
The Prophet (saw) said "Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales; and do not look for the other's faults and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another and do not desert (cut your relations) with one another, and do not hate one another, and O Allah's worshippers! Be brothers (as Allah has ordered you!).

I think this tag has gone out all over the place, but I don't think it has reached Our Journey yet, so I'll tag there!

Still here!

The car has been in and out of the repair garage, had lots done, except getting the fault fixed. So our rescheduled plans for Eid visiting have fallen through again. Clearly it is not meant to be, alhamdulillah.
So we've been home! H, unable to get to work, has been taking the boys out and about. I've been cleaning and sewing on U's new gym badge.

There is still plenty to do, even if we are having a week off the structure!

Last week's Rosetta Stone trial opened up a new area of study for us. They do a Pashto course. I've never come across materials for learning Pashto before. I decided to go for it and buy the software. The boys and I will try to use it a little most days. I think a little, frequent repetition works best, inshAllah. Ia is too young for it yet. Hopefully, inshAllah, we'll fit it in somehow!

I notice I've been tagged! OK, I'll try, inshAllah. Rather guiltily I remember that I never got round to doing the last tag I was given!

Another quiet

day at home, alhamdulillah! We are taking time off from our structured HE this week. I was hoping to get out and about a bit, but this morning U was unwell, so that plan was off! (She is better now, alhamdulillah!)
The boys did get to go to the park later, and I read aloud to them for ages. Ia has finished her needlework.
So, a quiet time really! But I have added another project to Always Learning Resources today. Why not have a look!

Eid Mubarak

The car broke down, so we didn't go visiting! Eid at home instead!

Focus on Now

A couple of evenings ago, as he was going to bed, R mentioned how he feels that the days pass so quickly. I took this as a good thing, as I suppose it means that he is busy, occupied and happy. He agreed with that, but wasn't so sure that it is really a good thing as time passing quickly is a sign of the coming of the Day of Judgement.
Alhamdulillah my children have never asked about going to school, it is not something they are interested in doing. Will this change as they grow older? I'll have to wait and see. As time passes we meet different people, say goodbye to people, find new places to go, different things to learn. Whatever we have today, it won't necessarily be the same tomorrow, it is all in the hands of Allah (swt). So I like to look at today, at this week, and be thankful for the good days we've had. For tomorrow, just trust in Allah.

So, what do you actually do all day?

Sometimes I wonder what I would actually do all day if I didn't home educate. But it is such a horrible thought that I try to put it out of my mind as soon as possible.
But, this is what we actually did today: (not necessarily in this order)
I read to the boys after breakfast, then they rushed off to dismantle some toys.
Later I tested them on 8 spellings, they continued with the Rosetta Stone trial, (in French) and did some more of their touch typing course. JazakAllahkhair to Ummi from Our Journey for the link to that.
The boys have also continued with one more notebook page on the history of Musa (as) and worked through their daily Quran recitation, with review of memorised surahs added today, as it is Thursday. They have also listened to a short audio on Prophet Ibrahim (as) and done a page of vertical additions. Now they are off playing computer games.
Ia started the day with more sewing craft. Then she did her reading comprehension pages and maths workbook pages. After a long play break she came back to do her daily Quran and Arabic sounds revision. She's also done reading and used Education City. Finally I read a book on rainforests to her, as this is a topic we are looking at, after the completion of the senses project. Ia and U are playing now.

Ia's crafts

Ia has a WIP!
She has been getting on with it all day, maashAllah, and has done much more than the picture shows. I used to do these when I was a child. I found the kit for it here. Lots of goodies on that site! This was definately a good buy, as Ia has been enjoying it so much.
We have been diverting from the usual timetable this week, partly to make way for the Rosetta Stone trial, and partly because I think the kids have that run up to Eid feel, they know a holiday is coming,inshAllah, so they are in wind down! So, lots of crossings out and scribbles on the task sheets!

Salaah Lapbook

The boy's salaah lapbook. We actually finished this off last week, but I didn't get round to doing the pictures and description for a few days. I have posted a full description at Always Learning Resources. I hope, inshAllah to be updating the resources blog weekly.

So, with the salaah project done and the Hajj days about to begin, I thought I should do a brief Hajj revision with the boys. I think this year it will just be Hajj videos from You tube, or elsewhere, and some pages from Iqra workbooks. We did a bit today.

Also today we've been taking advantage of the free trial from Rosetta Stone. We have been using the trial in French, mainly so that I can understand properly how the software works! JazakAllah khair UmmSuhayb for your previous comment on this.

From the weekend

Ia has been progressing with her stitching project, maashAllah, she is getting the hang of it now and the needle comes unthreaded far less often (!).
The boys, inspired and advised by their friend S, have been making lego videos with the camera and Windows Movie Maker. Plus they won in the weekly football match!
These were the highlights.
Today has been a bit odd, as we had some computer problems, alhamdulillah all sorted now. InshAllah we'll get more done tomorrow!