Animations and a lapbook

Yesterday morning the boys decided to make animations with drawings and windows movie maker. They got started straight after I'd finished reading some more from the archeology book, and they continued well into the afternoon. Ia also got to join in a bit with some of the drawings. In the end they finished a 30 second animation, using about 50 photos, then took more photos for a second clip, which they have not put together yet.
Whilst this was going on Ia finished off her "About Me" lapbook, which I have posted on Always Learning Resources. Ia also did some more reading, maashAllah, she is becoming much more confident now.
I insisted that everyone get their daily Quraan work done, but other than that I let the rest of the timetable go. As long as they are engaged in something creative I think it is time well spent.
U had a restless night with a cough, and slept in past ten this morning.
Today is sunny and still,maashAllah, great for the boy's football, but once again J has to miss out. Although his foot has nearly completely healed we don't want him to do too much too soon. Today he has put on his shoes for the first time in almost two weeks and has gone to be a spectator at the match. He'll only have to walk a very short distance.

A Good Day

Yesterday the boys did chromatography experiments with the chemistry set. Well, R did most of it really, and J videoed it.
Today has gone well educationally, alhamdulillah.
We began by reading a book I recently got from the Book People called "Archeology Detectives". Ia listened too. It is so interesting to note the recurring theme in these buried civilizations, their idol worship. SubhanAllah. Makes a good talking point.
We finished "There's No Escape" yesterday, I would recommend it as a good adventure read.
The boys and Ia all got through routine maths, English and other daily work in the morning. Today we did the maths mentally, without bothering to write down the answers, as today's lesson was very easy (what is one seventh of......etc).
Then the boys drew detailed maps of an imaginary place. They do this from time to time. They made a key, and indicated different types of land use as well as major features. They didn't want me to put photos on the blog, although it was very neatly presented!
After that they were googling for further information on some planes they have read about in one of their books.
Meanwhile Ia finished off some work for her About Me lapbook, and measured things in handspans and then in mega bloks.
In the afternoon the boys did the next history page in their Prophet Musa (as) notebooks. Right now they have all gone off to play something together.
Alhamdulillah.

Seasonal

The first winter aconite flowers have emerged in the garden, the first flowers of a new year in my garden. This year I was expecting them, and I know what they are.
Today we saw two robins on the bird table. Our bird table is very unpopular, although I do use proper wild bird seed mix. Too many cats I think. Robins are not especially seed eaters are they? They didn't stay long, but maybe they had a couple of insects which have been feeding on the grains. One robin flew to the wall near the patio window and we could hear it sing. This is notable in our bird no fly zone of a garden.
More shape work for Ia today, making larger triangles from small triangles fitted together, and more on Iboard. The boys were also just continuing with work today. We finished off another 50 spellings, so we can have a break from spellings for a while.
Altogether the HE was kept to the morning today, so as to have friends over in the afternoon.

Chemistry Set

A kindly, elderly relative sent some money for the children, so I went shopping at Curious Minds
and bought a chemistry set. (Very good service from Curious Minds, by the way.)
I had to buy a few top up items, such as distilled water and hydrogen peroxide, so after J's doctor's check (foot on mend, but still can't wear shoes) we popped into the pharmacy. With all the recent media coverage of the government's latest attempt to cast suspicion over home educators I did feel a little awkward going into a pharmacy with school age children, in school hours and buying an odd collection of items. The pharmacist did ask what I was going to use the hydrogen peroxide for, but maybe this is routine. I did, of course, explain all about the chemistry set, how I needed the distilled water so we could compare what remains on an evaporating spoon after tap water is evaporated off, and after distilled water is evaporated off. Anyway, someone who ends up as a pharmacist must have loved his chemistry set as a kid, and all the items must have made sense to him. In general I felt much more positive leaving the shop, and much less like someone sneaking about during curfew.
So, this afternoon the boys and I did several experiments, with plenty more to follow from the booklet, inshAllah.

Ia continued her shape topic today, this time dissecting hexagons to see what other shapes could be made. Learning the words "pentagon" and "quadrilateral". Followed up with some shape maths from iboard.

What did we do for English today? The boys read loads, I read several chapters of "There's No Escape" to them and they did about 50 spellings (need to review halves, not halfs etc).

Ia was keen to read today, maashAllah, and read all our level K2 Emaan Reading series readers. She also worked on the longer reading exercise on Education City.

U recited the alphabet. Later she explained to H that she knows all her letters, she just needs to know what sounds they start with...errr?

Unplanning

Over the last couple of days I've been down with some kind of bug. The timetable went some what out the window, alhamdulillah! This morning the kids wanted to make more wierd felt toys. It takes hours to produce these masterpieces. They do the sewing, but I do the frequent needle rethreading.

Yesterday Ia spent ages making this pattern block design. The one square shaped block on the end was very important and I had to be sure to include it in the photo.

Everyone has used Jump Ahead French, I've continued reading "There's No Escape" to the boys and various other bits of regular work got done.

J has been to the doctors (wearing plastic slippers) for his sore foot, so looks like he'll be missing football this weekend.

This evening I'm feeling much better, alhamdulillah. I know I'm feeling better because I've started to clean and tidy up, rather than just wade through the mess. The usual sign of recovery.

Carrying On

Ia had more shape work to do in maths today. We just finished working on this a few minutes ago. I don't usually do this in the evening, but this was just a fun game for Ia. J joined in too. I asked Ia to make patterns, and to make shapes with certain number of sides.

Today I woke up feeling unwell and with a sore throat - again. I was feeling drowsy, but Ia demonstrated that she had memorised a short surah, so the kids were in a hurry to have breakfast and reading time before popping out to get a treat from the newsagents. It was a sunny morning, and it would have been nice to go for a walk, but J has a sore foot and can't wear shoes. He played football in new boots and they rubbed. He waited too long before getting off the pitch, and the sore place is taking longer to heal than I expected. He had to miss swimming today too.

The science test went OK! The only thing they had really forgotten was the 7 life processes, alhamdulillah.

U has been trying to teach herself about numbers. She told H that he doesn't need to go to work, as he has 9 pence in the drawer.

She asked me my age. I told her, but she didn't like the sound of the number so she said, "I'll just put sixty then!"

Also she has been observing the vending machines in the leisure centre and has decided that if you put in 1penny and press a button it will give you whatever you want.

A better morning

To make amends for yesterday I got Ia started on shape work first thing this morning. Well, first for her because before that I had read to the boys. I'm currently reading "There's no Escape"by Ian Serraillier to them.

U joined in with shape work as soon as she woke up. She told me that she had not been able to get any sleep because of the loud noises the boys were making. It was 9:30am.

While one boy did his Pashto work the other revised from his science book and played with the magnet set, then they swapped over.

Before I could start the maths with the boys Ia's friend arrived, so the boys went off to play and Ia and friend started work on another Islamic lapbook together.

After some play time for the girls the friend left and it was time for lunch. U went on the computer for her current favourite mix of Education City, French and puzzle story CDroms.

After lunch we had a couple of hours before more friends arrived in which to finish off the rest of the work. With the more reading approach in mind we worked on the mapwork textbook orally, as the current topic is about getting information from maps, (rather than measuring or labelling), so is suitable for read and discuss.

Effective learning

What is effective learning and how is it achieved? There are so many answers to this, 1001 theories. You'd have to be an effective learner to effectively learn all about effective learning. I haven't got time, and anyway, everyone is different. Well, not everyone, but there are sufficient variations for it to look that way.
Personally I used to learn best by just reading. Some subjects, like maths and languages can't just be read, but wherever possible it seemed to be both the most effective and easiest option. At age 14-15 I had a geography teacher who taught the old fashioned way, dictated notes and diagrams copied from the board. No worksheets, no discussion. Those were great lessons, I can visualise some of those diagrams still. The next year the teacher changed and so did the lesson style. Now it was all practical, applied, worksheets. I was so bored, I felt the lessons would never end.
So I'm all in a dither about whether to switch to more just reading work with the boys. A certain amount of learning how to answer questions and apply information is of course important. But maybe we could do less of that, and more just reading. Is it more important to learn information, or learn how to use information? There is no use knowing something that you can't apply when needed, but there is no use applying stuff without really knowing what it is.
I don't really want to know the educational theories, because these change with the decades as each new batch of academics seeks to make its mark. Isn't research as much about leaving behind your name on "progress" as it is about solving problems?
All these thoughts take up time, and whilst they are a part of the evolution of the HE process, they also distract from it. I need to learn to use my time more effectively. But that is another matter.
The boys have been a bit under the weather recently. We have a strange illness going around, which begins with a sore throat but leads to a headache, rather than the usual cold, alhamdulillah. R had the headache this morning, so things got off to another slow start. I spent a bit of time this morning trying to show the boys where we could head education wise, why it is generally a good idea to learn about a wide spread of subject areas in order to find out what they prefer. Then I read to them, they played some Top Trumps, then slowly, slowly did their science. The afternoon was a bit more productive, and in the end, despite the disorganisation I only missed out English with them. The usual casualty when the day gets crowded.
I was not satisfied with Ia's work achievements today. It was not her fault, she did fine at what I asked her to do, but somehow there wasn't enough to it. I really need to stop thinking and getting doing stuff with her tomorrow, inshAllah.

New Post

On Always Learning Resources. Names of Allah colour wheel.

Testing

The testing of children is a matter of much discussion in the UK. Some say there is too much, others say testing is essential. Some schools of home education thought do not believe in any kind of testing at all. Certainly not in the primary years. With all the anti-testing talk I get to feel guilty about testing, for example today as I wrote out a science assessment for the boys to do next week. But life is a test, our every decision in this life will be assessed in the hereafter. As children grow up they need to really understand what this means.
I test my children when I review with them the surahs they have memorised. I test them when they do spellings. And I do expect them to take formal qualifications when the time comes.
Surely the real trouble with "school" testing is when it is made to look scary, and made to dominate the whole learning process.
I was scared of an exam when I was eleven. The very large Mrs Hill, with the booming voice and floorboard shaking tread threatened unspecified doom should we fail to memorise French irregular verbs. I almost passed out in the exam hall, and was sent home without completing the paper. How ridiculous. I was never scared of an exam again, there is no need, it is not THAT important.
So a little bit of "schoolwork" testing here and there seems quite OK to me, as a realistic preparation for the wider learning environment. Nothing to get worried about.
The test of life and the accounting on the Day of Judgement is what should be feared. Preparation for that Day SHOULD be dominating our lives.

End of week

Yesterday we had surprise guests, so I rubbed out the task list, (this week written in pencil, although usually done in pen!!) and we just enjoyed the company.
Such breaks from routine are necessary I think, but they can be unsettling too. Today it was much harder to get everyone concentrating on the day's work, even though I shortened the timetable to just cover the morning, so that they could enjoy having other friends over in the afternoon. Some days are like that. Even things which are usually seen as interesting are approached reluctantly.
So, another week comes to an end. We've had plenty of socializing this week, visited two museums and covered our home ed basics. There has not been much on the creative side, but this is the balance I suppose. We can't have everything at once. Alhamdulillah, we have a lot to be grateful for.

Wednesday

Yesterday we enjoyed a day out visiting a museum and old friends. Simultaneously exhausting and refreshing!
Back to usual work today, but the week seems to be rushing by, alhamdulillah! Today, in the English textbook J and R had to explore the Greek and Latin origins to some words in English. I found this etymology dictionary useful. I would like to sit and investigate that dictionary some more, so I saved in in my favourites. I used to read etymology dictionaries in the university library many years ago. Of course I'd like to find a way to include this somewhere in the home education, I'll just let that thought simmer away at the back of my mind and see whether anything comes of it!
With Ia today I began a copy-cat lapbook of the"5 Pillars of Islam" lapbook I posted at Always Learning Resources a couple of weeks ago. I want to make it as exactly like the one my friend's son made as I can, although I see already that my pillar shapes are not as good!

Monday

What did we do today? Well, the home education journey continues, alhamdulillah, and so it was mainly more of the same! In the science session J and R finished off this lapbook on healthy bodies, which they made most of last month. This was from a Hands of a Child kit, and I think that having tried the kits now I mainly prefer to make our own lapbooks. I think the kit contents are very useful, but I much prefer the look of a child made lapbook to the printed out version. Also the children take more interest and pride in something they made themselves, as opposed to something they have filled in. The kit saves time by placing all the information together in one place, and I will use kits again, inshAllah, but I've satisfied my curiosity over them now!
Now, when the boys reach the stage of being able to design the booklets on the computer themselves, that will be something else, inshAllah. I think it is a bit too fiddly for them to have patience with at the moment though.
Also today the boys have practised Quran, touch typing, tried out multiplication tables on Excel, continued their Pashto course, read some biology, done a reading comprehension, split calculations using factors to help, played Age of Empires on their computer, read fiction books and attended cricket training.
I forgot to mention spelling, and that I read to them from "Knowing the Last Day" by Muhammad al-Jibaly.
Ia and U spent ages watching a French language DVD and trying to play the games at the end with the cumbersome remote control. Ia began some work on fractions, continued her All About Me lapbook, did her other daily bits and bobs.
For U I took a spur of the moment decision to enrol her with Education City just before the weekend. She was asking yet again to use Ia's games, which is fine for the languages, but Ia was not pleased at U messing up her games on the other subjects (as she saw it). She has used it loads since.


Sticker book fun also continues.

From rainforest to frozen garden

Today Ia has finished this lapbook on rainforests. It is very colourful, maashAllah, the purpose being to widen Ia's understanding of the vast diversity of Allah's creation, rather than to absorb many scientific facts. This project is made up of ready made materials, not my own work at all. I used the Jena the Jaguar project from Hands of a Child and materials designed by homeschooler Jimmie, and displayed here at Squidoo. The map came from Enchanted Learning.
I also made use of lots of the interactive links from Jimmie's Squidoo page, so some of the learning was online. We also have an excellent book on rainforests, which we used a lot.
Finally, for atmosphere, I put these rainforest sounds on in the background on one of the project days.

Having seen the finished article, U wants me to finish making one for her....that really is not the point is it!

Meanwhile I seem to remember last week that I mentioned something about timetable changes. This was for the boys, to freshen the routine. The main difference is cutting English studies from 5 days a week to 3. This allows me to lengthen the time spent on other topics on each day. Also I have moved daily use of short pieces of audio to a longer time on a Friday, to allow wider options in that slot. Other than that is was just a case of moving some lessons from one day to another.

Isn't is amazing, subhanAllah, how tiny things survive in freezing temperatures.

I've noticed that a flock of different birds has been visiting my neighbour's garden to eat the windfall fruits that are still lying on the ground. I think they are fieldfare. According to my birdbook they visit gardens in harsh winter weather, in flocks.

And these last photos are from last weekend, when Ia finished off another sewing project with Auntie Z.

Actually Auntie Z and I both helped our daughters by finishing off the blanket stitch, as the girls had moved on to sticker arrangements by then.

Quick learning update

U has been speding a lot of time on the computer recently, making use of our collection of CD roms for younger children. She really likes Jump Ahead French, although I wouldn't recommend it really because some parts have too much unnecessary music, unfortunately. U is very much a person who does her own thing, I ask her to join in with creative work Ia is doing, and sometimes she will, but often she has her own things to do.
Ia is currently working on a rainforest project, soon to be completed, inshAllah. Today she enjoyed watching animal clips here. It is the nice easy side of home education when you can sit with your child at the computer and just watch and discuss! Followed by some colouring in, copying out and so on.
Ia has now reached book 6A in the Peter and Jane series. I don't think the boys ever bothered to read as far as that, they wanted to read more interesting books, to explore more. Ia is reading with much more ease now, alhamdulillah, but I suspect she still believes that she cannot really read, and that she must stick to the reader. Also the whole scenario of going for walks up a hill, having tea with a friend and looking at farm animals appeals to her much more than it did to the boys.
Which reminds me of another thought that I've been having for a while now. What is learning/education? There really is no one answer to that, is there? It all depends.

Learning About Musa (as)

After Ramadan I began studying the history of Musa (as) with the boys. I decided to use a notebook style. Usually we would study this on a Thursday, progressing with the story little by little, I would read the next section to them, then they would write it up.
Last Thursday we studied the section about the magicians who believed in Musa (as), after witnessing the miracles Allah (swt) allowed him to perform.
Reaching this point meant that I had only one section; the part about the punishments sent to Firawn and his people when they persisted in disbelief; before the part about how Musa (as) led his people out of Egypt, and Allah (swt) destroyed Firawn by drowning him in the Red Sea.
It was only after last Thursday's lesson that I realised that if I used the Islamic studies lesson times from this week to study this topic I could manage to be studying the destruction of Firawn on the 10th Muharram, the date on which this event occured. There is no way I could have planned things to turn out so neatly. Alhamdulillah. I was just ambling along with the project at my own pace.
Ibn Abbas has narrated that the Prophet (saw) arrived at Medina and found that the Jews fasted on the Aashura (10th Muharram). He asked, "What is the significance of your fasting on this day?" They said, "This is the day when Musa triumphed over Firawn." The Prophet (saw) said to his companions, "You have more right with Musa than they have so observe fast (on this day)." (Bukhari 4680)
Firawn, of course, was a tyrant and oppressor. He enslaved the Bani Israel and kept them as captives in the land. Seeking to control their numbers, he sent his men to slaughter the male infants.

It snowed

I let them play out in the snow for much of the morning. Playing in snow is a part of childhood, isn't it? And we don't get much snow here, alhamdulillah.

Today was also a good day to teach the boys about Dua Qunoot, the dua that is especially good to recite in times of emergency.

Have you noticed?

This time is different. People have stopped blogging just their own lives.
This time, really, enough is enough.
Seeking Taqwa
Sewq
Independent Learners
Motherhood in Saudi
Ummobaidah
Homeschool Blogger

When it is cold

On this freezing cold morning the boys went out to kick a ball around a frozen playing field with a bunch of other boys, to return a couple of hours later covered with mud. Sport never did appeal to me much.
The girls stayed home playing and doing sticker books.
I mostly cleaned up, then I updated Always Learning Resources, with a tiger project.

Quick post

Yesterday I began a post, then deleted it after a few lines. I wasn't unhappy with the subject matter, but I had just spent about an hour struggling with graphs on Excel and this had caused me to temporarily lose the will to blog.
Anyway, I seem to remember that most of yesterday went fairly well. H was home, and took the boys out to the park for an hour, but otherwise we worked as usual - it being too cold to do much else.
I am really feeling the need for some timetable changes. Every so often a refresh is needed, to stop things going flat, to keep the learning new. Everyday should not feel the same. I usually print out my new weekly task list over the weekend, but this week I did it on Wednesday, although I have not actually got round to filling it in yet! But this is me telling myself to do some tweaking.
Today the boys watched the first half of this environmental documentary. (Unfortunately there is lots of background music - just warning you) The content is very thought provoking, and can also generate discussion on bias/balance in the editing. Does the film seek to promote the point of view of the film maker, or does it present both sides? And how can you tell?