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.