Winter at home

So, we've had lots of snow again. The kids did not even ask to go out in it! I think the novelty has gone for them now!
The boys slept in after Fajr, so I started work early with Ia today. She got most of the way through some English word work and handwriting before anyone else got up. To help her retain and revise her maths skills I bought a Schofield and Sims mental arithmetic workbook. She just does a few minutes worth from this at a time, just to polish up the work she is doing in her main maths work. I think this will really help her to remember what she is learning, inshAllah. I thought about choosing online practice, but decided against it as I think she prefers the written way. I can understand why some children like the onscreen activities, but there is often the overlooked advantages of the written way. For example, you can see at a glance how much you are going to do, and get a rough idea of the questions. This kind of quick scanning actually is an exam skill, but it is also a convenient way for a learner to guage what they are about to try. Often in online practice you may know how many questions are in a set, but you won't know their range of difficulty until you reach each one. I think Ia finds it preferable to see it all in advance. Personal choice really.
With this continuing cold weather and refreshed from our short trip I feel that we'll be settling in to another period of quiet study at home again. Alhamdulillah we also managed a trip to the library on Monday, and the boys found lots of books to interest them. So, lots of reading is being done too, plus of course computer time!