Autumn Leaves

The day is not over yet but I have the chance to blog now, so I'll take it. L has been here today. The boys were rather excited and therefore silly and although I didn't feel so at the time I now think that they got quite a bit done. The maths lessons were easy so they did two of them (counting objects in groups of 10 and counting on and back in 10s and 100s).
Later we went to the park to look for the signs of autumn. They picked up leaves and found the empty acorn cups left by the squirrels. I took some digital photos before the batteries in the camera ran out. Insh'Allah we can use them next week. When we came back they wrote a few sentences to describe what they had seen in their books and put the leaves we had collected in the flower press. Then I got them to use Word to start writing up their experiences in Wales this year. They type so slowly they only got a couple of sentences done, but they are starting to remember how to underline, do headings and save their work.
Meanwhile Ia and U played with their soft toys. U knows which of the toys are "mine". Ia needs some more attention from me this evening, as she has been so good with keeping herself occupied today, maash'Allah.

djuuuz

I gave the bigger three juice this evening and U threw her milk to one side and said "djuuuuz".
Ia had her teeth counted for the first time at the dentist's this morning. Boys each needed a tiny sealing filling, but not in the same teeth as eachother! Ia was all clear, alhamdulillah, and was very pleased that the dentist liked her trousers!
Had a group day, marred by J having a huge tantrum and having to be taken out of the building to calm down. From everyone else I was happy with the work done. I started to read "Fish" to them, and although there were some protests I think that they are actually intrigued by the story, they were certainly asking lots of questions. The book begins by describing the life of a boy living with aid worker parents in a poor, war torn country.
For geography we drew plans of the room, trying to emphasise the relative size and positions of the items of furniture, hoping that they will grasp the way in which maps and plans must be accurate to be useful.
Ia showed that she can still recognise the words red, blue and green. She also enjoyed colouring and playing some imaginary games. U showed that she can occupy herself with scribbling for quite some time.

Jealousy

If I read a book to Ia U wants a different book read to her at the same time, even if she likes Ia's book and asks for that as soon as Ia has finished with it. U has also tried out biting today, to express her anger, Ia's trousers were thick enough for her not to get hurt. We got some new books from the Book People today so they spent some time on those. Ia and U got a Dora book, so now it is clear that U can say "backpack".
Boys did the first maths assessment, which they enjoyed doing as usual. They started out confident of scoring 100% (although this has never happened yet in a maths assessment), but were not too disappointed with not achieving this as at least they scored within two percent of each other, which is what really counts. The spelling work was far less popular but we got through that, along with a couple of other topics.
It is becoming difficult to blog in the evening as U is now refusing to go to sleep before me, which is something Ia did too. This is regardless of how short a nap she may have had in the day. Maybe I'll just have to get up earlier!

English, Arabic, Quran and History

U can say "mine". She has requested her favourite board books and wants J to read them to her.
First group day went well. Boys finished their stories off too early and so were left with not much to do, which I wasn't prepared for. Ia played games and coloured with the other younger ones. A bit more variety would help her so I need to plan her "work" out too. Boys have used reciter.org this evening, and, as everyone is appreciating my cooking more than usual, I have made a salmon quiche and a carrot cake.

Almost Monday

...and I can't believe its got here so fast. The new routines and approach should start from tomorrow. Up to now we've been easing into the plan, getting adjusted.
A busy few days, visiting friends, being visited, fitting in the planned for number of maths lessons.
S has given the boys new pencil cases with compartments that pop out all over. They love them!
U climbed a tall slide's ladder in the park, saying "up, up", and slid down saying "down, down".

Getting at Home with Home Days

There is a new timetable emerging with our new routines. I wrote some sort of timetable up and stuck it inside a kitchen cupboard. Once a couple of outstanding things have been cleared we can start trying to keep to it, insh'Allah.
This morning the boys began by watching Crocodile Hunter and then they went to their room and spent most of the rest of the morning playing something with toys. Ia spent some time on the computer then we did a few pages of workbook, (she could still recognise the words "red" and "blue" from Sunday.) Later I read to her and we played a game. U did some scribbling.
When it was time for the boys to do English the girls looked at books quietly(!). J had a huge tantrum, which spoiled things a bit. Got a maths lesson done too (right angles). Otherwise they read and watched TV and I cleaned and planned. I just need to get a bit more into the day before I get really happy with it.

Nature Reserve Trip

Today, maash'Allah was a beautiful, crisp autumn day, just right for spending a lot of time walking and for visiting the nature reserve. Today's topic was "Autumn Fruits, Seeds and Leaves". The ranger who led the session began by talking about the signs of autumn, they then went on to think about what a seed needs to grow, and the parts of a small plant. They also learnt about different ways that seeds disperse and looked at some examples of seeds. Then we all went outside (20 children in the group) to play a suvival game, hide acorns like squirrels, collect fallen leaves and hunt for hidden acorns, (and fail to find most of them). Then we all went back inside to do leaf rubbings and plant chikpea seeds. It was an excellent session and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
While the boys and I wew doing that Ia and U were at H's house. U has learnt how to go downstairs there. Ia enjoyed playing and colouring.
On the way this morning we also called in at the library. R has already finished his first book, so probably they will be out of reading material again in a couple of days. U chose a book with shiny stars in it, and I think she said "star" to it. It is time to read Ia her books now!