Press Here to Start

Today we had a trip to one of those hands on science centres. Everyone enjoys those types of places, rushing about trying things out, pressing buttons, pulling ropes and levers, looking at optical illusions. I do wonder how much science they really take away from it though. My children don't usually hang about to find out why and how. But they do take away with them some different experiences, possibly the beginnings of ideas they may draw on later. Even U found a few things to interest her (and she can be hard to please).

The price of milk

When you are looking carefully at what children are learning, (and you don't need to be home educating to do that) you can see all the different types of learning that go on all the time.
This time last year I was always rushing around. We had lots of activities to attend, in different places, at different times, some for us all, some for only the boys, or only Ia. That was one way of living, it was busy, fun, tiring, almost non-stop!
Now things are different. In some ways better, in some ways not so good, alhamdulillah, it doesn't matter, things always change and move on. But one interesting difference is that now the children have more time to learn about daily life than before. Does it seem strange? Maybe it is me. Before I felt so busy that I had no time to let them share in the day to day running of things. You just assume they pick things up, the names of vegetables, the way we order meat in the butcher's shop, how things are cooked. But I was reminded recently of how this isn't always the case. If you feel too busy or tired to let them participate in these things they may miss out on what is under their noses! My children were missing out on that, and yet I was home educating them.
Now I know that the boys know the prices of various foodstuffs, they know the different ways in which meat is bought, they know how bread and cakes are made. They know it takes time! And there are other things too, but somehow I'm only remembering the food related examples this evening! The difference is that now I have time to let them look around at all this.
Some children are excellent in these life skills. If I have trouble with my internet connection one day I know a couple of ten year olds I can call on for help. Alhamdulillah.

The one and only Monday 17th March, 2008

Yesterday the boys spent hours playing Wii Sports with a friend, and the girls and I enjoyed going out visiting too. In fact I came home wanting to do everything better again, full of enthusiasm for just getting on and doing more. As usual my hopes exceeded my capabilities!
Home-ed wise today was quite straight forward. We all got Quran study done first. (But this does not mean at Fajr, we aren't up to that standard yet! It just means before other work of the day!) Then the boys did a science revision unit, some English grammar and made a list of advantages and disadvantages of intensive poultry farming and of organic free range poultry farming. Meanwhile Ia was using Education City (I really like that they have modern languages on there), and U was doing a floor puzzle and other things..... I really should know better what U does! I can't forget about the puzzles as they are still all over the floor.
Later on Ia did some workbook stuff, and the boys attempted some maths. It was a page of puzzles, and not their sort of thing at all. Next time I see a family member with an interest in puzzles I'll ask them to have another look at that page with the boys. I can be enthusiastic about almost anything, but maths puzzles are a stretch too far for me.
Overall we got the day's work over quite quickly, but the rest of the day got lost into "invisible housework". (That is the kind of housework that takes ages but leaves no obvious trace of it ever having been done.)
So, another evening draws in and the girls are doing role play with little play figures way past their bedtime, the boys are listening to a Famous Five CD upstairs, the bread is cooling on the rack, the washing up is on pause, the bins need doing, as does the ironing. It looks like the puzzle pieces will still be on the floor in the morning. Alhamdulillah, before you know children will grow up, inshAllah. I'll surely miss the mess.

Loudness of excited children drowns out thoughts

Lots of sociable activity in the last couple of days has tired the girls out, so an early night for them today, as we have more time with friends to look forward to tomorrow, inshAllah.
The dampness of the weather has kept me out of the garden, although U and her friend briefly helped me to dig out a small weedy spot behind the shed. I have lots of seeds I should start sowing, maybe on Monday, inshAllah. I am growing lupin seedings on the kitchen windowsill, just watching the way they stretch out from under the soil and reach their leaves toward the light teaches you a lot. And it is kind of the same with children really.

Learning to Learn

Its been a self-ed sort of day. My role was mostly to check over work once it was done. The boys have read a lot, including "Tell Me About Yusuf (as)". For the story of Yusuf (as) I am going to try a different study approach, inshAllah, beginning with them reading the book for themselves. "Tell Me About Yusuf (as)" is one of the Goodword series, by Saniyasnain Khan. I like the way it contextualises the information, presenting it in history format, rather than story format as other books sometimes do. Not that story formats can't be good too, it just depends how you are approaching the topic.
The boys also continued with their science revision, wrote a story, (their favourite sort of English work), and did a couple of pages of number work. I had to do a quick explanation for the maths, but it wasn't exactly hard work! Quran work and reading also got done in the morning. (We have finished The Wouldbegoods" by the way)
Ia did mostly workbook and computer based stuff today, and U did puzzles, drawing and fuzzy felts.
So I should have had lots of time to clean up and bake cakes and....But it doesn't seem to work that way for me!

Art, maths and poultry

For maths today Ia did some tasks using the cusinaire rods. First she made a shape with 4 equal rods (all touching each other). Then she drew round the shape. Then she repeated this, making different shapes with the same 4 rods.

Next I held up various rods and Ia had to estimate their length by drawing a line of similar length on paper. Accuracy soon developed on that task, maashAllah.

Then, Ia drew round her hand and we measured the width and length of her hand using red rods. After that we went on to measure other small items in "red rods".

The boys did a half termly assessment paper for maths today. This is their favourite type of maths, they actually look forward to the test!? But best of all today the one who got a few marks less than his brother today did not throw a tantrum. Indeed the whole issue of corrections and minor discrepancy in marks passed by quietly today. Alhamdulillah, that is excellent progress!

Amongst other bits and bobs we also,continued with geography today. We looked at an organic poultry farm and used the information we found to make comparisons between intensive and organic free range. I think that next session I should get them to make a table of advantages and disadvantages for each method.

Ordinary Day

Ia was feeling creative today. I've started using reward stickers for the girls, not that Ia ever complains about doing things, but the stickers make her happy. U hasn't quite grasped the concept.

The usual things got done today. The boys are gradually becoming better at just getting on with tasks by themselves. This is especially true of reading comprehension, although sometimes their answers are not full enough. This doesn't mean I can just leave them to it and go to another room, it just means I can attend to other tasks nearby. Using the Education City trial and reading library books also kept them occupied today.

Tomorrow I really must clean up.