...and so on

Looks like another list of HE stuff about to be written. We've been home this week, just getting on with work really. I know some people who are really organised and get all their HE done in the morning, but we don't manage that here. I just start from when they get up and just carry on.

The boys did a marathon session on Venn diagrams today, a little written work for the trraders project, Quran and I read to them. They also discovered their library books today (we borrowed them on Saturday!), so spent lots of time reading, as well as playing on the computer.

I started another lapbook with Ia. This time the theme is "Allah made everything". U is doing one too, not that I expect her to really take in much, but she'll be satisfied with having made something. Ia has been asking to do lapbooks, and suddenly I feel able to move forward with that. Funny how with HE things just seem to have their "right" time. Ia also did her other daily maths and phonics, we read books on the patio and did jigsaws in the lounge. Then, whilst Ia was at her swimming class, U jumbled up all the pieces of lots of puzzles and left them in a heap.

The Ship

It rained continuously today, from when we got up, and it is still raining now. I can't remember if I checked at Fajr, maybe it was already raining then. So, a day to stay in! The model ship got finished! I was working on a second model with Ia, but that one got turned into a Viking style ship so I only had to do one square mast. The shape was better suited to it too, as a different size milk container had been used.
Ia did various bits of phonics work, experimented with the puzzle pieces below, drew and coloured.

Gradually, at the back of my mind, I have been working on a way to include more variety in what Ia does. I do still have the bank of activities which were used with the boys, but it has been hard working out how to timetable things in most effectively. It takes me ages to figure these things out to my satisfaction!

Use of a long evening

The model boats didn't get done today, alhamdulillah! J and R got the maths and ICT work done in their room, in between whatever else they were doing. It was all practice work really, and they got it all done with only one or two minor errors, alhamdulillah.

Ia was engrossed in other arts and crafts projects today, although I did get a little maths and Education City out of her. For maths today we used a game I had drawn up the pieces for when the boys were younger. It is a kind of bingo subtraction, although I don't do the bingo part! There is just a board with various subtraction problems using numbers up to 10. There are all the number cards too and I just got her to cover each problem with its solution. It makes a change from the workbooks.

The sun came out again this evening, alhamdulillah. Time to tie the climbing rose, deadhead and look at all the colours, subhanAllah. H took the boys out to play cricket for a few hours. And really it was because of the surprisingly beautiful evening weather that we didn't get the models done!

"Lost"

The morning got off to a good start, alhamdulillah. The boys listened to me read, did their Quran and double maths..... then R realised he had lost his Tamagotchi toy, and things went downhill. He went off to look for it. Later I got both boys back to do some short pieces of writing they needed to get done on Word. Still it was not found, so after lunch I went up to help them look in their room. Well, I had been thinking it needed a good clean out in there, and as it was pouring with rain outside it wasn't such a bad day for this to happen. After a considerable amount of cleaning out under the bed, through the sock drawers, and other likely places the boys went off to play on the computer, having given up. The girls crawled around under the bed, U seemed quite excited about being given free reign to rummage.
Meanwhile,in the morning, Ia had begun following a Hama bead pattern. She spent the day coming back to it, leaving it half done this evening. It involves lots of counting, and accurate copying, so I think that counts as education. In between she looked at books, drew, played with U.
By now it was almost four o'clock and we still had not begun the model boat project, (from traders in Wooden Ships). I had cut up the plastic milk bottles ready to start, and Ia was hovering around, waiting. Then the Tamagotchi was found - under the duvet. Had I not said the bed should be the first place to look? I had been assured all beds had been thoroughly searched.
Ah well.
So then we got the models half done. Finish them off tomorrow, inshAllah.

Weekend

All of us: went to library
Boys: Cricket
Girls: visit friend
Me: Housework

Mini Book

We've made mini-books for the study of Surah Al-Adiyat. The cover is card, and one page of A4 is folded inside for the pages. Inside there is a translation of the meaning of the surah, a list of ways in which people are ungrateful to Allah, (always complaining, saying life is unfair, why does it always happen to me, etc) and a list of some of the favours Allah grants (food, water, health, security etc). There is also a piece of creative writing for which I asked the boys to imagine themselves looking at the horses described at the beginning of the surah, and describe what is happening, what they can see and hear and so on.

Apart from this we mostly did maths today. As we are nearing the end of the school year, we have nearly completed the maths course. The last few weeks seem to be dragging by and all of us are looking forward to a break from the daily maths lessons. So I decided to suggest doubling up the maths for a week or so in order to get through it faster, and then get a longer summer break. This means we will do less other work in the mean time, but we can afford to relax on that, having got so much done, alhamdulillah. The boys agreed to this plan, so, it will be double maths for a bit now, if we can manage it, inshAllah.

Ia's first lapbook

With lots of help from Auntie Z, Ia completed her first lapbook today, on Allah's Names, alhamdulillah.

Under each of the five names chosen for this book is written its translation and brief meaning. On the right Ia copied out "Allah created everything. Allah has 99 names."