This morning it was haircut time for the boys. After they had showered I noticed a drip from the hall ceiling. Turns out there is a leak from the waste pipe under the bath. Nice warm weather for drying it out though.
Ia and U have been getting lots of sets of books out, and spreading them around. They have been reading them too, each in their own ways. Ia has been doing more work on her current lapbook, and she drew an excellent picture of a motte and bailey castle. The boys have an on and off interest in castles, so I thought we could give a little time to that in this summer period. They have been on the computer lots too, but the positive in that is that the one not playing reads while he waits.
Then, towards the end of the afternoon we met up with HE friends in the park and once again the boys were joined by other boys in the park to play with a football. This seems to be an advantage that boys have, the ability to approach each other and join in the game, with almost no talk needed. I can't think of a situation where girls of that age would do this, I haven't noticed groups of girls spontaneously forming in the park. Maybe I'm missing something obvious!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Early on a summer morning
It was a sunny morning so I decided to take the children out to the cycle path near our home. It is a wide path, adjacent to but well away from the road. It is a busy road, so we were not exactly getting fresh air, but it was refreshing to be out in the morning sunshine. There is also a small public garden by the path and while the boys cycled up and down the girls discovered the flowers, the apple trees, the rabbit droppings and the nibbled windfalls. They also went up and down a bit on their scooters. We only stayed out for about 45 minutes, but it made all the difference to the morning.
We don't usually go out first thing, maybe we should do it more often!
We don't usually go out first thing, maybe we should do it more often!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Planning
As requested, I am posting a little about planning. I’m always planning! It is kind of an on going state of mind for me. However my planning is flexible and evolving, and is based on only the loosest timeframes. Some people plan by setting out a timetable and then slotting things in, maybe jotting down which pages of a book should be studied on which day and so on, weeks in advance. I admire this organised approach but I cannot implement it myself. It would cause me stress! I’d feel obliged to keep up, and the prospect of falling behind would make me feel like a hamster on a wheel. The other thing is that I cannot stop tinkering with plans, and writing them down too far in advance would make them look boring and in need of change.
To start with I need a clear idea of what I think the children should be learning, or want to be learning, in terms of subjects or topics. For some subjects I have a clear structure ahead of me, for example the history of the Prophets, from Adam (as) to Prophet Muhammad (saw), in chronological order. The boys began with Adam (as) in what would be school year 1, and have reached Yunus (as), whose life we need to study next, inshAllah. I have no set timetable to say how much further through the list I will have reached by this time next year. It is more important to me that I cover the life of each Prophet as thoroughly as possible before moving on to the next, than it is to get it learnt by a set time.
As I set about preparing to study each Prophet I need to give myself enough thinking time. While I’m studying one Prophet I am not ready to begin thinking about the next. I need to think about resources, how we will approach the topic, what different angles and lessons there are for this particular piece of history. I like to try to use a different style for the study of each Prophet as I hope this will help to mark out each story, and make it all more memorable. This kind of thinking planning will go on in the back of my head for as long as necessary, until the ideas emerge. This is why deadlines and timetables do not work for me. They would badly hinder the thinking process!
This may all sound a bit vague, but for me it works and is the way I plan Islamic subjects, geography, history and “wider reading” aspects of English. I would like my children to absorb and retain knowledge and for the knowledge to have a meaningful impact on their thought processes. This is more important to me than covering a set quantity of information in a set quantity of time. I find it hard to accept fixed boundaries around information. What is contained in one book, or one unit is never enough, I’m always looking for what may lie just over the horizon. This is why I find it hard to stick to resources devised by someone else. What else is there they haven’t mentioned, I’ll be thinking. Alhamdulillah, Allah has placed limits on our questions over some things, such as the Unseen. This is really a mercy. It is sometimes a relief to be able to know that the road ends here.
Anyway, I’m digressing.
Once I know what is on the topic menu, I need to arrange it into the week. For the boys each full HE day contains six elements. Quran, listening to me read a book aloud, maths, English and two other subjects. The two other subjects are chosen from the range currently being studied and may vary from week to week. Sometimes I will develop habits, such as doing an ICT worksheet every Monday. Some weeks we may be working on a project and do the same subject more than once in the week. Some weeks we may have just finished a topic, and may leave that subject for a week or two. As I think about what to cover for each topic I break it down into session sized portions. I usually plan for Monday and Tuesday at the weekend, and sort out the rest of the week as it emerges. By the night before I will usually know what is on the list for tomorrow.
Ia’s reception year has been based mainly around English, maths and surahs. I use a similar system for her, breaking the daily list down into different types of maths or English activities. Recently I have added Islamic studies to her list, and as we move into her Year 1, inshAllah, I’ll gradually expand her list further to include more subject areas. I’ll do this slowly, so that it is acceptable to her, allowing her to adjust happily. I kept records of work done with the boys and I will be drawing on that, (with the inevitable tweaking of course), inshAllah.
So, faced with a list to get through every HE morning we get started as soon as possible and carry on throughout the day until it is done, ticking the list off as we go. Who does what when is not fixed and does vary a lot. Sometimes we don’t complete everything on the list, but that means I just move it to tomorrow. Over time enough gets done, Alhamdulillah.
Keeping this openness in the planning allows me to easily move in new directions and follow new ideas and interests as they come up. Sometimes I’ll suddenly be struck by the thought that we should be leaning about such and such, and I like to feel that I can follow that idea without sacrificing a plan I slaved over months ago. When I find a new resource or a great idea on someone’s blog I want to be able to go for it right away. In this way the learning is always fresh and new, for me and for the children.
To start with I need a clear idea of what I think the children should be learning, or want to be learning, in terms of subjects or topics. For some subjects I have a clear structure ahead of me, for example the history of the Prophets, from Adam (as) to Prophet Muhammad (saw), in chronological order. The boys began with Adam (as) in what would be school year 1, and have reached Yunus (as), whose life we need to study next, inshAllah. I have no set timetable to say how much further through the list I will have reached by this time next year. It is more important to me that I cover the life of each Prophet as thoroughly as possible before moving on to the next, than it is to get it learnt by a set time.
As I set about preparing to study each Prophet I need to give myself enough thinking time. While I’m studying one Prophet I am not ready to begin thinking about the next. I need to think about resources, how we will approach the topic, what different angles and lessons there are for this particular piece of history. I like to try to use a different style for the study of each Prophet as I hope this will help to mark out each story, and make it all more memorable. This kind of thinking planning will go on in the back of my head for as long as necessary, until the ideas emerge. This is why deadlines and timetables do not work for me. They would badly hinder the thinking process!
This may all sound a bit vague, but for me it works and is the way I plan Islamic subjects, geography, history and “wider reading” aspects of English. I would like my children to absorb and retain knowledge and for the knowledge to have a meaningful impact on their thought processes. This is more important to me than covering a set quantity of information in a set quantity of time. I find it hard to accept fixed boundaries around information. What is contained in one book, or one unit is never enough, I’m always looking for what may lie just over the horizon. This is why I find it hard to stick to resources devised by someone else. What else is there they haven’t mentioned, I’ll be thinking. Alhamdulillah, Allah has placed limits on our questions over some things, such as the Unseen. This is really a mercy. It is sometimes a relief to be able to know that the road ends here.
Anyway, I’m digressing.
Once I know what is on the topic menu, I need to arrange it into the week. For the boys each full HE day contains six elements. Quran, listening to me read a book aloud, maths, English and two other subjects. The two other subjects are chosen from the range currently being studied and may vary from week to week. Sometimes I will develop habits, such as doing an ICT worksheet every Monday. Some weeks we may be working on a project and do the same subject more than once in the week. Some weeks we may have just finished a topic, and may leave that subject for a week or two. As I think about what to cover for each topic I break it down into session sized portions. I usually plan for Monday and Tuesday at the weekend, and sort out the rest of the week as it emerges. By the night before I will usually know what is on the list for tomorrow.
Ia’s reception year has been based mainly around English, maths and surahs. I use a similar system for her, breaking the daily list down into different types of maths or English activities. Recently I have added Islamic studies to her list, and as we move into her Year 1, inshAllah, I’ll gradually expand her list further to include more subject areas. I’ll do this slowly, so that it is acceptable to her, allowing her to adjust happily. I kept records of work done with the boys and I will be drawing on that, (with the inevitable tweaking of course), inshAllah.
So, faced with a list to get through every HE morning we get started as soon as possible and carry on throughout the day until it is done, ticking the list off as we go. Who does what when is not fixed and does vary a lot. Sometimes we don’t complete everything on the list, but that means I just move it to tomorrow. Over time enough gets done, Alhamdulillah.
Keeping this openness in the planning allows me to easily move in new directions and follow new ideas and interests as they come up. Sometimes I’ll suddenly be struck by the thought that we should be leaning about such and such, and I like to feel that I can follow that idea without sacrificing a plan I slaved over months ago. When I find a new resource or a great idea on someone’s blog I want to be able to go for it right away. In this way the learning is always fresh and new, for me and for the children.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Moving from one phase, to another
Still sleepy! U has been asking to use the computer again, this time she has been trying out i-board reception activities, well the easy ones anyway.
The boys finished the Traders in Wooden Ships project today. They had to write a letter imagining themselves as a sailor on a ship of exploration, describing life on board. Then they finished off the quiz section, and made a front cover for their section of the file I've put the project in.
I haven't had enough energy to do much more than reading aloud and supervising Quran practice, but everyone has found plenty to keep themselves busy with. Our on-going projects have all been finished off now, so from next week I hope to have a "summer plan" to go with inshAllah. We all need a period of lighter, more flexible activities. The summer period will run up to Ramadan, inshAllah, and for that month we will have a different focus again. It is time to start thinking of Ramadan work in more detail now. I have a couple of areas in mind to focus on. Planning, planning! But I won't write down much more on it that this. Once I write plans down I start having to change them again. Best keep it in my head then.
The boys finished the Traders in Wooden Ships project today. They had to write a letter imagining themselves as a sailor on a ship of exploration, describing life on board. Then they finished off the quiz section, and made a front cover for their section of the file I've put the project in.
I haven't had enough energy to do much more than reading aloud and supervising Quran practice, but everyone has found plenty to keep themselves busy with. Our on-going projects have all been finished off now, so from next week I hope to have a "summer plan" to go with inshAllah. We all need a period of lighter, more flexible activities. The summer period will run up to Ramadan, inshAllah, and for that month we will have a different focus again. It is time to start thinking of Ramadan work in more detail now. I have a couple of areas in mind to focus on. Planning, planning! But I won't write down much more on it that this. Once I write plans down I start having to change them again. Best keep it in my head then.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Reading Update
I've been a bit dazed during the last few days. I'm still waiting to get my energy back, inshAllah. The children have found plenty to occupy themselves, although I have kept a skeleton version of our HE going. At last the maths is finished, alhamdulillah! The boys can now have a maths break until September, inshAllah. I have been using Collins Primary Maths with them and they have completed all the Year 4 books. Ia's maths will still continue here and there, as is more appropriate to her level.
How about Ia's reading? Ia is coming to the end of her reception year. Throughout the year I've been using various phonics books with her. Just the common ones found in any bookshop. She has used online resources such as Education City, Create a Reader and others from the masses available. I tried flashcards, but she hated them. The boys did not like flashcards either. My packs of flashcards are still in excellent condition.
Next I tried some phonic readers, but, despite being familiar with the sounds, Ia was unwilling to try to put sounds together. Also I think, like the boys, she disliked the meaninglessness of some of those phonic readers. So, a little while later, I tried the old Ladybird "look and say" method. My old Peter and Jane books came back out for another round, and so she started to read them. Every evening at bed time, in the bedroom, she reads two pages. One new page and yesterday's new page. As we work through the book in this way each page will be read twice. This approach allowed me to focus on problems, such as her confusion between "this" and "they". We made glitter posters for both words.
So there is a slow and steady progress, alhamdulillah. I do not use any one method, nor do I buy into a big structured scheme. I use mix and match with whatever seems to be working at the time. I remember how laborious it seemed working through this with the boys. Each of them reading through their two pages a night at a snails pace. But then, one day, they just seemed to get it, and they became proper readers, almost overnight. Alhamdulillah. I think a child really teaches himself to read, as long as the tools have been provided. So, now I'm just going to keep plodding along with Ia, her phonics books and her two pages a night, until one day inshAllah she will become a reader.
I wrote this reading update in response to a question I was asked on Monday. While I have been doing this the boys have been making a funny powerpoint presentation on the other computer, featuring themselves in a silly story, with sound effects. I really shouldn't worry about ICT!
How about Ia's reading? Ia is coming to the end of her reception year. Throughout the year I've been using various phonics books with her. Just the common ones found in any bookshop. She has used online resources such as Education City, Create a Reader and others from the masses available. I tried flashcards, but she hated them. The boys did not like flashcards either. My packs of flashcards are still in excellent condition.
Next I tried some phonic readers, but, despite being familiar with the sounds, Ia was unwilling to try to put sounds together. Also I think, like the boys, she disliked the meaninglessness of some of those phonic readers. So, a little while later, I tried the old Ladybird "look and say" method. My old Peter and Jane books came back out for another round, and so she started to read them. Every evening at bed time, in the bedroom, she reads two pages. One new page and yesterday's new page. As we work through the book in this way each page will be read twice. This approach allowed me to focus on problems, such as her confusion between "this" and "they". We made glitter posters for both words.
So there is a slow and steady progress, alhamdulillah. I do not use any one method, nor do I buy into a big structured scheme. I use mix and match with whatever seems to be working at the time. I remember how laborious it seemed working through this with the boys. Each of them reading through their two pages a night at a snails pace. But then, one day, they just seemed to get it, and they became proper readers, almost overnight. Alhamdulillah. I think a child really teaches himself to read, as long as the tools have been provided. So, now I'm just going to keep plodding along with Ia, her phonics books and her two pages a night, until one day inshAllah she will become a reader.
I wrote this reading update in response to a question I was asked on Monday. While I have been doing this the boys have been making a funny powerpoint presentation on the other computer, featuring themselves in a silly story, with sound effects. I really shouldn't worry about ICT!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Slow Tuesday
Having had a few tiring days, today we got off to a very slow start. Having got everyone through breakfast and showers it was already nearly 11am. Then I read to the boys for quite a long time and they did their Quran reading. We are still on a mission to finish the maths, and that was our HE focus for today.
Later we were back out in a park (not the same as yesterday's), with two other HE families. The boys got together with some other boys who happened to be in the park and had a good hour playing football. Ia was invited to play at racing toy cars, she is an obliging girl, maashAllah, and did her best to join in, but she really found it rather boring! She soon raced off to the play equipment. And that was our slow Tuesday.
Later we were back out in a park (not the same as yesterday's), with two other HE families. The boys got together with some other boys who happened to be in the park and had a good hour playing football. Ia was invited to play at racing toy cars, she is an obliging girl, maashAllah, and did her best to join in, but she really found it rather boring! She soon raced off to the play equipment. And that was our slow Tuesday.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Picnic Day
After a weekend of surprise guests, followed by illness, today we had a day out in the park meeting up with other HE families. Alhamdulillah, it was a day to put faces to names of blogging sisters, and to be surrounded by children! The boys were playing with friends, old and new, and there was lots of tree climbing too. Ia nearly went up a tree, but it was just too high!
Conversations with sisters have given me some interesting thoughts, which I hope to expand upon in days to come, inshAllah. Just now I'm almost too tired to think!
Anyway, I thank Allah for the day we've had.
Conversations with sisters have given me some interesting thoughts, which I hope to expand upon in days to come, inshAllah. Just now I'm almost too tired to think!
Anyway, I thank Allah for the day we've had.
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