Fish

Yesterday was all about fish for the girls. They spent the whole day working on these lapbooks. (We had begun them earlier in the week). These are Hands of a Child lapbooks on the cartoon film "Finding Nemo". Now, you might think that a lapbook based on a film is a total waste of time, but actually the girls have learnt a lot about the sea creatures of the Great Barrier Reef. In between making the mini books they ran away to play - fish games. I could hear them using the vocabulary they had been learning, talking about habitats, prey, having some fish being aware of predators, etc. So, in one way or another their whole day was spent on this topic.
For this lapbook Ia was able to do the reading in the mini books, so I just needed to tell her which bits to cut round, then she could assemble the books by herself. U needed more help of course, but she really improved her cutting out skills during this project, maashAllah.
This morning they did the colouring for the front covers.

Ia's above, U's below.

So, do you think that is all over now, time for a rest?

No. The glue had barely dried on the covers when I was being asked what the next lapbook could be about. In search of inspiration we popped out to the library, but didn't find a topic there. And NO books on fish of the coral reef, or any other fish. Hmm.

So back home I followed Umm Adam's tip about visiting Currclick, and they chose something on tigers, which they got started on right away.

Laid back week

It has been a laid back week so far, although today lots of work got done despite of that. Yesterday was devoted to meeting up with old friends, and today got off to a slow start, when another friend popped in briefly, alhamdulillah!
The boys have been getting on with some creative writing and reading, reading, reading as usual, alhamdulillah. We've been doing some more chemistry from the Gravitas book. They enjoy using that book, it presents things in just the right way, to be interesting without being overwhelming.
Ia and U have been continuing a game of making characters and their homes/furniture/clubhouses out of paper cut outs. There are snippets of paper everywhere. As soon as I clear it, more falls. In between installments of this epic saga Ia has fitted in her daily basics, developed a keen interest in fish and worked on a new lapbook project. U has taken to writing her own daily task list on the spaces on the sheet. She decides what it is and she ticks it off when it is done. Suits me!

Reading Aloud

Umm Omar recently commented on reading aloud and how kids enjoy it. Since then I've had a few thoughts on reading aloud!
A lot of people think reading aloud is just for little kids, who cannot read fluently themselves yet. Little kids do love it, but so do big kids, and adults too! What are audio books for? There are lots of audio books for adults in the library. How about on the radio, there are programmes just for reading aloud novels.
When I was studying A level literature, (so about 17 years old) we had two teachers for the course. One teacher would always arrive carrying only his bunch of keys and the book we were reading. He would sweep in, sit down and read aloud to us for 40 minutes with full dramatic style, then sweep out again. The poems of Byron seemed to be his favourites. I don't remember anything else happening in lessons, mostly just him reading aloud. The other teacher was a bit more flexible and let the students do the reading aloud in her lessons. We even got some discussion too!
So what I'm saying is I don't think reading aloud ever has to stop, as long as it remains enjoyable for listener and reader alike. My grandfather used to read aloud to my grandmother as she did her embroidery in the afternoons. That is more companionable than TV, isn't it.

Starting the Week

After a weekend spent doing lots of outdoor stuff there is colour back in the childrens' cheeks, alhamdulillah. The pallor of weeks of illness blown away in the breeze, inshAllah.
Back into a home ed day today. I feel I should point something out about the structure we have in our home ed. The structured bit only takes up part of the day. In between my structured bits is plenty of time for other stuff, which all the children get on with automatically in their own way, so when sisters describe their unschooling activities, I can recognise that in our days too. I just add some other structured activities on top, or in between. The unstructured days of last week were not really so different.
Before falling ill last week I finished the reflection project with the girls and wrote it up on Always Learning Resources at the weekend.
Today the boys have finished their latest Islamic Studies project, based completely around the book "Knowing Allah" by Muhammad al-Jibaly. I plan to write that up next, inshAllah.
The girls want to learn about fish of the Great Barrier Reef, so we started looking into that today, reading, watching video clips and colouring.

Something more refreshing

Still on Pause!

It has taken until today for me to stop feeling dizzy. This week has been so unstructured. H takes the boys out for sports in the evenings, and the weather has been good for playing outside, alhamdulillah.
Looking forward to getting back to normal soon, inshAllah.

Technical Hitch

After a week being in the house with sneezing, spluttering, feverish kids it was finally my turn, alhamdulillah.
Ia busied herself with her cut out and colour books and I was impressed with the boys getting on with their maths, Pashto and Quran by themselves.
InshAllah I'm recovering now.
Next to deal with the small matter of the trail of mess left behind by my being out of action for 24 hours.