Clay art

Today I took the girls to an art workshop. The theme was clay sculptures. The artist leading the session had made a bird as an example, as well as a couple of pots. I explained that we Muslims do not make sculptures of birds and animals and so we had a go at other things instead.
We were using air drying clay and then natural things such as seeds, twigs, leaves and dried flower things. Easy to copy at home! Lovely and autumnal too.
In the photo above there is a tree stump, a nest a hazelnut and a cupcake!
Below are two pots, a tree stump and a nest. U enjoyed this session, maashAllah, this was the first art session she was enthusiastic about throughout!

On the table

Our table seems to be constantly loaded with stuff. As soon as I clear a space it fills up again. At the moment Hama beads are very popular with the girls. They like to take out all the designs they have made as well as the beads for working on. Then they work on their new design little by little through the day.

Other stuff on the tables would include piles of library books, sticker books, pencil crayons, various workbooks, not to mention H's work files which take their turn in the mix.

Somehow we squeeze the space to work and eat on there as well, alhamdulillah!

Science at KS3

The three school years from age 11-14 are called keystage three in the UK. Keystage three is a strange place to be. It is a kind of waiting area.
For science at KS3I have bought Galore Park's So You really Want to Learn Science book 2.It states that it completes the course for KS3. It is quite a thick textbook, divided into colour coded sections on each of biology, chemistry and physics. Many of the topics repeat and extend what we did in book 1, and I'm pretty sure the same stuff will come up all over again at GCSE level. This makes KS3 either a time of going through the motions while waiting for a GCSE course to begin, or a time to explore in ways that are off curriculum.
Obviously the school going child has no choice in this matter, but home educators do!
This year's science for us, therefore, is going to focus on chemistry, using the book as a base, but hopefully, inshAllah, exploring chemistry generally as much as we can.
Here are some places that might be worth exploring on the way.

Shrinkles

Today we tried out Shrinkles. I got a box of these for the girls as an Eid gift. They coloured the whole lot, then we watched them curl and flatten in the oven, until they came out shrunk and hardened up.

Does anyone else remember shrinking crisp (chip) packets in the oven when they were younger? I wonder whether the packets are made of the same materials now - or would I end up coating the oven tray with a sticky mess?

Quran half hour

As the children grow and change so I keep needing to adapt and change what we do. Also, a bit of a change and variety does us good.
This year I really want to do Quran for about half an hour in the morning and resist the temptation to do read aloud first after that. This would work better really, but it is hard to discipline oneself into not doing the easier option! But more productive is better than easier, plus it makes for a less stressful rest of day!
For the Quran half hour the boys don't just recite. They recite, review the surahs they know, read through duas with the intention of learning them and from this morning I'd liketo get them working on AyatulKursi. They don't find memorisation easy, so the effort is important.
I found this excellent tool for helping to learn Ayatulkursi.
In her half hour Ia can review her Quran reading lesson, review the words for salaah, read duas and review the last ten surahs in Juz 30, using the computer programme. U can listen along and do a little work on recognising the Arabic letters, inshAllah.
Today we got this done in the morning, first thing and it was better that way, alhamdulillah.
Nothing we do is ever fixed permanently in one style, method or time. Change keeps things fresh and is necessary to meet our changing needs.

Back

Eid Mubarak! May our deeds of Ramadan be accepted.
Time to get back in the HE mood! But of course little bits of learning go on all the time, like when the girls decided to weigh some kitchen items!

Ramadan Lapbooking links

The girls finally finished the Ramadan lapbooks which they began many weeks ago! I don't know where they got the idea to colour the cover picture as they did! I find that my children just like to colour things brightly, rather than trying to use more realistic colours.
Inside the lapbook, as I mentioned before I used a compilation of ideas from other sisters. I thought I should mention those locations again as maybe someone out there would be looking for something like this to do with their child in the remainder of Ramadan, inshAllah.
The Raising Muslims blog is an excellent Ramadan lapbook resource.
My friend UmmK made the one at Always Learning Resources
and for many more Islamic Lapbooks on various topics you should go look at Islamic Lapbooking
where you can find 12 examples of Ramadan lapbooks, or lapbook resources, maashAllah.
Its not too late to have a go at something!