Been busy again. Had a couple of enjoyable social days. U met a rabbit. She was so excited, she wanted to pick it up, she laughed when it hopped! She cried when we had to leave!
Ia has turned 4. She is very proud. She is loving nursery, she has started to mimic the way the teachers speak. They have been teaching them Surah Kauther, she says the "bismillah", then she makes a few sounds and says "Kauther" loudly. It is so cute, maash'Allah. Today they took her group to visit the farm and a puppet called Mr Monkey taught them Arabic!
The boys have gone back to studying the people of Ad. We are looking at the region in which they lived, finding out about fertile areas in the desert. Maths has moved on to shape, always tricky. Today we took the Optics kit to I's house and did all the experiments in it.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Bright lights
Ia went happily into the nursery by herself today and enjoyed her session. She did some art and spent time in the book corner. Most of the time she played with B.
L came over this morning and the boys did science. They made a series circuit and a parallel circuit, using the light bulbs. They wrote down what they found, with diagrams. Next week I hope to do switches with them, inshAllah. I hope they will remember how to assemble the different circuits without help next week. This afternoon we did a maths lesson together. Word problems, not their favourite type of maths! U enjoyed herself playing with H.
My things to do at the moment include continuing the Hud (as) project write up. I still have research to do on that. Flat still looking clean. Can it last?
L came over this morning and the boys did science. They made a series circuit and a parallel circuit, using the light bulbs. They wrote down what they found, with diagrams. Next week I hope to do switches with them, inshAllah. I hope they will remember how to assemble the different circuits without help next week. This afternoon we did a maths lesson together. Word problems, not their favourite type of maths! U enjoyed herself playing with H.
My things to do at the moment include continuing the Hud (as) project write up. I still have research to do on that. Flat still looking clean. Can it last?
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Two firsts (snow and nursery)
Ia loved her first day at nursery. She was shy at first, but relaxed as soon as she saw one of her friends. I stayed with her today. The highlight for her was decorating an aeroplane and making snowflakes. She also enjoyed playing with the foam on the table top. U loved having a day there as well. She was very busy in the physical play area and in the home corner. She did get followed about and picked up a bit, but she tolerated all that. She also helped herself to the fruit and the little milk another child had left behind! She was quite happy to get on with it without me, maashAllah.
Boys are continuing with the topic of friendship in mafaheem. In geography they were finding out about the direction of the sun's rays on climate zones, and shading a map. English today was grammar. At home they are getting into building robots again (from card and bits of toys). Ia joins in with this.
This morning we woke to snow. Kids threw handfuls at each other on the way out this morning. It was all gone by the time we came home.The boys were disappointed.
Boys are continuing with the topic of friendship in mafaheem. In geography they were finding out about the direction of the sun's rays on climate zones, and shading a map. English today was grammar. At home they are getting into building robots again (from card and bits of toys). Ia joins in with this.
This morning we woke to snow. Kids threw handfuls at each other on the way out this morning. It was all gone by the time we came home.The boys were disappointed.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Cleaning
Been frantically cleaning for days now, and still have not completed the job. Kids have been having an easy time of it, so we must get down to some more work as soon as possible.
We finished the book about the discoverers of dinosaurs, and then the kids watched a film of a talk on the subject from the Natural History Museum website. They are keen to go and look at actual fossils now. The boys have had Urdu and Quran lessons over the weekend.
We put a new vinyl on the bathroom floor and J decided to use the offcuts to make figures, which they then played with like flat dolls! They each made one, colouring in the clothing with felt tips. Other than this they have all played a lot.
Today's group day was productive. They have started the colour wheel display for the names of Allah, continued the study of Salih (as), and done a comprehension exercise in English.
We finished the book about the discoverers of dinosaurs, and then the kids watched a film of a talk on the subject from the Natural History Museum website. They are keen to go and look at actual fossils now. The boys have had Urdu and Quran lessons over the weekend.
We put a new vinyl on the bathroom floor and J decided to use the offcuts to make figures, which they then played with like flat dolls! They each made one, colouring in the clothing with felt tips. Other than this they have all played a lot.
Today's group day was productive. They have started the colour wheel display for the names of Allah, continued the study of Salih (as), and done a comprehension exercise in English.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Too Busy to Blog
The flat painting seems to have been going on for ages. I've had to stop now, with about 2m to go,because I've run out of paint. Next is the big tidy up. No let up in workload in sight yet.
Have not been giving the kids as much time as I'd like, but group days have helped to keep things ticking over. Yesterday I registered Ia at the nursery. She loved the look of the place, and soon went off to do some painting and explore the other art opportunities. She'll begin properly next Wednesday, insh'Allah.
Last week's trip to the London aquarium was a great success. Despite going with such a huge crowd it was a calm day ( apart from the escalator incident right at the end). My kids were happy to stay with me most of the time, rather than just following their friends, so they really looked at the fish properly. One sister had prepared an excellent quiz to sustain their interest through all the zones. The experence made a good impression an Ia too, as she did some excellent drawings that evening, which showed that she had observed the variety of shapes and sizes of the fish.
I must record the names that U uses , as this type of thing is so short lived and so easily forgotten. Ia is known as Dacala, Jand R are both Eed. Cereal is "orlalap".
Have not been giving the kids as much time as I'd like, but group days have helped to keep things ticking over. Yesterday I registered Ia at the nursery. She loved the look of the place, and soon went off to do some painting and explore the other art opportunities. She'll begin properly next Wednesday, insh'Allah.
Last week's trip to the London aquarium was a great success. Despite going with such a huge crowd it was a calm day ( apart from the escalator incident right at the end). My kids were happy to stay with me most of the time, rather than just following their friends, so they really looked at the fish properly. One sister had prepared an excellent quiz to sustain their interest through all the zones. The experence made a good impression an Ia too, as she did some excellent drawings that evening, which showed that she had observed the variety of shapes and sizes of the fish.
I must record the names that U uses , as this type of thing is so short lived and so easily forgotten. Ia is known as Dacala, Jand R are both Eed. Cereal is "orlalap".
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
What's going on
Ia has been offered a place at the nursery. This is a surprise, as term has started I assumed that she wouldn't be going. Apparantly someone else dropped out. This will be something to adjust to! Complicating our timetable even more!
We've been easing back into the home ed, especially with our group days. We've collated our weather data, to be made into graphs, inshAllah. We've looked a bit more at the different climate zones, and what would be required to survive there. They have been learning about expressing facts and opinions in English, and we've continued our reading of "Fish". They have also been enjoying "Discovering Dinosaurs" by Valerie Wilding, a non fiction book about the men who discovered dinosaur fossils and uncovered the existence of dinosaurs. I've been reading it to them, because it is a bit too difficult for them to manage by themselves. They seem quite into the events, and ask for more, alhamdulillah. In their Islamic studies they have been learning about friendship and also the Prophet Hud (as).
Yesterday I left them to it the whole day while I painted the flat, they watched too much tv of course but J wrote a story and he and R did the illustrations. They have been doing more reading too.
Sometimes I wonder what education is. The boys love their Sonic the Hedgehog games. They went online and searched for related sites. They do this alot. They were able to find a Sonic cheats site, which gives tips on the games. They located the info relevant to the games and format they have, read it and followed it up. This was nothing to do with me. If they can do it for games they could do the same for researching other topics. How shall I get them to do this?! They have just told me that they use the Ask search engine. I didn't tell them about this. Next step: apply self-motivated learning to useful subjects.
Ia has been really into making more and more paper fish. Then she decided that she wanted to make paper butterflies as well. So I cut them out and she decorates them. I must give her more art and craft time!
U has been doing her usual stuff and putting more words together, alhamdulillah
We've been easing back into the home ed, especially with our group days. We've collated our weather data, to be made into graphs, inshAllah. We've looked a bit more at the different climate zones, and what would be required to survive there. They have been learning about expressing facts and opinions in English, and we've continued our reading of "Fish". They have also been enjoying "Discovering Dinosaurs" by Valerie Wilding, a non fiction book about the men who discovered dinosaur fossils and uncovered the existence of dinosaurs. I've been reading it to them, because it is a bit too difficult for them to manage by themselves. They seem quite into the events, and ask for more, alhamdulillah. In their Islamic studies they have been learning about friendship and also the Prophet Hud (as).
Yesterday I left them to it the whole day while I painted the flat, they watched too much tv of course but J wrote a story and he and R did the illustrations. They have been doing more reading too.
Sometimes I wonder what education is. The boys love their Sonic the Hedgehog games. They went online and searched for related sites. They do this alot. They were able to find a Sonic cheats site, which gives tips on the games. They located the info relevant to the games and format they have, read it and followed it up. This was nothing to do with me. If they can do it for games they could do the same for researching other topics. How shall I get them to do this?! They have just told me that they use the Ask search engine. I didn't tell them about this. Next step: apply self-motivated learning to useful subjects.
Ia has been really into making more and more paper fish. Then she decided that she wanted to make paper butterflies as well. So I cut them out and she decorates them. I must give her more art and craft time!
U has been doing her usual stuff and putting more words together, alhamdulillah
Thursday, January 04, 2007
A breath of blustery air
Had some nice HE time yesterday when the three bigger ones made fish out of card. We had been going through their old nursery work, as we need to clear out, and came across a fish and they wanted to make some more. The boys being able to make all their own cut outs made it nice and calm, as Ia is patient, maashAllah. Afterwards they played with the fish for quite a while. U did a puzzle, which is notable as she is not keen on puzzles and hardly ever does any.
Today we went out to the library and got some exercise, which was good after so many days in. Boys spent lots of time on the computer this afternoon. Maths for today is addition and subtraction facts to 20 and adding chains of 3 or 4 numbers.
Today we went out to the library and got some exercise, which was good after so many days in. Boys spent lots of time on the computer this afternoon. Maths for today is addition and subtraction facts to 20 and adding chains of 3 or 4 numbers.
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