History and Rhymes

This post could also be called "Racing the clock", because that is what it has felt like today! I've just been home, but when I'm in planning mode I just can't get things done fast enough!

Today we finished the storyboard project on Prophet Shu'ayb (as). We had a sequence of 8 points for the story. After that we went through the verses of the Quran relating to Shu'ayb (as), using Ibn Kathir, finding within them examples of Shu'ayb (as) fulfilling the duties of prophets. (Calling to Tawheed, Warning, Speaking Out, Guiding the people etc.).

We listed 10 duties and noted down the Quran references to go with each.

Ia had a friend over again. (This is spoiling her really, alhamdulillah!). Today we did some work on rhymes. I began by reading them a phonics reader, containing lots of rhyming words. Then we remembered the rhyming words, using context clues from the story. I listed them on the whiteboard, then pointed out the spelling pattern, they all ended with OG. Then the children each read through the list. Ia doesn't read yet, but as she can do initial sounds, and I prompted her, she could read them through. Then we found other short rhyming words, and listed them. They were coming out with lots of rhymes by this time, alhamdulillah! We played odd one out, with me saying aloud a set of words, one of which did not rhyme, and they had to spot which it was. Then we played with a set of rhyme flashcards I have.

After that it was on to more pattern block creations!

Thinking of Spring

Ia had a friend over again today and together we all (includes friend's mother) put the spring tree poster together. It's actually bigger than it looks in the picture. It was done on textured wallpaper, rubbed with crayon. The friend's mum did the flowers, maashAllah.
The girls also did some maths. I put 10 yellow, 10 pink and 10 brown cubes in a cloth bag. Then we took out any 10 cubes, sorted them into colour groups and wrote down the addition calculation. (2+5+3=10, for example).
Next they played with shape cards, organizing them into sets of the same shape and naming the shape. They cooperated well on this, maashAllah.
Then they got creative with the pattern blocks, see below.

Apples and stories

Yesterday the boys continued with the farming project by looking at an example of an apple farm in the UK. Having the internet is such an advantage for work like this. I'm not sure how I would go about gathering information on farms and what they produce without it. Many farms have their own websites, primarily to promote their products of course, but they helpfully give some background information on themselves as well. Of course most such farms are the smaller family run type, especially those promoting organic/free range / unusual varities. Large conventional farms are not so open about themselves, but then they don't need to promote in the same way. I will be pointing these things out. The farming education site has some case studies on it to use too.
Yesterday they used the website to answer the following:
Where is Tullens Fruit Farm?
What varities of fruit do they grow?
How do they sell their crop?
What else is produced on the farm?
What has changed in apple farming?
How does a farm shop seem to be different from a supermarket?

As the weather gradually improves, inshAllah everyone will want to spend more time in the garden. Yesterday the boys played "cricket" out there and the girls went for a run around. U often asks to go out to run around. The boys did well in terms of exercise yesterday as they also got to go cycling with H and had a swimming lesson. It is worth letting them play outside in the afternoon, even if it does mean that we continue studies in the evening.

Ia had a friend over, and we did some English work together. I read them the story of the Enormous Turnip, and we discussed the "list style" it uses. Then the girls did pictures to show what they felt was the most important part of the story (giant turnips), and wrote sentences to explain. Ia wrote, "They all pulled. It came out." When I say wrote I mean that she dictated what she wanted to write, I wrote it and she copied it out. After that I asked them to write their own story, with a list element. Of course they are only young, you must wonder how they could possibly do that! They wrote in pictures of course, adding any words they could. Both girls chose a story about cats which went out to find food. If they feel that they have written a story, they will believe that they can write stories, which will mean, inshAllah, that in the future they really will write stories.

Remembering Ramadan

I planted the bulbs for these crocus flowers in Ramadan. At that time we had read about how the Sahabah used to pray to Allah in the six months before Ramadan to extend their lives so that they could fast Ramadan and in the months after they would pray that Allah accept their fast of Ramadan. When I planted the bulbs I thought that inshAllah they would flower once we were around halfway to the next Ramadan, which it is. A time to think about what we have been doing since Ramadan, have we been keeping up with the intentions of that month? Have we prayed that Allah accept our last Ramadan, are we hoping for the next already?
And what better promt to the rememberance of Allah than the sight of some of His springtime creations?

Its been a usual sort of day. Nothing wrong with that, alhamdulillah. Ia has improved a lot on her initial sounds, and her addition to totals less than 10 is coming on well. The boys continued the storyboard for the history of Shu'ayb (as) and began using new workbooks for French.

Seeds

These are some seeds my children chose to grow for our garden, inshAllah. Ia chose pink nasturtium and pompom asters. The boys wanted giant sunflowers. I haven't grown flowers from seeds before, so we are all learning together. Today we planted lupin seeds in a compost tray, and left it on the kitchen windowsill. Our garden shed is glazed and shelved on one side, so it's a kind of potting shed. But it may be too cold still, and probably I'd forget to water anything I left in there!

Sure I know what the books say about the germination of the seed, and what it needs to grow, but this doesn't make me any more sure about caring for them correctly. The seeds will only grow if Allah wills. I really hope they do grow!

The Coconut

To cover the history of the Prophet Shu'ayb (as) we are making a "storyboard" to go on the wall. Yesterday we divided the account into eight points. For each we will, inshAllah, draw and write a poster so that when they are displayed they tell the story. More on that when it is done inshAllah.

The highlight of the morning was the arrival of a coconut (the brown hairy type) in the fruit and vegetable delivery. Now, I have never had to deal with such a coconut before, and I did not know what to do with it. The kids tried striking it with butter knives, to no effect. So I butchered it with a meat cleaver. This took a long time and so much husk flew around the kitchen that I'm sure to be finding bits of it in odd corners for months to come. The kids drank the juice, mixed with other fruit juice, and we munched on coconut. A new experience for us all. (There must be a better way.)

For the rest of the day's work the boys used the Iqra workbook to study tasfir of Surah Kafiroon, we started the activities from the Farming Matters activity book I downloaded from FACE, Ia did bits of workbooks and a collage with old wrapping paper, and so on and so on. Alhamdulillah.

Running After Myself

Today has just been.....
U has been very funny, maashAllah. She helped me mix up muffins this morning, but that is not the funny bit. U says that when she is bigger and I am her age, she will look after me. This is what she will do for me when our roles are reversed, she will get me to sleep at night (but I will have to sleep in my own bed), when I call she will bring me a drink in a cup with a lid on it. She will give me food, buy me toys, allow me to watch TV and she will teach the boys. She will shout at the boys until they come downstairs, then they will do good writing. She will also look after Papa when he is a little boy, but Ia will be her sister.

Today we got into the geography farming project. I finished reading to them the library book we had borrowed, featuring four farms in different parts of the world. Then I came across this excellent farming educational resource. InshAllah I will be making use of the primary level materials on there. Today we watched the video about farming, then we discussed these questions:
Where are farms?
What are farms for?
What do farmers grow?
How do farmers decide what to grow?
The purpose of these questions was really to open up the hugeness of this topic, to show the boys how varied farms must be, and the importance of their role.

But we didn't get everything else done that I wanted to today. So much of everything to do!!!