Some gentle days

I had hoped to go out and about somewhere on Sunday, but U had a bad cold, with a temperature, so we stayed home. The boys and H went out for their weekend cricket.
So we've had a gentle few days, alhamdulillah. The garden is under control, more or less, and there is not much else I can do to it for a few weeks, except keep the weeds in check, so I've actually spent time in the garden just sitting with the children.
Over the weekend I found some of the Usbourne Young Puzzle Books. They are just right for Ia at the moment, if I read them to her. They are stories, but on each page there are simple puzzles, like mazes, or spotting hidden objects in the busy illustrations. The boys liked reading them to themselves until they were about 8.
The girls got sticker activity books today and have spent lots of time arranging the stickers on the scenes. Ia did some workbook pages in the garden, and, so she could do something similar, U traced over some letters in a book of her own. We also read books in the garden, then each girl spent some time on the computer. This was all in the afternoon because they had spent all morning playing in their room.
So morning was time for R and J to do their work. As we are looking at the period of European voyages of discovery in the Traders and Wooden ships project I decided to read a chapter on this from an old history textbook I still have. It seemed like a good time to slot it in as the history repeats and extends what they've already been reading.I had to simplify the language a little as I went along, but I'm getting the hang of doing that now! This was one of my favourite periods of study, but it makes so much more sense now that I have a better understanding of the Muslim history of the same period.
Also today R and J have done some division, Quran, wider reading on people of deserts and mountains, an ICT worksheet and some work linked to the tafsir of Surah Al-Adiyat.

Reflection

It has been a year since we moved to this house. I know that a year ago it was much warmer than it is today, and a lot less windy. These yellow flowers were not blooming last year, but I remember the plants by the patio, which I now think are some kind of perrenial sunflowers, were covered with little domed buds, like the tops of mosques, just as they are today.
Then I was waiting to see what those buds would open into. Just like our home-ed, I didn't know how it would look in the days to come. It was all a big change, but a year on, by the Will of Allah, the home-ed bloomed and went on through another cycle, just like the flowers.

On Thursday we spent a full and busy day with old friends, alhamdulillah, then Friday was a day of sporty activity. Finally the children were tired out! It is a rare event to see them tired out through physical exercise, usually they are active all day and don't seem to tire, maashAllah. Even H remarked on how tired and quiet they were looking! U was asleep by 6pm yesterday! I was tired too, but I forced myself to get up and clean, as everywhere was such a mess. In that sense, things don't change much in a year!

HE days

This morning the girls wanted to make an early start with the glitter. U is wanting to join in more and more now. The second hand (already written in) workbooks which I used to keep her happy with are no longer good enough for her, she wants clean ones. She wants to do whatever Ia is doing, maashAllah.

And so, another HE day.

While the girls used the glitter the boys did their Quran work, then I cleaned up the spilt glitter and we all recited some of the short surahs together. After that the boys finished off a story about being lost in a rainforest which they started yesterday and Ia used Education City for a while. Next up the boys took turns to do some French on the computer, while the other read a book on peoples of the grasslands.

By this time it was time for me to make lunch, so they all got time to go off and play. U took her turn on the computer, using Poisson Rouge. She has got the hang of clicking and moving the mouse, but can't manage click and drag yet.

After lunch and zuhr there was some colouring in the garden, some playing with a ball, some more work on "Traders in Wooden Ships", some maths for Ia and the boys, and then the lessons were over!

Remember our triop? Our lone triop is growing everyday (it is about 1cm long now). It no longer needs heat from the lamp, and is eating plenty. It is a bit like having a goldfish now really. It swims about the tank, and ....that is kind of all it does! But it looks a lot stranger than a goldfish, and sometimes it almost does a flip out of the water.

This

Ia is plodding along with her reading journey. She is very happy with the Ladybird readers, and is keen to read quite a few pages every evening. Some words seem to be hard for her, especially those beginning with "th". Today I got her to decorate "this" in big letters. She loves using the glitter and, inshAllah, it might help her remember the word!

Briefly...

I think this is my favourite plant in the garden right now. It is just covered with vibrant flowers, maashAllah.
I spent all of Saturday cleaning, (not that you'd know it now), and Sunday was cleaning and gardening. No wonder I don't blog much at weekends. The boys played a cricket match on Sunday. It was REALLY windy, but at least it didn't rain, alhamdulillah.

This is the shady patch of the garden.

The girls have been busy with their imaginations. This morning they didn't have time for me to brush their hair because they were playing vegetables. They had to lie still under the duvet, pretending to be carrots. Then, when one patted the other on the head, they would change into cabbages.

Meanwhile...

The boys got on with Quran, maths (multiplication problems), English (grammar, nouns), unit 2 of the Traders in Wooden Ships project and a new ICT project.

A few weeks ago I bought this project file for ICT. It contains about seventy worksheets, doing tasks with Excel. I feel I should be doing something methodical in this subject, and I need a clear, easy to use framework to lean on. It should keep us going for quite a while, inshAllah!

Lapbook on Surah Az-Zalzalah

As the letters did not fit I drew crack lines (as in when the earth cracks in an earthquake) and had the "h" displaced. And we put "al", instead of "az". Well I can go back and fix it! Oops!

There are sections on earthquake facts, major and minor Signs of the Hour, translation of the surah.

There is also a description of events of the Last Day, and some earthquake survival tips. Of course at the time of az-Zalzalah earthquake safety tips will be of no use. Only Emaan and the Mercy of Allah will help the people then.

We also copied out the translation of the last two verses of the surah:

"So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom shall see it.
And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it."

We made a layer book of the hadith which accompany the tafsir of those verses.

Ia's work.

U has made progress with her control of the computer mouse and has been trying out our preschool CDroms.

Bit of a ramble

This view from above the plant makes it look more like a jolly fabric print.

Ia now has a suite of doll sofas, amongst other things she has made today.

I have started a new geography topic with the boys. It is a kind of history/geography crossover, but for the sake of my mental filing system needing everything in its place, I'm calling it geography. Basically, after my long winded, do-it-yourself look at farming I'm going for a ready made topic book this time. "Traders and Explorers in Wooden ships", by Susan Douglass is one of the Islamic School Book series. Inside there is a student text, teachers' notes with extension ideas and some instructions for practical projects. It really is a handy package.

I also have the "Muslim Cities" book from the series, which I would also recommend as it contains several study topics.

For the Traders and Explorers project I am using a ringbinder file format, so that I can make use of some of the colouring pages in the book and get it presented nicely, inshAllah. There are maps to trace and questions to answer (NEATLY). At the end of the book there is a section of worksheets to go with the chapters too.

For English we have moved on to a chapter on rainforests. I found several books on this from the library, and decided to include reading tasks as part of the English scheme of work. So, one day the English work was to read a (geography) library book. I will probably repeat this tomorrow, inshAllah, when they can read the one they did not read last time.

This is part of my wider reading approach. After all in higher education individual reading of many books is essential, so why not establish habits which may be useful in future. I do not have educational targets for my children in dunya terms, but exam and study skills are such a part of my mentality that I can't help myself. I loved exams by the way, I loved all those skills of pinpointing what the examiner wants to see. I also loved teaching public exams for the couple of years that I did so. I also found being an examiner fascinating. But I don't believe in testing young children, and exam training (in syllabus terms) from a young age. I believe that a wide, relaxed and interesting education will make studying for exams a breeze when the time comes. Exams should be fun, like the rest of learning. I would find being in that exam hall so exhilarating. Some of my best ideas would come out at that time, especially in English or history, I would come out on such a high. I think it is just having that three hour space to think and explore ideas with no other interruptions or distractions. I enjoyed the risk of just scribbling down things I had not thought about before. I look back on those times with fondness. Less so the dreary old revising of course.