Crafts and animals

Today's still weather made it a day for painting outside on large pieces of paper.
Ia did lots of work today, maashAllah. Sometimes it is a good reminder to look through a child's old work and realise that lots of progress has been made. Things that Ia struggled with a few months ago are now much easier for her, alhamdulillah.
Today we talked a little about animals, one of her favourite topics. We discussed how Allah is Al-Khaliq, The Creator, and how animals are of different types. Some animals Allah permits us to eat, ride or use for other tasks (ploughing, guarding), and some animals are wild. Ia sorted and stuck cut-out pictures of animals into these categories. We need to respect the rights of animals and treat them properly.
Many of the ideas I will be using with Ia, inshAllah, are taken from work which the boys did at her age. At that time I was working a lot with other sisters, so many of these ideas are not my own but I know they won't mind me sharing their good ideas with you.

These are the craft pieces the girls made at their art and craft session the other day. The white base is half a pizza base wrapper. As the session teacher pointed out it keeps its shape really well when sewn on with a tapestry needle, and is easier to use than a plastic grid because the needle can go through anywhere. I almost never buy that type of pizza, but if I ever do I'll be saving the base wrapper for needlecraft!

Day to day

When I bought this fern I was thinking I'd just get something to fill this deep shade spot. I didn't realise how beautiful the coppery shades of the new growth would be, subhanAllah.

Yesterday was a busy outside day. We went on a long explore, mostly by bus, to reach an art and craft session for Ia and U. The girls enjoyed painting with glue paint, painting a mug and sewing. Ia also helped make a fruit bowl model from dough. The boys had to hang around, looking bored, as the session was not for their age. They did very well, considering. The girls really loved their session, but as the bus fares cost more than the activity itself, and as the boys have nothing to do there I doubt we shall go again. This is the difficulty of juggling the various needs of each child, even I experience it, although my children are roughly in pairs when it comes to interests. Alhamdulillah.

So, after the long bus ride back we still had a half hour walk to get home. I bought them some take away food to carry home, as an encouragement. (Another example of the carrot approach I probably use too often). This "food"may have contributed to my overall exhaustion and queasiness at the end of the day. It was that, along with the heat and our trip to the park at the end of the afternoon, meeting up with HE friends again. The fact that I was kept awake for quite some time the night before by some individuals who had taken the road outside my bedroom for a race track pit lane, keeping their extra loud sports car engines revving like aircraft, until someone came out to yell at them, may also have been a part of it. Overall, something had to give.

So, this morning I was still trying to recover while catching up with housework neglected the night before. End result of all this: slow HE day. At least it is summer, alhamdulillah.

Quietly

Today we have been sheltering from the hot sunshine! Time to keep blinds and curtains partly drawn and the loft hatch open! I'm not complaining, different weather is variety.
This week I feel like we can do a little more HE. The house looks slightly more under control housework wise. Disorganised surroundings are very energy draining. I have considerable experience of this! Implementing what you know into reality is not so easy though.
Today we started reading "1001 Inventions, Muslim heritage in our world". I had known about this book for some time, but had delayed buying it because it is quite expensive. Recently I was reminded of it by a fellow blogger on a forum, and decided that I had delayed for more than a year by now, so it was hardly an impulse buy!
We also continued with the castles topic, and began a new Islamic studies area. Ia has done various bits of workbooks and colouring. Nothing particularly new or recordable, but, just a little more than last week. We are all feeling more ready to start new things. I even ordered spring bulbs today!

The H is in yellow

THE H IS IN YELLOW, cos I do know how to spell "Allah", but, should I override Ia's choice of colours for the sake of the photo? Should I avoid posting photo? Too late. It shows up just fine in real life, lemon yellow against the mustard folder.

The solar lights work well.

Making it up as we go along

For the last couple of mornings we were out after breakfast to take advantage of free swimming lessons being offered at the local pool, (trainee instructors needed kids to practise on). R had to miss out unfortunately, having recently suffered a perforated eardrum, so while Ia and J swam R, U and I went to the nearby park. R found it boring, even today when we took his scooter, but that was the way it had to be. Ia especially enjoyed her lessons, telling me that over the two days she had been to the zoo, space, the rainforest and safari. She had also been an excellent hippo. Not like swimming in the old days is it!

Back at home the boys set up some solar lights H recently bought. H intends to take the lights back home to his mum's, as there they get loads of sunshine and loads of power cuts. We just want to see if they actually work at all first. So, practical science.

Ia has been working on her latest lapbook. It is very nearly finished, it just needs a few decorative touches. With the overall HE shedule being so relaxed this week it has been hard to get Ia into doing anything other than her lapbook, although she did listen in as I read to the boys about castles in the garden today. All four of them have been doing lots of reading. Yesterday afternoon they sat under the sheets on the washing line (for shade), reading. This looked quite funny really, especially as we have two trees providing plenty of shady spots in the garden. It reminded me of how we used to sit and read in the garden of the flat we used to live in. There we would usually be under the washing, but this was because once the washing line was open and loaded it took up most of the garden space anyway.

I don't think Ia could read all of the books she had with her, I think she was picking out the words she knew. As usual U was retelling the stories in her own words.

This evening R made a pizza. I showed him how to make the bread dough for it, but he did all the mixing and kneading. He then did all the topping. He was very pleased with the results, alhamdulillah.

The pace of summer

This morning it was haircut time for the boys. After they had showered I noticed a drip from the hall ceiling. Turns out there is a leak from the waste pipe under the bath. Nice warm weather for drying it out though.
Ia and U have been getting lots of sets of books out, and spreading them around. They have been reading them too, each in their own ways. Ia has been doing more work on her current lapbook, and she drew an excellent picture of a motte and bailey castle. The boys have an on and off interest in castles, so I thought we could give a little time to that in this summer period. They have been on the computer lots too, but the positive in that is that the one not playing reads while he waits.
Then, towards the end of the afternoon we met up with HE friends in the park and once again the boys were joined by other boys in the park to play with a football. This seems to be an advantage that boys have, the ability to approach each other and join in the game, with almost no talk needed. I can't think of a situation where girls of that age would do this, I haven't noticed groups of girls spontaneously forming in the park. Maybe I'm missing something obvious!

Early on a summer morning

It was a sunny morning so I decided to take the children out to the cycle path near our home. It is a wide path, adjacent to but well away from the road. It is a busy road, so we were not exactly getting fresh air, but it was refreshing to be out in the morning sunshine. There is also a small public garden by the path and while the boys cycled up and down the girls discovered the flowers, the apple trees, the rabbit droppings and the nibbled windfalls. They also went up and down a bit on their scooters. We only stayed out for about 45 minutes, but it made all the difference to the morning.
We don't usually go out first thing, maybe we should do it more often!