Animations and a lapbook

Yesterday morning the boys decided to make animations with drawings and windows movie maker. They got started straight after I'd finished reading some more from the archeology book, and they continued well into the afternoon. Ia also got to join in a bit with some of the drawings. In the end they finished a 30 second animation, using about 50 photos, then took more photos for a second clip, which they have not put together yet.
Whilst this was going on Ia finished off her "About Me" lapbook, which I have posted on Always Learning Resources. Ia also did some more reading, maashAllah, she is becoming much more confident now.
I insisted that everyone get their daily Quraan work done, but other than that I let the rest of the timetable go. As long as they are engaged in something creative I think it is time well spent.
U had a restless night with a cough, and slept in past ten this morning.
Today is sunny and still,maashAllah, great for the boy's football, but once again J has to miss out. Although his foot has nearly completely healed we don't want him to do too much too soon. Today he has put on his shoes for the first time in almost two weeks and has gone to be a spectator at the match. He'll only have to walk a very short distance.

A Good Day

Yesterday the boys did chromatography experiments with the chemistry set. Well, R did most of it really, and J videoed it.
Today has gone well educationally, alhamdulillah.
We began by reading a book I recently got from the Book People called "Archeology Detectives". Ia listened too. It is so interesting to note the recurring theme in these buried civilizations, their idol worship. SubhanAllah. Makes a good talking point.
We finished "There's No Escape" yesterday, I would recommend it as a good adventure read.
The boys and Ia all got through routine maths, English and other daily work in the morning. Today we did the maths mentally, without bothering to write down the answers, as today's lesson was very easy (what is one seventh of......etc).
Then the boys drew detailed maps of an imaginary place. They do this from time to time. They made a key, and indicated different types of land use as well as major features. They didn't want me to put photos on the blog, although it was very neatly presented!
After that they were googling for further information on some planes they have read about in one of their books.
Meanwhile Ia finished off some work for her About Me lapbook, and measured things in handspans and then in mega bloks.
In the afternoon the boys did the next history page in their Prophet Musa (as) notebooks. Right now they have all gone off to play something together.
Alhamdulillah.

Seasonal

The first winter aconite flowers have emerged in the garden, the first flowers of a new year in my garden. This year I was expecting them, and I know what they are.
Today we saw two robins on the bird table. Our bird table is very unpopular, although I do use proper wild bird seed mix. Too many cats I think. Robins are not especially seed eaters are they? They didn't stay long, but maybe they had a couple of insects which have been feeding on the grains. One robin flew to the wall near the patio window and we could hear it sing. This is notable in our bird no fly zone of a garden.
More shape work for Ia today, making larger triangles from small triangles fitted together, and more on Iboard. The boys were also just continuing with work today. We finished off another 50 spellings, so we can have a break from spellings for a while.
Altogether the HE was kept to the morning today, so as to have friends over in the afternoon.

Chemistry Set

A kindly, elderly relative sent some money for the children, so I went shopping at Curious Minds
and bought a chemistry set. (Very good service from Curious Minds, by the way.)
I had to buy a few top up items, such as distilled water and hydrogen peroxide, so after J's doctor's check (foot on mend, but still can't wear shoes) we popped into the pharmacy. With all the recent media coverage of the government's latest attempt to cast suspicion over home educators I did feel a little awkward going into a pharmacy with school age children, in school hours and buying an odd collection of items. The pharmacist did ask what I was going to use the hydrogen peroxide for, but maybe this is routine. I did, of course, explain all about the chemistry set, how I needed the distilled water so we could compare what remains on an evaporating spoon after tap water is evaporated off, and after distilled water is evaporated off. Anyway, someone who ends up as a pharmacist must have loved his chemistry set as a kid, and all the items must have made sense to him. In general I felt much more positive leaving the shop, and much less like someone sneaking about during curfew.
So, this afternoon the boys and I did several experiments, with plenty more to follow from the booklet, inshAllah.

Ia continued her shape topic today, this time dissecting hexagons to see what other shapes could be made. Learning the words "pentagon" and "quadrilateral". Followed up with some shape maths from iboard.

What did we do for English today? The boys read loads, I read several chapters of "There's No Escape" to them and they did about 50 spellings (need to review halves, not halfs etc).

Ia was keen to read today, maashAllah, and read all our level K2 Emaan Reading series readers. She also worked on the longer reading exercise on Education City.

U recited the alphabet. Later she explained to H that she knows all her letters, she just needs to know what sounds they start with...errr?

Unplanning

Over the last couple of days I've been down with some kind of bug. The timetable went some what out the window, alhamdulillah! This morning the kids wanted to make more wierd felt toys. It takes hours to produce these masterpieces. They do the sewing, but I do the frequent needle rethreading.

Yesterday Ia spent ages making this pattern block design. The one square shaped block on the end was very important and I had to be sure to include it in the photo.

Everyone has used Jump Ahead French, I've continued reading "There's No Escape" to the boys and various other bits of regular work got done.

J has been to the doctors (wearing plastic slippers) for his sore foot, so looks like he'll be missing football this weekend.

This evening I'm feeling much better, alhamdulillah. I know I'm feeling better because I've started to clean and tidy up, rather than just wade through the mess. The usual sign of recovery.

Carrying On

Ia had more shape work to do in maths today. We just finished working on this a few minutes ago. I don't usually do this in the evening, but this was just a fun game for Ia. J joined in too. I asked Ia to make patterns, and to make shapes with certain number of sides.

Today I woke up feeling unwell and with a sore throat - again. I was feeling drowsy, but Ia demonstrated that she had memorised a short surah, so the kids were in a hurry to have breakfast and reading time before popping out to get a treat from the newsagents. It was a sunny morning, and it would have been nice to go for a walk, but J has a sore foot and can't wear shoes. He played football in new boots and they rubbed. He waited too long before getting off the pitch, and the sore place is taking longer to heal than I expected. He had to miss swimming today too.

The science test went OK! The only thing they had really forgotten was the 7 life processes, alhamdulillah.

U has been trying to teach herself about numbers. She told H that he doesn't need to go to work, as he has 9 pence in the drawer.

She asked me my age. I told her, but she didn't like the sound of the number so she said, "I'll just put sixty then!"

Also she has been observing the vending machines in the leisure centre and has decided that if you put in 1penny and press a button it will give you whatever you want.

A better morning

To make amends for yesterday I got Ia started on shape work first thing this morning. Well, first for her because before that I had read to the boys. I'm currently reading "There's no Escape"by Ian Serraillier to them.

U joined in with shape work as soon as she woke up. She told me that she had not been able to get any sleep because of the loud noises the boys were making. It was 9:30am.

While one boy did his Pashto work the other revised from his science book and played with the magnet set, then they swapped over.

Before I could start the maths with the boys Ia's friend arrived, so the boys went off to play and Ia and friend started work on another Islamic lapbook together.

After some play time for the girls the friend left and it was time for lunch. U went on the computer for her current favourite mix of Education City, French and puzzle story CDroms.

After lunch we had a couple of hours before more friends arrived in which to finish off the rest of the work. With the more reading approach in mind we worked on the mapwork textbook orally, as the current topic is about getting information from maps, (rather than measuring or labelling), so is suitable for read and discuss.