No SATs here!

I heard on the radio this morning that some head teachers would be boycotting SAT tests for 11 year olds today on the grounds that the tests narrow the curriculum, cause stress and produce "teach to the test" style lessons.
Had my sons been in school it would have been their turn to sit those tests today too.
But, no SATs here......wooohooo!
Alhamdulillah.

The changing map of Europe

In our geography session today the boys were answering some questions on the Balkan region from "The Trail Guide to World Geography". They used the Times atlas (on the right) to help with some of the answers. While we were looking at that map I thought about getting out my old school atlas and comparing the two. I asked them to look to see if they could find any differences between the two political maps of Europe.

The old map has Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany and the Soviet Union, whilst the new one, of course, has many more independent countries in these areas. After noticing this we briefly discussed why these changes have occured in Europe, and went online to look up a little of the history.

Friction and Caterpillars

Today we have been doing some friction related experiments. Above we were comparing how much force is needed to begin to drag a heavy book across a variety of surfaces. Below we were seeing how far the ramp needed to be lifted before the shoe started slipping. This was done with lots of different shoes and slippers.

Also, this morning we followed in the footsteps of other home educators and received our caterpillars, which we hope, inshAllah, will develop into Painted Lady butterflies. For the last two years we have grown triops. On first inspection it seems that caterpillars are even more low maintenance, alhamdulillah!

As they get older does HE get harder or easier?

I have been thinking about this question recently.
In some ways I am finding HE with the boys is getting easier, alhamdulillah. Although the subject material is getting more complex the style of delivery is getting more straightforward. Also, of course, we are all getting more experienced at this home ed project, and I suppose that helps!
With the younger ones there are a lot of challenges in terms of finding the right mix of resources. They need lots of short activities to teach ideas in a variety of ways. Also at the beginning you are only just starting to find out about your child's learning style and preferences, and it will take time to understand and adapt your approach accordingly.
Younger ones also need to have their love of learning fostered and basic skills such as reading and numeracy need to be aquired as joyfully as possible and in such a way as they form a firm, confident foundation for building further learning. This poses plenty of challenges!
As the boys get older I feel that I, and they, understand their learning style better. This makes it easier to choose resources which match their needs. I don't find myself searching around for which books to use anything like as much as I used to, as now the path seems clearer, alhamdulillah. Also by this age the boys can explain their own opinions on learning and we can discuss what we are doing, alhamdulillah. Younger ones tend to be swayed by how they are feeling about something on theday you ask them, whereas older ones can take a longer term view.
Just a few thoughts!

Beautiful Springtime

MaashAllah!

What U did today

This is a summary of what five year old U did today;
- copied out the word "the" three times
- drew a picture and asked me to write three words about it for her to copy onto the picture
- Used www.starfall.com
- Read "Sam's Pot", a Songbirds phonics reader.
- Wrote a letter (she told me what to put, I wrote it and she copied it out.) This was her own idea, maashAllah.
- colouring
-looked through story books
-played with toys
-played in the garden
- listened to a story
- tried doing some washing up (Her idea again! I don't like finding all that water inside the gloves afterwards.)
- went swimming

It would have been nice to get something maths related in there today, but I think she did well, alhamdulillah.

Written Answers

I'm working on formulating written answers with the boys. Over the last couple of days we have used the questions at the end of Unit 2 lesson 2 of "A History of Muslim Civilization". The first question asks about the aspects of Muhammad (saw)'s character which prepared members of his clan and tribe to accept his claim of prophethood. The second question was to describe Muhammad (saw)'s social position in Makkah before prophethood.
The information for these answers is contained in the three text pages of the unit, and it is fairly straightforward to pick out the points, but putting them together properly is another skill altogether, and this is part of the transition from primary to secondary education I suppose. The boys first response is to write out the information, in sentences, but in a way which forms little more than a list. This is fine at primary level, it shows you have the facts to answer the question with. But what we are needing to work on is:
a. constantly relating the information to precisely answering the question
b. writing a concluding sentence wrapping up the information into an answer

It is not so much about supplying the information to answer the question, but manipulating the information into a specific answer.
The only way to deal with this, as far as I can see, is to practice and to go through all answers to work out how improvements could be made and keep drumming it in:
How does this answer the question?
And, Where is your conclusion?

Any suggestions? Is there something I'm missing?