Nature Detectives Pics!

Nature Detectives

Assalamu alaykum,

it has been a really nice, long, busy week, hamdulillah!

I like for my children and myself to be busy, not that I mind some peace and quite but I prefer the feeling of learning everyday and seeing the kids enjoying it! Also boys busy=not troubles ;)
So what have we been learning last week till today?

I have carried on schooling the boys rigorously every morning for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Still Calvert programme for A and Schofield and Sims and CGP books for S.

S is really trying his very best to learn how to read. We are using level 1 books from Schofield and Sims and Oxford Tree Learning. He seems getting along OK and A is giving him a great help in the evening.
Kids have carried on with madrassa every evening and we had to make some adjustments to our daily routine. That means all we love to do and have to do, has to be done in the morning (forgive the words game there :)

Early afternoon is for a bit of cooking, cleaning and resetting the house. Also get ready for madrassa and Qur'an reading. Then off for me and boys.

This week we have also received the Nature Detectives pack. I registered both boys to the nature detectives club for a year subscription. I was so inspired by their website .

Kids we re so happy to see all the activities in the pack that have started off straight away. They have been colouring, cutting, creating flying birds, solving crosswords and answering questions about nature. So much enthusiasm that I took them down the park to have a close look to the trees and leaves for our autumn project. They took back home leaves, barks, chestnuts shelves and stones!

This week we received a great gift! The ultimate set of 'Documentaries for thinking children' by Harun Yahya. A very inspiring set of 12 DVDs and 2 lovely books about honeybees and ants. The DVDs are great for children and as i love documentaries too, I have enjoyed, for once, few hours sitting in front of the telly! Did you know that a ant can carry food as the same weight as 250 Kg would be for a person! Such a big weight, subhan'Allah!

On the sport side, kids have really improved in swimming since last time I saw them in the water! Now they can both swim back and forth in the big pool! Mash'Allah!

And they are having some great feedback too in wrestling. I spent anafternoon with the sister that organizes the wrestling section for the boys and it was such a pleasure to see the boys in action!!!

So the week has been pretty busy but I had so much fun and looking forward for the week ahead.

for now
wa alaykum assalam

Captivating Columbus!

Assalamu alaykum,
a full week of schooling is ahead of us! I am so exciting as this week we have started a whole new chapter with Calvert!
We reached lesson 62, that means test lesson 60 is now in the hands of Mrs Lears in Marylebone USA. We have been very slowly with the lessons and had lots of holidays and days off, but now we really need to SPEED UP!!! In fact we have to finish the whole academic course before April 2009. The fact is that we still have 100 lessons in front of us, can we make it??? ;)

Let's see what we have been up to.
A. is learning a new whole world at the moment. He started to learn about US dollars in Maths. So far so good. We played shopping game this morning and instead of using GBP we took out the US dollars and coins provided with the Calvert programme.
A. seems to grasp well the concept of US dollars and coins and the difference with the GBP.
We also started using what it's called a Royalroad device. It is used, mainly, to teach kids about phonics. It works very well and I can use it for my 5 years old too.
We used the Roayalroad device to make a composition about 'Winter' using a list of words related to the theme and mainly words containing the phonics we are learning at the moment with sounds -sh, -ch, -tch!
In science we made a little experiment about heat and weather changing. We used three cups and three ice cubes. We placed the ice cubes in each cup and placed each cup in different places. One in a warm place, one in a shady place and the last in the sunlight.
We then waited 5 minutes and checked the cups. We wrote down what happened to the ice cubes and the waited 5 more minutes before removing the ice cubes from each cup and noted down how much water was in each cup! Kids learnt that has temperatures raised, the ice cubes melts down. A and S enjoyed counting the time!
In History and Geography we are learning about the Great Explorers and went on to talk about Amerigo Vespucci and Columbus. We also watched one of the dvds from our collection of 'Horrible History' - 'Captivating Columbus'. I find that the dvds are a great tool and fix the history concepts in an enjoyable way.

On the other side , S is learning with the CGP books. He started reading a little in the last few days. We are also using the Oxford Learning Tree story books, level 1- Kipper and friends.
In Maths, S is having extra practice counting to 20, adding and substracting, more > or less <, and patterns.
In Science he assisted to the ice cubes experiment and we have also talked about where various animals live.

This week the kids have re-started evening madrassa, hamdulillah. I am happy they can go few hours out and see more of other kids specially in winter when all we do is stay indoors. I am also sad as I like to spend more time with them and it seems crazy to say so, but I miss our unschooling days when we could decide if to make a lapbook or visit the library or paint some posters or visit our homeschooling friends!
For now from me and the crew...

wa alaykum assalam

Kids say the funniest things!

S: Mum, mum! A. said that there is a Queen in UK, is that true?
Mum: Yes, darling. She lives in a lovely 'castle'.
S: A castle???
Mum: Yes, would you like to visit her?
S: No thanks. I am scared of the dragon!
Mum: LOL!

Thank you!

Assalamu alaykum, 6 days have gone since last time I could write something about how our home educating journey going.
I was not able to write, in fact I was not even at home.
Baby S, now 13 months, has been not well and was recovered in hospital for about 4 days. Hamdulillah it's better now and making progress.
The older boys have had a week off schooling and just relax and enjoyed the last few days of sunshine with their dad. On the other side I was at the hospital 24/7, well pampered and looked after in a single room, with all the accessories including TV, radio, private bath and shower!!! LOL
Well, all is over now and I thank Allah. After hardships will come ease.
I'd like to THANK of the lovely sisters that have rang me at the hospital, text me and visited my baby and supported me and family.A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL!!! May Allah reward you.Amin
wa alaykum assalam

Back to schooling...yes, for all of us!!

Assalamu alaykum,

I pray you all had a great 'eid with your loved ones!

We are back to schooling, after one whole month of holidays or should I say vacation! My older one is learning lots of new American words with Calvert American Academy!lol!

We started right off the day after 'eid, that was Tuesday.

I quickly removed all the decorations around the house after the 'eid and started a new term in schooling my boys! I wanted to go back as soon as possible as I felt one month away from our beloved Calvert was too much to take! So off the decorations and on with Maths, English, Science etc...

I was happy and of course surprised to see my accuracy and strength in doing schooling. On the other side my boys moaned a bit when I told them about getting their books off the shelves!

The month of Ramadan has been a pure blessing in every sense. I had so much time to spent with my boys, teaching them new skills, lots of art&crafts and cooking!! All that is behind us now as schooling will take over our mornings and madrassa run will make us busy in the afternoons!

So let's see what my boys are learning.

A is revisiting the sounds 'ai' and 'ay', learning to draw a graph and the clock. Also we are talking about time in every subject! We talked about time that pass in history, how time affects living beings and nature around us and making a weather record to see how each day the weather change.

We also enjoyed reading a new story about fire fighters and safety. And used shapes to make a robot!



S is carrying on learning phonics and adding/subtracting up to 20. He too enjoyed playing with shapes and made his very own robot. He expressed the wish to read and I feel is about time he starts, insh'Allah! I can see how much he would love to read a story to his baby brother!



Baby S is now 13 months and trying to walk since few weeks now. We bought him a walker/ride on and he is certainly enjoying it! He says few words, mainly he calls his older brother A! He also says salam waving his hands (both!!)and say what it looks like: Da-daaa!!

Mash'Allah wa hamdulillah, big progress for a small man!



I too re-started UNI after one year off and feel so nervous about it! Last year I just about managed one course when I was pregnant and passed it! It is my 4th year and this time with three little monsters it will be a real challenge! But I am ready to give it a go, insh'Allah!

And now some pics, keep me busy!

Display decoration! Not much so I have added some personal touches!

We couldn't find the 'EID MUBARAK' banner!

playing with shapes

one robot done and...

one to go! A wheelie robot!!