Summer is here!

Assalamu alaykum, summer is here!!! Such a special time of the year and this year is even more special!! Ramadan will be starting soon. Here the kids cannot wait...they are looking forward to the atmosphere and peace of such a blessed Month!!!
I am too getting ready for it, I know it's late, not really an example taken from our predecessors...Ya Allah!
We have the summer all sorted, insh'Allah and Allah is the Best Planner!! A. will be attending summer schools and learn some more literacy and numeracy, ICT and Maths and finally gardening. Insh'Allah. S. will be at a summer play scheme in the local leisure centre. Both kids will then join the local leisure centres for some fencing and archery. I cannot wait!! And the best bit? It's all for free!!! Mash'Allah.

Back to our past week.
We have been homeschooling 4 days, mash'Allah. Trying our out most to finish Calvert on time. Mindsprinting and Calvert will be put down by the end of July so I hope by then to have the kids completed all the required lessons. Insh'Allah.
So what have we been up to?
Art and Craft was on. We painted glass jars with the same paint-markers we used for the tiles. Kids painted two big jars for the biscuits. And three glasses that we now use as candle holders.
Also this week S. brought back home his clay pieces he made 2 weeks ago at the Art and Craft Club. Mash'Allah he was so happy with himself and showed the pieces around to his friends!

Qur'an and Arabic was on. The tajweed is getting along mash'Allah and the tutor seems happy with the boys. They are now approaching the last few verses of Juzz 'Amma.
Although they already know all the 30th part of the Qur'an by heart, mash'Allah, this time around they are more confident because they know their Tajweed rules and can actually reading the surahs rather than repeating them.Mash'Allah tabarak'Allah! It's a long process to teach kids tajweed rules, but I felt it is for the best as only Hifdh cannot replace reading Qur'anic Arabic.

Also to implement their understanding of Qur'an,we carried on using the tafseer booklets from the ad-Duha institute, hamdulillah. I find that kids can benefit much more by understanding the stories behind each surah.
I have also ordered two guides from Tailor Made Educational Guides. Mash'Allah I have received them both in record time and I couldn't believe myself!! They are fantastic! I have asked them to tailor two guides in Islamic studies for my boys concentrating more on the lives of the Companions and Tawheed. I am so pleased with the guides and we have started using them right away. Mash'Allah! Prices are very competitive and the resources are based on authentic sources. They don't do only Islamic Studies.
Here it's what they do.
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Asalamuu ‘aalaykum,
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What's more?
-Lots of picnics and visits to the park. One more visit to 'Discover' but opted to stay outdoors in their front garden.
-Wrestling;
-Swimming;
-Saturday Supplementary school for A.;
-Gardening and eating 'al fresco'!
Hamdulillah!

wa alaykum assalam
happy weekend and a very good home education week to all!

Tiles anyone? Or maybe some potatoes?

Assalamu alaykum,

I am feeling quite relaxed this evening.My exams are almost over, two down and one to go! I did well and so far I received only one of the two exams outcome and I passed! Mash'Allah wa hamdulillah!

So this evening, after a long day in central London sitting in a big hall with lots of other students, I decided to sit and rest a bit. Just browsing around and catching up with others' blogs and forums. Kids are in bed reading their books. Baby is fast asleep and the house is quite! Just what my brain and body need right now.

This week has been a very hectic one for me and family all. My preparation to the exams took all my time and that meant little homeschooling and lots of fun for the kids! Not much fun for me that I took my course books literally every where we went!

Following are some of the activities in pics.

So now all I have to do is 'the List':

-kids attended a workshop in the British Museum about Islamic tiling and produced some nice tiles, hubby joined too for the first time!;

-We took our potatoes out the ground and made a nice summer salad with them, really delicious!;

-one more picnic in Regents Park, kids enjoyed the weather in the playground.

Quran and Arabic was on as usual and we carried on using the tafseer booklets. We are also re-reading the stories of the prophets and S. is joining in with Qs. and As. quiz.

Swimming and wrestling has carried on as normal and soon they will have an exam to check their abilities in both sport. A new tournament is on the horizon...

For now it's about it! Happy home education to all and enjoy the weather! :)

Great weather for a picnic

Kids tiles up on their bedroom wall
Some more tiles from other children and adults too ;)
A.'s tiles, before you ask the red one are roses not hearts
and the blue dots are not baloons but leaves!

S.'s tiles some flowers and leaves

In the process...

Almost there...

Summer salad with freshly produced, home made potatoes Freshly out the ground

In the end we took the potatoes out!

A Photographic update of our week!

Assalamu alaykum
just a photographic update to cut time but keep on top of the blog!! LOL!

Snails have been eating up all our beans plants

Just one survived and mash'Allah look the small beans

Cherry tomatoes are growing nicely

A.'s plants growing fine

More pics of A.'s flowers

Potatoes, is it time to take them out???

Kids built a masjid with their new found love for woody toys

S. new mini book

And a massive pyramid made out Lego

Yum, yum, Baked Aubergines, S. helped with the dish

New found love for cooking. S.

Magnetic tiles, decorated by S.

A.'s learning Cross stitching

Decorating the bathroom tiles with Bath crayons

More on bath crayons

S.'s building with woody blocks

A lovely Hadith colouring book from Umm An-Nu'man website

S.'s mini book about cursive letters

The List:

-Qur'an and Arabic as usual. Kids are progressing very well. I was wondering if we were allowed to celebrate when a child finishes a Juzz of the Qur'an;

-Swimming and wrestling was on as usual;

-Visited the Library almost everyday as S. is so into reading now. Need more books...thebookspeople here I come!;

-had a massive clear out and gave away all the plastic toys. We replaced with some nice old style woody toys mainly bought from charity shop and couple from ELC. We will keep to few but good ones.

-Kids started a new hobby: cross stitching. A. is really into it but S. got bored after the first try.

-A. finished to read all his collection of 10 books of Roal Dahl and his favourite was 'Danny the Champion of the World'

-re-organized all our files and folders that contain all the worksheets and resources for this coming year;

...the end!

wa alaykum assalam

x

We have all learnt something new!

Assalamu alaykum,

one more week of great activities have passed by so quickly.

I am so late in updating this blog just really busy up to my eyes with study and homeschooling!

So here it goes 'The List'!

-Monday to Wednesday: home schooled the kids. Monday afternoon:Swimming and Tuesday afternoon:Art and Craft Club! S. learnt a bit about pottery and made his first tile and a small cup with clay. Wednesday afternoon: we spent our time in the library enjoying books and a reading session in a small group of children.

-Thursday:we attended the weekly homeschooling meeting at the park. While there, I ended up sitting with a dear ukhti that taught me how to knit!!! I couldn't believe it, me?Knitting? My mum and sister are shocked and wanted the proof of me knitting. I had to take some pics!! Thursday: afternoon I sat with my knitting needles and started my first, very own project! Don't yet what it is. It could be anything, from a scarf to a purse, to a very large bag!! But it's pink that's for certain!

-Friday: we went to 'Discover' in Stratford and learnt all about pirates. They had set up a pirate theme and there was so much to learn and do!

- Saturday: A. attended the supplementary school and enjoyed ICT and English. We spent the afternoon indoor with me studying and kids watching documentaries and science experiments on TV.

Qur'an and Arabic was on as usual. We have carried on using the tafsir booklets from ad-duha institute. Now that the kids can read much better Arabic I'd like to introduce some fiction books in Arabic. I visited this website and it looks great!

Just a bit about the baby. He is talking a lot lately and love reading Qur'an with his brothers. He also enjoying books and salah with his papa! Mash'Allah!

Well, I better go back to my molecules before I get too caught up here...happy home education to all!

wa alaykum assalam