Ancient Egypt and Fimo

Assalamu alaykum,
it has been a full week of learning.
We followed through with Calvert for A. and mind sprinting for S.
Since our new routine, no many activities squeezed in and little time at home, we are gaining more pleasure on spending time learning, reading and being crafty!

Time's flying and we are soon reaching the end of our 4th year homeschooling (officially-without counting the earlier years!). Mash'Allah wa alhamdulillah!

For the past two weeks we worked on a new project: Ancient Egypt. It has been a great journey for the kids and for me too. We used lots of different resources to build up a Unit Studies and made a lapbook out of it! A. and S. both worked on something and they enjoyed a visit to the British Museum too for the exhibition of 'Ancient Egypt'.

We talked about so many different aspects this very topic touching lots of subjects: geography, science, art, Islamic studies and of course history!

We used the Internet to download free worksheets, books we had at home to gather material to read and copy work (A. loves copy work) and to conclude we visited the Museum to give the kids a feel of what they studied.

For the Islamic part, we used various books including 'Stories of the Prophets' by Sayyed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi,'Prophet Musa' by Darussalam and 'Illustrated History of Islam' by Dr Abdur Rauf.
Since we started to talk about Prophet Musa (as) we decided to compile a separate lapbook as we did for Prophet Ibrahim (as). Only things I am struggling to find worksheets or any resource for the kids online.

It has been a week of art and craft too! We had painting and lots of colouring. Kids coloured pyramids, sarcophagus and decorated paper plates with spring motives, flowers, bees, butterflies etc.

I bought some fimo for the kids. Never used this material before and wanted to try. It is great fun, smells terrible but the result is great. The kids have used it to decorate two wooden, plain brown frames. The result? Well have a look see what you think!
That's one more ASDAN challenge completed for A. 'making something for the home! A decorated frame could do? Insh'Allah.

Today as we enter at home, after a day at the Museum, we found this 'Change for life'. Mash'Allah! I thought they forgot about it. I send back the colourful application they sent me months ago. It was kind of an 'assessment' to see if my kids get the right amount of good food. It is about change for life, eat healthy and lots of exercise. I think it is a great incentive for the kids and specially for the parents to start to live a healthier life.
The weekly planner will go in the kitchen and i will monitor the kids to see how much fruits and veggies they eat. I'll do it for fun but it's also a good reminder and also to check if I do always give them 5 a day!

I am off, kids have Qur'an lessons and I need my daily cup of caffeine.
For now
wa alaykum assalam

(in reverse order as I don't have time to put the pics right-sorry)

Ancient Egypt Lapbook cover

The inside of the lapbook, writing in hieroglyphic
The map of Egypt

A stickers book and Ancient Egypt wordsearch

S is enjoying painting outdoor!

The 'healthy' eating challenge
All the rest of the free goodies
Animals mummified
Painting of one of the Pharaoh
Mummy of a Pharaoh (no name mentioned)
Canopic jars containing the interior of the deceased
The outer of one sarcophagus
Mummy in the inner sarcophagus
One more sarcophagus
Just a pretty mat at the entrance of the Museum
The welcome hall in the Museum
S. decorated frame with fimo
Who's behind those scary masks?
A.'s decorated frame
Fimo needs to go into the oven for 30 minutes

Spring is officially here!!

Assalamu alaykum,

spring has finally arrived! The air is warmer and sweeter, the sky is blue and colours are everywhere! Mind you, we have been mostly at home, ill! Hamdulillah.

For the last couple of weeks, our health has been tested, indeed Allah is the Most Powerfull; first it was me with a abdominal pain and I ended up in hospital because of it. I made another visit to the hospital just last week because I accidentally dislocated my little toe!! Then after it was the 'seasonal' bug in the stomach and another of my wisdom teeth is appearing making things more difficult! Hamdulillah Rabbi 'Alamin!!

Nevertheless I kept the boys busy, whatever we were able to do under the circumstances.

We started a new project called 'Ancient Egypt'. So far we read about ancient Egypt using one of the history book bought from the books people and collected all the materials we need for a new lapbook. A. worked on some worksheets related to the topic and S. followed with some colouring! Together we made a pyramid and read the story of Prophet Musa (as) and Firawun.

We also watched, again, the episode about Ancient Egypt from the Horrible History collection.

I managed to teach the kids for 4 days in a row!! I was surprised since we were not really with it. But hamdulillah it was so nice to go back to some sort of routine after spending 3 days in bed, and I mean in bed no moving an inch!!! :(

A. carried on with Calvert and he completed a new Asdan challenge (the garden project!). In Maths he still learning about fractions. He started to solve problems with fractions, you know the ones with the pie or the pizza slices!!!Hopefully this will take him slowly to the concept of decimals and percentages. Insh'Allah.

In English the new section about 'Family' looks so inspiring and gave me a chance to explain how important are family ties and how important it is to look after ones family and respect each other. We worked on new sounds and more on consonant clusters. A. used lots more the dictionary for words he didn't understand, and that was kind of exciting as he has never been keen on searching words in the big book of words!

Also this week, he started a new book, this one is a looong one! He chose it one morning that he was still not well and felt bored in bed! I have almost 'imposed' him to sleep but he said he wanted to read. So he chose one more book from Roald Dahl 'Danny, the champion of the world!' and he found lots of words that he didn't know. He is still reading this very book after 3 days and take the book anywhere! Mash'Allah tabarak'Allah! I think he said he is on page 138. How many pages are there!?!

In Science, we have revised 'Pull and Push forces'. Filled some worksheets and done couple of small experiments using the knowledge we acquired from the topic studied.

In History, A. read about the history of transportation and made a mobile to hang in his room with all different kind of transports new and old. We used the paper models in Calvert book 'Explore your world.'Of course, 'Ancient Egypt' was a big hit this past week, nothing to do with transportation but we did look into ways that Egyptians used to travel e.g. boats made out of papyrus leaves to cross the Nile from the West side to the East side!

Qur'an and Arabic progress as usual. A. is now learning the tajweed of Surah Al-Baqara. Mash'Allah!!Don't ask me why the tutor chose Surah Al-Baqara. Most probably he wants to test A. knowledge of Arabic!

S. has been busy with Maths, lots of Maths! In fact since mindspriting is back online, I printed off lots of worksheets, just in case we bump into some techie problems again.

He worked through tens and ones and this time he got it! He understood straight away without the help of the counters.

I have also left him with couple of worksheets full of additions and I was surprised when 10 minutes later he showed me his work! Well done! Mash'Allah.

In English, S. is learning new words as well as new sounds. He asked wht's a rod? And what's a 'mummy'? We have made good use of the worksheets found at parents in touch website and from mindsprinting. Also finished his second collection of Kipper and his friends (Oxford Tree Learning) collection! Mash'Allah!! I need to buy some more from the book people. Things is where do I store them!! My bookshelves are so full already.

Finally this week S. started Science and he filled some worksheets about plant's parts. He did not know the name except couples like petals and leaves. The rest were all new words to him. I must make sure he does Science at least twice a week as I can see he lacks of knowledge. I thought when I was doing lessons with A., S. would too listen and maybe record some notions but...maybe on other topics. Insh'Allah.


In Qur'an S. has started tajweed of the small surahs as his new teacher believes he should know the tajweed first and then the hifdh after. I agreed with him as I have experience with my kids and they both learnt first hifdh and had little knowledge of tajweed and felt they were only repeating like parrots without reading the Arabic.

Our weekly activities are changing again and it won't be the last time as more sports or activities are adding or leaving!

Kids won't be attending any longer the Thursdays and Fridays madrassa. I think I can do what the madrassa does. So there is no need for me to travel or spend money. Qur'an and Arabic is done at home by private tutor anyway. So all it's left is Islamic Studies. I will tackle that insh'Allah.

We also stopped attending the homework club. It just happened gradually, I guess I felt the boys really didn't need an homework club. In fact they can do their homework in the comfort of their home, mash'Allah wa hamdulillah.

Swimming is off for the next two weeks for half term but not wrestling. So it looks like we have plenty of time to study and maybe meet up with other sisters, insh'Allah.

Spring is here! The tree of the neighbour said so!!!

Our potatoes sprouts out.
Planting cherry tomatoes.
Some more potatoes and french dwarf beans

The Pyramid model completed

Almost finished

Need some sellotape and first part is almost over

The beginning some recycled materials

S. made the map of Egypt, you can see a palm tree (look carefully)

and the Nile (you cannot miss it!!)And btw the yellow colour is the sand

London is burning

Assalamu alaykum,

it has been a very nice week. Boys have been extremely helpful in the garden and have learnt a new historic event!

But let's start from Monday.

We started homeschooling again, after more than two weeks off! I took the books off the shelves and called the kids! They were not so happy but quickly agreed to do some work.

A. started a new topic in Math. He is now learning about area and perimeter of flat shapes and halves, thirds, quarters, fifths and sixths!

In English, A reviewed the past learnt sounds such as nk, nd and wrote some funny stories using 3 new words each time.

In science we are learning about forces, pull and push and we made a small device in paper and cardboard. We then attached to it a string and a rubber band and wrote numbers from the end of the paper to the middle. The highest number was seven and the smallest was 0.

I then asked my child to pull the string three times that it is attached to the rubber band and record what number, the end of, the rubber band touched. Each time it was a different number and my child could understand better what it means by different forces, pull and push. We also pushed a chair in the wooden floor and then do the same in a rug. A. spotted the differences between pushing a chair in the wooden floor that is smooth and the hard wearing rug!

In History, A. read a chapter about Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity! A big chapter and hamdulillah with whatever he has retain!

S. is now fluently reading and has his very own collection of books. He likes Kipper and Floppy books from the Oxford Reading Tree and he has a collection of Charlie and Lola books.

With his mastered reading skills, Maths is much easier and I don't have to sit constantly with him! In fact he can work by his own most of the time. He is learning about tens and ones and carried on using less than<> signs in small problems.

In Science we have been talking about flower's parts and the life cycle of a seed! Allah Akbar, such a fascinating subject!

Both kids had Qur'an and Arabic in the afternoon. After class we had time to squeeze in some art&craft. Pics to follow. Then afterwards I took them to swimming.

Tuesday we have carried on with homeschooling, even thou the weather was calling us out, but I had to stick with the re-found routine. In the afternoon they had their Qur'an and Arabic classes as usual and then I took them to wrestling.

Wednesday, we woke up nice and early and decided to carried on our garden spring clean, started the week before.

Kids have been ever so helpful. I couldn't have done it without them. They cleaned all the weeds and death plants. Removed roots and a small stump that was in the middle of the garden. We planted new flowers, some peppers and finally our potatoes!!!

In the end I let A. use the lawnmower, under my supervision! The garden looks so lovely now. It has been transformed from a blank canvas to a clean, colourful, inviting area! I am so looking forward for sunny days! And of course for our potatoes!

On Thursday we attended our weekly get together with other homeschooling. The Group is really growing and I feel my kids are getting to know other children better and look forward to go there every week. I am happy when I get a sense of belonging so do my kids with the other homeschoolers:'we speak the same language' . Thursday evening I took the boys at madrassa.

On Friday, today, we met up with another homeschooling Group and attended a workshop about London's burning been booked for us by our lovely Group leader sister N.

Jazakillah sister! We had a nice day and I must say this has been one of the best workshop we attended so far. It lasted for over 1.30 minutes and the lady in charge of the kids she really knew her history well. She was also so entertaining and full of great way to keep the kids engaged and at the same time, listening! Unfortunately, I haven't had time to introduce my kids to the topic of London's burning so as we arrived we asked another sister to introduce the topic for us.

It was nice for my boys to learn in a Group and a teacher that is not mum. After lunch, we went to visit the Museum and enjoyed the galleries. Back at home and we decided to stay at home from madrassa, too tired. Cheeky!!

This evening back at home, A. wrote a report about 'London's burning' which we will send to ASDAN. S. has been colouring a very vivid image about London in fire.

Insh'Allah tomorrow A. is at school in the morning. The afternoon will be for me to study for UNI, insh'Allah I need to catch as I am falling behind and I don't like that as I can get very stressed.

On Sunday, insh'Allah it will be wrestling again. A. is getting ready for the tournament in 2 weeks time and he is very nervous about it!

for now

wa alaykum assalam

oven in 1666

' London is burning'-painting in the gallery

S dressed like 'Samuel Pepys'

workshop

ink pot made of horns
workshop

entrance to the Museum
planting flowers

potatoes

building an house with cardboard and a shoe box

the house, outside (front door with a small garden) and inside (2 floors) making some fun cards!

a plate garden: 'it's snowing...

...so we made a snowman'!

A new challenge and so much snow!!

Assalamu alaykum,


we are still finding our feet with the new routine. We have not open the Calvert books for the last 2 weeks or so since this morning!

A. received the last test results back from his Calvert teacher. She was very happy with his progress but asked him to work more on spellings. In Science and maths, all was well and I was relieved that the work I am doing with him, it is appreciated and the the teacher gave him good feedback. She also wrote a letter to me, just to say how happy she was with A. work and to keep it up! I was chuffed, really I was.

So much as happened in the last 2 weeks but I had very little time to update here and I don't know where to start really. I will be brief as time is my great enemy!

I have been in the search for new activities for my kids, free of charge of course! I won't be able to afford all that my kids wants to do!

A. started a homework club and so far he enjoyed the novelty of being in a group and working together with other kids. While he is in there, for about 2 hours, myself and the other two boys are off to the library where S. can use the computer and learn with is favourite website cbeebies.

I have also registered A. to a Saturday school where he will be doing Literacy, Numeracy, Science and ICT. All for free!

Qur'an and Arabic as usual with quranreading.com and in the new evening madrassa just 10 minutes drive from home-love it!

We have started a new Asdan challenge. This time we concentrated on learning about wild animals native of Britain. A., initially, chose to talk about the red squirrel but he soon turned his attention to a more common and easily found wild animal: the badger!

We went to the library and looked for a book. Tons of books I should say. One topic but lots of books. We chose just two and carried on our search on the net. I printed out some reading materials about badgers. I then left all to A. and with little of no help from me, he was able to produce a new piece of work. Another challenge completed, lots more to go!

S. has been writing a lot lately. Just everywhere. I bought him a small writing pad and he started writing down things, anything from food to titles of books. Every time he would show me and he would get so proud when I tell him how good he has been, mash'Allah.
S. is really reading nicely now and we are concentrating on the Eeman Reading Series booklets. A very nice collection of books in English with Islamic moral content for the primary school level.

He is also doing fine in maths and enjoying adding but less subtracting. He finds it hard to take away numbers. Today we were playing the shopping game and when he was time to give the change back he had to work a little bit harder.


Both the boys have restarted Islamic Studies, mainly reading books with me and comprehension of the text. There has been a lot of talking about the topic of angels.

Sport have been on as usual, swimming and wrestling. My eldest will be starting a new tournament next month and he is training twice a week now. It's a lot of work but he does it with passion. Mash'Allah.


On another matter now. I have been looking to get my 5 1/2 registered with the Traffic Club since he was 3! I never went far. Every time they would say that I cannot register him because the health visitor should do so and blah, blah, blah!!


I wrote them and complained about it because I know most of my friends have received a set of 6 free books from them automatically when the children where 3.
Why not mine??


I won the battle....they sent my boy all the books with a letter of apology. :)


We used those books and they are great, S. completed book 1 and book 2 and started the activities booklet that comes with the series. It teaches kids the importance of being safe in the road, in the car, while riding a bike, at the traffic light, etc. Very nice.


Kids enjoyed the snow the past few days and here are the pics....
wa alaykum assalaam