Lots to do...

...but so little time!!
Assalamu alaykum
summer just started and as promised the free courses and sport events are out! So much to choose from. This year looks even bigger and better than any other year! Mash'Allah.
So I took advantage of those great free courses once again and registered both boys to some maths, literacy, science, fencing, tennis, cricket, art and craft club and much more!!! Insh'Allah.
This year, above all, I am so interested about what the Muslim Community has to offer for our youngsters and small ones. I found some excellent resources and I am sure so many kids won't be bored at home, stuck in front of telly! Mash'Allah there is lots to choose from: from Islamic science to the Seerah, from Quranic classes to Nasheeds workshops! There is bound to be something out there for your kids,insh'Allah.

Back to us...
The past week I have home educated the kids for 3 days mash'Allah. I was hoping to stay indoors for 4 days but the weather was irresistible!! Mash'Allah!
Saturday A. gave a miss to the Saturday school and we ended up having a picnic at the park.
Sunday the boys were at wrestling all day while me and baby attended a janaza prayer at the masjid. May Allah have mercy on my dear friend/sister.Amin.
On Monday we re-started homeschooling.We carried on with Calvert curriculum for A. . Just few more lessons and we are finished for this year. I am really hoping to finish before the end of July insh'Allah but I don't think we will.
S. carried on with mindsprinting for literacy and numeracy. But he used enchanted learning and parents in touch for science.
Monday the boys attended swimming and had their tests. Looks like they passed, mash'Allah. I am just awaiting for their certificates and new badges.Insh'Allah.

This week was also the start of our new Islamic curriculum. I am so pleased with it and I cannot tell you how much my kids have enjoyed so far.
We started to talk about Tawheed. I wanted the boys to re-start afresh with Islamic Studies and go back to basic.
We made a poster and wrote about the categories of Tawheed:
Tawheedur-Ruboobiyyah: Maintaining Oneness of the Lordship of Allaah
Tawheedul-Uloohiyyah: Maintaining Oneness of the Worship of Allaah
Tawheedul-Asma was-Sifaat: Maintaining Oneness of the Names (Asma) and the Qualities/Attributes (Sifaat) of Allaah
We studied Tawheed Ar-Ruboobeeyah and Tawheed Al Uloohiyah in depth and produced some nice work. Kids listened to this lecture prior to start the lesson about Tawheed.
The kids worked on two main projects: it was a story book for A. He had to write down a story for children of 3-4 years about Tawheed Ar-Ruboobeyah. He wrote a story of two children that while enjoying in the park wondered about Allah's creation and ask questions about who created this and that. Mash'Allah. He completed his work adding colourful pictures to his booklet and a hard back.
S. worked on a mobile made out of paper clips and straws. He attached to each paper clip a cloud. In each cloud he wrote about Tawheed ar-Ruboobeyah answering questions such as 'Who is my Creator?' 'What does Rabb means?' ' Name three small things Allah made' etc. Mash'Allah.
This Islamic Curriculum is really one of the best for us as it uses very nice and inexpensive resources, mostly free from the Internet. Hamdulillah! I would recommend it to all. (see my previous entry for more details about Tailor Made curriculum).

Thursday we attended the usual meeting with other homeschoolers...there weren't many this week. Where were you all???? I bet the weather was far too out for the kids!!
My boys really wanted to go so I made an extra special effort to take myself down the park without the car! And the bus was crowded and hot!!!!Kids complained all the way...hamdulilah.

Also this week, art and craft club for S. He mastered a new technique using paint and cotton buds. Mash'Allah. We reproduced same technique at home and decorated some paper plates.

What's more?
-There was a visit to the Natural History Museum to learn about mammals and to the Investigate Centre;
-Qur'an and Arabic was on as usual;
-Learning the stories of the Caliphs from a audio CD from Islamic Foundation. Really nicely made and A. really like to put it on in the evening before listening to the Qur'an. It's a bit like bed time story, mash'Allah.
-Boys received new Islamic books mash'Allah. Some great titles there such as 'Qur'an stories', 'Parents love', 'Ramadan is coming', 'The story of Yusuf (as)' and I was impressed by one in particular. It is called 'Let's go Dua catching'. A really sweet story with very nice pictures. A different Islamic book from the rest.Mash'Allah.

More about this week in our pics...it's 4.15am and mash'Allah dawn is here...such a beautiful time of the day...I am going to catch some blessings insh'Allah!

Happy home edu to all! x

Bubbles: a classic of summer!

Thursday Group!

Baby at the Thursday group.

Some more pics of the park we do attend on Thursdays

Foam puzzle, learning about continents. £1 from Poundland

Learning about the Human body in English and French.

Baby's art attack!

New arty technique

Painting with cotton buds

A.'s painting his paper plate

Baby and his friends: ducky and eeyore.

Learning about Art very fast, mash'Allah.

The mobile S. made about Tawheed Ar-Ruboobeya.

It's the one with the clouds!

A close-up of one cloud. it says: Allah is my creator.

Lavender blooming in my garden

Some really nice flowers I forgot kids planted in Spring

And our veggies...cherry tomatoes

Dwarf beans

Some freshly made mint tea after dinner...

better drank in the garden.

A collection of 5 books, great value for money and great titles.

' Let's go dua catching'

At the Investigate centre, Natural History Museum

baby's learning too.

A.'s writing about his findings

A 3 mt. long snake skin (python)

S.'s using the computer in the centre

The Investigate centre

Home education on a budget!

Assalamu alaykum, who said home education has to be expensive!!??
Here some really nice links to keep you going, cheaply :) JazakAllahu kheiran to all the akhwat in the Group for posting the links.
Mind Sprinting Free US curriculum in Math and Reading
Life Science Homeschoolers welcome!
Parents in touch Worksheets, Sats papers, information on education for parents
Primary Resources Free Lessons plans, activities, ideas etc
@ School Provides online Primary curriculum
wa alaykum assalam

ON and OFF

Assalamu alaykum,

last week we didn't homeschool. Kids have been unwell. We are still non totally back on track and it has been on/off for the last few days.

We are slowly going back to a normal routine.

I had lot to think about it and hamdulillah things are more clear now and I feel I am ready to re-start. I am re-thinking our home educating method. I really do feel strongly about a more natural approach to home education. I feel kids should be kids until the right age, in Islam that's around 7 years old. Still I like my kids not to get too stressed over learning and taking things a bit more relaxed. I experienced a much more enjoyable period of learning when we were unschooling. Insh'Allah once Calvert will be over next year, I will go for a more 'easy' programme. I have just looked into couple of programmes that I am really interested and they would work great with my kids. Insh'Allah.

I am also re-considering their Islamic upbringing and Arabic/Qur'an are top of the list. I am thinking to un-registered them from the evening madrassa and teach them at home. I can do Islamic Studies and have a tutor for Arabic and Qur'an. Insh'Allah I am looking into this now and will see what will come out of my research. I so miss some good days out with my crew! When you are bound to a programme like Calvert you have to stay at home and follow it until the end. There is good and bad in it. I do feel the programme is great in many aspects. It is already laid out and very well made. Every topic we study is linked throughout the subjects. The resources are very colourful and the method is an old school style. They expect the child to learn cursive.

In many aspects Calvert has been a great success in my home and I would choose it again if it weren't for the fact that you are bound to stay at home and follow through just like in school. But I like to take my kids out and learn about Allah's creation, mash'Allah! Hands-on learning, that's what I like!

For the past week, we enjoyed time together, playing with GEO MAX, puzzles, Arabic matching game, Dominoes and of course LEGO. Also lots of colouring has been going on. We received new packs of coloured pencils and play dough gifts from a dear sister.

For now

x 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!!

Letts books

Assalamu alaykum,
just finished homeschooled my two boys...for today of course! Tomorrow will be re-starting all over again. it looks like my day-cleaning of the house....everyday you re-start all over again! Hamdulillah. I must admit I am feeling a bit too tired, a tiny bit too anxious and generally RUN DOWN!! Sorry for shouting there.
We are just coming out a full month of doing NOTHING. In fact as I previously wrote, the month of June was our holidays period, away from Calvert programme and UK National Curriculum as my family was over.
But I am still feeling the wish to stop and re-start on September. It must be the good weather and the fact that we are in summer that makes me feel like that.
Anyway, we cannot stop. We will 'march' on till next year around April 2009, insh'Allah.
This morning i discovered a new jewel in my Calvert library. It is called the Computer Skills and Applications Manual. I know I should have started it back on April when all the course materials arrived but I was so eager to start that I have disregard of this book as it is not part of the assessments my son will have throughout the year. It's just a plus, a bonus. It's great fun. It teaches the child about Computing and applications. You just need to be registered online with Calvert school and you are sent an user name and password to be use with 'My Calvert'. The book tells you what to do daily and you just click on the icon that it says. The rest is all interactive, colorful and fun for the child. Mash'Allah.
With S we are repeating the ABC and counting from 0-20. Even thou he knows how to count up till 100, mash'Allah.
We started new set of books. We used to learn with Letts 4-5 years old including Numeracy and Literacy.
I bought this new set called Letts 'Fun Farmyard Learning' 4-5 years old. It includes Count to 20, Add-up and take-away, Letters and Words.

It's great fun as it is S favourite theme: animals, farm animals. There s so much to colour and lots of lovely activities in each page. Easy to use for me while I am teaching A as I can leave S working by himself.
So for now we are using curriculum books for both as I don't have time to make my ow lessons but I am already thinking ahead for next year as I miss my unschooling method and the benfits that comes with it, mash'Allah.

Calvert: Our review!

Assalamu alaykum,

so we are in lesson 30. That was so quick!

We already sent back one test (lesson 20) and we are now getting ready for test lesson 40. Test lesson 20 was 'easy-peasy' as my son described it. The teacher sent us back her feedbacks and she was very impressed with my child's progress. She pointed out about how easy my child found Math.

In fact my lad here likes so much Math and he is also doing fine with Science and English. But he doesn't really like Geography. At least so far, he is always complaining about learning names of Continents, oceans, the compass rose etc. He's finding hard to remember where all the continents are and the single countries. He never learnt about Geography before so i guess he needs time to adjust to this very new subject.

I must say, I am very happy with Calvert. It has proven to be a good, well structured and laid out programme. The workbooks are really well made, full of exercises and reviews for the child. The actual text books, Science, Reading, Maths, Geography, Poems, Social Studies, and Phonics are full of colourful pictures, good quality paper, hardbacks and made special for the grade my son is in. E.G. the reading book is full of colourful pics and it teaches kids not just about reading, but also, new vocabulary, fiction and non fiction stories, learning about the author of each story, related themes and working around each theme.

Also Calvert offer full support for the kids, a list of websites the child can use for further studies, online support and list of good reading books divided into grades.

I found that Maths is a bit too easy for my child age. I was told grade 2 would be ok for a 7 years old but I can now see that it is not the case for my child. I am still happy as my child is just repeating what we have been doing last year, at least in Maths.

I love the Reading Books : Delights and Adventures. They are both big, sturdy books. The stories are great. My child does truly enjoying reading the stories.

Science text book and the worksheets booklets is full of experiment to do and make with easy to use resources that you can find around your home.

As for myself, the home teacher manual is what I really needed! It's just an easy ride for me. All I have to do is to sit with my child for around 1 1/2-2 hours and tell him what to do by following the manual. It tells you exactly what you should do in each lesson and also gives you some very good tips and hints.

It's a great fun, as up till now I had to prepare my own lessons. I don't have anymore such a hard time. It all comes in a big box deliveried by UPS directly from US and it costs around £500-£600 depending on the rate exchange. I am paying around £60 a month as I chose to pay by payment plan.

Also, I am sorry for all those sisters who asked me about taking pics of Calvert books, but I don;t think I can do that as the books are copyrighted. You can still look in ebay.com (US site) to see some pics of the books' covers.

Insh'Allah this helps all those who decide to become a Calvert homeschooling family!

Unschooling to Calvert

Assalamu alaykum,
so how exactly do you go from totally unschooling to Calvert school? Good question!
We started with Calvet just few days ago, so far so good. I am a bit worry that we may slip into the old habit of unschooling! Unschooling my children has been, helpful because after I had my 3rd child I did not have much time to sit and do thing and I felt very guilty, so i approached this method using it daily and really creating an environment for my kids where unschooling was THE METHOD!
Now that we opted for Calvert, I feel that i have to put down some rules and need my children to sit and do their work just like in secular school.
I like them to sit and read, write and learning with me, I also like the idea of unschooling them because i can see how effective it has been. On the way, while using unschooling my kids have learnt how to look after a baby, and all that includes (changing nappies, feeding, washing, changing clothing etc), cleaning the house, the importance of hygiene, cooking and the danger and hazards in the kitchen, how to make shopping using real money and calculating the change, how to write a shopping list, how to read road signs, recipes, how to answer at the door and at the phone (although I won't allow them yet) and lots of other useful life things.
Secular teaching will bring back memories of our old days, the very first few months we started officially to homeschool, the tears, the good, the bad, and why not the ugly!
But hamdulillah, I believe that my decision was at the right time, as I can see already few minor changes in my kids. Both are slowly adjusting to the new routine, they wake up a bit earlier, and because they understood that our schedule is tight they get less into fighting. So that's the other side of the coin, as they say.
In the months to come, many things will change insh'Allah good changes.
In the meantime our timings and activities needs to be modify. We will have to control, when we are going out and what sports we can afford to do. With Calvert the programme is very intense and the child is required to read and write everyday. Also Math play a very big role in our daily lessons.
So there you have it, unschooling to Calvert is like going from 0 to 10 without counting the numbers in the middle.

Calvert School

Assalamu alaykum,
so in the end we opted for Calvert school.
I registered my older one who is 7 1/2 now.
We received all the resources, books,manuals, lessons plan even pencil and paper just last week. When we opened the box we couldn't believe it! The resources are just great. I have my own personal Teacher Manual and all I have to do is to follow day-by-day and just explain to the child the lesson we do each day.
We also have a schedule laid down for us by Calvert which i like to follow. It goes like this:
from Monday to Friday 9.30am to 11.30am . We do different subjects everyday, mainly is literacy, numeracy and reading, everyday. the rest can be science, art, social studies, etc.
So we set off this morning and my boy quickly went back to the old routine of 'sitting and learning'.Of course a bit of complaining at first but when he realized that the work was easy for him he decided to have a go and hamdulillah. We had such fun reading the 'silly stories'. Also we had art and took 'our pencil for a walk'. We came up with two lovely abstract pics that we then coloured with crayons.
Tomorrow is another day of Calvert and cannot wait! Also I found lots of support from Calvert; the teacher is very nice and quickly contacted us to say welcome and to make sure we knew what to do first.
Any calvert user out there? Would you like to share your experience?
i would like to hear from those who used Calvert, specially 2nd grade.

Waldorf Homeschooling Curriculum

Assalamu alaykum,
I am so fascinated about the Waldorf method of teaching.
I am just looking into it now.
What fascinating me about Waldorf Method?
Waldorf schooling method look at the whole child 'heart,head and hands'.
The aim is to create a genuine love of learning in the child by freely using arts and activities! It looks to me like if the base of Waldorf teaching is 'unschooling'., No school, no grades, no exams, no copmpetitions between children, just pure love for learning.
[Consistent with his philosophy called Anthroposophy, Steiner designed a curriculum responsive to the developmental phases in childhood and nurturing of children's imagination. He thought that schools should cater to the needs of children rather than the demands of the government or economic forces, so he developed schools that encourage creativity and free-thinking.]http://www.steiner-australia.org/other/Wald_faq.html

I am also looking into Oak Meadow and the possibility to register my older one.
I think my boys would benefit from the method of teaching as it allowed them to explore in a tactile way.
Insh'Allah.
Here are some links:
http://www.oakmeadow.com/school.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_Education
http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk/curriculum.htm

Anyone out there using Waldorf?

Mix homeschooling methods

Assalamu alaykum,
You know you are going to homeschool. Now, which homeschooling method will you use: unschooling, traditional, or eclectic? Confused about methods?
I was asked what curriculum do I use with my kids. We don't really use a curriculum or maybe yes. Are we unschooling? Yes most of the time, or maybe not. Are we using Montessori, eclectic, Unit Studies, lap booking etc? Yes we are. In fact we are using all these methods all at once. Whatever my kids like to do, we then go ahead and do.
One thing for sure, we love books. We love to buy new resources and art&craft materials.
We love outings; it can be the library, the park, the farm, the zoo, the aquarium, the museum etc
But we like to mix homeschooling methods and that works for us, so far, hamdulillah.
When deciding which way to go, do not panic. There is no one right answer. Each method has strengths and weaknesses. In the end, what matters most are our children and our family. After all, that is why we chose to homeschool.

5 steps to UNSCHOOLING!

Five Steps to Unschooling
By Joyce Kurtak Fetteroll

http://www.unschooling.info/

Some people understand unschooling as soon as they hear about it. Others wander about in a fog of confusion, wondering how unschoolers can be so certain about something that seems so counter intuitive to everything we’ve picked up about how kids need to learn. Maybe a few, well-defined steps in the unschooling direction could lead out of at least the very pea-soupiest part of the fog.
Step One
To unschool, you begin with your child’s interests. If she’s interested in birds, you read - or browse, toss aside, just look at the pictures in - books on birds, watch videos on birds, talk about birds, research and build (or buy) bird feeders and birdhouses, keep a journal on birds, record and ponder their behavior, search the web for items about birds, go to bird sanctuaries, draw birds, color a few pictures in the Dover Birds of Prey coloring book, play around with feathers, study Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings of flying machines that he based on birds, watch Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”
But DON’T go whole hog on this. Gauge how much to do and when by your child’s reactions. Let her say no thanks. Let her choose. Let her interest set the pace. If it takes years, let it take years. If it lasts an hour, let it last an hour.
Step Two
Second, you need to make sure your child has opportunities to expand her interests. Have books, videos, kits, games, puzzles, music tapes, puppets, nature collections, and other cool things available for her to pick up when she chooses. (Think library, yard sales, and attic treasures.) Take her places as a way to spark an interest. Wander about museums and just look at the cool stuff that interests either of you. (And resist the urge to force an interest in the things you think would be good for her.) Read a book or do a kit even if you’re certain it won’t lead anywhere. Let her say no thanks if she’s not interested in pursuing something right now, or in pursuing something to the degree you think she “should.”
Step Three
Get interested in things yourself. Not interested in your child getting educated, but in learning for yourself. Pursue an interest you’ve always wanted to but never had time for. Be curious about life around you. Look things up to satisfy your own curiosity. Or just ponder the wonder of it all. Ask questions you don’t know the answers to. “Why are there beautiful colors beneath the green in leaves?” “Why did they build the bridge here rather than over there?” “Why is there suddenly more traffic on my road than there used to be?”
Let your child know that all the questions haven’t been answered yet and it’s not her job to just keep absorbing answers until she’s got them all.
Step Four
Start noticing the learning available all around you. There are fractions in time and cooking and in the relationships between objects. (There are one third as many blue M&M’s as there are brown.) Tax is a percentage of the total, some items offer 20% more free, and stores having a sale will knock a percentage off the regular price.
There’s oodles of science in cooking. Why does heat make the white of an egg turn from clear liquid to solid white? What process turns liquid cake into poofy air-filled solid cake? Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers. Anyone can look up the answers. Few can ask the questions.
As a real-life example, by watching Xena and reading Little Town on the Prairie, my daughter was exposed to three references to Julius Caesar, Brutus, and Marc Antony. She doesn’t “know” Roman history now, but she’s got a hook or point of reference to build from tomorrow, next week, three years from now: “You remember Julius Caesar. The guy Xena hates.”
Unfortunately we learned in school that learning is locked up in books and reading is the only way to get to it. It’s not. It’s free. We’re surrounded by it. We just need to relearn how to recognize it in its wild state.
Step Five
And, finally, forget the linear approach to learning we grew up with. For instance, we learned that the way to learn is to read “all the important” stuff about a subject gathered and packaged for our convenience in a textbook and then move on in line to the next package of information.
Sure, sometimes an interest will cause kids to gather up a huge chunk of learning all at once. This is easy to see. And easy to overvalue as the “best” way to learn.
More often kids will slowly gather interesting tidbits, making connections as things occur to them to create a foundation. They’ll add pieces here and there over the years to build on that foundation. This is not so easy to see going on. And very easy to undervalue.
So, if we can train ourselves to see that process we can help it along by valuing the times when they see Thomas Jefferson on the Animaniacs and then later on the nickel and then still later on Mount Rushmore. Those moments will establish a feeling of recognition and familiarity. Then the more tidbits they gather about Jefferson, the more interesting he becomes. And the more interesting he becomes, the more they want to know about him.
It took at least two years and a lot of posts by very patient unschoolers (and a lot of questions by other newbies who were equally confused) for me to finally “get” unschooling. Hopefully, these five steps will make your transition to unschooling easier than mine was!
© 2000, Joyce Kurtak Fetteroll

Teaching Resources and Methods

Assalamu alaykum,
we are using the UK National Curriculum again as a framework for our 'unschooling'.
I like to use Letts books amongst others but we also work well with Oxford Tree Learning, CGP, and many others. Hamdulillah A. is learning fast and love Maths above any other subjects.
He is currently learning Multiplication and Division. Mash'Allah Tabarak'Allah.
S. is learning ABC's writing and recognition of sounds (phonics). He is also learning to write numbers from 1 to 50. Mash'Allah.
I would love to start few 'serious' lessons in Geography and History but the time seems just to be so little.
Also to teach Geography and History I need the right resources. At present I don't have idea what resources I should be buying.
Well, that would be my next mission...insh'Allah.
For now...wa alaykum assalam