Exciting times.....

I did aim to get back to some structured learning with the kids today but it seems Allah had different plans for me. A friend asked me to look after her boy, I was happy to help as she was moving house but knew that my plans would go out the window. However, the sister (Allah bless her) was giving me a cooker which I was excited about after cooking on a two ring burner for quite a while so.... as the boys were occupied I had time to cook my first roast dinner for months. Mmmmmmmm.

So, instead of writing in their exercise books as planned they did make a mini project on spiders (well copying and sticking info from a book which technically isn't learning but try telling them that!), made parachutes for bionicle men thingies which involved lots of thinking and experimenting with parachute size, weight, whether holes in parachutes made a difference to the fall rate; height of drop etc. They tested lots of new social skills. DS1 baked a very sweet but yummy cake (weights and measures). DS1 wrote a letter to his nanny. DS1 & DS2 went to the local shop with a little money and a request for a couple of must have items and they worked out which ones to buy etc. They built fascinating Lego models that 'transformed' from all sorts of transportation from tanks to planes into robots; amazing. How they do it I will never know, poor things get really frustrated with me when I play Lego and make 'houses' they try and encourage me to attempt building transforming robots but I am on the same building grade as my 3 year old.... oh hum, well we can't be good at everything can we.

A couple of our caterpillars have started to pupate subhanAllah, it's amazing. I find it all completely fascinating and I can't stop looking at them. There are a few bright red blobs around the tub so I must get out our book and see what that's all about so I can get technical with the kids, they are convinced the caterpillars are bleeding to death! Our butterflies are Painted Ladies and they should emerge as beautiful butterflies in about 14 days inshaAllah - here's a photo of what our pupas (or chrysalis) should look like when properly formed inshaAllah.

'A' has been really miserable and moany (sorry whingey and picky and lots of other adjectives) the last couple of days but I know it's because he is doing all of his prayers and missing out on valuable sleep - but he won't combine to get to bed earlier as he wants to do it all properly mashaAllah. He even said that he never used to like going to sleep but now he really wants to sleep and he can't. Poor thing. The other kids are falling into their 'staking' really easily and are a pleasure to be with mashaAllah. I would recommend that you all take a look at the Raising Godly Tomatoes site for parenting tips, it's fantastic and has worked a treat in this house. I never liked the ideas at first as I thought they were controlling but the more I read the more I began to understand that it is not about controlling but about getting your children to obey you whilst still allowing them room to grow as individuals. After all if our children can't obey their parents how will they manage to obey Allah's (subhanAllah wa ta'ala) commands. May Allah guide all our children to the best of mankind. Ameen.