Fun, fun, fun.....

We have spent the last week doing lots of fun things and I have decided that I can't do sit down learning with my kids. I feel that they learn much more and take in much more during conversational learning and doing stuff together - whether it's a trip to the park or museum to watching documentaries - So we are going to be doing a lot more unschooling inshaAllah. I feel quite liberated mashaAllah.

I felt under pressure to have them sit and write pages of stuff and do more structured learning like school at home but I have come to realise that it's just not for us! We were all miserable (I think I have been here before - do you think the phases of home education are cyclical?). I have had them write pages of stuff so I know they can do it and I know that they were able to write legible responses to questions because they did so well in their exams so I am just going to calm down, relax and enjoy my kids whilst we learn inshaAllah. I have actually found that they have been doing more writing when I am not forcing them to do it.... go figure!!

We will still be doing spellings, and I will have a rough idea of what I want them to learn but other than that it will be pretty relaxed inshaAllah with a few 'tests' thrown in here and there to make sure they stay on top of things inshaAllah.

Well, what have we been up to...... we had a day trip to Wicksteed Park in Kettering - what a lovely family day out, yes there are some 'rides' but it's not too focused on thrills just simple enjoyment alhamdulillah and best of all there is no loud music banging out. You can buy a few tickets if you want to go on the rides or there is lots of free stuff to do too, with lovely grounds and parks to play in. We are planning to go back for Eid if the weather is compliant inshaAllah!



We have had swimming, park & more 'Quest Seekers' at the library! I hurt my back yesterday so DS1 has stepped in to take my place mashaAllah and he has been cooking up a storm - he made a wonderful pasta yesterday and today we have oven cooked salmon, salad and rice on the menu, yummy can't wait. DS2 has been drawing loads and labelling all his pictures, he has also been writing lots of ad hoc sentences for some reason but has amazed me at his spelling capabilities even though he is not yet reading fluently mashaAllah. He has decided that he wants to be reading properly by the time he goes back to madressah, so I need to get on top of that inshaAllah. We also had a great morning making these masks, learning to follow instructions is an important skill inshaAllah.

Lots of verbal maths going on, times tables via Timez Attack a freeware programme that the kids love. A friend and the Murderous Maths books have inspired me to do more interesting maths the boys and they are certainly enjoying it mashaAllah.

Well, I am completely unprepared for Ramadhan so this week is going to be really, really busy getting in our last minute preparations. Education wise I am just going to see how it goes day by day, I am hoping that we will all become semi-nocturnal during Ramadhan to make it easy on every one as the kids usually wake up about 5.30am but that will make it a very long fasting day, but we will have to wait and see how it pans out.

Apologies for yet another long post, I guess I will just have to post more regularly to keep them shorter!