We have been continuing with our maths and English as usual and I was somewhat surprised (and a little proud) when Lego's tutor discussed his progress with me. She said that they were doing very well and were well above average - in fact she thought that they could go for their GCSE next year...wow!

The surprise came because I was really worried about Lego's progress....as a boy he didn't do worksheets and we only 'discussed' grammar rules etc, on top of that he only learned to read when he was about 9...I thought he would never learn to read and was pulling my hair out because I didn't have any physical evidence of his learning and I thought he would be way behind but alas no! For me this was a timely 'prod' that goes to prove that when children are ready to take on the information they will, and in a very short space of time.

The prod was necessary to reminded me that I should be taking it easy with Sprite...who also appears to be a late learner...and relax more about their education inshaAllah.; I am really stressed about their learning at the moment but am not sure if this is just a manifestation of guilt because I have started work again!

The same day, we were playing a game of 'Bananagrams' (which is fab for the kids!) and when Daisy spelt the word 'nut' with the tiles she impulsively ran off to get a paper and pen and immediately wrote the word down. She continued to write down each word that she made.
I was amazed (again) at the difference between boys and girls and the way that they learn subhanAllah. I know I've said this before but it never ceases to fascinate me; having three boys before Daisy I was used to the way they learn but she is a dream to teach (or not teach, as the case is) and it doesn't seem to be just her, girls the world over seem to approach learning in the same way.

Unless they ask, I don't start teaching the children until they reach 7 years but, on her own initiative, she copies paragraphs from books, writes letters all the time, tries to read, counts, sorts and will really try to work things out for herself. She is very observant, extremely communicative and is fab at just explaining her emotions. I often forget she is only 5 mashaAllah. I'm glad I had the boys first otherwise I think I may have found really difficult to teach them after a girl lol!

Daisy has been asking to learn 'how many' the numbers need...she recognises her numbers to 5 so I gave her these really cute animal counters and she had to match to the right number of animals to the numeral. She worked on this theme all week as she can really get going on her Maths Whizz account once she has this under her belt!


Maths Whizz is going a real treat for the boys mashaAllah, I love it and so do they (still) although I am waiting for a lull in their enthusiasm! We have been plodding along with the online lessons and then I check their progress and what they have been doing and then ensure they use what they have learned in 'real life' experiences or print off a related work sheet.

Lego has been on yet another (very muddy) hike alhamdulillah. He just loves hiking and said he feels really close to Allah when he's 'out there', his leader says he is the only one that has never complained on hikes....I really want to do a hike with just him if I can. I think it would do us both good as I have been inspired to spend more time in silent reflection after I watched an episode of a program called 'The Big Silence' on BBC iplayer.

It's about a Benedictine monk who takes 5 people and tries to teach them the benefits of silent meditation as practised by monks. It was really touching; they all seemed to connect to Allah in some way and it made me realise that I spend too much time rushing around and not enough time alone with Allah ta'ala. I have decided that the kids and I need to spend some time in silent reflection each day inshaAllah...my shaykh says that we should be spending at least two hours a day in dhikr; and to be frank, I am really struggling with it. I am really having to squeeze it in and my mind is running with jobs that need to be done when I'm finished astaghfirullah. So I am hoping this will be a time when I can get us all into the routine of silence that will lead to a bigger and better relationship with Allah ta'ala inshaAllah.

We have also spent some time making these really cute finger puppets from felt....


I let the boys make some on their own and they came up with evil bird (the red one), bat and zombie...boys are so sweet aren't they?


The cooking theme has continued with Lego and he made these enchiladas during the week mashaAllah. He and his friends also had a 'practice run' for the three course meal they need to cook us for their Chefs Badge. They did well considering they refused any help from us but they really need to work on their timing and cleaning up skills lol...most of the meal was lovely but we did have hard roast potatoes which weren't so morish lol.