I know, I know...

My posts are getting even fewer and further between [if that is possible] but life and no home education going on leaves me with little outside of the mundane to write about.  I may have to change the main topic of the blog to cover life as a parent in general or something similar.

Progress since the last blog...  a very lovely, caring and wonderful sister had, despite my attempt at feigning normality, noticed that I was still functioning at well below par even though I only had Scout at home and made it possible for him to attend an Islamic school too mashaAllah; may Allah ta'ala reward her with success in this life and the next, ameen.  And then my wonderful sister offered to help out financially on a monthy basis so that he could continue his studies at the school - subhanAllah, alhamdulillah, the power of Allah never ceases to amaze me; He can make anything possible.  This is extra fantastic because although Scout is very intelligent mashaAllah I knew he wouldn't cope with the teaching methods used in the school that the other children attend.  He is much more of a visual, spacial learner and needs the freedom to explore subjects in his own way and, alhamdulillah, the school he attends is based on the Montessori approach [which you may remember I did explore myself a while back] which suits him down to the ground and he is loving it.  A few of his friends are there too which also helps ;)

It's a long shot from Montessori's vision of a Farm School for Adolescents but he is given encouragement and space to manage his own learning outside of the classroom and they have independant learning time too.  Unusually for a small school they also have lab space and they seem to do quite a few experiments, which he really enjoys.  All students have access to online tutoring and lessons and a Wikipage dedicated to Biology lessons - they are sitting their Biology GCSE in May inshaAllah.  There have been a few issues but all in all I am really pleased with the way that he is developing, he has only been there for 2 weeks so he still needs to settle into the management of the learning he has to do at home but that will come inshaAllah.

So, what am I doing with all this free time?  Well, I don't get that much free time - about 3 hours a day - but I do get to the women only swim on a Wednesday, madressa and a weekly majlis alhamdulillah!  And you would be surprised how much that 3 hours can do for your health and state of mind mashaAllah.  The house is also a lot tidier mashaAllah and I may be able to get some extra space once I sort throught the home ed. resources I no longer need.  But mostly I'm concentrating on getting better and back to good health so that I can at least get my 3 little ones back to home educating inshaAllah.

A brief return to HE!

The kids have been at school now for four weeks alhamdulillah and I must say that life is really busy with them at school and I'm not quite sure that I like that.  We always seem to be rushing about too.  Rushing to school, back home, to madressa, home to eat and then out again in the evenings for their other activities.  I miss them such a lot, we don't seem to get much quality time together anymore and it's not quite the rest I was hoping that I would get either alhamdulillah.  BUT... it has been good to see them learning even if it's not in the way that I would like them to.

I am a little worried that their zest for learning might begin to fade under the weight of so many worksheets, homework and 'the curriculum' so I will be keeping my beady eye on them.  They have already expressed a wish to be home schooled again and I would just love to dash in on my white charger and rescue them from the 'system' however hubby wants them to stay where they are.

That's a turn up for the books.  He's usually a 'whatever you think is best' kind of man when it comes to their education so I have a suspicion that it may be more for the benefit face within his community than anything else [his friends son has just gone off to university to be a solicitor with a whole stack of A's grades behind him and hubby has been wondering if our children '...could be solicitors if they wanted...'] but Allah ta'ala knows best.  Not sure what to do now... more istikharra and patience I suppose.

Anyway, the kids have been off most of this week [yay!] with a virus [boo!] so we have been busy and have really enjoyed just being together, snotty or not!  Despite being ill we have still been...

using the maths balance for solving maths problems...

exploring weight using the scales..

r

... writing stories and poems in great abundance

They have also been colouring pictures... dogs, castles, warriors, knights, Warhammer knights, foxes, houses etc... the printer has been on overdrive lol.  The kids were also inspired to write using tips from a program that a friend introduced me to called Brave Writer.  It's developed by an author who believes that English classes do not teach us how to enjoy writing which leads to blank faces when children are asked to write about something [among other things].  I have only grasped a tiny bit of this program from what I read at my friends as I am waiting to purchase my own copy so can't expand on it any more at the moment.  I'm really excited about this and from the little bit I introduced this week and their response I think it would be especially beneficial for Sprite as he already 'hates' writing because of his issues... more on this program in later posts inshaAllah.

Strange things happen at sea....

and on land too! For the last 6 months or so I have been feeling really tired, physically and mentally. It's mostly because of all the running around I have to do and my hypothyroidism; I am apparently, still supposed to be taking it easy but after being almost house bound for more years than I care to remember I can't seem to be able to slow down. It feels like defeat. Or a step backwards. Apart from that with 4 children (5 including my husband) it's difficult to slow down isn't it? Anyway, during Ramadan, having at least acknowledged an issue with my health and the impact it had on the family, especially the children's education and my deen, I made lots of dua (supplication) asking for help in this particular area. I was thinking along the lines of more energy, more time, a house move, some inspiration to be able to organise myself  Fly Lady style and remain healthy too.  I wasn't sure what I wanted or needed; only Allah ta'ala would be aware of that so I left it in His hands.

Then, out of the blue, the children got a place in a new local Islamic School on a flexi-school basis.  The school is managed by the children's old tutor.  Knowing about my health issues she phoned to let me know about their new venture as she thought it might be beneficial for us.  At the same time Allah ta'ala made the finances available for the kids to go.  How could I refuse?  I nearly did? I really, really dislike everything about school, even Islamic ones, but a friend pointed out that it would take the stress of educating the children away (apart from Lego who still studies at home with me as he is too old to go) and give me some time to rest.  So, two weeks after the phone call they have completed a week and so far are really enjoying it mashaAllah.  They go for 4 days a week from 8.45am-1.30pm; they start and finish the day with dhikr and pray the mid day prayer together before coming home.  They do Math, English, Science and ICT daily for the first 3 days and then on the last day, instead of Science and ICT they do PE and either Art & Craft, History or Geography.

Sprite is a 50/50 about going but I feel that's because of his dyslexia; the other two are loving it.  I am still a little uneasy about sending them and my heart drops every time I see worksheets in their bags.  However, at least this way I can continue doing what I want to do with them without stressing so much about it all. I can also rest much more. It also means that I can concentrate more on helping Sprite with the issues around his dyslexia God willing.  It means, inshaAllah, that I can have more time to focus on them when they are at home.

This week I have really missed my children being around. I have missed being a part of their learning. I miss seeing that little sparkle they get in their eye when they 'get' something, or have done something that they really enjoyed. I miss watching them discover. But this isn't about me, it's about them.  So while they are enjoying it I shall stand back and let them continue.  I do, however, harbour a hope that I will be able to take them out and home educate them completely again soon.  We will have to wait and see.

Catch up!

Well we have been up to so much these last few weeks but now it comes to it it seems that I have little to relay but I'll continue anyway!  Well, due to a prompt from Beavers Daisy and I did a little study on good and bad foods and made this traffic light poster thing [I think I may have mentioned this before].  We discussed the types of food that could be included under each colour and why they were good/bad for you and then she cut out pictures from magazines etc and stuck them under each coloured flap of the traffic lights.  

She did get some wrong so I asked her why she had included them in that category. We then discussed her answers and I asked her to tell me where she thought they were still in the right place.  The 'lights' read: red = Stop! These things we shouldn't eat very often (cakes, biscuits, red meat etc); yellow = Wait! Don't eat too much although they are OK choices (potatoes, pasta, bread, chicken, fish etc) and green = Go! The more you eat the better (fruits & veg).

We have been to the park several times these past couple of weeks and had lots of fun looking for local wildlife; Daisy's keen eyes spotted this toad hiding in the brook!  

We also spent some time admiring the gardens...

Not sure what these plants are but we all liked them!

and spent an hour or so using the outside gym...boy did I ache the next day - the kids want to [and I need to]  go every other day to use the gym but we'll see if the rain holds off first.

 

Lego also started at the canoeing club and will start working towards his staged awards inshaAllah [God willing].  He is also going back to boxing next week now that his hand has healed...he's really looking forward to it.

We have also been to see the dyslexia consultant and she did some amazing work with Sprite and taught him to spell a couple of words in just a few minutes using some visualisation techniques. He was so happy to be able to spell these 'difficult' words and is still able to spell them so the techniques seem to be very effective; it's all about finding ways that make it easy for him to commit the info to his long term memory apparently. She also suggested he worked on his cursive handwriting as it makes it easier for his hand to relax and his memory take over when writing and spelling. He needs to be formally assessed which I couldn't afford to do with them so I decided to contact the LEA to see if they could offer some help.

So we are now 'known' to the Education Inspector who will be visiting us next Thursday.  She seemed very supportive and said that just the month before the Educational Psychologist had agreed to assess another home educated child.  So with a precedent set it seems hopeful that we could get Sprite assessed via the Local Authority, this is important as he will need some additional support in the next few years, especially if he wants to take exams [I am hoping to get some ongoing sessions to teach him strategies to help him with his learning too God willing].  I am also enrolled on a 2 day course, run by the local Dyslexia Action group, which aims to teach us how we, as parents, can help our dyslexic children in literacy and numeracy.  I think these types of strategies could benefit any child to retain information so will pass on any nuggets that I pick up God willing.  Have a strange feeling of deja vu about this post!

We also had the annual Scout Parade [when I say we I, of course, mean the kids; us damp mums went for a cappuccino as soon as we could escape unnoticed] and seem to be setting a tradition of having a post parade pizza meal with our favorite homeschooling family.

This is just one of the Scout bands that were playing during the day...I have no pics of my scouts as my phone decided to throw a tantrum! Lego has also been caving again and has started attending the Explorers group; he is currently trying to decide what he wants to do for his Duke of Edinburgh Award.  Also on the Scout front camping season has officially started and as I type this he is on a Muslim Scout Fellowship camp.  He also has a skills camp coming up with the explorers in June.  Sprite has decided to rejoin the Scouts and is looking forward to being invested in the next couple of weeks.

Both Daisy and Crush are working their way through the 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons'; they are really, really enjoying it and we often do several lesson in one day!  Other than that they seem to be working their way through worksheets from the tutor which I try to build on during the week.  Having said that, it needs to be said that Daisy, although improved, is still having difficulty in retaining the information but I get the feeling that it's because she doesn't want to rather than can't!

Great progress has been made on the infamous Owl Project...more of that in another post!  The kids have been plodding along at their various tutors but they all seem to have lost their spark; their enthusiasm for learning.  I thought it was me, the rut, lack of direction or whatever so placed them with the tutors but I have come to realise that they did better when they were unschooled.  Maybe the problems we were having was because I had lost my way and was allowing others to have too much influence in the way my children should learn and what their goals in life should be; you know GCSE's at 16, university and a good job to support their family and, last but not least, return to their Lord!  Wanting all these things is OK but it should be their decision, when they are ready for it.  After all, if they really want to become a doctor they would put in the effort to make it happen wouldn't they?  I mean that's the way it works with me and it definitely worked that way with others that I know.  More consideration is needed on this front! I think the first thing I need to do is to have a chat with Lego about his feelings towards his GCSE's...I need to make sure that he doesn't feel 'railroaded' into taking them just to please me/the LEA/family/tutors etc.  I need to make sure that he wants to do them; for  himself!

No more apologies...

for my complete lack of discipline in posting to this blog.....the fact is that I just don't have the time and that's just the way it's gonna have to be until the offspring get full time jobs, will do the housework for me or teach themselves. None of  which I can see happening soon!  I do somehow feel guilty for not posting more regularly and sincerely thank all of you that continue to follow us on our rocky road and I apologise for any and every time now and in the future for my complete tardiness.

Enough of what we haven't been doing; it's time for some of what we have been doing....

Well we have had poorly children all over the place and we have been at home, nursing this horrid virus...one after another they fell, with one symptom fading out and another taking its place...it is never ending but we seem to be on the up now thank God.  But apart from the coughing, headaches and vomiting it has been nice snuggling down and reading lots of books, playing games and drinking lots of hot chocolate.  It has also been very heartening seeing the children that are well taking care of the ones that arent - each with their periods of ups and downs, so sweet!

Not so sweet however, is this armoury of rapid fire rifles made from Lego that fire elastic bands.  While I can admire the boys' technical ability and all round cleverness I am not too happy at the sight of elastic bands left laying all over the house.  And just when you think it's all over hubby, being so impressed with their modelling skills,  went and bought them a whole new box of elastic bands each. Thank you darling. Arrrgh!
 

Lego also made this 'mech' from paper using a template he downloaded here.

They have also been messing about with the box of electrial stuff and Lego built this alarm which operates using touch sensors. 

Inspired by Debbie over at My So Called Life and Other Lies we have also been rolling some candles from natural beeswax sheets.  A fun little activity that kept us all busy for a while. 

I have also ordered my seeds for this year and we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest, by the Grace of Allah, and have a whole garden revamp to begin in the next few weeks, weather & illnesses permitting.  The kids and I are really looking forward to getting going with this and to enjoying the garden when it's finished inshaAllah.

Leaving it to the professionals...

Well I have finally admitted defeat and decided to give up some of my home ed responsibilities to the professionals.  We have been in a rut, educationally, for about a year and it was beginning to have an affect on family relationships and my sanity lol; I knew something had to be done but all my efforts and discussions with the kids came to nothing.  I was making so much dua about it all as I didn't know what to do next; I felt that state school wasn't an option for us and I couldn't affort private schooling [not that that's much better!]; then, by the grace of Allah ta'ala a couple of opportunities sprung up from nowhere alhamdulillah.

The first was a home school group run by the library that is open to suggestions for session activities and wants to 'cater for individual needs' - more about that in the next post God willing.  The other was a private tutoring service providing Maths, English and Science tuition; the upshot is that I have registered the 3 younger ones for the morning session on Mondays [they will do 1 hour of each subject] and Lego will go on Saturday and Sunday for 2 hours per day to do Maths and Science.  This will all kick off this Saturday when Lego begins his classes inshaAllah.  The service is run by a husband and wife team mashaAllah.  They are both teachers and have lots of teaching experience and the sister was very understanding of my situation and is willing to fit in with our needs, they have a max class size of 12 and they don't believe that sitting down with a text book is the best way to learn alhamdulillah [those of you that know me will know that this will be a great relief to me, lol].  On top of this the lessons are extremely reasonable at only £2.50-3 per hour, based on age!  How fab is that mashaAllah?


On the down side I do feel a bit of a hypocrite doing this as I have been, and still am, a strong advocate of home education and would always encourage people to give Home Ed a go but I am just tired and need to recharge my batteries a little!  I know some of you will be shocked at all this revelation so in order to defend myself I would like to point out that I have no family around me to help, other than my husband, who is unable to help with the HEd, and I work part time in addition to the normal woman of the house stuff we all have to do. I also suffer from a long term illness that effects my energy levels etc.  SubhanAllah, did that sound like whinging....sorry, I don't mean to whine just state my case - a couple of people almost fell off their chairs when they found out LOL!

We had got to a stage where the children and I were on different wave lengths and we couldn't get back our learning mojo that was lost during and after my diagnosis.  I did continue to educate through the illness and beyond but it was a continual battle with no time to take a breather.  I think the kids and I need a bit of time away from each other to get our mojo back and these two ventures will just about do it I think God Willing.  It will allow me not to have to think about what to teach as we can base it on what they are doing with their tutors and the homework they set.  We also have the activities at the library which we can work from too and I am also hoping to incorporate a project that we all work on together God willing - but we won't begin this for a week or two to allow us to get into a routine!

We are all looking forward to our new programme of education [although the kids have been talking about the impact it will have on their 'free' time LOL] and it has already lifted some stress from the house; we are having more fun together already and I have more energy and enthusiasm for the little things that I want to teach them like reading, spelling, crafts etc.

Please remember me and my family in your duas as well as all the home educators out there, who give so much, may Allah ta'ala give us ease and guidance in the task raising our children for His pleasure. Ameen.

I am no good at thinking up catchy titles, so I'm not going to today

Lots of stuff going on in our ever evolving schedule of work as usual but the thing that has been occupying lots of time over the last couple of months is the bullying issue that DS1 is victim of... I am encouraging him to continue going to the activities that this boy also attends and to defend himself where necessary and try to ignore the non physical stuff .....a very frustrating situation as apart from the parents there seems to be no other port of call for help! These particular parents have been of little help so far, but this could change with our duas inshaAllah. I know this issue is a minuscule one in the great scheme of things and it has been making me think even more about how the people in other countries survive 'state bullying', please make dua for them also. Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

Anyway, on with the home education....I have readdressed our English curriculum as Mindsprinting goes very slowly and is somewhat limiting. However, DS1 likes it (because he finds it easy I expect) but, as I am in charge *winks* we have moved back to using the Nelson Thornes books. I am trying to add some extra interest by expanding on the units inshaAllah, e.g. DS1's first unit is about vikings so we are going to build a viking longboat, find out a little about vikings etc, there are also opportunities to design leaflets etc on the computer and I am hoping this will make it more interesting and break up the writing aspect inshaAllah (God willing).

DS1, along with a friend, has also started tutoring sessions with a teacher friend alhamdulillah; they are reading 'Goodbye Mr Tom' together and doing spelling, grammar etc in relation to the book. MashaAllah, she is doing a brilliant job and they are really enjoying it mashaAllah. And to be honest, I am enjoying not having to worry about this aspect of his education alhamdulillah.

Whilst DS1 + friend are away, I get together with said friends family and I take the 8/9 year olds to do a reading study of 'Charlottes Web' using a unit we got from Currclick (which is now unavailable) and the 'friends' mum does a phonics session with the little ones, so it all works out really well alhamdulillah.

This also ties in nicely with their project on WWI & WWII, they are concentrating mostly on the 'home front' and aircraft which is fine by me. This seems to be going on for ages as I am letting them just 'get on' with this themselves and even though there is nothing tangible coming out of this at the moment they are learning a vast amount. They have interviewed their nan about being an evacuee, angling for some Airfix aircraft models (I have yet to agree, lol), read lots of books from the library, telling me loads about the disgusting things the soldiers did in WWI in order to survive (boys eh!) and also learning lots about how the people coped at 'home'. I also purchased this really cool book from 'The Works' which has photocopies of actual 'war' documents, letters from evacuees, ration books etc that they can pull out and look at.


COOL! said the boys, don't they just love things that open out etc. I've also purchased some very reasonably priced replica ration books, info sheets etc for them to look at and handle... can't wait. It's exciting to see how they run with this...and they are even talking about writing stuff down to make a nice presentation. Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah).

The scouts in the family are currently working towards their 'Environmentalists' badge and the cubs are half way through getting their 'First Aid' badge, I am really pleased with the Muslim Scouts and at how much they are learning and really enjoying going (apart from the bullying of course!) and would recommend that you find a club near you.. I sound like an advert now! The other week they had a challenge and had to build a marble run, and of course the home educated boys built one that had loop the loops etc and won the challenge mashaAllah, they then wanted to rebuild it at home which wasn't so much fun; not for the friends mum as she had the tidying up to do.

New, new approaches

So I've thrown away the maths workbooks (well filed them away, I wasn't brave enough to bin them) and started teaching maths without them and it worked out very well alhamdulillah. We started off by doing an oral session going over the times table; counting in 2's, 5's and 10's; days of the week; months of the year and seasons. After doing the months of the year B asked which month he was born in. This escalated into them phoning friends and family to find out which months they were born in and making a bar chart. We then input the information into Excel and made it into several different charts.

What a wonderful lesson, they don't get this keen or involved in their workbooks - they just do it quickly to get it over and done with and don't really take anything in. I think we will continue this way with our lessons, they are definitely learning more and enjoying it! Bonus. All the children wanted a turn on saying things by themselves to show how much they knew and the biggest challenge was getting the older ones to keep quite while the younger ones had a go - but they managed it in the end mashaAllah.

The second part of the session will be to do some sums in an exercise book or loose leaves for their folder. Will need to suss out what they like most to make it that much more appealing inshaAllah!

A is slipping into moan mode again so I am ignoring him until he asks nicely in a 'happy' tone and with a smile on his face. He is working it out inshaAllah. The kids are still trying to pitch DH and I against each other but we are standing firm alhamdulillah and seem to be winning!

Strawberries and butterflies (but not all on the same plate)

We had no joint teaching session this week as one of our group has been preparing for her first visit from the LEA. She has nothing to worry about but it has made me think about where I am going with the boys. I must start planning for their education in 3 month blocks and setting some goals inshaAllah. I have a friend that tutors using a teaching style that she has developed herself mashaAllah and she is going to take the kids for an English and Math lesson on Saturdays.... I will let you know how it goes inshaAllah.

We have also had three butterflies emerge, mashaAllah. The red staining you can see on the top photo is dye that is left over from the ink that is pumped into the butterflies wing. I was so excited when I noticed the first one that my friend said it sounded like I had given birth. And that was exactly how it did feel; minus the pain and discomfort of course. It is just amazing, I would recommend that everyone has a go at raising butterflies. The third butterfly was almost drowning in their food when we came home and 'B' rescued it - my hero.


We also did some gardening....... well DH done the gardening while I sat with my feet up (well I did work very hard looking after the kids while he was away). This is photo of my favourite shrub ever and it smells amazing, the whole garden is alive with its scent. Being a city girl I have no idea what it is, although from my research on the internet I think it could be a 'Mock Orange', but it's lovely, whatever it is. We are (still) looking at redesigning the garden and I think I have come up with a plan inshaAllah. I am going to do some soil testing with the kids and work out where plants should go and make a plan inshaAllah. Should be fun!

We also went strawberry picking mashaAllah we had a lovely day and what lovely, but expensive, strawberries. We will go again inshaAllah, the kids were really surprised at how some of the different fruit grows bless them. We also took some time to discuss why the plants were on raised tables rather than the ground, why some were big and some small etc etc etc.

'A' was definitely less stroppy today actually he was great mashaAllah and I think we all enjoyed spending time with DH for a change. Onwards & upwards.

Car boot addiction

Today DH fulfilled his promise and took us all to the car boot sale to get the kids some toys as he came back empty handed from Turkey. What a place..... subhanAllah, I know people that go every week without fail. It's like an addiction, always craving the next bargain fix. Bargains that they don't really want or need. If only they would put so much energy into worshipping their Lord! All that being said I did get a couple of bargains myself; a brand new microscope pack (being as our last one apparently leapt onto the floor and broke all by itself) and a solar system puzzle and fact pack. It was too hot, too much grass pollen, too many people and way too many greasy bacon rolls being consumed but we did have four happy little ones mashAllah! I think this will be my first and last visit to a car boot this year inshaAllah.

Well after our exciting morning at the car boot the kids came home and played with their new toys and I cleaned the front room ready for our Quran teacher. MashaAllah she is such a lovely lady, so patient, I pray that Allah grants her entry to Paradise and keeps our lessons going well inshaAllah. 'A' decided he was too tired to have a Quran lesson and was sure he was going to get it all wrong and look stupid, he didn't like our teacher and didn't want to learn Quran. So we had a medium sized confrontation and I told him that missing his lesson was not an option (I could hear my godly tomatoes guru whispering 'outlast him' the whole while, and so I did). He went in, reluctantly when he realised that he was not going to win. When he was finished he came out smiling with a 'you was right' look on his face. I resisted the temptation to 'rub his nose in it'. 'B' on the other hand is doing very well mashaAllah but he has to have a break in between or he just loses concentration - mashaAllah the sister has got a good routine going with them.

We also baked biscuits today which didn't last long enough to see the flash of the camera but they were lovely and so quick and easy to make for the kids; just 8oz of butter, 30z of icing sugar and 60z flour. Cream the butter and sugar together and then slowly add the flour. Cover with sprinkles etc if wanted then bake at 180 for 6-8 mins. 'A' said they melted in his mouth.

Days off..........

Today we finished making our 3-D shapes using nets from Sen Teacher but somebody crushed my dodecahedron and I have to make it all over again **pout**. We are going to play games with them where the kids have to match the name to the shape, we will of course talk about the names and how they relate to the shape and other things in the world, number of faces, straight and curved lines/faces, count sides etc (I think you get the picture) we may also do some measuring and stuff with them too InshaAllah. And when we have finished 'playing' with them we are going to make a mobile with them. I may also make a card game with them using the picture card generator at SEN Teacher. This is a brilliant site well worth visiting, you can print off 3-D nets, literacy and numeracy fans, game cards, picture cards, literacy dice, handwriting sheets, sheets for reading and drawing clocks, crackerjack wheels and much more - and it's all FREE. You can enter your own information on many of the resources to suit your own teaching needs, a fantastic resource that I use a lot. They also have free learning games to download but I haven't investigated them yet!

Kids played on the computer; DH has decided that he only wants the kids to play on the computer once a week for a short while each which I am more than happy to implement, Alhamdulillah. 'A' has been reading lots of the Usborne Pocket Science books that we got from the Book People. 'B' has been making a real effort with his reading and it took me quite a while to convince him that he still needed to complete his reading programme even though he could read a whole line of a 'small writing' book. More transforming Lego models have been built and it's a shame but they build so many of them that my wonder at them is diminishing - must make more of an effort InshaAllah. Did some Qur'an and some reading practice, we have our teacher coming tomorrow InshaAllah.

I am, in the meantime, taking the opportunity to plan for the next few weeks InshaAllah taking special care to make sure the little ones are catered for. In accordance with the hadith I don't usually do any structured learning until they are 7 but these two little ones want it - probably because their older brothers are doing it!

Well we haven't done very much over the last few days and I feel a bit disappointed. I guess I had visions of lots of learning going on as it did in the first couple of days of our week off but I suppose not everything can go to plan.

The kids have been a bit weird behaviour wise for a couple of days but I think they are just testing the water now that their abi is back; trying to sort out the adult pecking order I suppose. DH and I have shown a united front and InshaAllah this will continue and it's working out great Alhamdulillah. If both parents are at home and the kids ask to do something we have been telling them that they need to leave whilst we discuss the issue and then present the answer to them. They used to use us against one another so hopefully this will put an end to those kinds of situations.

Home comings and holidays.........

One of the most fab things that happened in the last few days was the DH arrived home safe and sound in the early hours of Wednesday morning alhamdulillah. 3 year old E came down the stairs and almost didn't recognise him as his skin has gone so dark mashaAllah. And A went into shock when his dad woke him for Fajr. MashaAllah it was so nice to see him with the kids again I didn't think he was ever going to stop hugging them. Poor thing, if he walks out of the room or goes in the garden for a while the kids are all running around asking where he is! I have made a big effort for DH by way of a thank you for all he did for us as a family whilst I was ill and rather than hit him with all our changes at once I am bringing them up when necessary. He is quite happy to go along with all the changes mashaAllah, and said I should just direct him as and when needed. MashaAllah. I have read that in situations like ours where one spouse is ill and dependant on the other that the carer can feel unwanted and unloved when health is restored to poorly one. I am really trying to keep this in mind as we move on with our plans, I don't want him to feel I don't need him anymore! After all there is still the decorating to do. (OK, that was a joke! I'm not that insensitive, well not intentionally that is.)

Anyway, in honour of DHs home coming I have decided to have time out from structured schooling for the week so the kids can enjoy time with their dad inshaAllah. I haven't told the kids, they probably think it's just a long weekend and its not like they are actually going to ask for work is it!

The most awe inspiring thing that happened was examining our pupas as we put them into their new home. SubhanAllah it is so wonderful; our fat little spikey haired caterpillars have now turned into hardened little shells with the most beautiful golden detail and sheen. To think that inside of that dainty, fragile looking shell their whole bodies are turning into a cellular soup and that the cells will regroup and reform themselves into beautiful butterflies inshaAllah. Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest). This photo is one of our pupas on transit to its new home.

So on the first half of their week off the kids have; made knights costumes which led to lots of learning about jousting, who and what were knights and squires; learned about the pupating period of butterflies; made posters advertising their favourite toys; B made attempts at writing short stories all by himself mashaAllah; dismantled old electrical goods (DVD, DVD Drive & Printer) and tried to work out how all the different parts worked, A also learned that tiny metal cogs can cut fingers and that a lot of the parts in these machines are the same; made a 'Lego History Museum' that I really liked which had an Egyptian World, WW2 (see picture), Space World, Pirates World (with a pirate that fell into a trap trying to steal the treasure), Sea World and some others that I can't remember (don't tell the kids tho!). We did some gardening, baked cakes (yes more cakes), helped put up a bed and learned all about jumping spiders (argh!). Not bad for a couple of days of unplanned learning.

Scores for today: Education 4 parenting 1. Kids have all been in a strop today; maybe because of colds (I have a couple with snotty noses!) or excitement at Baba being home. Regardless of the reason, AB decided that its much more fun to wind everybody up than to play nicely and, I have to give him his due, he is very good at it. He had almost everyone steaming at the ears today and poor E (who being a girl is very emotional) would cry as he spat out 'bad girl' intermittently between destroying whatever the other 2 boys ere doing. So as a consequence of the continual quarreling and calls of 'mummm, tell him' they were all in bed extra early ready for a much better day tomorrow inshaAllah. The 1 point was for me not losing it. Ahhhhh peace.

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.

The only way is up!

So much seems to have happened in the last few days, so I will start at the very beginning missing out all the really boring stuff inshaAllah.

We have a sister that comes to the house on Sundays to teach me and the kids Quran and Tajweed, this is her 2nd week and things are going great. She is so patient and very good with the kids; using flash cards, singing nasheeds and even saves time to chat with them about their interests; this week they told her all about their dad and taught her some Turkish words mashaAllah.

On Mondays we have a joint teaching session with two other families to study Geography, Science and Art. This week we played bingo using flash cards downloaded from Ordinance Survey with map symbols on them and designed our own 'map symbols' - although I am not sure A's 'Keep away from the battle between the Deceptacons and Autobots" symbol really counted. We made pictures using shapes for art, even the mums enjoyed that one, but not as much as last week when we made bookmarks using straight, zig zag, wavy and curved lines and then layered and glued them making these really effective bookmarks (see picture above). We are working from How to Teach Art to Children for our art sessions and they seem to be going well so far. For science, we continued our study on plants; we went through photosynthesis and did an experiement to show how water travels up to the leaves from the roots and another to demonstrate how the plant cells become flaccid when deprived of water (yes, that's what happening when we forget to water our plants), we also looked at the make up of the plant cell. It never ceases to amaze me how much kids love to learn about the natural world and I pray that it will bring them closer to Allah (swt) InshaAllah. I can't wait until next week when we get to make edible plant and animal cells in sandwich bags. Yummy! I plan and teach for this subject and have decided that we are all going to do a lap book for this topic - I hope the children will all enjoy it InshaAllah.

Today, apart from maths and english, we made skeletons and talked about the skeletal system - totally unplanned, but thats home education for ya! We got the pattern for the model from The Giant Science Resource Book; one of my better buys! The model had a chest that opened up to show the lungs and heart and a skull that swung up to reveal the brain and eyes... the kids thought it was so cool. We ended up having a conversation about how Allah put the heart in such a protective place and that we should also protect our hearts by doing good deeds, keeping away from bad speech and memorising/reading the Holy Quran.

On the parenting front things are definately looking up! It is amazing how quickly the children adapt and respond to new situations. In the last few days I have been trying not to respond to any whinging or moaning, I can't say that it has been easy and there is still room for improvement but it's greatly improved! They even sat better (I think) during our joint teaching sessions. It's so hard not to give in when your feeling tired but it's really worth the effort inshaAllah. I also feel that the kids are really benefitting from being taught by other people it has really helped with their adab (manners) and their concentration. It is also helpful for them to see other children doing their work without any problems and that it's not just their ogre of a mum that makes them work sooooo hard. I feel it has also shown them that although they are very intelligent and more advanced than their friends in some areas they have lots to learn from their friends in others. It has been a very humbling experience for them and inshaAllah they can use these experiences to help them grow as people and mu'mins (believers).

Well a productive few days I think, lets hope we can continue in this way inshaAllah; please make dua.

New beginnings.....

Well, here we are at a new beginning for us as a family and in our home schooling.

You see, I have been ill for a few years and our home life and home education has suffered quite a bit... the extent of which is only just beginning to become apparent to me! But, Alhamdulillah I am now almost back to normal and things are about to change! I thought this would be a good medium for us to log our journey back to normality; our progress, achievements and pitfalls along the way and share our new journey into home education.

The kids got away with lots of stuff when I was ill in terms of their education and discipline..... The whole family slipped into bad habits because of the stress and our relationships have suffered, there was no structure or routine in our daily lives or the childrens' education. The whole family needs to be reigned in; new rules laid down and new routines implemented and it's not going to be easy! I sense there may be a rebellion from the smaller members of the family but DH is abroad at the moment so it's a fantastic opportunity to implement change. Once we are all settled in a routine I hope, InshaAllah, that DH will slip into the new us quite easily on his return.

I have decided to adopt a semi-structured approch to our schooling which doesn't seem to be going down too well at the moment, but hey! It looks something like this:

Islamic Studies
We have just started using a series of teaching books from the 'Islamic Education Organisation of Southern Africa'. They are a brilliant series of books and we do a different subject each day. The books are: Tahdhib (Islamic Manners); Hifz; Fiqh & Islamic Teachings; Ahadith and Islamic History (starting with the seerah of our Beloved Prophet sallalahu alaihe wassalaam). Alhamduillah, we have a teacher that comes to the house to teach Quran and Tajweed to both me and the children. I am currently learning Arabic language which I plan to teach the children myself once they are reading fluently, in the meantime I am just introducing new vocabularly words to the the children as they come up.

English
We do English every day using the Nelson Thorne English series. A friend introduced me to this series and it's great, it also means that I don't have to plan which is always a bonus. Each lesson builds on the last lesson and the amount and level of work increases as they work through the books. The structure of the lessons are a) story with comprehension, b) spelling and c) writing sentences. Any new concepts i.e. 'nouns', 'anyonyms' etc are explained as they come up. 'A' does one of these sections each day. It can be a bit repetitious so I am planning to introduce another aspect once we get into a routine inshaAllah. 'B' is working through 'How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons' on a daily basis that also incorporates some handwriting practice. Two younger ones are working through the Jolly Phonics programme.

Math
For math we do daily exercises using the CPG Math Workout Books with some verbal drills for times tables etc. If the children are stuck on anything I will prepare practice sheets and we will do more work on that topic until they understand fully and then move back on to the books. I do use lots of hands-on stuff i.e. Unifix cubes, coins, buttons etc for math as they find it easier to grasp new concepts once they can physically move, count or stack it etc.

Science, geography & art
My boys love science mashaAllah. We do a joint lesson for science, along with geography and art, with two other families on a Monday. However, as they love science soooo much I am also planning to do a project based science topic with them using the lap book approach.

History
We don't study history as a separate subject but just tend to include it as part of our lapbook projects as either a timeline or relevant person.

Design & Technology
D&T will not be a weekly lesson but as the kids just love it I hope to include maybe bi-weekly lessons inshaAllah. DS1 has done some great things with cams so far and it's pretty easy so much so that even I feel even my 5yr old could do it.

Well that's about it folks! These are my plans for the next few months inshaAllah along with a new disciplinary approach adapted from Raising Godly Tomatoes I am hoping to be 'cooking on gas' - as they say - very soon.

Watch this space!