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.

Education Inspector's Visit

Yeah, our visit is over!  I can't explain how stressful I found it getting ready for this visit.  I had sleepless nights and worrisome days; my friends [and my poor husband] couldn't believe I was so stressed over this visit and no matter how many wise words and wonderfully kind things they said I couldn't seem to calm down.  I had spent years and years dreading this day and it was showing. Needless to say my fears were completely unfounded and a waste of energy but we won't mention this any more OK.

Our inspector was lovely; she put me at ease straight away and was almost apologetic about all the paperwork she needed to complete.  Sprite had made her some cup cakes which put us in her good books straight away LOL. Our hour long meeting stretched to over 2 hours as she took time chat to all the children and look at their lapbooks and project work.  She has a love for art and loved their mixed media art journals and their sketch books. She was very pleased with all their progress especially Lego's and gave us some alternatives to his IGCSE plans - which we won't be taking on this occassion but it's great that she had so much information available for us.

She was great with Sprite as she had experience of teaching dyslexic children and was able to give me lots of advice and put him at ease too; it was good for him to hear from someone else that dyslexia didn't mean that he couldn't follow his career dreams.  After she left he said 'I am so happy, I didn't think that I could be an architect or an engineer' [two jobs that she thought he would be great at]!  She is going to push for him to get a formal assessment with the LEA; she said that even if I had a private diagnosis it wouldn't be accepted by the examination bodies for him to get a scribe or additional time for his exams...he would need an assessment by the LEA!  However, dyslexia isn't considered as a 'special education need' [not sure if that's a national opinion or a local one] so there may not be much help available for him via the LEA, especially as he is home educated but it's good to have her on his side.  She seems quite determined to get him some help!

All in all she seemed impressed with the children, our plans and what we have done so far; I thought she was really supportive of my method of teaching and she loves the whole lapbook thing.  So that's it for another 12 months! PHEW!  Just the report to wait for now.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and had a special lunch to celebrate.

We're all off for an early night to catch up on my sleep as I have my course to go to tomorrow inshaAllah.

Sweet dreams!

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!