Photography

DS1 has started to take an interest in photography and took these photos a while ago...these were all taken in the back garden and were his first attempts at photography. They have not been edited and I thought they were quite good and showed he had an 'eye' for a good pic....but I am a little biased as his mum, what do you think? Sorry it took me sooooo long to post them son x






These cherries grow wild near our home...yummy!


The wall of our Turkish wood oven that hubby built in the back garden...
The following three are the Nigella Flower from which blackseed is produced...in my mind it is only fitting that something as beneficial as blackseed should be borne from such a beautiful flower.




Photographs (c) A Dogan, 2010

Playscheme Day 3-10

OK so not the photolog I was hoping for but just for the sake of completeness here are a few details about the rest of their trips:

Day 3 - Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Center : This was another favorite day for the boys, they did kayaking, abseiling, air rifle shooting, orienteering and climbing....I think that was all, anyway they had a fab time and was very proud of beating the girls team...boys *rolls eyes*

Day4 - Bradgate Park Hike : hikes are always a winner with the kids but this is a beautiful park (also lovingly known by the kids as the deer park because of all the, yes you've guessed it...deers). The house was the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, later Queen, ruling for a mere 9 days before being overthrown by Mary I. A much later park landmark is the folly known as 'Old John' on the top of the highest hill in the park, built in 1784. The folly, built by the Greys, is a memorial to John, an estate worker killed in a bonfire accident during celebrations of the 21st birthday of the son of the Earl of Stamford, a member of the Grey family.


Day 5 - Sports Day : I kept him home for this because I was too tired to get them all up and out.....well I'm getting on a bit now you know lol.

Day 6 - Twycross Zoo : we have been here before, but the boys felt the day was rushed and they didn't get to see a lot of the animals....awww!

Day 7 - Sports Day : DS1 is no great sportsman but he has a go and enjoys it mashaAllah and again they were pleased to have beaten the girls....

Day 8 - National Space Center : DS1 was really taken with this trip but his friend wasn't too impressed...I guess it depends on what rings your bell.....DS1 is a visual learner and he came back with lots of facts and information about the equipment etc.

Day 9 - Islamic Calligraphy : Still being tired I was planning on keeping DS1 at home for the last two days so he missed this day but his friend said it was fab and was really impressed with the calligraphers skills.

Day 10 - Party Day : OK so DS1 nagged me to let him go to this day and I relented...being as Ramadhan had started they didn't get a party but did get certificates and medals for the sports days etc and iftar on the Saturday (which I managed to completely forget about *wink* much to DS1's annoyance). Well there is only so much running about a woman can do in a fortnight...

Playscheme Day 2 - Warwick Castle

First of all I have to apologise for getting these up so late but I was unable to upload pics at blogger for quite a while....at least it wasn't my fault THIS time, yay! It seems that adults and kids alike were very impressed with the visit to Warwick Castle. Apart from the beautiful castle they got to see some jousting and birds of prey, archery the old fashioned way....there were people around that explained how things were done back then and they got a chance to walk around a kind of museum/wax work thing.....it was unanimously voted the best trip of the whole scheme and we are planning to go back as a family inshaAllah. I'll kick of this trips round of photos with a little video tour that DS1 kindly took for us....

Darul Arqam Play Scheme - Day 1

The Sea Life Center - 2 August 2010
Birmingham

A few photo's that DS1 took of his trip to the Sea Life Center.

The last camp (I hope!), Stig and cooking.....

OK this is getting a little tedious for me so you guys must be near tears so I won't go on too much about the camp, promise! Anyways, DS1 returned from his Muslim Scout Fellowship camp a little taller (he is now a tall as hubby, lol!) and very bouncy mashaAllah. It seems they had a great time albiet slightly scathed from a few horrid kids but they seemed to have survived admirably mashaAllah. Him and his friend seem to have renewed and revived their flagging friendship too alhamdulillah! They appear to have more appreciation for each other alhamdulillah as they realised a lot of other boys that were there were really horrid! Anyway, they did kayaking, built rafts, archery, assault courses and they had a great camp fire session where they sang nasheeds and did some improvisation! Hmm, can't remember what else, although it is like getting blood out of a stone trying to get all the details out of him.

For last weeks 'Stig of the Dump' homework I asked the kids to design a sandwich and write instructions on how to make it. As a little extra incentive I said that at the following weeks lesson we would buy the ingredients an make them. They were so excited, my friends daughter even jumped up and down cheering...I don't think I've had that response to setting homework before! So the following week we had some wonderful sandwiches for lunch...they were actually really, really good! They were sooooo good that we didn't stop to take pictures ;0( however the other mum did get some pics of them preparing so as soon as I get them I will post them inshaAllah.. They managed to prepare all the ingredients and meet their deadline; a superb job mashaAllah, even if it meant we didn't get any 'Stig' done this week..

This inspired the others to want to do cooking so for the following time we were together DS1 & friend were given a budget and had to choose and plan a menu for 10 to be served by 12.30pm ish. The next youngest for each family were tasked with producing the pudding. This is what they produced....

A fruit smoothie...their own recipe which was verrrry nice mashaAllah....I couldn't get enough of it and I'm not even a smoothie fan!Pasta with chicken.....a bit bland but the littlies liked it!They actually had some chicken breast left over so cubed it and coated it in breadcrumbs and fried....very nice!For dipping the above they made a tomato based dip and a honey based dip....also very nice..This is what it looked like all laid out....awwwThe two younger ones also made smoothies, these had milk, peaches and lemon and were delicious....
And chocolate cake which was also very nice....despite being flat as a pancake as it was made with out of date flour, lol. As you can see it was very popular and smelled so nice I couldn't fend off the kids long enough to get a picture of the cake in its entirety.
They all realised where they had made mistakes and seemed intent on rectifying them in the next meal inshaAllah.

They: made their shopping lists; purchased the items needed; worked with money; manged time and stuck to deadlines; selected and planned a menu for 10 people successfully; measured/weighed ingredients; followed instructions; worked to health and safety guidelines; worked with others in a team; cleaned the kitchen after use and probably a few more skills that I have forgotten to list....I love unschooling...and so do they it seems, they are raring to go for next week...yummy!

Camping, camping and more camping with a little bit of something else!

My computer has died yet again! (fortunately it still had 2 weeks left on the guarantee alhamdulillah (praise be to God) so it's back in the shop getting a new mother board! So after a while with out a PC I have managed to get the kids old one going again (hoorah). I am now able to communicate with the outside world again......only kidding I do have a real life alongside my virtual one!

We haven't done much structured learning over the last few weeks and have opted, instead, for lots of outdoorsy type stuff, the kids were:

Given hammers and nails by hubby to use on this pile of wood in our garden to build something. I wasn't at all convinced that this was a good idea but it kept them quite for days and nobody got hurt alhamdulillah...amazing. Here they are constructing the floor to a 'den'...it was quite good when finished but I wasn't quick enough to photograph of it before little terror (DS3) and friend tore it down!

They have also been camping with the scouts and camping with their friends and their father at Proctor's Pleasure Park in Loughborough. It's less than 30 minutes from our home which came in handy when we had to drop off some stuff they had left behind *roll eyes*. Infact me and the other mum thought it was so lovely that we might camp there with the kids ourselves. Some of the group got stuck up to the knees in boggy ground so they had to mount a rescue operation (their words not mine! lol), which was successful I am pleased to report.

And last but not least of their camping escapades they had their friends over to camp in the garden. It was great fun, I enjoyed myself too. They found a space to pitch their tent next to a semi circle of logs in the garden which lends itself brilliantly to a camp fire. They were all very responsible and after much debate and adult guidance we built a lovely little fire where they cooked sausages, beans, jacket potatoes and toasted marshmellows. As it got dark we started singing nasheeds, telling stories and having discussions about our most frightening, embarrassing moments etc, it was a lovely evening mashaAllah. We left the big boys to sleep in the tent at about 11.30pm and amazingly they stayed in there all night. When I woke up in the morning they had relit the fire to cook breakfast...lol!

Tent pitched!

Dinner on the go!

Semi successful jacket potatoes....they were lovely on the inside! Honest!
The evening campfire...wish I had made a video of them singing and telling stories, loools.

They have also spent a day a Wicksteed Park with the scouts and DS1 and his friend were also chosen to represent the Muslim Scouts at an event in Dewsbury as they are trying to set up a Muslim Scouts club there. He was sooo proud that they were described as 'the best scouts in our troop' by the scout leader. He is also off to an Extreme Survival Camp at the end of July with the Muslim Scouts and the Muslim Scout Fellowship which they are really excited about. Their packing list includes a Qur'an, prayer mat, slippers for wudu etc; what a blessing!

We have also had two picnics for home educators, spent lots of time in the park, in the garden and at the swimming pool. The two little ones have also started their English & Math lessons with 'aunty' and they loved it alhamdulillah. The joint learning with 'Stig of the Dump' and maths with the others is also going well. It has been a really, really busy few weeks and we don't seem to have spent much time at home at all. We are all a bit tired after all the excitement so, I have decided to have this week off of structured learning and relax with unschooling! Ahhhh!

Apart from all this, we have been doing lots of modeling with plasticine, socialising, library trips, reading together, DS1 has been sorting through and organising his WW1 stuff (we all had a few surprises there!) and cleaning....I have decided to draw up a rota for housework which includes the kids inshaAllah (God willing) they are all getting a bit lazy lately! I am sure we have done more but I can't think anymore.......