Kindy Science getting done/file folders

I've made a goal this year to do one experiment a week with my kindergartner.  I used the great book More Mudpies to Magnets as a starting point.  The experiments are simple and give the parent and child an ideal environment in which to use science terms and to share scientific ideas.  Because I'm using a file folder system (I got my ideas from here and here) I am able to print out the experiments that interest me and just tuck them into week after week of folders in our large box.  Bam, I've just done all the hard part (planning ahead), and all I need to do is make sure to actually do the experiment each week with my little one which shouldn't be so hard since that's kind of the idea of homeschooling.  Since all the details are at my fingertips, I can easily plan ahead for any materials or things I need to have on hand.

Here's today's making playdo activity. The book guides you to use science specific vocabulary as you describe the activity.  She got her hands in the flour and salt, poured the liquids herself, and felt how sticky the dough was.  Great fun.
 

 

And this is a snap of the file box I have for the Kindergartner.  I have a separate one for my 4th grader where I file sheets I want her to complete each week.  There are all sorts of great uses for this method of filing! 

Ramadan Enrichment Program Day 2

Maryam went to the second of eight camp classes at the mosque and had this to share about their activities:

Today we made iftar bowls ( when we break our fast). We put dates, dried plums, dried apricots, and mini sunflowers. We  hade a lot of fun doing that, after that our teacher told us a story about the prophet (salla Allahu alahyi wa sallam).It was very exiting!  While she told us the story we had a mock camp out in the classroom with friends, we set up the whole classroom with blankets, and pillows

                                Here is a picture of the bowl.

 



Ramadan Day 5 at home

Assalamu alaikom
Even though I'm fighting a painful cold, I really wanted to spend at least half an hour with the girls doing some things from our Ramadan pile of activities.  I can't believe how many bloggers are out there putting out free printables and lessons for the community.  It's easy to get into overkill and feel like you have to do it just right or do all the crafts, but luckily I'm not like that :D  I have printed a few blog pages I like and am doing them with the younger girls for a few minutes daily.
Today we talked about the five pillars of Islam while Aisha colored in the page I found from A Muslim Homeschool.

And Maryam worked on her binder which has a nice printout also from A Muslim Homeschool plus other printouts.  I'm having her practice Arabic writing by doing copywork in addition to reading verses related to fasting in Ramadan.  I included some Quran reading tracking and fasting tracking pages.  Here she is filling in one of those pages for some acts of worship she's done.

I've enjoyed having some focused Ramadan activities to do.  I find that a good time to do these are in the afternoon when it's too hot to play outside.

Ramadan Enrichment Program Day 1

Assalamu alaikom

Our masjid is offering a class for various ages that incorporates crafts, songs, Islamic stories, and other goodies into a 2 hour, twice a week program this Ramadan.  Today was the first day and was a hit with my 9 year old who is going to help me write the rest of this blog!  She says:
First, we sat in a circle and introduced ourselves.  Then we talked about Ramadan, and our teacher told us a little story about Fatima (radiAllahu anha), the daughter of Muhammad peace be upon him.  After that, we made thikr beads which will help us remember to say little prayers called 'dua' in Arabic.  Here is a picture of my beads:

After that we made a box to put the beads in.  I decorated my box with teal beads, and I put a moon and a star inside the lid of the box.  We put a sparkly blue cloth inside of the box to make it look pretty.





I had so much fun today, and I can't wait to go back on Thursday.

Ideas for improving Quran Classses

There has to be a way to reform the way we teach people (children) to read and memorize Quran.  Over the past ten years, we have tried at least half a dozen ways.  And each time we run into similar problems and complaints:
* teachers have a heavy foreign accent and the kids have a hard time understanding them.
* they sit around a table left to themselves for the majority of the hour (or hour and a half).
* they aren't given any tools to memorize except to read to themselves over and over.
* they get yelled at.
* they get compared to other kids in the class or to one of their siblings.
* other kids in the class are rude to my kids or just goof off because they don't want to be there either.
* my kids come back with headaches and whine for at least an hour before and after.
* the teacher takes phone calls or texts a lot during the lesson.

These are just a few complaints I have with the experiences we've had.  I'm so fed up with it.  I've tried incorporating memorizing Quran into our schedule, but it is much harder to follow through with it than you might think.  Talking to an experienced Quran teacher once, she told me that she sends her teen son to someone else to learn because it just doesn't happen at home. 

So I was thinking that maybe I could form some kind of format or suggested guide to improve Quran classes.  Since the teachers are usually volunteers with little experience in education or childhood development, they don't have the tools or resources to structure their class time with.  I'm no expert, but I have taken an early childhood development class, I've been homeschooling for over 3 years, and I read up about education as a hobby. 

Off the top of my head I would divide up the hour and a half into 25 minute clusters (or less) and do different things instead of expecting the child to sit for that long supposedly reading and memorizing on his own.  Other things I would suggest (and I might just think more on this subject and come up with a formal packet and present it)
* have a cheerful attitude.
* respect the child.
* take the age of the child into consideration including what skills he likely has and doesn't have.
* realize they are coming to you at the end of their school day and are likely a little tired.
* take advantage of multiple teaching methods: in pairs, have one student read along while another recites that sura from memory, then switch. 
* spend a few minutes actually showing them how to memorize and giving them tips and methods to memorize.
* realize that because they are young, you will want to repeat tips and instruction each time to drill it into them.
* set realistic goals.  or just set some type of goal instead of just showing up each time with no clear direction.
* show up 5 minutes before class starts so that you are there before the students. set the tone and get them busy as soon as they walk in with some type of warm up.

These are just a few of my thoughts.  I've been a little fired up about this topic (again) for a couple of days, and I really want to organize my thoughts so that I might present it to our Quran school.  I don't personally want to teach the classes, and I don't want it to depend on me; rather, I want a successful model to be used by all the teachers so that the students and families can have a better experience.

Friday recap

This school year has a nice rhythm and schedule that we've never had before.  I'm enjoying the days we spend at home because they come after 3 days of being out of the house and running.

Today is Friday and is a 'stay at home' day.  The girls and I (we are currently the homeschoolers) know it is a home day start the day with a calm tone.  Today I put in a load of darks shortly after I got dressed, but not right away because I knew one of my kids wanted a morning shower.  Breakfast wasn't rushed, and my youngest could take her time eating and getting herself dressed. 

Luckily the two older girls got started pretty close to 8:00 on their first subject (always Math) while I tidied up the kitchen, straightened my hair, and helped the littlest with a fashion emergency (it happens).

I joined the schoolroom around 9am to make sure all was well.  It was.  Youngest One took down the October calendar so that we could change it over to November.  She put the dates back up while naming the numbers and me showing her how they looked on the calendar.  We then talked about the months, how her birthday month is next after November, and then she did the weather chart by pointing the arrow to 'cloudy' (big surprise for Seattle).

 



Like I mentioned earlier, I like the predictable rhythms our weeks take this school year.  On Fridays I can take care of household work, sit by the girls while they focus on work, and I can spend some good, quality time with the youngest in some educational interactions.  I won't call them 'lessons' because they're not really that formal yet with her.  She won't be 5 years old until the end of December, so we just talk about all things preschool such as colors, numbers, patterns, songs, stories, and letter recognition.  I've been using a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but in all honesty we've done all of 12 lessons since starting in July.  How's that for laid back?  She is learning how to read from exposure to letters and books, so this book is kind of a guide for me and not The Standard by which I must sit my 4 year old down and drill daily.  She actually read an entire Bob Book today with little help from me, so something is working.

The older girls will be done with most of their independent work soon (plus some time with me during grammar), and then we'll get into an hour-long history lesson.  I read aloud from The Story of the World and then we do map work, place events on a timeline, and read extra books I've already checked out from the library.  After that we'll have lunch and then the girls will spend some time reading from the 'required reading' list (which I make). 

We had been in the habit of attending Friday Prayers at the mosque, but we haven't been in a few weeks.  One masjid is holding a later service at 3:30 to accommodate the school aged kids, so we went to that one time.  The only down side is that it took half an hour to get there after spending 20 minutes picking up my son.  So adding up travel time and prayer time, that outing took us 2 hours which kind of wore everyone to the point of crankiness late on a Friday afternoon... I'm not so encouraged to repeat that.

As for the remainder of the day, I made up some pizza dough for dinner tonight.  I also cooked up some taco meat last night which I'll probably use for Saturday's lunch.  Broccoli is also waiting  in the fridge to be turned into soup.

Have a great day and take it easy.

Table Time/ Morning Basket

Some of my addiction to reading homeschool forums and researching curriculums has paid off recently in a big way.  I found a way to solve our years-long dilema of how to incorporate Arabic and Islamic Studies into our daily lives. 

I collected a variety of books in a large wicker basked I had lying around.  Any vessel that suits you will work.  For me, I easily found a few different levels of I Love Islam books lying around.  We just bought almost $100 worth of them for our enrollment in the local Sunday School which was a short-lived effort.  I also put in the basket this reading primer which we've used successfully in the past, a Quran with English translation next to the Arabic text, and a variety of smaller books from Ad-Duha Institute for any spare reading (mostly the translation of the short sura's that are adorable for younger children).

After deciding to pull my children out of the weekend school, I thought long and hard about what it was I wanted them to learn.  They've tried just about a bit of everything when it comes to this type of thing: private lessons in someone's home, semi-private lessons at the masjid, sunday school, and way back in the early days, they were enrolled full time in private Islamic school.  I decided I was done with outsourcing this subject and would take matters into my own hands (which I had tried before without much success).  This time would be different thanks to this basket.... read on.

I decided to apply what I've learned from homeschooling to this subject.  Daily lessons that were short and continuous would get the job done.  I simply worked backwards from the time we had to leave the house everyday and established a start time.  Everyone has to be at the kitchen table at that time dressed with shoes and jackets on, ready to go.  The deal is that we meet for 10 minutes and then head out to the school bus stop.  I start by reciting one short dua', or supplication, that I'd like them to have memorized and used to reciting with ease.  Then I open that Quran, read one page in Arabic and then read the English translation (this amounts to about 5 verses).  Close that up.  Open this other book I have that is written for approximately KG kids, but it has short stories that teach a valuable core belief with each short lesson.  We go through those and solidfy that little characteristic for the day.  If not that boook, then I open up an upper level I Love Islam book and go through a chapter there.  The end.  We close with an oral recitation of Suratul Asr and then go walk to the bus stop.

We all benefit from starting our day remembering God, glorifying Him, and learning about Him.  My children and I connect for those 10 minutes before scattering.  And I feel good knowing that slowly, but surely, I am giving them and Islamic education.

On weekends we spend a little time doing written work around the table.  This is for Arabic reading and writing, mostly.  All I have to do is remind them that Sunday school took up about 3 1/2 hours of their day if they start to whine about having to open up their Arabic books!  Half an hour around the kitchen table looks like a walk in the park compared to the alternative.

This method can work in your home, too.  Pick a time of day that is consistent in its schedule or routine whethere it is breakfast, after dinner, or before bedtime.  For us I picked the moments before we leave for the bus because that's when everyone is dressed and not in the middle of doing something else.  Collect items you would LIKE to use and keep them in a tub next to your work space.  I keep my wicker basket next to the kitchen table on a shelf.  Do Quran for sure and then mix up the other topics.  The kids have found this very intersting, and I can see them more interested that they ever were before in the subject.  I print out coloring pages for my youngest to color while we all sit around the table.

Little Homeschooling Update

Assalamu alaikom

End of the week :)  We've settled into a nice routine here at home, alhamdulilaah (have my non Muslim readers figured out my Arabic words yet; this one means 'all praise is due to God'=thank God).  Even little Aisha isn't as crazed anymore.  She's taken to sitting on the floor nearby and playing with coins, that was her favorite activity this past week.  She won't put them in her mouth, so I feel safe letting her fill and empty the bucket with the coins. She also moves them from one pile to another.  Once I finish up my morning chores and sit down at the table is when I feel that the kids also buckle down and start their work for real.  Otherwise they might be kind here and there, but not really working.  And that IS my routine.. to sit down at the table by 8:30 (ok sometimes it is 8:45) and get started for the day.  We normally work til 11:45 or noon (they take a little snack break in the middle).  After lunch we meet back for Science/History depending on the day, and then we do our activities (tennis, football, gymnastics, Quran class).

My goals for the begining of this venture were multi-faceted:
1. to give us all time to unprogram our brains from what we thought 'school' looked like
2. to give the kids leeway in general to adjust to our new way of life
3.  to focus mostly on the 'core' of education (reading, writing, arithmatic) and not to panic if I didn't get a lot more things done, at least for the first few months.  i do have science and history in the plans, and so far those are going on schedule, too
4.  to not let myself get carried away compaing myself to other homeschoolers b/c there really is so much you can do out there
5.  to incorporate those religious elements into their lives like i had originally dreamed of doing

So I think I've done pretty good at pacing myself.  I've wondered if I were doing enough, and then sometimes if it were too much, but all in all they're getting work done, retaining it, and the best part.. regurgitating it!!! Unprompted, too! Yippeee!!! It's working :) 

I had to think long and hard about one little subject though, and that was Arabic language.  We don't speak it much at home since my husband and I have always spoken English as our first language.  The kids do read Arabic in the Quran, but they don't know its meaning nor can they have a conversation.  After much thinking I am now confident that they must learn it as best as I can teach it to them.  It's their heritage and it is the language of their holy book.  A lot gets lost in the translation, so it will only benefit them to know it.  I settled on a program to use, and have sent the company an email asking if i can get the 'teacher discount' :)  (which, by the way, Staples gave me their teacher discount card b/c i'm a homeschooler.. yay Staples!)  So pray for me please.. I will be adding one more subject to our curriculum. 

Ok, so that leads me to the other 'religious element' I mentioned in the goals up above.  After I felt confident after a couple of weeks of homeschooling I realized I didn't really have a fixed time for Islamic Studies.  Okie dokie...ruffled through many old books the older kids used back in Seattle at the Islamic School.  I wasn't sure which curriculum to use (there were two good ones, at least), and I wasn't sure what levels I should start the kids at.  Grrr, I didn't like this.  Well, subhanAllah, when you just ask your lord for help He surely won't fail you.  Somehow, one morning, I had one of those books in my hand and I was at the breakfast table.  Somehow we all ended up at breakfast at the same time.  Somehow I opened the book and started reading from the begining, and the story was so interesting that I found 4 pairs of eyes staring at me!  (ok, well, maybe not Aisha's)  The older 3 loved it, and I suddenly figured out how and when we would cover our Islamic Studies.  This week's breakfast time was awesome.  I would read from that textbook which has verses, hadith (sayings of prophet muhammand, peace be upon him), skits, and stories from the quran.  It's had a tremendous impact on them already, as I can see their awareness of their faith grow, just from talking about it for a few short minutes in the morning.  Masha'Allah, what a blessing. 

I've learned that 'learning' looks different now that we are free of the schedule of public school.  Reading about our religion together at breakfast is an awesome way to make it a natural part of our family instead of a boring class they have to go to on the weekend.  We also do some read-alouds at night (a fiction book like currently The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), and none of this could have happened during public school time.  They used to come home so ready to turn their brains off that it was like pulling teeth to get them to read, to pray, or to talk about anything learning-related.  And now, suddenly, we are learning ALL the time and they are happy with it! I am so so grateful to have been shown this path and to be on this adventure.  Life looks different to me in regards to my children, my future, and their future. 

So we're half way through our first trimester.  I'm glad things are moving along well, and I am glad I didn't stress over the extra subjects that I had wanted to cover but hadn't gotten to yet.  I know it'll all work out in the end, and alhamdulilaah, so far it's been great.  May Allah keep us successful and guide us to please Him.  Now that we're half way done we can start the countdown to our first official family roadtrip to visit my mom in Mississippi!!!  We'll be taking one month off from mid December through mid January. :)

Thanks for reading and I welcome your comments!
Love
Zein