Workboxes Work So Far

AlhamduLILLAH, my daughter and I are really enjoying the workboxes. She likes having her work set out for her and it helps me to focus on the younger children without having to tell her what is next all the time.

We were able to schedule some exercise (they get it when they play but it's nice to have something structured), and a scheduled snack.






Qur'an is not neglected anymore, AlhamduLILLAH. It's right there in her workbox so when it comes up, she goes to the computer and plays her mp3 to learn her surah. She knows all of Suratul Balad now except one line, mashaALLAH. Later in the day, we recite what we know and practice with one another or she works with her Dad while I work with her younger brother. MashaALLAH, he knows Fatiha, and Nas and part of Ayatul Kursi now.






I still have readers from Calvert School (bought on Ebay a long time ago) so I pulled them out to work with my son. He's doing well but he prefers to read from lined paper instead of the book for some reason. I wrote the sentences on paper and then I gave him a crayon and asked him to search for certain words and circle them.






I visited Islamic Bulletin Boards and downloaded the 99 Names and Attributes of ALLAH thermometer - another task that we need to add to the list, InshaALLAH.




There's always much to do but InshaALLAH we'll get it done. Read More...

Is It Just Me Or Is Velcro Kind of Expensive?

So now that I'm feeling better, we can get back to setting up the workboxes, right?

I have been all over the net gathering schedule strips, tags and grids so that we can get started.

I found a lot on Christian homeschool blogs that I tweaked in Photoshop. For example, if the cards say, "Bible", I just replace it with "Qur'an". I am also pretty excited because I finally learned how to remove the faces on photos - I am on the bottom of the Photoshop learning curve, lol.















FYI, Ummi Homeschools Me has a weekly workbox planning sheet if you need it. Read More...

Desk Solution

So, it has been super busy around here lately and I don't know where to begin.

First off, we found a solution to our desk situation. I was having a hard time finding suitable seating in our classroom and almost spent a little money to solve the problem. Instead, my brother-in-law called us to say that a local school was throwing out old tables. Don't you know, we snatched up two of them and now we have this table and another one for our listening station. ALLAH provides! Now, we have some tables for seating and we have a table for a listening station, AlhamduLILLAH. We have some books on CD and some audio tapes and headphones for everyone, so that will help me to space out the activities of the kids, InshaALLAH.






At the Eid bazaar, I picked up two new components for the homeschool. There were puzzles for sale ($5 for the whole lot), so I jumped at those right away. They are all unique and I hope that they are a challenge for my daughter because she's really good with puzzles, mashaALLAH.



There was also a set of Arabic blocks that fit together to form words - with the first, initial and final positions of the letters on either side of the blocks.







May we derive benefit from these (AMEEN).

My oldest is also a bookworm so we have started tracking her progress. I saw this on a blog some time ago and thought it was cute, so I printed a picture of an airplane (can't remember where) and now when she reads a chapter book, we add a cloud behind the plane. It encourages her to read more and I'm hoping that we make it to at least 50, InshaALLAH before our school year concludes. We started in August and so far, she's read 11 chapter books. She reads books written for 8-12 year old children, mashaALLAH.



Finally, we are implementing Sue Patrick's Workbox System into our homeschool agenda.



For me, it just makes things easier and my daughter doesn't have to constantly wait for me to get things together and she can go on with her assignments while I work with the others, InshaALLAH. Read More...