Friday, July 4, 2008

Keep it Balanced

Today was an interesting home school adventure. I had all three children in the classroom while my mother-in-law went to the library. We don't normally keep my youngest in the classroom because she likes to explore all of the areas that I haven't toddler-proofed. For instance, as soon as we got settled in the room, she grabbed paint and put it in her mouth, (we were painting while she napped and she came into the room before I could put it away). She's pretty quick but it's nontoxic paint, alhamduLILLAH. She really likes clay, so I let them make various things with it and they wanted to show it off:

Look at what we made


We explored the concept of heavy versus light and used the balance. I put various foods into plastic sandwich bags and we compared them to one another. They liked this a lot and learned that bigger is not always heavier. We also discussed solids, liquids, and gases and whether or not we could measure their mass.


Keep it Balanced

I finally laminated some numbers so that we could use them on the divider and make a large room calendar. Of course, I forgot to make one for the year and I didn't realize that the days of the week are on winter hats. Oh well. I also need to do an Arabic set for the Islamic calendar. The numbers are also a good way to help my son recognize them and to count them.

Reworking the Number Wall



We are slowly changing the classroom around a bit to accommodate the addition of my son into our space and to give them ample room for books,projects, and whatever else we do. Teacher's manuals are pretty big sometimes, so I am bringing my desk downstairs, (okay, my husband will be doing that)so that I don't get in their way. Right now, everything is cramped because we have my husband's bookshelves on the wrong wall and we need shelves for the kid's library. We visited Value Village and got so many good books. If you buy four books, you get one free, so we really loaded up.

More Books

There were lots of games, especially the memory game and we bought them all. My daughter loves playing the memory game and I figured we better get whatever they had in case the cards start to go missing.

Games

We also found this nice little plastic crayon bank for about twenty-five cents. We will use it for spare change and money that we find outside for zakat, InshaALLAH. My daughter is very concerned about the poor getting enough to eat, subhanALLAH.

Zakat Bank

One book that I really like is The Human Body book. It is a pop up book and it's so interesting to see all of the different parts. My daughter is particularly fascinated with it and spends lots of time looking at it. My mother-in-law was not too thrilled about it, she says it's a little scary, lol.

Books Again

Inside the Human Body Book Read More...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Science Kits Here

Mastermind Educational Children's Toys has an assortment of science kits and labs available. If you are in Canada, shipping is free for orders $75 and over. In the U.S., there is flat rate shipping of $5 for orders over $75.


This site has just about anything you need for homeschool science kits - even forensics!

Here
is the Canadian site and the International link. Read More...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

DIY Dollhouse

If Razanne needs a place to stay, make her one of these! Read More...

If We Ever Get Through Saxon Math

I think, InshaALLAH, we will be going with Singapore Math next year. I like the thoroughness of Saxon Math but it is a sightly different approach than what I am looking for. It teaches the bare-bones essentials of math and lays a foundation that every child needs but it is repetitive and bland.

Singapore Math is more conceptual, using what they describe as "The Concrete > Pictorial > Abstract approach."
I printed the placement test for potential grade 2 students and it looks like she will be on track for the second grade math program once we finish the Saxon Math program for grade 1, InshaALLAH. You can see the placement guide here. Singapore Math also offers Standard (metric) or U.S. versions of their texts. We will go with standard since we are in Canada, InshaALLAH.

I thought that this year was going to be harder than the previous year simply because I planned to introduce my son into the homeschooling environment on a more formal level as well. However, he was a bit too young and I was too ambitious.

Every day he joins us in the classroom for a short while to help with art projects and listen to the Quran sessions, along with games and coloring (he loves to draw but isn't interested in coloring). I found out a lot about his learning style just by observing him. He has a good attention span and has a real interest in our Arabic sessions.

The new school year, InshaALLAH, will be his introduction to school, perhaps starting with the Calvert School Kindergarten program that I already have and assessing his progress at the halfway point of the upcoming school year. This means that I must revamp the schedule to fit in individual and group activities.

How will I keep myself from being overwhelmed? Well, for us, routine is always the key. And, knowing that I don't have to be a slave to a curriculum also helps. If I feel that my daughter won't benefit from doing a mundane task that the book suggests or it's too time-consuming or just plain ridiculous, we skip it. No guilt, no hassle. I never skip the important things, but I can think of something better to do than marching around the house saying the alphabet which she has known since she was very young.

If I don't plan accordingly, it can turn into a real mess, so careful scheduling is the backbone of our day and I know ahead of time if I can combine lessons or need to spend extra time or supplement a lesson. It saves a lot of time and I don't feel like I didn't provide a quality day for the children. Read More...