Wudu Copywork as Journal Activity

First, I want to thank Umm Rashid and a local fellow homeschooler, Umm Mouhammad, for their brilliant ideas which I borrowed to use with my own children.  Jennah will be 7 next week, so she will begin to learn how to make wudu (ablution) and salat (prayer).  Therefore, I adopted Umm Rashid’s idea of integrating the Islamic copywork with handwriting and then took Umm Mouhammad’s idea of using the pictures in My Wudu Book as a visual aid in addition to the writing. 

I used the Startwrite program for generating the copywork which does charge a one time fee, but I’m sure you could find free programs available online as well.

All of the steps and visual aids which she will color were glued into her journal.  She will be able to decorate it as she likes and hopefully have fun while learning about wudu.

Grammar Mini Office

Since we have been on the topic of grammar, I thought I would share a grammar mini office  both Hannah and Jamilah made for their reference.  Today, we working on editing symbols.  This is one visual aid that I really think will be worthwhile for them in the near future. You can download the grammar mini office at abcteach for free.  The site really looks great, but it is rather expensive subscription.

Also, I did download a list of prepositions to add to the mini office from here.

Updates from Kabul, Afghanistan

This week our geography and social studies topic is revolving around a diary written by a Virginia Commonweath University professor sent to teach Public Policy at an international university in Kabul.  My husband acquired this diary from a coworker and after he suggested I read it, I decided to incorporate it into my girls’ schedule for the week.

I don’t know too much about the local professor except for the fact that he is originally from Kenya.  He arrived in Kabul on August 18 during Ramadan and began recording his observations of the country. 

So far, we have covered his reflections a wide range of topics.  First, he wrote about  the Islamic calendar and how it affects work-related communication.  He described the difficulties of being incommunicado for four days with the West.  Also, he described the city of Kabul and some of its challenges such as the lack of traffic lights or stop signs.  Another observation was about the lack of public health.  There is no sewage treatment system in Afghanistan!  The professor got sick from Salmonella-Typhoid on the third day and was turned away from the local hospitals as they were closed during Ramadan.  Thankfully, he was able to find an illegal hospital run by Indians as he could have easily died from this dangerous illness. 

He continues on with discussion about the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan.  It is interesting that it is taboo to refer to specific ethnic groups by name.  He also shared his experience at a  security briefing on the possibility of Taliban attacks and the possibility of suicide bombers.  

The girls have found it interesting so far and I keep asking my husband if there is more to it as the last update we have is from Sept. 6.  I’m not sure if he is still there or not. 

Daily Language Review

Currently, Hannah (10) and Jamilah (9) are working their way through this Daily Language Review grade 5 book.  This series is available for all grades 1st and up.

-Review 5 items daily for 36-week school year

-Sentence editing, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, reference and comprehension skills

– Reproducible pages skill list, answer keys

– Presented in a variety of standardized testing format

 

Here are a couple of sample pages from the book.

 

Hands-On September 2011

~A summary of our projects over this past month~

1. Jelly biscuits from an American Girl Samanatha recipe book

2. Storytime and diaorama craft based on the book Going Home at the Virginia Historical Society

3. Mold experiment

4. A journal activity based on the book, A Perfect Square by Michael Hall

5.  A broken geode from the Young Scientist Club crystal kit

6. Domino game at the local library

7. Our chunky crayons

8. All About Me journal activity

9. Making paper mosaics at the library at a family craft session

10. Isa playing with puzzles on Domino Day at the library

11. Omelet from the American Girl Samantha recipe book

12. Rock candy from the Young Scientist Club crystal kit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grammar Instruction

I’ve been giving much thought to the way I learned grammar and how I teach grammar lately.  Let me begin by explaining that my mother is a retired English teacher.  She taught her students and me grammar using the old school method which consisted of intensive drills in order to memorize grammar rules. 

Up until recently, I have followed in my mother’s footsteps by attempting to instruct grammar through imparting declarative knowledge of the subject.  This means to teach grammar through having the student memorize grammar rules.

Well, this method has proven to  just be too much.  Last year, I made the Hannah and Jamilah complete the whole First Language Lessons curriculum (it is a huge book complete with sentence diagramming). Even their homeschool evaluator was shocked that we finished it all and commented on how this method is archaic.  Honestly, it was grammar overkill!  So, this year, I am attempting to give them brief lesson in grammar using a workbook called Daily Language Review by Even Moor Publishing which I found at the thrift store for less than two dollars.  And now instead of using the declarative knowledge approach to grammar, we are using the descriptive grammar approach which integrates grammar instruction with real life.  The whole idea is to enable the children to develop critical thinking skills through real life lessons by teaching grammar in context through their own writing activities and reading stories and poems.  Again,  the goal is to make grammar relevant to real life  instead of just having the children fill out boring worksheet after worksheet and not be able to transfer the concepts to their own writing.

If  you are interested in reading more, please click here to read the article which also contains some links to grammar resources online. 

Typical Language Arts Week

An example of a typical Language Arts week for Yahya

	Monday(class day 1)	Tuesday	Wednesday(Class day 2)	Thursday	Friday (Class day 3)	Weekend
In Class	-Turn in Completed Reading Journal, Weekly Word Study(WWS) and Reading Calendar -Read independently for 10 min. -Group exercise (create visual metaphors) -Begin work on Weekly word study		-Small group exercise-write a free verse poem -share poetry -Begin poetry prewriting for genre -Finish WWS		-Read aloud example poems -Discussion-rhymed or unrhymed poetry? -Begin work on 1st draft of poetry genre
Out of Class	-30 min. nightly read	-Work on WWS -30 min. nightly read		-30 min. nightly read -Complete poetry prewriting	-Finish Reading journal	-30min. nightly read -Work on draft of poem

Back to School Night

Since my husband accompanied Yahya to back to school night and I was a bit in the dark about many things academic wise, I decided to attend with him this year. 

Alhamdulillah, I was able to gather the syllabi from each of his classes and review them.  I am not only interested in what he his learning, but I am also interested in applying what he is learning as well as some of the methods his teachers’ implement with my own girls. 

So, first of all for language arts, they base the boys’ curriculum on Nancie Atwell’s genre-based approach to writing as described in her book, In the Middle.   This year the boys’ will complete eight major writing assignments, four per semester.  They will fall into three categories which include 4 genre pieces,  two co-credit pieces (a writing assignment submitted for credit in LA that is assigned in a class other than LA), and twelve reflective journals.  Some of the literature that will be assigned this year will include Watership Down, Travels with Charley, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, The Life of Pi, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Animal Farm, poetry selections from Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, “Distillation” by Hugo Martinez-Serros, and a persuasive essay by Stephen King.   They will also be assigned weekly reading journals from their own reading choices, weekly word studies, and quizzes. 

For foreign language this year, Yahya is enrolled in one semester of Latin and the following semester Japanese. 

As for math, the scope of sequence includes data analysis, formulas, expressions, equations, decimal and fractions, operations and fractions, geometry and measurement, ratios, rates, percentages, percents, integers, and equations and graphs.  They use the textbook, Middle School Math Course 2, Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, as a spine.

Another subject which I thought some of you would appreciate the scope and sequence for is visual arts.  Some of the contents to be covered include essential art skills, drawing and painting, comics/sequential art, printmaking, animation, darkroom photography, narrative filmmaking, mixed media, and woodworking.  The art teacher also doubles as the philosophy teacher.  This teacher specializes in film making, thus assigns the boys’ several major film projects connecting both art, philosophy, and language arts.  I have to say that I am very impressed with the teamwork that the teachers at this small boys’ school exhibit.  They truly make every effort to collaborate in all subjects areas to make things relevant for the boys.

Finally, I wanted to mention the course description for the Future Problem Solving course.  Some of the topics which will be covered this  year include our growing dependency on technology and its impact of professional life, our human impact on the coral reefs of the oceans, what are human rights and do they exist, the impact of trade barriers on human relations, and the implications of Western and non-Western medicinal practice on the health of humans.

I hope those of you with older children will be able to benefit from our experience.  Like I mentioned before, I also plan to implement what Yahya is learning at his school in our homeschool too.

 

 

Woodworking

Hannah (10) and Jamilah (9) have graduated from stacking wood to sawing small pieces, maashaa Allah.  It is starting to get chilly here, so we are preparing the wood for the fireplace.  This is a skill that I am extremely happy that my girls are learning as it is part of becoming  self sufficient. 

Setbacks

I have always loved homeschooling, but I’m going to be honest and admit it is getting more difficult for me.  As I am growing older and with the addition of more children in our house, I am starting to doubt my ability to juggle all of this. 

This past week I have been ill with an extreme bout of vertigo with nausea and headaches still lingering. I’m not sure what is going on. This has made me question whether or not I can continue to manage homeschooling along with the housework and taking proper care of myself.  

I would like to be able to give each of my children more attention with their academic needs as I feel like they are lingering behind other children their age in that area.  My oldest girls still lean on me  so much and wait for me to initiate their activities and assignments, so I am not able to spend the time with the little ones as I would like. 

Sending some of them to school is really not what I want to do at this point, but I am realistically weighing my limited options.  I once read that the sign of a good parent is asking for help.  Well, I need help with raising and educating my children.  I am no longer able to carry the total load on my own.