Leaf Rubbing Mural

Siddiqah (3) and I had the opportunity to spend some time at the library today making a leaf rubbing mural.  She helped to make the mural that will hang in the library in addition to the one she made to take home.  This mural is such a great idea for a group project.  After placing the paper over the leaves (which are turned over), we rubbed over them with crayons and then painted over the crayon rubbing with a solution of food coloring and water.

I am grateful that the library offered a craft with leaves as the medium as that had been on my list of crafts this fall.  What a huge help that the library set it up, maashaa Allah.  I seriously need to be grateful for such a great local library system.

Make the World a Better Place Service Project

I really like the idea of an environmental service project.  Yahya was assigned such a project in his science class.  Yahya and his father hope to fulfill the requirements for this project while reorganizing our backyard compost pile which is in total disarray. It has never even been turned!

I decided to adapt this project to my daugthers’ abilities and interests so they could also participate in such a worthwhile activity.  So, they are working on an environmental service badge through helping to clean the backyard.  I plan on assisting them in documenting their labor as adding this experience to their yearly portfolio as well.

 

Trail Mix Math

Lately, we have been on a trail mix kick.  It is an easy snack for the children to not only make on their own but also grab when they want to nibble on something quickly.  This impromtu math activity occured while were mixing some raisins, almonds, cheerios, and chocolate morsels together to make the trail mix.  I just suggested that Jennah(7) try to create groups of 5 with the various snacks.  Well, this turned into the math lesson for the day as she then started to count the groups by 5 and also by 2s.  After that little nudge, she took over and decided to figure out if other groups she made were odd or even. I also played with Hawwa (5) a bit as she created patterns with the trail mix as well as sorted it, placed the groups from largest to smallest, and computed less than and greater than.  The possibilities with trail mix are endless and yummy!

Inspired by the Pamunkey

As a result of the trip to the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, we have been inspired to experiment with a couple of craft projects.  My husband bought me an Indian leather pouch at the reservation. It’s  design influenced my knitted pouch idea. 

 

Since we didn’t have any leather at home, I decided to use what we already had and tried yarn as the medium.  They take me about 45 min. to make and my girls just loved them as gifts. 

On the other hand, my husband and girls were more interested in further exploring clay and pottery.   The Pamunkey’s made pottery using the coil method and my husband has attempted it as well.  We are just allowing the clay to air dry as we don’t have a kiln to fire it.  It is still a lot of fun for everyone as well as a very fulfilling activity.

Fresh Air

Today was just one of those  a gorgeous autumn days.   You know the type of day you just can’t stay inside.  So, we didn’t.  The girls and I ventured out to enjoy the beautiful day with some of our dear Muslim homeschooling friends at the botanical gardens.  While we were there, we not only had some fun socializing, but we also learned a bit along the way. 

One of the my girls favorites was the exhibit based on the book The Old Tree.  The recalled reading the book immediately and were thrilled to see the garden’s interpretation of it in the conservatory.

The children also benefitted from the current Kids Quest which was based on palm trees.  They got to see a date palm tree and learned that not only it is used for its fruits but also for building and making ropes. 

 

The final highlight of today’s trip was feeding the fish in the pond at the Japanese garden.  While we were in the Japanese garden, I also brainstormed on ways that I could implement this part of the botanical garden into a study of Japan and its culture in the spring.  I feel like I am always on the lookout for new ways to get the most out of our local surroundings. 

Pamunkey Indian Reservation

At this point, my brother, David, is doing well, alhamdulillah.  Allah alone knows the future. So, I have found that the best way to cope with this is to busy myself with projects and just keep it moving.  We decided to go ahead and visit the Pamunkey Indian Reservation with another homeschool group this week as planned. 

This trip was absolutely amazing, maashaa Allah.  The Pamunkey people have lived on their land for 12,000 years.  They have been recognized by the state since colonial times.  The reservation contains ~1,200 acres of land along the shores of the Pamunkey River in King William county.  The tribe has limited sovereign powers and they are governed by a chief and council members.

Currently, the tribe members continue to uphold their fishing, hunting, trapping, and gardening traditions.  They support themselves through shad fisheries and agriculture.  Their pottery making tradition has also recently been revived and they have an actual pottery school where the tribes people make their wares.  The men actually collect the clay straight from the Pamunkey River which is transformed into beautiful works of art. 

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I also have to say I appreciate my husband and mother for accompanying us.  I felt so sorry for some of the other mothers with many children who were trying to tackle this trip on their own.  Nowadays, I rarely attempt anything like this even if it is nearby with all the children by myself.  I am really only able to take a few of them at a time on a field trip. 

So, I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves.  There was so much information about the history of the tribe in such a small area.  We hope to use these pictures to delve a little deeper into the history of these people in the comfort of our own home and at our own pace.  I won’t be able to share all of these pictures that my husband and I took, but if you are interested in studying more about the Pamunkey, I am willing to forward them to individuals along with a brochure. 

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HOPE

~Warmth, hope, love, faith, goodness, healing~

Learning through Living

After celebrating Eid on Sunday, I gave myself permission to take a break.  We’ve also been dealing with some sudden heavy trials with a very ill family member and it is difficult to focus on much else. 

I did manage to take Hawwa (5) and Jennah (7) to a library program about Powhatan Indians.  The instructors were from the Citie of Henricus, the second permanent English settlement in the New World.  The Powhatan Indian princess, Pocahontas, did live there for some time.  The history interpreters were wonderful and presented a lively program for the children filled with plenty of hands-on activities, yet I just couldn’t help but thinking that it seemed very strange to learn about the Powhatans from the point of view of white people alone.  This just seemed somewhat less natural than actually learning about the Indians from the Indians themselves. 

I did manage to gather from the lesson that the Powhatans along with the other tribes  were an oral society and taught their children through storytelling and doing.  They took part in a really cute storytelling session with stuffed animals.

Like us the Powhatan women had many responsibilities such as cooking, farming, building the longhouse, caring for the children, making clothes, etc.  The men hunted, fished, and fought wars from time to time.  The children learned their roles in the tribe and how to do them by actual doing. 

So, now I am really looking forward to visiting one of the only two Indian reservations remaining in Virginia next week.  I truly am thinking that the best way to really learn about a people is from the people themselves and actually experiencing how they live firsthand.

Kaya Party

The American Girl Kaya party the girls and I attended this weekend kicked off our  study  this month which will focus on local Indian tribes.  I decided to take advantage of the upcoming county sponsored programs and just plan our history/cultures studies around them. 

Two women from the local Chickahomony Indian tribe came to speak to the children and adults about their customs,  lifestyle, and history.  There wasn’t as much one on one attention for the children as I thought there would be as there were actually more adults in the audience than children.  Nevertheless, the girls enjoyed the show and tell especially Jennah as she won a set of American Girl Short stories. 

In the next few weeks, we hope to join up with another homeschool group and actually visit another local tribe’s reservation. 

Intellectual Stimulation for Us

In our down time, my husband and I frequently enjoy tuning in to National Public Radio and watching educational programs on the Public Broadcasting System channels.  Yes, we are nerds, maashaa Allah.  Recently, I discovered a radio show called SciFri (Science Friday)  which focuses on science topics in the news along with public discussions.  The show airs on Fridays from 2-4pm EST.  You can listen to live streaming here at www.radioiq.org  

Last week, I caught the tail end of the interview with acclaimed physicist, Brian Greene who authored a new book called Fabric of the Cosmos.   I was so excited about his ideas concerning time, space, and the universe that we tuned in to the first part of the four part series this past Wednesday on PBS which was excellent by the way. 

I usually tune in while I am in the car traveling to pick up Yahya from school.  I am learning to treasure this uninterrupted car time as I am free to allow my mind to drift, open, and expand.  

Do you also listen to public radio?  Any favorites?