FREE TO GROW...

Alhamdulillaah I love home education. No stress. No pressure. The children do not have to compete or feel they need to be at a certain level or grade. When we first started out I was so strict and now looking back I realise how I held them back. All I had done is removed them from one school and set up school within our home, Oh wow we even had a bell at the start and end of lessons *cringe*. Now we have really chilled out and alhamdulillaah it is so much nicer. They learn because they are genuinely interested in the subjects THEY choose to cover. I am not there telling them what they need to learn or what I think they should be studying. From the moment they wake up until they read themselves to sleep A and L are smiling and have such passion to learn new things. They are constantly learning, asking questions, researching their interests etc. I love how free they we feel.

People often ask me if I feel bad for shutting them away from friends but I see it so differently to that. I can not imagine my children in school shut away from the real world, stuck in a classroom. The world has so much to offer them. Science, maths, history and so much more, it is all around them. I mean we even strike up a lengthy conversation about the human body just from cleaning our teeth! They get to mix with a whole range of people and learn how to respect everyone of all ages, faiths, walks of life etc.

A and L are really into history (the only subject I enjoyed at school) and so tomorrow inshaaAllaah we are off to the Tower of London. I know they will love it and it is exactly the kind of learning we love. Yes workbooks are handy and they have their place but to get out there and see things up close and in person is what it is all about.

We will have been home educating 5 years in June inshaaAllaah and I can honestly say that through all the ups and downs, highs and lows, glitter covered dinners from where our table doubles up as a craft table during the day, it is the most rewarding, beautiful experience I have ever had the pleasure of taking part in. My babies are learning and growing infront of me and I get to be there every step of the way maashaaAllaah. What more could I ask for. May Allaah bless and protect us and continue to guide our way aameen.

THAT'S HANDY HENRY...

I often sit and worry about how little work gets done around here now that we have two little monkeys darlings in our household but the last two days have given me a reminder of why we decided to home school in the first place. I often forget that lessons do not have to be the children sat at the table pen in hand and a workbook in front of them. Many times the children may ask a simple question and we then go on to discuss this at length which seems to be more absorbed than any other kind of learning style.  

Recently my children asked me what religion their Nan (my own mother) is and I explained that she does not really follow any religion but she will always say church of England. My husband asked what exactly church of England means and we went on to discuss it a little further. A and L became excited at this point as they are huge fans of horrible histories and recalled the episode of Henry VIII and his ties to the church of England due to him wanting a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. 

We discussed this for a while and then went on to speak about how people would change religious rulings to suit there own desires. This led nicely to a discussion on Muslims of today and how we also follow our own desires to suit ourselves at times. We then went on to read through some verses of Qur'aan where Allaah mentions people who follow their own desires and also some authentic ahadith which speak of the consequences of such things. 

Its so beautiful that a simple question about one thing can be turned into a full on Islamic lesson maashaaAllaah. This really is the main reason we home school and I must keep this in mind when i start to panic over the lack of working on times tables or handwriting practice.

Tomorrow inshaaAllaah I think I will use these verses and hadith for the children to practice their Arabic writing (pictures to follow inshaaAllaah). I often find the verses/hadith stick in their heads more if we have been discussing them anyway and also when written out. Who would have thought Henry the VIII could be so handy ;) 

RELAXED JUMU'AH...

So today is the blessed day of Jumu'ah which means that we have no set timetable in this house. A went masjid with my husband and L spent an hour working on the subject of money on conquer maths. Then when A returned he also done a little conquer maths. They both then worked in their Letts English workbooks.

The one thing I really like about conquer maths is how I am able to let them get on with it without having to be too involved. I can check their answers after and see any mistakes they made and discuss this with them to help them get a better understanding of where they went wrong. Today alhamdulillaah I was able to cook two dishes which means we can do something fun tomorrow inshaaAllaah without me having to stop and cook.

They both spent a good few hours sitting reading Roald Dahl books and then L spent about half an hour reading the oxford dictionary (yes I said a dictionary lol).

As I type this up the children and my husband are sat watching Planet Earth TV series. We have the DVD but it is available to watch on youtube. The benefit to watching documentaries such as these produced by mostly non muslims is that it gives us a chance to discuss the difference in beliefs on how things were created. When we hear the on the documentry about how things came about by chance, or evolved etc it opens up an opportunity to ask the children if they think this is correct and get into a detailed discussion. Alhamdulillaah its a tawheed lesson without even trying.

The two elder children are off to madrasah in the morning inshaaAllaah where they will stay for 3 hours so this will give me a chance to spend time with I and Z. I think tomorrow we will get messy with paints inshaaAllaah, that always seems to go down well with them....down the walls mainly but their laughter is worth all the mess! :)

CONQUERING MATHS...

As mentioned in my previous post I will be adding a regular entry inshaaAllaah to share what we have done no matter how much or how little (with the craziness around here it may be little)

The one thing I really worry about is how behind A and L are with maths. Well I say behind and really I should not as I do not like to compare them to other children their age BUT I know if they were in school they would be working on much higher levels than they currently are. Maths is not my strong point and I tend to not really push it so much with them. We used to use conquer maths but I was unable to renew the subscription when it expired in March and so we have just been doing our own thing. Alhamdulillaah I was able to renew it last week and so today they spent an hour each on there and then backed up the same subject (fractions) using their galore park workbooks. This seemed to work pretty well as it was almost 2 hours spent on maths but the time on the laptop seemed to pass pretty quickly and they enjoyed it much more than simply using workbooks.

We then went on to literacy and they spent another hour working on nouns, pronouns and verbs (active and passive). I had a few errands to do today so they then spent the afternoon rearranging their bedrooms and sorting out all their books. Alhamdulillaah I never have to touch their rooms now (apart from cleaning the windows) as they do such a great job themselves of keeping them clean and tidy.

I am currently studying tajweed at Tayyibun Institute and have to learn Surah Nabaa by Monday inshaaAllaah so this afternoon as I practiced I asked them to read along the transliteration as I read the Arabic and correct any mistakes I made. I really enjoy doing this with them and its a great way for the whole family to sit and benefit together maashaaAllaah.

This evening they sat making jewellery out of beads from an old light shade I took down. They used glass paints to colour them and it was nice to see them finding different ways to make use of them. L made some pretty earrings out of the long beads and paper clips and she asked if she can buy a small box to give them as a gift.

Tonight we all just sat in fits of laughter as I read a new book called The Dinosaur That Pooped A Planet. Not the usual kind of books they read as they are more into long chapter books but we all laughed at this silly story about poop! :)

TIME FOR CHANGE...

When I first started this blog, when it was just A, L and myself I was able to blog often but now we have I and Z on our team things have changed....a lot!

I have decided to make a few changes to how High Achievers works. From now on we will be using this as a regular homeschool diary. So whether we complete a full day of studies or simply read a book or two over a few days we will share with you.

Things are very slow around here lately and with 2 year old I and 1 year old Z its more chaos than studies but Alhamdulillaah we are still going and I make lots of duaa that we continue to do so even if it is at a snails pace.

Right! Now I have to wash up, prepare tomorrows lessons, read my Surah (I shall explain this tomorrow inshaaAllaah), drink coffee, fold clothes, drink coffee, mop floors, sort bookshelf, drink coffee, all at 11.30pm....I know I will grab a coffee :)