{ this moment }

simple science experiments

when my daughter suddenly asked me while holding two glasses of water (different amounts in each) and a spoon 'when i hit each glass with the spoon why does it sound different?' i had a light bulb go off in my head and took this opportunity to do a little experiment.

we got six identical glasses, filled each one with different amounts of water. with spoons we tested the sound coming from each glass, we discussed why the glass which was full of water had a low sound and why the got higher as the water amount got lower, we even pretended to be molecules of water and acted out what would happen inside the glass with more water (the vibrations will be slower) compared to the glass with less water.

question of the day

question: who loves home made chocolate cake?

answer: ME!

relax

our homeschool day has got a lot more relaxed lately, we've been doing things here and there, i haven't been nagging (well i think i haven't), i'm liking it! i think it'll get even more relaxed once ramadan kicks in inshallah

ramadan poster #1, i feel i will see a lot more of these in the next month or two

seeing this......

.... inspired him to build something

with a little bit of this thrown in to the day as well

(it's a kite!)

our home is a place of where learning happens and we don't even realise it!

the tudors

today we went to find out how the tudors lived, it was a really interesting trip organised by the wonderful sisters of our home-schooling group, the kids really learned a lot, they had some toys and costumes from tudor times which they tried, they compared the toys to what they have today (and liked their ones more), they tried writing with a quill and had a go at brass rubbing as well, it gave them a real insight into what life would have been like in those days, after all the looking, touching, feeling, smelling and learning was over the kids ran around in the gardens of this wonderful house and the mums sat on the grass and had coffee, a perfect end to a perfect day, alhamdulillah.

colours

a forgotten blessing

don't you think?

when all else fails.....

.......PAINT!

we collected these pine cones a few weeks back, i always had the intention that i wanted to decorate them, i just didn't get round to it, until now that is.

they have turned out really pretty, i'm really pleased with the handy work mashallah, so sparkly like little gems

now i just have to figure out what to do with them, i'm thinking hanging pine cone mobile for the kids' room

what do you think? any ideas?

the library

i recently read a post on this blog http://mumudesign.typepad.com/mumu_design/ , it was a kind of reminder for me, first of all it reminded me that i had a few books out which were now overdrawn (oops), also it reminded me of what a wonderful place the library is.

it's a place that feeds the imagination

that fulfills your passions

that helps you work together

that brings out the investigative side of you

that caters for all ages

that gets you reading even if you don't want to

that lets you discover your interests

and i just found out today that our library will be running a summer reading challenge, where the kids will get a certificate and a medal plus loads of other stuff, if they can read six books over the summer, finally my kids are excited about reading, i just hope it lasts!

what a bonus!

around the world....

i absolutely love, love, love a bargain, especially something that benefits my homeschooling. i picked this really cool world chart up, the box that it came in was a little tattered plus it was on sale, so it was an absolute bargain! i bought it and put it away for a rainy day and totally forgot about it. the other day i was looking for something and this came out, you can imagine the look on the kids' face, they took it and started working on it immediately

there's a map separating the six continents, there are some clues written all around the board, you have to read the clue and find the right piece and place it in the correct part of the world

the best thing about it is that its magnetic so it can be done time and time again and when they get bored of it my little one can have a go

i have found a few other things on my searches (sticker books, picture dictionaries etc), i think we'll look into continents in more detail, maybe a lapbook or a poster, or maybe we can draw our own maps or look into one specific continent, whatever takes OUR fancy, the list is endless.

left to their own devices

if you haven't gathered already then i might as well tell you, i'm not a very organised person, there are often times when i haven't prepared any work for them to do, and they are not in the mood to read and write, at those times i have to tell them to find themselves something to do, something that doesn't involve watching tv and playing games on the pc, i try to leave all the resources available to them at all times (eg craft, colourings, toys, everything), more often than not the craft box comes out and they get on with that, which is fine by me, here's what they made the last time the craft box came out in such circumstances

quite clever don't you think?