'signs of spring' walk

we went for a 'signs of spring' walk with our home-school group at our allotments and leisure gardens. it was an amazing day. the sun was shining 'bright', our allotments are very quiet and peaceful, we ate, relaxed, the kids played, picked flowers, climbed trees, grew seeds and searched for the signs of springs, of course.

pots made from newspaper which can be planted with the seed inside (genius, unfortunately i don't know how to make them)

frozen yogurt tubes (another spot of genius on another sisters part (wonder why i didn't think of this)

and at the end of the day.....need i say more.

currently getting my gardening tips from....

the books very good, it has tips and advise for a wide variety of vegetables, definitely necessary for amateur gardeners like myself. need all the help i can get.

the water cycle

this week we have been learning about the water cycle, the miracles, the blessings, the science behind it etc. we started by getting some books from the library, we read and discussed them.

then we made our own picture of the water cycle, to make it a little more fun and crafty, we made the picture out of tissue and crepe paper (this part they loved), then we wrote what happens during the whole cycle on separate pieces of paper and stuck them on (by this part they my sons hands were aching! if you know what i mean)

today we done an experiment by boiling some water in a pan (just a small amount), i held a cold plate over the boiling water, to show the kids that the steam turns back into water when it cools down, after a while the water had almost evaporated completely, we discussed that this is a similar process to the water cycle.

other things that i want to do relating to this topic are:

one of the books above 'a drop of mercy' has some refrences of the qur'an which i want to go through and discuss.

maybe some worksheets.

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/index.html

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/swater.html

some videos

http://www.neok12.com/Water-Cycle.htm

another experiment

http://www.mcwa.com/kids.htm#cycle

let the growing season commence!

:: allotment getting dug :: seeds bought :: herb garden planned :: potatoes chitting ::

i think it's fair to say that the growing season has well and truly commenced! and i am very excited....

our new classroom....our allotment

this is it, we have signed on the dotted line and for one year this piece of land is ours! what am i going to do with it? i hear you ask, well this piece of land is not just a 'piece of land' it is our classroom, our playground, where learning and playing merges to become one, where we learn about growing vegetables and flowers, where we learn about the plants life cycle, where we learn that some vegetables grow under the ground and others above it, where we learn that some vegetables climb up really tall, where we learn that herbs can be used for medicinal purposes, where we learn about pollination and photosynthesis......like i said, this piece of land is not just a 'piece of land' its our classroom!

butterfly craft

at our home-ed group this month we did arts and crafts, something that almost every child enjoys, so its a safe option. the under sevens made butterflies out of loo roll and paper plates....

the tiny ones got on with their own thing...... woohoo

and the older girls made a more sophisticated butterfly, which was decorated with gems and other sparkly things, the girls had a ball, mashallah, the butterflies were attached to a clothes peg, and finally some magnets were attached to the peg to make a great fridge magnet/photo frame (the photo can be placed in the peg).

the older boys made dragonflies instead of these girlie butterflies (no pictures, sorry).

it's great this group of ours. it's not just a place where the kids go to do crafts once a month, it's a place where we can go and meet other like minded women, share ideas, ask questions, get tips, drink coffee, laugh, chat, need i go on?

going on an adventure

when my family get together, our kids just want to hear stories of when 'we' were children. there is so much to tell. my siblings and i had the best time while growing up, we had so many adventures. we went looking for treasure, we got lost in a deep dark jungle, we met giants, we travelled back in time, we sailed the seven seas, we travelled around the world, we faced so many difficulties and dangers but always overcame them because we worked together, and 'almost' all of this took place in our very own back yard!

so now when were out with the children, they always tell us to leave them alone as they too want to go on an adventure. we usually leave them to it.

:: this moment ::

quick and cheerful cup-cakes

after i couldn't keep a promise that i had made to my children and my neice (who is staying over), of doing something fun with them(for genuine reasons, i would never have lived it down otherwise), i had a few upside-down smiles, which i was feeling quite guilty about. i had to think of a plan to put the smiles back the right way round, and came up with this idea! it definitely did the job. soon enough, empty cakes cases had become full ones and clean sad faces had become happy chocolaty ones! mashallah

:: this moment ::

Muhammad (s.a.w) Lapbooks

we started working on lapbooks about a week ago, finally they are complete! its about the prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), obviously it's impossible to cover everything about the prophet in one lapbook, so i picked bits of information that i thought that the children could remember and would be of interest to them. i wanted them to work together but my daughter wants everything of hers to be perfect, so she refused to work with her brother and wanted to do her own one, so i gave in.

this is the cover of my sons lapbook, he is six years old.

i tried to keep it as simple as possible and with as less writing as i physically could (or he would have been put off altogether). the big blue square has the names of the Prophet (saw) parents, grandfather and his foster mothers names in each flap. the white square in the top left corners is a list of words describing the prophet (saw), i.e. shepherd, illiterate, kind, generous etc. the little blue square in the top right corner is a little pop-up saying the prophet (saw) is the Al-Ameen (trustworthy). the blue paper with the picture of the kaa'bah is telling us that the prophet migrated from makkah to madinah.

this list is of the prophets, that Muhammad (saw) met on his night journey, in the seven heavens. also the white flap has the names of some of the battles that the Prophet (saw) fought in.

the pink flap tells us that Muhammad (saw) became a prophet at 40 years old.

this the cover of my daughters lapbook, she is eight years old.

hers is a little more detailed than my sons.

we start of every lapbook with a brainstorm, this time my daughter stuck her brainstorm into the lapbook.

there is a flap with all the names of the Prophets (saw) wives. and a picture of cave Hira, where the Quran was first revealed, with a little bit of the verse written as well.

there are flaps with the names of the prophets, parents, grandfather and uncle, and another one with the names of his (saw) children.

there is an envelope with some true or false questions, and a list of some other names of the Prophet (saw).

every part of the lapbook was followed with stories, descriptions, questions and answers, discussions. i also want to do a family tree of the prophet (saw), and maybe look into some of the miracles that he done (miracles always seem to get the kids excited). inshallah.