Just to add to my workboxes post…

Salaam,

I would just like to add to the post below that I didn’t buy the system from the website. I just did it myself. So, it only cost me £12 for the boxes. I already had card and printed the stuff off and I already had the laminating stuff.

You don’t need to buy the package from the website.Just do it yourself at home. Also, you don’t need a separate homeschooling room. We don’t have one. Our HE takes place on the table we eat our meals on. The boxes we have are placed on a bookshelf.

Hope this helps inshaAllah.

New House – New HE System

Alhamdulillah, we moved into our new home just over a week ago. It is always a little strange being in a new place. It doesn’t feel like home yet, but I’m sure it will come inshaAllah.

Anyway, I’m not the type of person who can sit and live with boxes for months on end. Whenever we move, we literally work day and night until everything is unpacked. Alhamdulillah, everything has been done – just a little painting to do here and there. The kids love their new home. I hope we have many happy memories here inshaAllah.

I have been working on how our HE will be set up in our new house. Made a reading corner for R. It includes a large ‘puff puff’ (cushion/chair); it is near her books, and I printed this from sparklebox.co.uk, laminated it and stuck it up on the wall. Now, when she reads she doesn’t need to ask me how to read certain words. She looks at the letters and sounds chart and attempts it herself. I cannot tell you how much this has helped her with her reading.

She spent most of all day working on this. I was quite surprised that she made it all on her own. She followed the instructions in the booklet, made it, then her baby brother got hold of it….there were loads of tears and I begged my husband to put it back together. She was so happy when she woke up the following morning.

And finally, I am so excited about this!!! This will be our new way of organising our HE days! It is a system devised by Sue Patrick and it is called the Work Box System. More can be read here.

Firstly, let me show you a picture of the workboxes I made a couple of days ago:

So, here is what I did:

Sue Patrick advises that you buy transparent boxes but at £2.99/£3.99 each and you need to buy 12, I just thought ‘forget that’ and instead bought them for 99p each at the 99p store.

I then came home and printed out the numbers and signs which you can find here.

Cut them all up, laminated them all and cut them all up again. A bit tedious, but worth it.

Then velcroed the back of each piece and put the other side of the velcro on the boxes in two places. The number was placed in the middle of the side of the box. And another velcro was placed on the bottom right hand corner for a ‘Work with Mum sign’ (see the above links).

So, how does it work? You can read more about it here:

But to briefly explain, this is what happens.

1. Depending on your curriculum, requirements of each child, you would prepare the boxes the night before the ’school day’. What is great about this new method is that the child doesn’t just do ‘written work’ but you can use all the fun stuff you at home which are normally left in cupboards etc. What is also great about this, is when preparing the workboxes, you can take into consideration what the child liked/didn’t like, found difficult/found easy and fill your boxes accordingly.

For children that don’t like maths, maths could go into box 4 and then they could see a really fun activity in box 6, so it will make them motivated to complete box 4.

2. When the child wakes up, they go to their schedule strip. The schedule strip includes the order each box should be completed in as well as break cards, library card visits, lunch break, exercise etc. They then begin their day and take the first box.

I made our own schedule strip with the laminator, velcro patches etc but my phone isn’t working for me to take a picture of it. Example of a schedule strip which can be found here.

3. A great thing about these workboxes is that it encourages independent work. When you prepare the workboxes, you decide which boxes will have a ‘work with mum’ card on them. When the child takes a box, if it doesn’t have a ‘work with mum’ card, then they have to work on it independently. It it does, then the child works with you. Again, it is your decision.

4. The child feels a sense of satisfaction upon completing all the workboxes and has fun doing so.

I have personally found that our HE recently has not involved as much ‘fun’ activities. This way, I can include these in some of the workboxes and allow to basically ‘get on with it’.

What I really love about this system, is that it will allow me to spend time with her brother inshaAllah. I have been feeling very guilty about the way in which I have neglected her brother. When R was his age, we did so much together and I just don’t have the time for him. So, this way, whilst she is working on her boxes without the ‘work with mum’ card, I can read and play with her brother inshaAllah. I only have four months left til the next baby is born, so I want to use this to spend as much time with him as possible. He is still my baby even though he is now 19 months old mashaAllah.

So, that is it. Anyone has any questions, I will try my best to answer them for you. A special jzk to Umm T for reviving the thread on the forum. I had completely forgot about it and this system seems to suit us just right! Alhamdulillah.

 

What a week!

So, where do I even begin?!

Our life is in boxes and it has been a little difficult with the kids as they want their things. We were due to move into our new place on Sat 17th and then I received a phone call saying that the landlord has withdrawn! I broke down crying out of pure frustration (and tiredness). We had booked the van, cancelled bills etc and even put a deposit down. When my hormones settled, I realised that Allah (Swt) had definitely saved us from something. Both DH and I had prayed istikhara, so without a doubt Allah knew that this place was not good for us. The only thing was, the flat we are currently in had already been taking by new tenants and we were due to move out on 17th Oct which is only a few days away!

So, the hunt was on. We needed to find a new place and fast. Really  – Allah is indeed the Best of Planners. And last night we found a place which is much better in all ways than the one that we lost. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. So, we will be moving out as planned in a few days inshaAllah.

As all of our stuff is in boxes, I am trying to be out as much as possible with the kids. So we have spent some lovely sunny days here. I love this place and am happy that we are not moving far from it:

Do you know what I love about HE? The relationship between siblings is strengthened. Alhamdulillah.

The time was spot on on the sun dial and we discussed how 'telling the time' has evolved throughout history.

R was thrilled that the olives on this olive tree were growing. I'm not sure if you can make them out, but this olive tree was FULL!

After this lovely day, R collected some leaves and did some leaf printing at home.

What was especially nice this week was attending the shahaadah of a lady I’ve been in touch with. MashaAllah she decided to take her shahaadah and along with another sister, we were honoured to witness her enter into Islam . It was especially nice as R was there to witness it. She was very happy and asked me a sweet question “Ummi, did she become Muslim because of the dua I make every night for all the non-muslims to become Muslim?” And you know what, who knows… Sometimes we do not know whether the dua of one of our sisters/brothers changes our situation or indeed those of others. When I was hunting for a new place, a sister texted me and said “Making dua you find a place near the masjid.” And that is what we found, alhamdulillah.

This week has made me think about sincerity. My level (and lack of) sincerity, my weaknesses as a Muslimah, and how important it is not just to teach my kids to read or write or even memorise the Quran but subhanaAllah, to try and build a beautiful Islamic character by the will of Allah. And it starts by me changing myself so that I can be a good example inshaAllah. Here are some pictures of ourselves in Regents Park, the day that the sister entered Islam:

R was intrigued by this bird. The subject of animals is not my thing, so only know what a pigeon and swan is. Alhamdulillah, the sister to be knew that it was heron. So we both learnt something today!

And to leave on a deep note, please read the following entry from my dear sister and friend’’s blog. Her words struck a very deep chord…

http://muslimmotherhood.blogspot.com/2009/10/reflections-of-transient-nature-of-life.html

MEP

I’m a little stressed – my next university year starts at the end of this week. And we’re moving next week inshaAllah. And I haven’t started packing yet.

But I’m trying to continue with HE as normal. We have been keeping to our timetable but have not done anything with Arabic or topic work. Everything else, Quran, Islamic Studies, Literacy and Numeracy has been going well. I don’t really want to start any topic work until we are settled in our new home inshaAllah.

Numeracy is going to change because I came across a new Hungarian Numeracy programme being used in UK schools as a pilot.

A few sisters on the IHSAN Forum are using it and so I called them up and asked my many questions. The friendly guy explained that it has been used in quite a few schools and that the marks achieved by these students in comparison to the marks achieved by students following the numeracy strategy was amazing. He also explained that the difference between this MEP programme and the Numeracy National Curriculum Strategy is that the MEP is mathematical whilst the Numeracy strategy is numerical. This was like Japanese to me and so a kind sister on the forum explained the difference as:

Mathematical means the science of maths as opposed to learning just about numbers (numeracy) and I’ve been searching for something like this for ages! The science of maths is like learning what the difference between a square and a rhombus is. I grew up thinking they’re totally different because a rhombus is like a parallelogram when actually a square is a rhombus, just a more complex one because it has equal angles.

What is great is that all the materials are free on the above website. However, I ordered the books as they are very very cheap. Haven’t received the order yet due to postal strikes but I have decided that this is the way we are going to go with Maths inshaAllah. The guy also mentioned that it is more vigorous and pushes the child more.

A Hungarian sister who is also on the forum said that she was so happy it has been translated into English and is being used here as she was quite disappointed at seeing what the NC uses here. Check it out!

Aside from that, I just can’t wait to get the move over with and get on with our normal routine. Did I say I hate moving…

‘So its going to be a long day?!’

said my daughter excitedly as we sat in the car 8.30 am this morning! i had just informed her of the day’s plans.

We missed our Thursday Home Ed group last week and she has been counting down the days to today. I really don’t think our Home Ed would be the same without our trips to our Thursday Home Ed group. She loves, I love it and I think so do all the other Muslim home educated kids (and their Mums!)

Today was just lovely. All the kids entered the gates and they were given a sheet of paper and had to complete a treasure hunt trail (all children aged 3 to 13 did one) and they were given a prize once they completed it. They had to find all the pictures of girls/boys (see pic below) look at their names on the sheet, write down the age of the child next to the name on the sheet and if they were old enough – they had to add all the ages at the end. There were about 10 pictures to find in quite a large outdoor space. They were so happy when they completed it.

By the way, that isn't me holding up one of the treasure hunt pages! lol!

After that, a sister who is a fitness instructor and home edder got them to do some sports games. The kids loved it. I really don’t know where this sister gets her energy from mashaAllah (must be her diet and strict fitness regime mashaAllah).

Then, we laid out the tables full of food and treats and everyone took a plate and helped themselves.

If that wasn’t enough, today was the first day of the cycling club for sisters. There were 4 of us and whilst we cycled around a very large park, the kids did a cycling session with a sister’s husband who is a cycling coach. Sisters have asked me how on earth do you cycle with jilbaab and believe me it is possible. One of the sisters that cycled today wears niqab and we all felt wonderful riding on our bikes, alhamdulillah.

And then as we were walking back from the cycling session to the car, the kids were doing this and I just thought what a classic Home Ed picture and just had to take it (!) :

Whilst everyone is at school stuck to tables and chairs, here is what R and a sister's kids are doing...I love HE!

I was going to end this post with the above picture but then had to share what happened as we sat down for dinner today. Hubby was on his way back from work, and we were all eating Tagine Zaytun. The following conversation unfolded:

R: Ummi, when animals die, do we put them in a box and then into the ground

Me: Well, as Muslims – we cover a dead body in white material and then put them into the ground. But we don’t put the box into the ground.

R: Oh… (Thinking)

Me: (Carried on eating and feeding baby Z)

R: So is it haram to put it in the box?

Me: We follow Allah and His Messenger and every believer is buried covered in white cloth, not in a box.

R: Will I be buried like that?

Me: Yes inshaAllah.

R: Who will bury me?

Me: Abi, inshaAllah.

R: Who will bury baby Z?

Me: Abi, inshaAllah.

R: Who will bury you?

Me: Abi, inshaAllah.

R: And who will bury Abi?

Me: Some of your amoo (uncles)

R: But if Abi dies and he is buried, that means I won’t see him ever again.

Me: (Oh dear, what do I say?!)

Me: Well…if Abi dies, then inshaAllah we will see him again in jannah inshaAllah.

R: But that won’t be for a very long time.  (Her eyes reddened and became enlarged. She tried to hold back the tears and then….the bank burst!)

She cried and cried and cried. And it wasn’t a moany childish cry. It was a cry out of pain and the fear of loss.

I obviously took her into my arms and held her.

R: I don’t want Abi to die. I want to see him every day.

Me: Yes, but we don’t know what Allah will bring us. Right now he is on his way home, so don’t worry inshaAllah. But if Allah does make Abi die, then that means that Allah loves us a lot inshaAllah because the pain we will feel will wipe away our sins.

She carried on crying.

Did I explain it in the correct way? I’m not sure. I hope so.

I then realised that my daughter had just understood what it means to die. And all of a sudden the reality of the importance of her upbringing, of this Home Ed journey dawned on me.

SubhanAllah, what a day…