The Homeschool Blogger: Daily update (15/12/08)

Well, today went pretty well, got up about 6.30 with ds(6) saw him off to school and waited for the girls and the baby to wake up. Masha'Allaah in this time I was able to have my breakfast, organise a few things, and have things ready for the day, what a great start to the week! alhamdulillaah. It did really feel good.

I actually held back from going on the computer last night (well, not the entire night, I did go on for a little bit before going off to bed), I really wanted to go over some of the Well trained mind again, and start implementing some of their curriculum into our learning. It helped so much to get it written down onto paper, to have a plan of action, it helped me to feel more motivated, as it kind of started to go down a bit recently, but alhamdulillaah I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things, May Allaah help me (and others who are in need of it) to be more consistent and hard working when it comes to teaching my (our) children, ameen.

Ok, so back to today, we started off with our morning adkhaar (rememberance) and then started on the Qaa'idah (to read the Qur'an), Masha'Allaah DD(8) is doing well, and progressing quite fast, Allaahumma baarak feek. Today she learnt a bit more about the rule of the qalqalah letters, which when appear with a sukun above, they are to be pronounced with an added stress, qalqalah meaning 'shakiness'. I had her copy the rule down onto paper, which will be filed into her folder insha Allaah, and added to when necessary.

DD(5)is working through letter recognition practice, she is doing well Allaahumma baarak feehaa, but I just need more consistency with her insha Allaah, so she can progress faster insha Allaah.

Handwriting
I have decided to take things a bit slower and not rush them with their writing, I want to make sure they are forming each letter correctly before moving onto the next, so DD(5) and DD(8) are both working through Zaner Bloser's handwriting programme (as recommended in the Well trained mind)DD(8) is able to write masha'Allaah, but I know that she doesn't form all of her letters correctly, and bad habits can be hard to break if left.
DD(5) is also working through her numbers one by one, if I can see that she is able to write a certain number correctly and neatly, then I do allow her to move on to the next.

Grammar

We're working through 'first language lessons for the well trained mind' We are now on lesson 12. Today I read out the Aesops fable 'The lion and the mouse' which both girls enjoyed, I then asked DD(8) some questions from the book, to make it easier for her to remember parts of the story, I wrote down her answers, and she drew a picture to illustrate the story. This was a narration exercise,used regulary in classical education, which is what I'm trying to implement bit by bit insha Allaah.

Maths

We didn't do a full on maths lesson today, but we did have a mini lesson on telling the time, DD(8) did a few exercises in her workbook, starting with '0'clock and half past, it went well masha'Allaah.