Timez Attack - free download

Just dropping a quick link, it's for a free game called Timez Attack, which teaches multiplication facts. I remember coming across it before, but don't recall seeing a free version, mine's downloading now :)

Feeling a lil down....

My apologies to anyone who's at all interested in my blog, for my inconsistent posts, as I have said before I am a procrastinator, there's no doubt about that! sometimes my mind is just simply not in blogging mode, or I intend to do it, but I put it off and off, until a whole month or so has gone by, one of my bad points I'm afraid.

Alhamdulillaah though, our homeschooling is going well, We're trying to fit in what we can in the morning, as the girls attend madrasah 2-7, masha'Allaah they're really progressing now, Allaahumma baarak feehim (May Allaah bless them in it, ameen.)I think we need to be starting earlier in the morning in order to get it all in, this I have to work on insha Allaah.

Doing my best to help K(9) to catch up in her Maths, it's becoming a bit overwhelming at times because there's so much I feel she should have memorised or know how to do by now, like with the times tables, skip counting etc.... I'm trying to keep her focused on one thing at a time, and myself!, but I do feel we need to put alot of effort into this area insha Allaah.

We've just re-started using the Reading Reflex, T(6) is on the advanced code section now, Masha'Allaah, before starting back with this, we've mainly being using the synthetic phonics books by Ruth Miskin, I may have mentioned them before, these are great Masha'Allaah.

Well, 'Eid is on Friday insha Allaah, we're looking forward to it, not sure what we're going to do yet, will attend the 'Eid salaah in the morning, I missed the last one subhanAllaah. I bought the girls their dresses today in Asda, they're so lush Masha'Allaah, I wouldn't mind one in my size :) Will just be on the lookout now for the boys insha Allaah.

Right now, I'm feeling a lil bit down, our lovely cat Madinah recently brought home some fleas :( I've used a few products from the Bob Martin range but the problem's still there, and actually seems to have worsened, I've now started using Front line on him, which is supposed to be the best one, and rather expensive too :( the pet industry is booming, subhanAllaah, anyone who has a pet will probably agree that it's not cheap when it comes to veterinary care, food etc... but he's worth it though... well, anyway back to the fleas.... I've now found them in my room, and it's that, that's mainly the cause of me feeling so down, when you retire to your bedroom at night , you want to feel relaxed, and you don't want to be worrying about a flea jumping on you, the other night when I discovered I had some in there, it was about 3 in the morning, and well.... you could say I was flea hunting, I must have picked about 6 or more of the critters off my bed, eventually I slid under the blanket, trying to guard my face from any that may have wanted to attack me, and finally fell asleep, who'd have thought something so tiny could make us big people feel so intimidated.

Insha Allah they'll be gone soon, I hope! the whole house needs treating, room by room, which is going to take time, it needs de-cluttering too! but insha Allaah we'll get there in the end.

The coming week......

I've been planning a few things I'm going to do with the girls this week insha Allaah, with K I will be re-introducing money for Maths, I don't feel she's competent enough for her age in this area, and it's been a while since I first did the lessons with her, so we will go over it again insha Allaah, with T, she will be learning about solid shapes. This evening I printed out some flashcards and worksheets to accompany the lessons, as well as some colourful posters to put up on the wall.

We're also gonna work a little more on nouns, just so I know K completely understands it all, we are working through 'first language lessons' by Jessie Wise, Co-author of 'The Well Trained Mind' and so I've just printed out a few worksheets for a bit extra practice, I also intend to introduce verbs with her, we were talking about them last night, and she caught on real quick masha'Allaah, so insha Allaah we won't have to stay on that for too long.




With T we will pick up where we left off in the 'Reading Reflex', and for both I want to continue doing daily narration work, using 'Aesop's fables' insha Allaah.

I posted a link to a poem on the parts of speech last night, well here it is, we have it up on our wall, ready to be memorised, insha Allaah it'll be a help.


And with Autumn upon us now, I would love to start a wall display, 'sparkle box' have some nice pictures and other resources on this season which would come in very handy for this.

Going back to Ramadhan, we did do a display, but unfortunately it never got finished, but I was happy that we had it half finished, rather than not done at all, insha Allaah I will take a few pics and post them before we take it down for the next one :)

A fresh start....

After quite a long break away from my blog, I return once again! I do apologise for not being consistent with the updates, I will try my best, insha Allaah.

We are now getting back into our homeschooling, we are kind of late, it was supposed to be September, but better late than never :) We're just starting off mainly with Maths and English, and I intend to start re-introducing the other subjects over the next couple of weeks insha Allaah. Throughout the Summer holidays I had wanted to plan for the coming year, something I had not done before, but after being away for half of the holidays, my plans went down the drain, but Qadr Allaah, I will do what I can.

I do want this year to be better than last year insha Allaah, I have said this before, and I'm sure I've said it many many times since then, it starts with me.......with planning, consistency etc... So far I feel a bit of a failure with the homeschooling, I know I need to do better and be more on top of things, my children rely on me for this, amongst other things.

This year is a fresh start for us, a time to make some positive changes and improvement insha Allaah. I want to help K(8)tch up with her Maths, hopefully before the end of the year, this is one of my goals, and also to have T(5)ading fluently, we haven't used Reading Reflex for a while, instead we were using the synthetic phonics series by Ruth Miskin, and just working through the books, which each have a few stories in them, alhamdulillah she enjoys these, I will re-start reading reflex, and continue to use these alongside for extra practice insha Allaah.

I also recently signed up to the smart kiddies website, the kids find it useful for Maths, majority of the lessons will start off with a tutor teaching the concept, and then will follow with some online practice activities, and assesment, they can also earn points through playing Math games, and earn certificates, I printed some off tonight and will award it to them tomorrow insha Allaah, K has seen hers and was so happy, insha Allaah I'll laminate them and they can stick them up on the wall.

Tonight I found a realy useful poem for teaching the parts of speech, insha Allaah I will have mine memorise this, and also make sure that they understand it too.

Thanks for reading :D

Islamic Copywork

Tonight I came across a great site, called Islamic Copywork, I printed quite a few things off, I especially liked the 'Obedience to parents' sheets, which quotes ayats from the Qur'an emphasising the importance of obeying the parents, which the child has to copy.

Animal school

Take a look at this touching, thought provoking movie from raising small souls.com, it actually made me feel a tad bit emotional. There is music playing, so you can just turn it down if you wish insha Allaah.