The Socialization factor

Everybody knows that the first thing people point out when you say you are homeschooling is how are your kids going to learn to socialize. But I am taking care of that; I've signed them up for gymnastics and oh joy, oh bliss Tae Kwon Do right here in this little town! Also I've joined two homeschooling groups in the area so we can participate in field trips and activities. The kids had their first Tae Kwon Do lesson last night. Next week they will get their uniforms which will be white instead of black like their former Kung Fu uniforms. The belts are different too as some levels have stripes. Tonight will be gymnastics and lucky for us this is the first year they will be having kindergym and they have brand new equipment too. On top of this the kids will continue to take arabic and Islamic history classes at a school in which they get to play in the gym during the break.
Masha Allah, alhumdullilah for everything.

Saturated

Seems the world has gone so far the other way and things have become so extreme that people are waking up and saying enough! On Oct 11th catch the documentary or watch it later online.

Mommy friendly clothes

Here is another company (but sadly in UK) that provides maternity and nursing abayas; something really hard to find. If you know of any North American links please share.

1000 visits

Masha Allah my blog has had 1000 visits. Sure I know some of them were from me (why do they count me anyway?, lol) So its that time of the year again. Time to pack up the summer clothes and take out the winter ones. Got that done yesterday. Hubby told me to stop having 4 seasons which of course means hey if you just would have stayed in Malaysia then you wouldn't have to be doing this. What else is on my mind? Well I'm worried about that whole socialization and physical activity thing for my kids. Yesterday I got Wii Fit Plus which has kung-fu on it since there are no martial arts classes here. But hey my kids need friends and real exercise. I'm on the hunt for a solution. This town has very limited choices. My daughter did go skating yesterday though which is good. Insha Allah I will be able to solve this problem as well.

Net full of homeschool supplies.

Well to tell you the truth as of yesterday I really felt like giving up. Today though alhumdullilah I netted some good finds. From an educational toy store I got an electricity kit for my sixth grader and a magnet set for my third grader. At a teacher's store I got 4 books, two from S & S, one from Nelson and one from Geowat Innovative Teacher Publishing. Finally I went to Toys'r'us and found the Complete Canadian Curriculum series (they don't have grade 8 though). I also got magnetic letters and numbers there for my kindergartener and a microscope for my eighth grader. Best of all Nelson and CCC both have answer keys. I think now I can finally make it through those rough seas insha Allah.

Sea legs.

I guess when we make a sea change we have to find our sea legs. I am really wobbling through this deja vu experience called homeschooling. Yes I did it 10 yrs ago but with only 3 kids and two toddlers playing around. This time there are 5 kids (those two toddlers are now in grade 8 and grade 6) to teach and a toddler and a newborn. I decided to buy an easel to keep the SK and preschooler occupied while I teach the others. Otherwise I've been teaching the SK one how to write letters and her name by writing with markers on a wipe off book I got from Avon. I highly recommend it. It also comes with books for numbers, colours and shapes and cd with songs about these topics. Haven't played it yet and wonder what sorts of instruments might be used. As for the bigger kids its been tough as I realize I have missing parts of the curriculum and have had to order all sorts of books from the library but they are not textbooks or workbooks but more like the types of books you borrow to do a project. So I am not really satisfied with this cookie cutter option. Also I must hunt down a microscope for grade 8 science. He has to learn about cells. I checked Walmart's kids section but nothing there. I intend to check The Source. On top of all this I have the added problem of having no answer keys for the textbooks and workbooks I have. I guess I could order them but that would cost a pretty penny. The sea is very rough now but I hope I can get over this patch and experience some smooth sailing. Any advice from homeschoolers out there? I'm all ears. Oh and if you are wondering what happened to all my old homeschooling stuff, well most of it I sold and the rest is stuck in Malaysia.

K2

As an accompaniment to 3 Cups of Tea I got the book K2 (natural wonders). Today I read it out loud and got the kids to answer the true and false, short and multiple questions in the back. My kids in grade 6 and 8 did really well with this but it was a struggle for the grade 3 and 5 ones. For their homework assignment I'm getting them to each do a different project; the kheer recipe in the book, a tourism ad, a picture of the mountain's vegetation and an essay about interesting historical facts of your choice. Insha Allah this shall be interesting. Next week we will begin with the real Ontario curriculum insha Allah.

First Day of Homeschool

So technically this is our first day of homeschool although the kids have done a few activities these last few weeks which were learning opportunities. I read the book 3 Cups of Tea; young readers edition out loud and then got them to each answer on paper the 6 questions from the back. I didn't have time to read the interview with Amira though as the book was due today. I also got the kids to look up the different places mentioned in the book in their Atlas. For the final activity I got them to choose someone to write to about the book, the choices were the author himself, a friend, the principal or the newspaper. 3 of them chose friends and one chose the author. I was impressed with their answer to number 6 about what the book meant to them personally; what lessons they had learned. There are a few mistakes in this book; cultural things that the author thinks are really islamic like the bride price but overall the book is a great motivational book and a good example of helping others without having to impose one's ideology.

Open House Hopping

This Eid after the prayers where we had a lovely khutbah, snacks and chocolate for the kids we travelled to visit my daughter. We were supposed to just go to her house but the night before we were invited to 2 open houses so we went. The first one was a Malay one and the second was a Pakistani-Turkish one. Then we went to my daughter's and exchanged gifts. At the first open house we were invited to a third open house for today which was a Malay home again. So in 24 hours we were at 4 different homes. What an eid! So different from our usual quiet family get-togethers. Masha Allah the GTA rocks islamically!

Eid Mubarak - New Dates and Old Friends

Looks like its Eid tomorrow. This last day of Ramadan at one halal meat store, I was reconnected to an old friend who was instrumental in my conversion, who I haven't seen in years. In another halal meat store I got to try fresh dates for the first time in my life. Masha Allah they taste better than the dried ones. So happy Eid and here's to both keeping the old and the new in our lives!

Eid Song

If you're not excited for Eid yet then listen to this song..the kids will love it.

Eid Baking

Today insha Allah is baking day in anticipation of eid (will it be Sunday, will it be Monday?). My daughter will be making her truffles again (see iftar post for pic), my other daughter will be making banana bread with chocolate chips from the Margo Oliver cookbook. Masha Allah. I'll be making two recipes from the latest Azizah Magazine; the Marzipan Apple Cookies and the Snow Heart Cookies plus a Dora cake as promised to my 5 yr old daughter. What's in your oven?