I had plans for this week...I was going to do the first Rocket experiment of the NASA project, which involved water, string, fizzy drink cans and carpenters nails (sounds interesting huh?), and I wanted us to make an autumn themed art display - I'm thinking along the lines of a tree with either cut out leaves, hand print leaves or real leaves (maybe all three), all in gorgeous autumnal colours. Those were my plans but I've been distracted from them this week due to recieving notice from my landlord that he wants his house back in two months time...
  So, we are going to be on the move again in the near future. I don't mind moving home, I actually find it kind of exciting...but I do hate the stress of  moving ; the looking for somewhere that's suitable and affordable, the packing, the moving day...not to mention having to live out of boxes for ages and the length of time it takes to change over the telephone and broadband!
   I find it hard to concentrate when something a huge as uprooting my family of eight humans and six felines (we have a litter of four kitties..don't worry I'm not turning into a nutty old cat lady!) is in the offing. I keep finding myself on http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ or http://www.zoopla.co.uk/ looking through pages and pages of houses and maps.
   While I sat glued to the laptop I got Harry to do the pre-requisite reading for the Rocket project. At first he complained that he was tired, then that he wanted to play X-Box, but eventually he got down to it and read two chapters. I was really pleased that the reading seemed to enthuse him and he kept stopping to tell me and his brother flabberghasting facts about NASA's future plans and the about how rockets actually work. He seems to enjoy reading the mathematics of the topic and I think he's really up for this project now. I think we'll try to get the first experiment done this weekend Insha'Allah...maybe even the second too, and on Monday I'm going to try to take Harry, Saaliha and Halima to the Science Museum. I want to avoid weekends and school holidays as South Kensington is bedlam at those times, so hopefully Insha'Allah monday will be fine.
   Saaliha started at madrassa last week for the very first time masha'Allah. She does look very sweet and angelic in her little white hijab. The head teacher took her on a little earlier than they normally do, I think because she acts and sounds so much older than her four years. She's doing great there and has come home talking about letters (Arabic letters that is) and singing nasheeds. She also came home a few evenings ago and told me all about how the Prophet Muhammad SAW was so merciful to the people of Taif after they had stoned and abused him. Masha'Allah her memory is really great, maybe she will be a Hafiza Insha'Allah.
Madrassa is also good for Saaliha to meet other children and to socialise,  especially as she is not going to school.
I still can't decide whether or not to do our autumn tree or not...I reckon I should because if I leave it until we move then it might even be winter before we get the chance to do it.
Going to get back to looking at houses now...bye bye, Assalamu alaikum :)
 

It IS Rocket Science!

We are about to embark upon an utterly cool project about rockets and flight Insha'Allah. I found the idea and all the resources on the NASA website. You really must visit this site people...honestly it is amazing and choc-a-block with wonderful images, information and cool educational resources. Each project has a detailed introduction which explains which subjects are covered by the various chapters and experiments and for which ages they are most suited. I recently got Harry to work his way through the entire project (I printed it all out and put it in a folder) in order to make a 'shopping list' of things we will need...this was, in fact a ploy on my behalf to get him to practice writing legibly. Harry's handwriting is absolutely awful and he really needs to work on it, but what 13 year old boy wants to sit and do handwriting exercises? So I have to be a little cunning about it.
 I was pleased to note that most of the activities and experiments can be done at home...or the park with things that are easily available - either already indoors or at a hardware shop. My plan is to take H to B&Q with a list and let him locate, enquire after and pay for the materials. One thing I have noticed in my older boys is that they are not very confident in so many areas of life...that must be my fault and so I need to address this problem and nip it in the bud.
I chose this project for a number of reasons...it has a great mixture of hands on experiments, construction of rockets and launchers etc with mathematics (trigonometry and algebra!!) and history. So we will not only make paper, coke bottle and tin can rockets, but we will make launchers for them, learn the theory of rocket flight, do the mathematics and read up on the history of rocket science from the ancient Chinese fireworks up to the present day.
Saaliha will be able to join in with some of the experiments and I have downloaded a really great little rockets workbook for young children that she can colour in and work through. There are so many things we can incorporate into this topic such as the planets and solar system, geography and weather studies, Art and crafts and English too. We can also combine the project with looking at some of the verses of the Qur'an that speak of the Universe and space Insha'Allah.
So stay tuned folks because pics will follow shortly Insha'Allah :D

Back again!

Ok....I had such great ideas and good intentions when I set up this blog, but I am just so disorganised and easily distracted that I haven't actually began to post here. That changes from today, Insha'Allah (that's God Willing for those who don't understand the muslim terminology :)). I am going to try to get organised and set myself targets with regards to my home education exploits, as well as documenting all we get up to on here on a regular basis.
Up until today our home ed experience has been a little...ad hoc and perhaps even a bit chaotic. So my job for this weekend is to stop crocheting and looking at gorgeous free patterns on the web for a while and to write up a timetable of sorts for me, H and S to follow over the next few months. I also need to buy some cheap and cheerful craft supplies, ink for the printer and some kitty litter and kitty food because my cat Coco's babies are now showing interest in food and the litter tray. I'm also in the initial stages of negotiating a contract with H, which will hopefully Insha'Allah lead to him working harder and sleeping earlier with the promise of a new bike at the end of an agreed period of time. Obviously this deal will need to be thrashed out thoroughly so that both H and I get what we both want out of it :D
Strangely, now I don't really have the time to sit here blogging I can think of loads of things that I want to write...so perhaps I'll post again later - rather than in three months time!
'Til then Tata and Assalamu alaikum x

First things First

OK...here I go. I have finally sent de-registration letters to both my 13 year old's mainstream school and to the Director of Education for our borough requesting that they remove H's name from the register of the special school he attends part time. I am not sure why I've battled with this decision so much over so many months...but I have. I'm actually relieved now to have done it. There's no going back.
I intend to Home Educate H and his little sister S. I feel fairly confident that I can actually educate my children Insha'Allah but fear of  disapproving teachers and education department officials has really led to me putting off taking the plunge.
I have so many ideas whizzing around in my brain, and I really can't wait to get stuck in....but I think H needs a little de-schooling period and S, well she still has about three weeks or so left at nursery. I want to use this blog as a diary, a journal and as a place to store my thoughts and the resources that I use and discover along the way. I also want to post loads of pics on here of everything we do on this voyage of ours.