Islamic Studies
Our Islamic Studies has morphed into our history study as well. We begin our year in Triple Darkness and have been working our up through the annals of time. Much of it has been review for the Twins, but new to Hassana so still time well spent. My approach to a history study is to concentrate on people and the impact that these events have on us today rather than dates and rote memorization. We are also still memorizing our short surahs from the Holy Quran and well as questions and answers from the Supreme Wisdom book. Our school day begins with what would be considered a devotional time. After the prayer, pledge, Fight Song and drill, we read and discuss a random section from the Holy Quran. I've found that this really sets the tone for the day.
Penmanship
Copy work continues in the Muhammad household except now for the twins it's in cursive! Finally! Amir started cursive awhile ago, but I had to put it off for my leftie, Yasina. Well, she's caught up and now everyone is looping it up. My kindergartner is learning to write her name and doing quite well.
Math
Still rolling with Math U See! Right now we're working to master subtraction regrouping with 3 digit numbers. (I still call it borrowing.) We've begun multiplication tables also. In the coming weeks, I'll be ordering the Gamma and Delta levels of MUS which cover multiplication and division.
My kindergartner is ready to begin Primer, which is the introductory level of Math U See. The only requirement to begin is knowing your numbers and she does. So, we're off!
Language Arts
We've been reading, reading, reading! I did what I said I wouldn't do and tested the childrens' reading levels. I was so pleased with the results. Both of the twins are reading on a 5th grade level! I pretty much expected Yasina test high, but I was honestly worried about Amir. What we found was that basically when he feels pressured to read aloud he gets nervous and it effects his performance. So what I've done was instead and hovering over the book while he reads, I sit next to him and croquet while listening. What a difference it makes! He doesn't feel like I'm pressuring him, and he reads so much better. Right now, he's reading the Wimpy Kid series, and I introduced Yasina to the Babysitters Clubs books which I used to love.
We have been keeping our I am Grateful journals for some time now, and they are really paying off. The twins are now writing a 5 sentence paragraph each day about anything/one for which they feel grateful. Within that writing assignment we are able to review spelling, grammar, and pronunciation. I still incorporate Natural Speller and Growing with Grammar, but the bulk of our learning comes from practical application.
I still highly recommend the Explode the Code series. So much so, I ordering the prep books for Hassana, Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code. Leap Frog videos have done wonders for helping learn the letters and their sounds, now it's time to read! We are also loving Starfall.com and Fisher Price games.
Science
I just posted about our Chemistry study this year which is going beautifully. We went back to science journals this year. I'd tried them a year or so ago, but they just weren't feeling it. This time around they're drawing a picture and writing at least a couple sentences about the experiment. I also make certain I focus on "science" words that they should know as well.
Geography
If you've following the blog, you may know that I've started a childbirth services business which has been very successful thus far. In light of this, I've outsourced our geography studies. We've signed up and began receiving a subscription from Little Passports. We are also swapping postcards around the world on Postcrossing.com. Both are awesome programs that I would recommend you look into.
Foreign Language
Spanish, Spanish, Spanish. We are picking up so much from neighbors and friends, but I'm still looking for a formal program. Ugh! Why is this so hard to do? My hopes for Hassana have to do with linguistics, so I've got to get it popping in this area.
Fine Arts
The twins are taking piano lessons! As soon as I think Babygirl can handle it, I'm adding her to the rotation.
I used to focus on vocabulary and such, but I've found they learn so much from life and just don't single it out any more. I'm looking for a great Latin roots program though.
It sounds like your year is going great.Congrats to the children for putting forth such good work. I am going to look into some of those geography resources you posted to see if we might can use them for some enrichment.
ReplyDeleteI also learned early on about the hovering while my kids are reading thing is not a good idea. With my youngest I usually sit next to him and pretend to be paying attention to something else till he says he needs my help. lol!