Geography Has Never Been So Big!

I found these fabulous geography books in a thrift store for $1! Hassana loves them. Nothing helps boring material like putting it in a life size book!

Currently, my Daddy is on a cross country road trip. He is traveling from South Carolina to the Wild, Wild West. Sooo, I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce some US geography to the children. We are checking in with PawPaw each day and mark his location on the map. I'm using the States Facts wheel (Dollar Tree) and talking about major landmarks for each state my Daddy visits. So far we've focused on Olive Branch, MS; Albuquerque, NM; Williams, AZ; and Las Vegas, NV.

Rockin' Moroccan Chicken

In celebration of our recent study of Morocco, I made the delicious chicken dish care of epicurious.com. It came out wonderful and smelled even better. I paired it with brown rice with some raisins stirred in for a little sweetness.

Summer and Next Year Homeschool Plans

I’m almost done planning for next year, Praise God! I’ve been blessed to find some great products that I like and the children love, so for the most part we are going to continue using those with a few new additions. I plan to still remain as hands-on as possible and keep simple yet fun.

This summer we’ll participate in the Harkins Summer Movie Program and the local library summer reading program and weekly shows. I’ve also complied a list a craft activities to provide some indoor entertainment. We’ll also have a scheduled pool day. The Arizona summer is no joke and bored is a bad word in my house.

Here’s the line up for next year:

Quran/Islamic Studies
We will continue our study of the Prophets of God through the summer. Memorization work will include Surahs 108, 110, and the Refuge Prayer for the start of next year.

Penmanship
Copywork will resume through the summer and next year. Amir will begin cursive writing instruction in September. Yasina, if she is ready, in January. I plan to use Handwriting Without Tears to start Amir off. I’ll use Zaner-Boser for extra practice and copywork when he’s ready.

Reading/Phonics
Explode the Code is still working well, and I have no plans to stop that train. I’m ordering the last 4 books next month. We discovered Real Kids Readers at the library and the children really like them because the pictures are of real children. The twin’s reading skills are progressing nicely which is more important to me than anything. Reading truly is a gateway skill. Also, both children read aloud to me every morning.

I also plan to add the Beyond the Code workbooks series to our routine next year. The product is published by the same company as ETC, but focuses on reading comprehension skills.

We are currently reading Stuart Little by E.B White aloud. When we finish we’ll watch the movie. I haven’t decided what we’ll read aloud next. Amir and Yasina want to read The Complete Collection of Winnie the Pooh, but I wanted to save it until Sana is a little older so I don’t have to read it twice. Honestly, I really didn’t appreciate the importance read alouds until we read Charlotte’s Web. Now I’ve read more picture books to my children than I can count, but reading a story in chapters forcing the children to first remember what happened, then make deductions about what will happen next. Also the influence of quality literature on their vocabulary and my children’s speech patterns is simply profound.

Spelling
We’ll keep using Natural Speller which provides you with lists of words with the same spelling patterns for Grades 1-8. Instant pudding test and spaghetti noodle practice have made this subject a fav in my house. We also use letter tiles to practice and keep a spelling notebook where we record words.

Grammar
We’ll continue using Growing with Grammar, completing book 1 and moving on to GWG 2. We’ve been doing this orally for the most part and have been enjoying it. I’ve found this curriculum to be very well thought out and logical. The exercises are age/grade appropriate and provide plenty of practice.

Math
Math U See is still working for us. I’d like for us to have the addition facts through the 9s memorized by the end of the summer. We’re currently working our way through the Alpha and Beta levels, taking a break here and there to concentrate on money, time, and measurement. Our current routine looks like this:

Counting to 1000 in increments of 100

Skip Counting with Number Snakes 2s, 5s, 10s

Fact Review--I say 2 + 2 is . . . , they scream 4 or we spread out printed numbers on the floor, I call out a problem and they run, jump on the answer, and say it out loud. The Math U See website provides an online drill. I’m looking into some more computer games for review.

Math U See lesson/worksheets (usually 1, sometimes 2 a day)

Science
Next year we will be studying the human body using two experiment, hands-on activity based books, Head to Toe Science by Jim Wiese and Easy Make & Learn Projects: Human Body by Donald M. Silver, Patricia J. Wynne .

Geography
We’ll study 10 more countries next year. Traveling the world one country at a time is so much fun.

History
After our study of the prophets, we’ll begin a formal history study rooted in the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I plan to utilize The Theology of Time lecture series heavily. I found this DVD series created by an FOI that I may use as a spine for our study.

Latin Roots/Vocabulary
We’ll keep studying roots words and most our vocabulary words are taken from our readings.

Foreign Language
Spanish and I have a love/hate relationship. I really want my children to learn Spanish, but I can’t find a curriculum that suits me. I need something inexpensive, but open and go, so I don’t have to do a lot. Know anything that could fit the bill?

Fine Arts
I smell piano lessons on the horizon. I haven’t blogged a lot about it, but our artist and inventor studies will continue.

Lastly, I would like to add some computer software from The Critical Thinking Company sometime next year. Now that reading skills are established, I really want to focus on problem solving, reasoning skills, and critical thinking. I'm already sold on the Editor-in-Chief program, I'll let you know what I decide upon.

Ok, let's hear it, homeschoolers what are your plans for summer and next year?

Greetings from Morocco

All this traveling, man, I'm tired. Sike!

I've always been intrigued by the country of Morocco. It is just so beautiful and colorful. The book below, My Father's Shop, was a nice introduction for the children of the Moroccan way of life. They enjoyed decorating an old pillow case to represent a carpet. We painted a scene from a Moroccan marketplace or souk. A large majority of the Moroccan people are Muslim, so that was good for them to see. We enjoyed this study, now it's off to Turkey!


A couple library resources.

Daddy drew a picture of a Moroccan souk or marketplace.

The children painted it. (Bad Hair Day, I know. But I don't know what Amir was doing.)

Scenes from the Arizona Asian Festival

The children and Sis Ann enjoying the performances.

A Japanese Rock Star!

Indonesian Traditional Dancer

A Korean youth dance group.

Yasina made a flower bracelet and notebook in the craft area.

Amir made 2 origami dolls.

Sis Ann helped Hassana make a flower for her hair. I love this picture.

We enjoyed the festival. I wish I had taken pictures of us practicing yoga. Funny. The weather was beautiful, and it was so nice to be amongst family for such a peaceful and fun experience. Festival season in AZ is coming to a close, summer is approaching. It's reached the 90s the last couple of days. Pray for me.

Jumbo from Tanzania

Jumbo means Hello is Swahilli, the major language spoken in Tanzania. We had lots of fun with this study. The National Geographic dvd series Africa, taught us so much about this region, the animals, the geography, but most of all, the people. A large number of Tanzania's people are Muslim, so we could identify with the culture as far as dress, law, and structuring the day around prayer. We got to peek into the life of the country's more tribal communities as well, like the strong and proud Maasai warriors. Our paper mache, Mt. Kilaminjaro

The children creating Maasai ceremonial jewerly.

Modeling thier necklaces . . .Cute, Cute

Ni Hao!

We are just getting back from China, so I wanted to say Hello in Mandarin. Sike! Only in our dreams! Our geography game, Where in the World are the Muhammads?, was inspired by the Olympic games this month. China is such a fascinating country, just so full of rich culture, people, and history. Some of the highlights of our study was, of course, the Great Wall, learning to say Hi (and Bye, it's the same word) and thank you in the Chinese langauge, and our fav was the Terracotta Warriors. Awesome, Awesome. Awesome.
Pictured below are some of the resources we used courtesy of the public library along with the Olympic coverage.



Now it's off to India!

Where in the World are the Muhammads?

I've mentioned our geography game before, so this is an update. It was Amir's turn to choose a location. We are in Greenland. The Earth's largest island, Home of the Inuit Eskimoes, Northern Lights, dog sleds, and lots of ice. They were shocked to find out that Greenland is really white with snow and ice. Look out for us, we could be any where in the world!