Guest Post

Continuing on our theme of MYO Playdough, today we are featuring a guest post from the luekermunchkins blogspot.  The lueker girls are in a once a week homeschool co op. Back in November they made a batch of Pumpkin Spice Playdough to share with their class. We have this on our to do list, but are currently still enjoying our Snow Playdough.

Lueker Blog Post: http://luekermunchkins.blogspot.com/2011/11/pumpkin-spice-playdough.html

Pumpkin Spice Playdough Recipe: http://www.noordinarymomentsblog.com/2009/10/pumpkin-spice-playdough-recipe-for-fun.html

Enjoy : )

Snow Playdough

 We have a growing list of Make Your Own Playdough (MYO) recipes that we have been wanting to try since the Summer. This link: http://nurturestore.co.uk/snow-playdough-recipe  popped up on my Twitter feed about a month ago, and we decided to make it our first batch.
 

 Since we have never done this kind of activity before, and I was short on time, I went ahead and made the playdough myself during nap time.

I was surprised how gritty it was, and as another blogger suggested, I added a little bit of white flour to soften it up. Sure looks like snow to me.

Picked these up from the local Muslim meat market while we were picking up our other ingredients. Fun!

I purposely did not show the Professors the pictures of the snowmen in the link because, I didn't want them to get fixated on making that and only that. I put out a small handful of our regular playdough manipulatives and let them decide what to make. Before hand, we had a small discussion about what can be made in the snow. Snowmen did come up, but other great ideas like Igloos were also mentioned.

Even though the playdough was pretty gritty, and started crumbling apart at the end of the session, it cut well with the cookie cutters. 

We had a great time playing with this, and still have a little left over. Thank you @nurturestore for a great recipe and play idea : )

Arabic Alphabet Immersion Month

Back in Ramadhaan (August 2011) I started the Professors learning the Arabic Alphabet. We took a line a day (about 5 letters) over the next several months, and Masha' Allah it went well, and we made progress. During that time I came to realize that the Professors had fallen into a familiar learning trap, rote memorization. I would notice them saying the letters while looking at the ceiling, or out the window, when we were reading from the book, or standing at the 'board'  (large laminated Arabic Alphabet poster).

Enter Arabic Sandpaper Letters.

Sandpaper letters are one of my all time favorite Montessori tools. In a nutshell, they help the brain make a more solid connection with the letter, its shape, and its sound through tactile stimulation of the brain when the child traces the rough sandpaper letter shape.

You can read more about their concept here: http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/montessori-basics-9-sandpaper-letters.html

Here are a few photos of our Arabic Sandpaper Letters:

After our back to back long breaks, we were really falling apart with our alphabet learning so I decided instead of going back to our regular school schedule, we were going to start an Arabic Alphabet Immersion course, wherein all our circle time lessons, all month, will only be learning Arabic Alphabet letters.

After our first full week, Masha' Allah, the Professors made marked improvement. I could see that when we went to the board, they would really think about, and concentrate on, the letters they had trouble with, and really try to recall the letter. At the end of the week, we had a 'test.'

Working with each Professor individually,  I took out the entire box of sandpaper letters and held each board up, one at a time, and asked them to name the letter.  I then seperated them into piles of 'letters you know' and 'letters you don't know' For the ones I could tell they were stuck on, I handed them the board and asked them to look at it and trace it with their finger. If they still didn't know it, it went in the 'letters you don't know pile' We then immediatley went back through the 'letters you don't know' pile and had a mini lesson, complete with finger tracing, and some general mumbling and grumbling. I'm a firm believer on capatilizing on information when its fresh in your mind. I think I would have had a much easier time in school myself, had there been time built into class to do your homework, instead of waiting several hours later to do it at home. Yes, I'm a study hall geek! We wrapped up the 'test' by standing at the board and reading the Alphabet through one more time, and they did excellent, Masha' Allah, and it was a remarkable way for me to observe and assess where we need more work.

It may sound like we spent/spend alot of time on this, but I would say I spent 20 minutes daily with each Professor during lessons, and they each spent 20-30 minutes testing. They then had/have the rest of the day for free play or reading, or an option to do a relaxing project, such as a puzzle, painting, playdough or  board game.

Summer Reading List 2011

Back on a September trip to the Library, we came upon our local Summer Reading List. Better late than never, I picked it up, and two months later I finally put as many books as I thought the Professors would enjoy from it on hold. To my surprise, the books were ready for pick up by the end of that same week. Unfortunately, we weren't ready for pick up until the 'this is your final email!' deadline, or around that time.

Here are our favorites. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Baa choo!  by Sarah Weeks

Birds by Kevin Henkes

Gorilla! Gorilla!  by Jeanne Willis 

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

We also included a few that were not on the actual reading list, but written by the same authors. 

Overboard! by Sarah Weeks

Ms. McNosh Hangs up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks

Finally, this book, Bones by Stephen Jenkins,  was a personal favorite of all the Professors, but had to be put away after a few days. There are several large fold outs and it was cumbersome for the them to handle, and we don't want to be in the habit of buying Library books. 

We enjoyed the reading list, and are looking forward to our next batch of Library books.

Stay Tuned....

As-salaamo alaykum/Hello Everyone,

Our blog is going on a small hiatus while I try to get all our posts caught up.  In doing our home reorganization, and setting up our new classroom, the posts have gotten back logged, very back logged.

Our original intention in starting this blog was to give friends, family, and other homeschooling families a look at our homeschooling day. Insha' Allah, I will be taking the rest of the week, and the upcoming weekend, to write up, and organize the posts, and begin getting them out once a day.

We have some great topics coming up insha' Allah,  from Arabic Sandpaper letters, to Turtles, to one of my personal favorite early childhood milestones, Representational Drawing.

Insha' Allah, look forward to sharing our journey with you. See you all Monday! : )

National Building Museum: Building Zone.

Over our Eid Al Adha break we took the Professors to one of their favorite places to play, the Building Zone inside the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.

We have been taking the Professors their since Professor #1 and #2 were about 2 years old, maybe younger, and it has always been free. We were devastated to learn upon arriving, that it now costs $3 per person to enter the play room. It really put a sour note on our trip. To boot, the playroom closed an hour before the Museum closing time, and this was not noted on the website. We stayed, but I don't know when we'll go back.

Here are some shots from around the Building Zone to give you an idea what a great place it is. 

A corner shot of the overall Zone:

The Book Nook area with Puppets:

 Masha' Allah, The Professors have all always enjoyed this area, especially as babies. They enjoyed plenty of room for tummy time, or reading with one of us. The puppets being a favorite highlight. While we were there this trip, Professor #1 and I enjoyed this book together: 

It was a neat book about building roads, and other sites. I plan to add it to our pick up list next Library trip.

Along the wall near the Book Nook is a Block Play area with large canvas bags full of different building blocks, including wood, magnetic and linking plastic blocks, as well as, large colorful vynil covered foam blocks for building large towers. 

I didn't get a shot of the foam building blocks as they are very popular, and were in use at the time.

While Baby Professor and I were in the Book Nook area, all 3 Professors were hard at work on a project in the Block Play area with the magnetic blocks. They rolled one of the large metal dump trucks over from the Construction Zone and began building a 'Sea Urchin.'

To the right of the Book Nook area is a large Dress Up area. Masha' Allah, Professor #1 just LOVED this area as a little guy! You can be a fireman, police officer, construction worker, and so much more! The large mirror is actual "kid" size.

In the center of the Zone is a large, working house. There's not much to it inside but the lights turning off and on is a particular highlight. 

Toward the back corner of the Zone is a Construction Zone. It has a large amount of oversized building blocks, including blocks that look like bricks. There is also a floor mat that looks like a town, and many very large, and very small trucks and cars to push.

There is also this: 

I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I walk into a Museum and see this my heart sinks a little. There is usually only one table, with a few trains, and twice the number of kids. No amount of coaxing will deter the Professors (or many other kids) to something else, once they've engaged in Train Table play. 

Masha' Allah, we enjoyed another great trip, but were saddened to have to leave an hour earlier than we had planned. On our way out DH and I hung our heads a little as we were uncertain when we'd be back with the new fee in place. Insha' Allah they will decide to return it to a free play place again. If your visiting DC from out of town however, I'd say its worth stopping in.

'I'm not done yet!'

Alhumdullilah, we have really been enjoying the 30 Days to Hands On Play Challenge: http://www.handsonaswegrow.com. After a few attempts, I have decided against taking pictures of this activity. Each time, respectfully after the 15 minute no interference limit, I tried to snap some pictures of what the Professors had created, it zapped the creativity, interupted their flow, and I was met with many a scream of 'I'm not done yet!!' I figured this would happen, and tried to find a way around it, but alas its not meant to be.

We've really enjoyed playing, and hope to keep up the 15 minutes of uninterupted play. The challenge is winding down now, but there are still 5 more days to play along, and like us, you can always go back and revisit the days you missed. Enjoy!

http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/

Thank you to @handsonaswegrow and @imaginationtree for a great month of play ideas. And a special thanks to @nurturestore for all the retweets, so we didn't miss a day.