Catching Up.

As-salaamo alaykum/Hello,

It's been almost 3 weeks to the day that my previous computer died suddenly, without warning. It was quite a shock as it never showed any signs of trouble, and then was just, gone. Alhumdullilah, we are blessed to be back in business with a new computer, Masha' Allah. So let's catch up....The Professors have been busy since we last blogged, the newest thing they have been up to is Gardening. We will of course, have full posts on that coming up insha' Allah.  They have also undergone a needed schedule change, which I want to talk about in today's post.

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Our New Schedule

The last time we changed up our schedule/routine around here was when Baby Professor was able to be down to one nap a day, thus allowing us to have one nap time/rest time for all the Professors. That was a big blessing, and Alhumdullilah the routine is still one we are going strong with, Masha' Allah.

Recently though, I began to notice the twins, especially the younger one, were becoming overwhelmed with 'formal' school work, mainly our Montessori lessons. We have been bobbing and weaving around different subject areas, to one, cover their current interests, and two, be ready for K homeschooling in the Fall insha' Allah. We also spent a lot of this year, starting this past fall, establishing a school schedule. Alhumdullilah, now that that seems to be in place, its time to loosen things up a bit. We are still following the Montessori and Reggio methods, but we are taking a big step back on how lessons are prepared and presented. I am working feverishly on Themes and Unit Studies to be rolled out very soon insha' Allah, to do alongside our reading, writing and math lessons. I am also making a huge 'bucket list' of field trips for the Professors, and some are as simple as going to the pet store and looking at the animals. 

 We are also no longer schooling Monday-Thursday, with Friday and the weekends off. I have noticed for awhile now the Professors do much better with a small activity everyday, and it can be as simple as a new worksheet. We are taking a much more creative, and project based approach to  homeschooling such as, extended, long, free play sessions in the mornings in the large playroom, keeping consistent with our Library, and Homeschool Park Days, possibly joining in a co op this Summer, and several times a week the Professors start their day off with morning gardening. I also let them help out and join in with many more household tasks, that  they safely can. Now that the weather is so warm, we are swapping a chunk of our "TV" time for more outdoor playtime. Baby Professor is even getting in on things, as now he has graduated from his baby play area, Masha' Allah, and one of his favorite things to do is help me load the dryer, he even knows about the dryer sheets, and makes sure he gets to put one in, Masha' Allah : )

Finally, we are introducing consistent 'computer time.' We have a Thrive (similar to an iPad) masha' Allah,  and the Professors have their own screen on it with school Apps, but yes, they also have Angry Birds, and they enjoy playing the kids games on the PBS kids website. They only have access to it on the weekends, so they really enjoy, and look forward to their 'computer time.'  

That's about it.  Insha' Allah, our post tomorrow will be about the Sunflowers we planted over the weekend : )

We're back!

As-salaamo alaykum/Hello everyone,

Alhumdullilah, we are back online. Insha' Allah we should have some new blog posts starting this week.

-Ms Momina

Do it Yourself Montessori Color Tablets.

Awhile back I had intended to do a post on some of our favorite Do It Yourself (DIY) Montessori materials. I quickly realized that was highly unrealistic, and as easy as a Google search when you're ready to begin your project. Last night while doing a blog roll, I saw a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Mari-Ann of Counting Coconuts. It was a post on her project of making her own Montessori Color Tablets. I had seen the manipulatives around various Montessori web pages and blogs, but never looked into them. After reading her post, I promptly decided this was my next Mommy Project, and is going to be part of a mini Montessori/Reggio  art theme for the Professors, insha' Allah. Below you will find the link to Mari-Ann's project, and a link to presenting the color tablets in a three-part lesson.

DIY Montessori Color Tablets Link:

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/2012/03/diy-montessori-color-tablets.html

Three-part Montessori Color Tablets Link:

http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/visual-sense-color-tablets.htm

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I have no idea how long it will take me to make our color tablets, but I hope to do complete it fairly efficiently, and hope to get started on it as soon as this weekend, insha' Allah.

Series Books.

I'm not sure that's the correct name for them, but its the term we'll be using ; ) When I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do in the Summer, when it came to reading, was to read a Series. After finishing the first book, I could not wait to go to the Library and pick up the next few books in the series. A few of my favorites were Little House on the Prairie, including Little House in the Big Woods. Anne of Green Gables, and Nancy Drew, the series from the 1960's. As I got older, Jane Austin and Charlotte Bronte became favorites. I wanted to introduce that same positive experience to the Professors this Summer insha' Allah, and since the weather has had a Summer feel to it, we've started our first series early....

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Our first Series book: 

Frog and Toad Together

 by Arnold Lobel 

  

This book brings back many warm memories for me, Masha' Allah, and I couldn't wait to share it with the Professors. Looking back, some of the children I used to read these books too are now in High School! Masha' Allah! 

After we finished our Stencil playdough session, we read this book for story time. Masha' Allah, the Professors loved it, though they were very concerned about remembering exactly who was Frog, and who was Toad.

This book has five stories in it, and I believe there are a series of three books. Due to a problem with the Library catalog, I was only able to put this book on hold, but its worked out just as well. 

Insha' Allah, once we finish the Frog and Toad Series we will move on to the Beatrix Potter books, then see what else strikes our fancy. Suggestions are welcome : )

Happy reading : )

Homemade Rainbow Glitter Playdough and Stencils

Last week Grammy was here for a visit, and, Masha' Allah, brought me some consignment sale goodies, one of which was a box of stencils. I had been wanting to do a craft I saw on an Early Childhood sight I follow, that incorporates playdough and stencils, so we got right to work on it the next morning. You can find the activity here:

 http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/play-doh-and-stencils/

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Stencils

We have the stencils pictured in the blog post, but we used the ones Grammy brought instead and this set was the main reason:

The picture and the words are together, great reinforcement for our 'early readers' Masha' Allah. 

However, the box contained a variety of fun stencils:

Even the lid could be used as one

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Rainbow Glitter Playdough

For this activity I wanted to use homemade playdough, since the stencils were rather large, and we don't have large amounts of jarred playdough. I went to our favorite 'Snow' playdough recipe and doubled it, but swapped out the silver glitter for Red, Orange, Gold, Green, Blue and Violet glitter. I put the glitter in three separate layers of the playdough mix to ensure lots of sparkles

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Getting Started

Masha' Allah, everyone was happy to see warm, homemade playdough on the table, and wasted no time getting work. 

Masha Allah, with the help and supervision of Mommy, and Grammy, even Baby Professor joined in

He enjoyed himself, and only tried to sneak a bite of playdough once. 

Everyone else hard at work Masha' Allah

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Prints

One of the main ideas behind the original activity was to help with word recognition and spelling. Here are some of the prints we made with the word and picture sentcils

Masha' Allah, we really enjoyed this activity, and I was impressed with how the playdough turned out. The playdough container has been out in the school room on and off since we made it, and Professor #3 is still having a ball with it well into the weekend.

Field Trip: National Zoo

Last week we took advantage of the incredible weather we were having here on the east coast, and took the Professors to the National Zoo, in downtown Washington DC. This was the second trip for the twins, but the first for Professor #3, and Baby Professor. We aimed to make it an authentic field trip with packed lunches, backpacks, and worksheets. Masha' Allah, the Professors were over the moon, and DH and I were so excited, we forgot the camera at home.

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Getting Started

On the National Zoo website, http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ there is section on the homepage titled EDUCATION on the left, click that to get to another section titled, Field Trip Resources. On that list is a link titled Activity Sheets, click the link to bring up a small list of printable worksheets for your trip to the zoo. Fun!

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Worksheets

We chose two worksheets for our trip, the first one was titled  Zoo-per Bingo. 

Each Professor got a worksheet. You are supposed to use the worksheet as a Bingo board, while you walk through the Zoo. Our original idea was to have the Professors just circle what animals they saw, but after the first station, it was hard to keep up, so they used them more like maps, which Masha' Allah, ended up being a pretty useful idea : )

 The second worksheet we used was titled Creature Features Scavenger Hunt. We used this one to help guide them through the different exhibits. The questions generally asked about animal color, size, shape, and a few specifics, such as, does it have a tail, does it have fur, etc. This helped them focus more on what they were seeing at each exhibit. 

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Trip Summary

As I said in the intro, we left our camera at home, so I will share some of the highlights insha' Allah. 

The first stop we made was to the Kids Farm. Its supposed to be a petting zoo, and you can brush and feed some of the animals when staff is on sight. Unfortunately for us, there was no staff on when we toured that area. The Professors enjoyed it, but we breezed through fairly quick. 

One of the things that impressed us all was something called 'The O Line.' This is a length of high beams and rope set up across the zoo from the Ape House to where the Orangutans are housed. Its named after the DC Metro system, and the Orangutans can climb across "The O Line" from house to house. We were fortunate enough to spot a few of them making their way back home, after snaking in a small grassy patch under one of the beams. It was really something to see, Masha' Allah, and we did not see that last trip. 

Another highlight for the Professors was seeing Turtles. There is a large area located under a waterfall that goes into a pond. There were lots and lots of different turtles, but they were surprised to see Red Eared Sliders, two of which, Masha Allah, they have as pets. All the turtles looked pretty happy soaking up the afternoon sun.

Finally, Professor #2 reallly wanted to see the Octopus. It took a little looking to find the exhibit they were housed in, but we eventually found it. It was housed in a neat Aquarium style exhibit, so we got to see all kinds of sea life, hermit crabs, blue crabs and coral, amongst other exhibits. On the way out you have to pass through something called the, Polination Station. It was a beautiful open area full of butterflies and flowers, reminded me of another place we love, Longwood Gardens, in PA. The Professors weren't to sure of the butterflies flying around them, but it was Masha' Allah, so beautiful. 

We did not get to tour the entire Zoo due to the heat, and length of it. Insha' Allah we will go back soon and finish the trip, and see some of the bigger animals.

Alhumdullilah, we finished the day at one of our favorite local parks, which gave the Professors some breathing room to play and eat, and also kept us from being caught up in rush hour traffic.

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Circle Time Wrap Up

Today, we did a small circle time wrap up of our trip. While the Professors colored in their Bingo  boards, I went through the second worksheet and asked them the questions, phrasing them as 'What did we see that was __________?' Here they are below if you care to take a look at their answers.

Masha' Allah I was surprised at some of their answers, and what they remembered. I filled in all of their worksheets so they can have it in their folders, and if they ever want to talk about the trip, its all  journaled right there, and they can add on more if they want, insha' Allah. 

Homemade Hashbrowns

Masha' Allah, a friend of ours recently gifted the Professors with this cookbook:

It's full of colorful pictures, just like the cover, and all the recipes we've tried so far have been hits, Alhumdullilah. 

For a snack yesterday, I decided to try their Breakfast Potatoes recipe, as a side with scrambled eggs. 

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Going into the oven.

All done.

Snack is served.

Masha' Allah I thought they tasted really good, but everyone else needed some coaxing to give them a try, but did well once they got started. I mushed up a few pieces of potato for Baby Professor to try. Nope. I plan to make this again, and use more potatoes to vegetables next time around insha' Allah. 

Recipe is below. Enjoy!

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5 A Day Breakfast Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds Baby Red or small Russet Potatoes, cut into 1- inch cubes

1 medium Red Bell Pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 medium Green Bell Pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

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1. Preheat Oven to 450

2. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir well to get oil over all vegetables.

3. Coat baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray ( I used Crisco Shortening)

4. Spread potato mixture evenly over baking sheet

 5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.