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Showing posts with label civics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civics. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2011

What a week!

So we had a less than stellar day. It ended pretty good though. I wasn't actually planning on having school today but think about how little academically work we had done this week I decided that we would do a little.
While My Little Man was ok with updating his calendar he really didn't want to do anything else. ARG! We did science together which he did like but when it came time to doing a couple worksheets, in order to practice spelling, he decided he was done.
We had a long talk about choices to no end. Then I decided to pare everything down to the bare essentials and ask him how he wanted to accomplish those. That did the trick. I told him you HAVE to practice Arabic daily. You HAVE to learn something new in science each week. I and you need to show me that you have learned something new. I went down my list of 5 or 6 essentials and it clicked for him. He understood that they were essential.
I asked him how could he learn new things in science because I don't care how he does it as long as he can show me he has made some progress. He suggested playing web games for science and reading his favorite comic for English.
I told him I could work on the games thing but the comics would take a lot longer to happen. I also explained that he would HAVE to do some work alone, with out me. "I can not poop for you and I can not learn for you." He finally understood that he was going to have to do some stuff sitting down with a pencil in hand.
My point of view is, in the end he is going to have to do some writing by hand in order to be a better writer. He is going to have to practice spelling in order to be a better speller. I know he doesn't quite understand why he needs to know how to spell, despite my efforts to explain. On the other hand, frankly he hated the first lessons we had in reading but now he is the biggest book worm I know.
I am hoping he will do the same with writing. Maybe he will hate it now but in a month or 2 he will not be able to get enough of it.
I asked if he wanted to continue how we had school during Ramadan. Some lessons together them him alone doing work boxes. He said he did.
I would love to have lessons outside sometimes but i have the feeling that he would be overwhelmed by outside noises. Then again i don't know. Either way soon it will be cold and I do not want to go out in the cold. YES, I am a wimp. Hot, up to the mid 90's and I am fine. The cold, after 72 I start to complain.
LOL I am cold 3/4 of the year.
Anyway, Eid was nice, a bit quiet but nice. The past day or 2 the large family from down the block has been over to play. They are sweet little boys, wild but sweet. There is 1 child on the block that I no longer allow in my house or back yard due his discourteous and destructive behavior so i am glad my son has new little friends.
Today my Little Man was grounded due to poor choices the night before. I hated that he was grounded, especially the 10th time the kids came by, alhumdulillah I locked the front door so despite their trying they could not get in. I wanted to unground him so badly, but he had run off down to the end of the block around Isha with his little friend to his yard. He had been warned several time to stay in the back or in the house. So not only did he disobey by going out front again but he left the yard without asking and down to the end of the block where I can't see him even standing in the front yard but he did this after dark!
So Mom had to be strong and say no. When the neighbor kids came by the many many times they did I had to tell them over and over he was grounded. Actually I think by the end of the day My Little Man didn't mind as much as I did, lol. 

Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Next Step/I have decided what we will use in each subject!

So here is the big list:
  • English
    • reading: Scott Foresman Reading, Harcourt Collections
    • writing: 6 Traits of Writing 1st Grade, Scott Foresman Reading, Harcourt Collections
    • grammer: Scott Foresman Reading, Harcourt Collections
    • spelling/phonics: Scott Foresman Reading, Harcourt Collections
  • Penmanship
    • English: Spencerian Penmanship
    • Arabic: Iqrah Reader, and various printables
  • Science: Scott Foresman Science 2nd grade
  •  Social Studies
    • History: Our Prophet, and Our Country
    • Civics: Our Country
    • Geography: Our Country and Al Ummah
    • Culture: See IS and Geography
    • Economics: Our Country
  • Mathematics: How We Use Number, and Mathematics in Action
  • Islamic Studies
    • Salat: My Salat Companion (TJ)
    • Quran: Juz 30
    • Aqeedah: Most resources from TJ (Talibideen JR)
  • Arabic:
    • Reading: Madina Arabic Reader book 1
    • Writing: Madina Arabic Reader book 1, Iqrah Reader 1st grade
    • Oral: Madina Arabic Reader book 1, Iqrah Reader 1st grade
  • Health:
    • cooking/nutrition: weekly meal prep,
    • other: Harcourt Health, and various other individual resources for each topic

Social Studies Curriculum Choices

So as that SS concepts tend to be far above a 1st grader I am not terribly worried about this subject at this point. I am breaking it down like this, history, geography, civics, culture, and economics.
For history we will study seerah. I am thinking we will use a kids book published by Darusalam and a little workbook type booklet that I can't think of the name of at the moment. For geography, civics, and economics we will use Houghton Mifflin Social Studies Our Country. Very simple, and has audio with it. Culture will be incorporated in seerah and the text book.
If he has a hard time with any concept, I doubt it, it will be easy to supplement with the many resources i have found.