So whats the plan?

Hmmm
I need to

• decide what I will use for IS curriculum
• decide if I will use a reading text book or not and if not do I want to use Islamic books as a main text? Do I want to use anything as a main text?
• make a pacing guide for myself including all subjects
• coordinate all the materials

Meeting Goals

So when you homeschool 2 kids, or at least these 2 you cover a LOT less material in the same amount of time, but I feel like we got a lot done this afternoon none the less.
I decided this week that I would just lay put the whole week for myself as a plan instead of daily plans. Today I kinda wish I had done the daily plan thing instead. On the other hand we covered Math for My Little Man, Science for both. Did some reading/science for B, Arabic for My Little Man, Social Studies for both and a little English for My Little Man. B also corrected has papers that I had checked, this morning.
Ideally we would cover English, Math and Science everyday and Social Studies a few times a week for B and once a week for My Little Man. Also covering Arabic and Islamic Studies daily for My Little Man. Health about once a week and making sure we use the computer each week as well, other than just reading our text books.
We will just have to see what happens tomorrow. Tomorrow is the play group day. At 11 we have the one that is just a few ladies from the neighborhood and at 3 we have the one that is for a homeschool group. Also B celebrates his birthday tomorrow.
B keeps coming a couple hours later than we planned and that bugs me. I talked to his mom about it today and told her it is just not worth it if he doesn't come when planned because it just throws off the whole day. Ideally I would like to start with My Little Man at about 8:30, B at 9:00 take breaks as necessary until 1 for a nice long lunch break and end the day by 4:00. This way we have plenty of time to take breaks, send one kid off with a break if necessary while I work with the other and still have plenty of times to do things together.
At least this afternoon was better than the morning. My school boys were in good moods.

Plans for a week with B

So My Little Man is at his dad's house for the week. He will be home for a couple hours monday-friday in the mornings so we can do our Arabic and Islamic studies together. Other than that it will just be B and me.

So I am trying to figure out where he is academically. I know that his reading level is about the same as My Little Man's and that his vocabulary is a little low as well, probably as a result of the low reading level. His strongest subject is math right now, but from the assessment i gave him he is not at the same level as his peers. He seems to be behind generally in all subjects although he has nice handwriting and is certainly more mature than My Little Man. He is clearly light years ahead of My Little Man when it comes to writing.

I think B is just a bit of a late bloomer. He has a fair amount of life skills, now we just need to beef him up in academics so he will be ready for the world.

I am thinking this week he may act out a bit given it will be our second week together. Thats ok, he will probably just need to test the ground to see where he and I stand. Therefore I think i need to have a behavior plan.
If I really focus on reading, math, and writing with him I think that might be best. He said he wanted to learn about bugs so maybe having him do a lap book about bugs might be a good starting place. hmmmmm

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. 

Three Weeks in

Well we are 3 weeks in and have a routine.
We do our American calendar, then our Hijri calendar
Next the weather and our prediction
Next we do our daily Islamic Studies lesson
Depending on the length of the IS lesson we will either take a break or do our Arabic, then take a break
Next is math
Followed by Science
And then depending on the day, art, PE, or social studies.
Then he does his work boxes.
The length of time it takes varies.
Today we slept in a bit and then went to a park to meet up with other HSers. It was awesome! Anyway we didn't start school until 2 oclock today. My little man had a snack and is now on to work boxes.

1s Day of School

We are getting a late start but I am excited about our first day of school. My son should be home from his dad's in a few minutes and then we will begin, inshallah. He told me yesterday that he is most excited about his new books for reading instruction and I am the most excited about the great science curriculum we will be using, Scott Foresman Science 2nd grade level.

Just a few days until Ramadan and School!

I have just a few days before school starts and I am ready. I am impatient for my son to get back from his dad's and I am excited begin our new school year. I am also exited for Ramadan to begin as that is my favorite time of year.
The year has been paced, the room is clean and organized, my little man's computer is ready and updated and all I need to do is adjust his desk. The floor in the school room is sloped so the desk is slanting currently. I have my first weeks battle plan. I have everything printed off and organized for the first month. The only thing I need to do is print for the following months and make the subsequent weeks battle plans.
As far as preparing for Ramadan, the house is tidy.I need to clean all the floors and dust. I'd like to cook all the dinners ahead of time. I also need to start going to bed earlier so that waking for suhur will be easier.

Clock in and Out

To go with our use of work boxes I made Super Pickle clock in and out pouches. I bought 2 pouches at the local Idaho School Supply for $.09 a piece. When he comes down to the school room for the day he can take his Super Pickle to the clock in pouch and when he is done for the day he can move it to clock out. I think he will love it.
I used LibreOffice pasted this picture 2x, and typed clock in and out under. I also printed a large version of it on card stock. 

Yeah for Free Library Printing

So te ink for my printer is expensive, 50 bucks a pop. So I went and printed a lot of the black and white stuff for the school year. Bad news is some of it got wet. Well, wet is an over statement, moist is better.

Last steps to getting ready

Well it looks like I am finally ready to just print off things and purchase science lab items. Most of the items for science I already have and only 1 will cost more than $5. By far the most expensive item to purchase will be ink. I'd like to get a self inking system, and those run over  $100. Still, I think it would be well worth it.b

My Hubby Will Teach PE/Health

So, inshallah, my hubby will be in charge of gym essentially. I asked to get involved in my little man's schooling and we talked about different ways he could be more involved. He decided he would like to take charge of PE/Health.
I gave him some tips regarding how to set goals and break them into lessons. I told I think of what my long term overall goal is then keep that in mid as I break it down into smaller goals. I then think, "What goal could we meet this year that would bring us closer to that over all goal?" I break that down into smaller and smaller pieces until they are so small we can make them into individual lessons.
I made some suggestions like looking up a pacing guide and standards. Trying The Presidents Fitness Challenge, and offered to put together some information for him.