Sign up to send your name to the moon. Names will be collected and placed onboard the LRO spacecraft for its historic mission bringing NASA back to the moon. You will also receive a certificate showcasing your support of the mission.
The deadline is June 27, 2008 for the submission of names.
i believe in summer camp.
it’s a time for children
to develop themselves
and reconnect with the rhythms of nature.
there are hundreds of camps in the atlanta area
– atlanta parent has over 400 listings!
while most are probably legitimate,
it seems that many are set up like school-in-the-summer
or are baby-sitting disguised as “enrichment”.
my summer camp growing up
was usually grandma’s house.
i got up when i smelled breakfast,
stayed outside ALL day in the garden
with all the insects it entailed;
i sneaked green fruit off the trees,
and came inside only for snacks of sugar, banana or mayonnaise sandwiches.
dinner on the stove just before sunset
signaled the closing of another day full of self-structured, spontaneous activities.
but, alas, everyone is not so blessed.
now as a self-proclaimed urban woman
whose children are not old enough to go to an
out-in-the-woods-with-a-cabin-and-bunk-beds-summer-camp
YET
(besides, i don’t have wheels,
and i’m on a budget).
here’s my favorite option:
camp believers.
the camp site is atlanta masjid of al-islam
and has 5 theme-bases sessions:
it runs from 2 june to 1 august
for muslim children, ages 4 - 13,
seeking “a traditional camp experience with a G-d conscious environment”.
camp activities include quranic studies, hiking / environmental studies,
arts & crafts, vocational training, culinary arts,
scrap-booking, photography, dance & fitness,
swimming, field trips and roller blading.
two-week sessions are $210 with a $50 registration fee
and run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., monday through friday,
with before and after-care available.
for more information:
email hajja ameenah sabree at littlebelievers [at] hotmail [dot] com,
call 404.207.9916,
or attend the camp round-up
on saturday, 17 may from 3-5 p.m.
at the atlanta masjid.
it was sprinkling intermittently
the entire time,
but watching
carlo goldoni’s
the servant of two masters
on the dock of lake clara meer
at piedmont park was…refreshing.
evening family theater for FREE!
it was done in a comedic style
with plenty of modern political references
– what rhymes with obama? –
as well as stereotypical comments about
local atlanta neighborhoods.
there was even juggling!
there was something for everyone in our family to be entertained with.
it was worth sending my husband out
at 8:30 in the morning
in order to wait in line
at for free tickets
at the piedmont park visitor’s center
which didn’t open until 10 a.m.
shake at the lake
was put on by georgia shakespeare.
they’ve got several plays by shakespeare coming up in the summer
as well as a family production,
tom thumb the great,
that i think we just might be interested in
coming july 18 - august 2.
when the hype of the beautiful montessori tools gets to me
i try to remind myself
that practical life activities
including care of the self,
care of the environment,
and grace and courtesy work
are just as important
and required materials are often simply me,
the child
and an open mind.
this montessori web site
has a thorough set of practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics activities
for 3-6 year olds:
www.infomontessori.com/
sanaa using the decimal cards and golden beads
to solve an addition problem.
317 + 162 = 479
sanaa is often eager to make wudhu
in order to read quran or make salat.
we decided to make her own wudhu chart
so she could do it independently and at her convenience.
i took a picture of sanaa
in every step of making wudhu (ablutions) for salat (prayer)
including the bismillah in the beginning
and the shahada at the end.
each step is represented as a row
in a three column table
that includes the step number,
name and, if necessary, number of times
the step is done,
and its corresponding picture.
i cut each row out in strips
and she glued them in order on a separate piece of poster board,
reviewing the steps as she went along.
she labeled her chart,
and then we put the chart in a place
where she could easily see it whenever she makes wudhu.
now if she forgets a step
she can just reference the chart.
her wudhu chart shows her
that SHE knows how to make wudhu,
personalizing, and inshaAllah internalizing, the ritual.
the beginning of what ended up being
a sentence that took up the whole table.
i loved english in school.
when we were diagramming sentences in english class
i used to feel like
there was only the teacher and i in the classroom.
maybe figuratively that was the case,
but will i have the finesse to teach it?
ruth heller’s world of language series
is a great way to introduce grammar
without formally teaching it,
at least at first.
she covers it all:
nouns,
collective nouns,
pronouns,
verbs,
adverbs,
adjectives,
prepositions,
interjections and conjunctions,
after you’ve read the books together
the child will have some familiarity,
and you will have a refresher course
as well as examples at-the-ready
for when the child shows interest and ability.
the montessori method has a great language curriculum
which includes grammar
(above: grammar symbols from alison’s montessori)
but a good book just adds to the breadth.
enjoy…cause i can’t wait!
i’ve already got “merry-go-round: a book about nouns” on hold at the library.
Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food and Nutrition
by lizzy rockwell
we enjoyed this book on nutrition.
it’s colorful, informative,
and can be tailored for a relatively wide age range.
there is a simple experiment about fats in foods
as well as several child-friendly recipes at the end.
