Month: November 2009
why we homeschool: john holt
john holt
— one of the founders of the unschooling movement —
is another author i read
back when i was first just thinking about homeschooling.
he was very encouraging to me
and help me understand
and put into words
why i felt how i felt.
when folks have questions about homeschool,
here is where i get many of my responses.
holt has several books but start with these two:
how children learn
(the companion book is how children fail.)
and teach your own
why we homeschool: john taylor gatto
i’m revisiting this
because of a conversation my husband had
with a coworker
whose wife was a teacher.
my husband was amazed because
his coworker’s wife had never even heard of homeschooling.
she actually thought it was a joke.
i challenge every teacher
or teacher-to-be
to read
the underground history of american education
by john taylor gatto.
while we’re at it,
i might as well also challenge every person who has gone to school
from kindergarten to college
to read gatto’s
dumbing us down.
these books may not change minds,
but they will certainly allow minds a peek outside of the proverbial box.
i read these when i was thinking about the options
for my, then, 3-year old, first-born toddler
and look where it got me!:
having fun in this daily, joyful struggle
instead of being a shuttle-bus driver
to and from “school”.
eid al-adha activities
the hajj, or pilgrimage to makkah / mecca, is one of the five pillars of islam.
muslims of all races and tongues come together
for three days (minimum) in the month of dhul-hijjah
to worship and glorify Allah
in one of life’s most moving spiritual experiences.
listed below are many ways to celebrate hajj
and its culminating celebration, eid al-adha or the festival of the sacrifice.
eid al-adha is expected to be on or around november 27, 2009 this year.
if you appreciate this
gathering of information,
make dua’ for my family and i
on the day of arafah
that Allah gives us the good in this world,
the good in the hereafter,
and saves us from the hellfire, inshaAllah!
- make a kaba pop-up card
we followed the directions for this simple pop up.
however we used black construction paper
backed with construction paper of a contrasting color,
turned it on its side,
and added a strip of gold-glitter glue. - read tell me about hajj book
by saniyasnain khan
- read/recite surah hajj, chapter 22 of the qur’an
- watch PBS’s muhammad, legacy of a prophet
there’s a chapter in the DVD that discusses the hajj, as well as a virtual hajj online. - make a hajj map
- take part in a local sacrifice or zabihah
- read or listen to hajj stories
some communities have an event that allows people who have made the hajj to share their hajj-stories. if not, ask someone that you know to tell you their hajj story with you. you could even interview them and publish their story in your local muslim newspaper. - discuss the virtues of the first 10 days of dhul-hijjah,
the 12th and last month of the islamic hijri calendar in which hajj takes place. - discuss the pillars of hajj:
- wearing ihram,
- making tawaaf (circumambulate) around the kaba,
- going back and forth sa’i between safaa and marwaa, and
- staying on arafah.
- read stories about the history of hajj including
- the story of sa’i when hajar and baby ismail (as) are left in the desert and discover the well of zamzam
- the story of the sacrifice when Allah tells the prophet ibrahim (abraham) (as) to sacrifice his son ismail (as), including the stoning of shaytan
- the story of the building of the kabah
- the story of prophet muhammad’s (saws) hajj
all of these stories can be found in these books by saniyasnain khan:
my first quran story book
and
goodnight stories from the life of the prophet muhammad - learn and recite the talbiyah
- take 3D virtual tour of the inside, outside kaba and masjid alHaram in mecca
- watch journey to mecca
- participate in a mock-hajj
many schools set up a model kaba and allow the children to dress in ihram and “make” hajj. ask your local muslim school if you can participate. - play this “i’m learning about hajj” memory-style game
- go on hajj!
arabic:
transliteration:
Labbaika Allahomma Labbaik.
Labbaik La Shareeka Laka Labbaik.
Innal-Hamdah, Wan-Nematah, Laka wal Mulk,
La Shareeka Laka
translation:
Here I am at Thy service O Lord, here I am.
Here I am at Thy service and Thou hast no partners.
Thine alone is All Praise and All Bounty, and Thine alone is The Sovereignty.
Thou hast no partners.
free montessori font
http://www.macrhino.com/free.html
free for personal use from mac rhino fonts
for when you need to print out desk name tags
with all the letters of the alphabet
(mom, how do your write “d”?)
or label something in the classroom.
now all i need is a free d’nealian font in print
and cursive…
book: people
people by peter spier
for those embarrassing moments when your child asks questions like
“why is s/he so fat/tall/skinny/ugly/big?”
well, sweetie, “you can ask me any question. but sometimes it needs to be done in private, so we don’t hurt people’s feelings. that’s good manners.” plus, Allah makes us in all shapes, sizes and colors.
free 3-part cards from jojoebi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jojoebi/collections/72157603022772523/
an artist/mom shares some of her montessori creations for free:
she has butterfly life cycle and vegetable cards,
continent cards, 4 elements cards (fire, water, air, earth),
living and non-living cards,
art cards (from da vinci to warhol),
fruit and dinosaur cards and
penguin counting cards.
she also has a tutorial on how to make sound cylinders.
book: if you lived with the sioux indians
if you lived with the sioux indians
by anne mcgovern
absolutely delicious
and chock-full on interesting facts
about the sioux tribe of native americans
in a question and answer format.
this whole series is great for american history and cultural studies.
other books in the series include:
if you
…lived in colonial times
…traveled west in a covered wagon (by ellen levine)
…lived at the time of the civil war (by kay moore)
…grew up with abraham lincoln
…traveled the underground railroad (by ellen levine)
…sailed on the mayflower in 1620
…lived when there was slavery in america (by anne kamma)
…grew up with george washington (by beth belov gross)
…were there when they signed the constitution (by elizabeth levy)
…lived at the time of martin luther king (by ellen levine)
…lived 100 years ago
…lived in the days of the knights
…-r name was changed at ellis island (by ellen levine)
…were a pioneer on the prairie (by anne kamma)
…lived in williamsburg in colonial days (by barbara brenner)
…lived at the time of the american revolution (by kay moore)
book: the composer is dead
the composer is dead
by lemony snicket
a delightfully dramatic and witty read
or listen (if you have the accompanying CD, as we did).
learn and hear about the orchestra and its instruments.
book: 7 habits of happy kids
was looking for something else in the library
and found:
the 7 habits of happy kids
by sean covey
(son of stephen covey).
without being too preachy
it uses seven illustrated stories
to illustrate the seven habits:
- be proactive,
- begin with the end in mind,
- put first things first,
- think win-win,
- seek first to understand, then be understood,
- synergize and,
- sharpen the saw.
at the end of each story are questions
to discuss with your children
and activities to do with your children to develop these habits.
i loved what the book was trying to accomplish
and the girls loved the illustrations and story line.
this would make a great companion to our studies on values.
see a video introduction,
preview the book,
see a trailer or
buy the book
at SeanCovey.com
good tree montessori homeschool 