Free Audio Kids Books

Assalam Alaikum! I know that I have been neglecting my blog, but I have just been so tired lately. I know it's not really an excuse, but I have been struggling to get through my homeschooling day. As well, as doing all the other household duties.
I have found some free audio books, that has some nice stories for the kids.

Teeth

In science, we started learning about teeth. We talked about the molars, cuspids, canine, and incisors. What each  of them were used for. I had my kids look at their teeth in the mirror and then had them try to make each tooth out of clay.  They had fun, and I had fun watching them express their creativity. 

My Free Leap Frog Book!

                                                                                             

   I received my Free Leap Frog Tag book in the mail yesterday. It's actually a very cute story. My kids loved it. I don't actually have the tag system, but we read the book. They also sent a $5 off coupon to buy the system. It is something that I have decided that I will look more into though.                                             

Homeschool Tracker

I am so bad at record keeping. Even though I don't have to formally keep records yet, for homeschooling,  I have wanted to for my own benefit, as well as to try to get into the habit. I keep trying but always seem to find myself a few weeks behind. Like now I am 3 weeks behind.  I found the Homeschool Tracker, it is a wonderful program. It keeps track of our school days, grade average for my children, daily journal, ect... I am so thankful for it.

INS

I really can't understand the INS, can they really be so STUPID! I don't have any issues with having people come to the US, but come on, there are just some people that really should NOT be here!!!
I personally know how hard it is to actually get through all the questions, and things to get someone a visa, but this is to keep out the weirdos, as well as to keep out the people who come here for wrong reasons.
Just tell me, how government agents can not tell a phony when all the signs are there. I mean, a man marries an  American woman older than himself, then divorces her, because she refused to help him get a VISA. So he finds an even older American women, as old as, if not, older than his own mother. She of course did everything she could to give this man his VISA. He comes here, never lives with her, but kept a few clothing and things of hers in his apartment, just in case the INS came  a knocking on his door. Then after a few years gives this man  the American Citizenship. A week or two later he divorces this woman, goes back to home country gets married, which his family all knew was his plan anyway. He starts right away on her papers to get a visa, and guess what??? 10 months later she gets her VISA, as well as has a 1 month old baby. The baby can't get the passport for a while, so it's ok, lets just leave this baby, because AMERICA, is so much more IMPORTANT THAN AN INFANT!!!!!!!!!!
Now this is just one story, there are millions more. Wake up INS, and HOMELAND SECURITY!!!
Don't get me wrong, I love my country, I really do, but can you ever think about why our country might be falling!

Twinkies

I am not really one that buys what I would consider "junk" food. Don't get me wrong I love to eat all kinds of baked goods, but buying is a whole other thing. One day I happened to be watching the Today Show, and happened to see them make Twinkies. Now, I am not really a "Twinkie" eater, but when I came across this recipe I just knew I would have to try it. It was so good, it did remind me of twinkies, even though it had been many years since I last ate a boughten one. We had extra filling so I let my kids put some on the top. :)

Islamic Curriculum

The other day a friend of mine was mentioning that she would love to do more Islamic Studies with her children, something that would give her more structure. I actually ordered mine from Iqra. They have great books, I looked in the school book section. I am really impressed with their books, and they are worth more than what I paid for them. Actually the Islamic Sunday School, that I am taking my kids to, are actually using the same books that I bought here. We are using We Are Muslims, and I Love Islam  for Islamic studies, as well as the Arabic Reader. As for Quran, I highly recommend finding a good Quran Reciter online, we are using Quran Reciter. Inshallah, my Sisters in Islam, find this useful.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I also found these bars from Martha Stewart Living magazine. YUMMM.... I have been asked to make these multiple times.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars 

Date Nut Bars

 

I was in search of some healthy snacks for my family. We get the Family Fun magazine, and they had some nice looking recipes for kids school snacks. I decided that I would make these, and they were so good!
Date Nut Bars

Wanting to wish everyone a wonderful EID!!!

New Fridge!

Since last July our freezer has had a mind of it's own. Some days it would freeze and other day it would.... not be as cold as it should be. Well the other day it decided to really thaw, our ice cream was like soup. We had it fixed a year ago, with how much it cost to get a repairman out to just to look at it. We decided it would be better to just look for a new one. So refrigerator shopping we went.
It's hard to find a style, size, and price that is just right. My kids wanted one, but I thought another would have more space. They were a little upset, and said next time we would have to get the one they liked. Well, hopefully there will not be a next time, at least not for awhile.
While we were waiting for them to come, my oldest decided to find a way to keep them from coming in. A jump rope was used from the doorway to the kitchen cabinets. as well as being dressed up as a firefighter. All I can say is my kids do have a great imagination, which I am thankful for.  Of course, everything was picked up and put away before the delivery men came, but it gave me lots of smiles.
I was surprised even though it was a little smaller than the one we had, they had to take our front door off just to get the fridge in and the old one out. So that was interesting, having someone take our doors off.
We learned that they recycle refrigerators, and even they joked you never know this could be a new car. :)
Once everything was set up, my children were very happy with it. My only disappointment so far is even though it is 1/2 inch smaller than our old one, it actually doesn't have as much space. :(  But I guess, this should mean we will lose less food in the back of the fridge. :)))

School Break!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just finished up our school work for today, so we are officially on break for the next two weeks! :)  Eid-ul-Adha will be next week inshallah! We are all so excited, we usually do crafts and make decorations, but we have been having trouble completing our normal day to day stuff. I did save some of our things from last Eid, just in case. :)

I would love to say that just like this woman in the photo, that I would be relaxing, but that is so far from the truth. I have so much stuff to do, like get the kids some gifts, new clothes, as well as make some sweets for the upcoming Eid. Inshallah, I will get everything done in time.

Pumpkins

Oh, fall is such a wonderful time of the year, with the beautiful foliage. The crisp, fresh air. All those wonderful sweet smelling fall aromas... apple pies, apple crisps, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pies, ginger bread......umm.... all so very delicious.
All those fresh pumpkins from the garden got cooked and canned to make all these wonderful food. We cooked some regular pumpkin seeds and tried a new version, called Spicy Pumpkin Seed. They were good but, I felt less sugar or none would have been better.



                           The recipe: 1 lg. egg white
                                             2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. white sugar
                                            11/4 tsp. kosher salt
                                            11/4 tsp. sweet smoked paprika
                                             3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
                                             1/4 tsp. or less cinnamon
                                             2 cups shelled raw pumpkin seeds.

Heat oven 300F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Whisk egg white until foamy. Add sugar, salt, paprika, cayenne, and cinnamon. Mix and stir in pumpkin seeds. Roast seeds, tossing them a couple of times, until  puffed and edges are brown. Serves 8.

Free Spelling Curriculum

Assalam Alaikum! I was thinking it would be nice to share a few sites that I have found for spelling. My 1st grader is loving them, and having lots of fun too!

Click here for the spelling words/worksheets. They also have worksheets for other subjects, which I haven't used so I can't comment on them. 

For a fun place to play with spelling words, here, all you need to do is type in the spelling words, and let your child have fun playing. Your child can even take the spelling test online, and print it off, for record keeping.

Clay Pottery

Assalam Alaikum! This is the clay pottery that my 1st grader made. We just finished our Unit on, "Different Cultures" in Social Studies. YAY!!!! It was fun for the most part, but lots of different projects. We actually did both the Japanese Origami project as well as finished painting her pottery today. I also learned something new today, which I guess is a good thing, LOL! Which was, that origami was first used on gifts as a "Good Luck" symbol!

Free Leap Frog Book

A sister had this posted on her blog, I decided to check it out. It was interesting, I didn't have to pay anything, not even for S&H'ing. Inshallah, we should be getting a free Leap Frog book, in 6-8 weeks. If anyone is interested here.

Hateful People!

Tonight I went to sign my kids up for basketball, there is a lady that works for the city that just plain hates me. I am almost positive why, it's because I am Muslim. She never had an issue with me until I converted and I started wearing the hijab. Which I have discovered seems to be what most people hate about Islam. They feel I am being forced to wear it, even my own relatives believe this, no matter how many times I tell them that it is my choice. I don't go around telling you to cover, because I don't want to see your cleavage, or your booty, so why must people tell me that I have to take a piece of cloth off my head!?!
Back to this lady, the moment I opened the door, she looked up, her whole face changed, and hung low and swung just a little. I mean come on, it was almost like a big flashing billboard saying, "I HATE YOU!".  It makes me so uncomfortable, I just try to ignore it, breathe, and know I am doing this not to please anyone, but to please my Lord! I just can't believe some people in this world do not have the decency to respect another human being. Is it really so much fun to live in a world of so much hate? I mean, come on now, we are all human!


Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.  
Chapter 2. Al-Baqara vs. 120

Daylight Savings!

Twice every year we have to change the time, I for what think this is a big nuisance. I mean, "Really what is the point?". In the fall, it gives you more daylight in the morning, but it gets so dark so early. In the spring, yes, we do get more daylight. So I guess, it is better this way. Then again we have to deal with everyone getting used to the time. My children still woke up the same time they would have yesterday, so everything was delayed an hour. What did it give us, one huge headache. The day started out good, and turned into a huge downward slide. The upside, was on our way home, because of the hour difference, it was Magrib (Sunset) time. Subhan'Allah! How beautiful the sunset was! I kept thinking, "oh, I so wish I had my camera right now!". So many beautiful colors like pink, purple, indigo, orange, and so many more. The way the sky reflected off the lake! When you see such beauty in the nature around you, it's a reminder for us to reflect on our Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, The One True God!

Sand Painting

We have been learning about different cultures in Social Studies, we have looked at how different people celebrate different holidays, how people play different kinds of games, different types of food and the different utensils they eat with, an example like chopsticks. Today we were looking at different types of art. The Navajo Natives, did and still do Sand Painting. We mixed up some of the paint and sand, and we were on our way to sand painting. The thing about working with children, they have to do things there way, not technically the correct way. But then again what is the correct way, when it's art?! :)) Our next project is making clay pottery, inshallah!

First Snow!

Let it snow, Let it snow! The first snow is always beautiful, subhan'Allah! We weren't expecting any snow, as we were on our way to the Islamic Sunday School. It had been pouring, and cold. My husband said, "The way the rain is landing on the windshield, it looks like it could start snowing!" I jokingly responded, "Will you stop talking about snow, if you keep talking about it, it will come." Subhan'Allah! After, about 30 minutes, we thought we saw something white. No, it can't be snow, please don't let it be snow. It started coming heavier, and heavier, it defiantly was snow. Once we had arrived at the Islamic Center, it was snowing so much, I couldn't believe how big the snowflakes had gotten.

Islamic Sunday School

We found an Islamic Sunday School, it is a couple hours away from us, but we have decided it is the best thing for our children. They have Arabic, Islamic Studies, and Quran lessons. It is nothing that we couldn't just teach them at home, since I already did buy the books, and my husbands first language is Arabic, it just holds us more accountable. Forcing us to really make the time and effort in teaching them. It is more forcing my husband to spend time with them, since he gets so tired after work. Plus it's giving them a chance to meet more kids, Muslim kids at that!

It sure makes a long Sunday, but it has been so well worth it. The girls have both learned Al fatiha and are working on Iklas. It won't be long before they have this one memorized too, Masha'Allah!

"I LOVE SOCCER!"

Even though we home school, doesn't mean I want to keep my children away from people. I feel they will get a better education, as well as be more polite kids. This does not in away way mean that we will keep our children sheltered from the world, like some people think homeschoolers do. :) So we decided to sign our oldest up to play soccer, and today was the first meeting. I was a little nervous, wasn't sure what to expect, and didn't know how people would react to us being Muslims, but alhudullelah everything went well. Except the coach was introducing our daughter to the rest of the kids and asked her where she lived before here. My daughter just said I am from here. We have only lived one other place, and that was a city 20 minutes from where we live now. It's just hard to get people to think that Americans, can be Muslim too!

On the way home, my daughter was so happy and saying, "I LOVE SOCCER!".

The 5 Minute Skirt

We are planning on sending our girls to an Islamic Sunday School. We want to teach the girls how to dress correctly as well as the manners of the masjid. Since they are still little we don't have them wear hijab yet, but this doesn't mean they don't play with them around the house. It's not the easiest to find long dresses for little girls, or adults for that matter, so I decided that I would make them some long skirts.

I found directions on making a 5 minute skirt, but while I was looking for material, my 5 minute skirt turned into an all-day jumper dress. How this happened, is because my mother happened to pop in at the moment. I told her what I was doing and what I wanted and one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew we were making jumpers. Now, I should say I am not this great sewer, I can do simple things and that's about it. My mother started tweaking the pattern, so I totally got lost. The thing I dreaded most was the moment my mother said, "I have to go, you can finish them." Umm.... me finish them...hence this is why when you look at the hem at the bottom you can actually see it. The girls love them, and when they are running around in them you don't really notice the bad hemming job. So as for my sewing career it is going back into hibernation, or at least until I get another crazy idea for another project, which seems to be happening more often then not.

The joys of trying to be mother and teacher!

I have been a homeschooling mother, since I guess you can say I gave birth to my oldest. I always knew I wanted to home school, so I always tried my best to get educational toys, as well as tried to read to them more than let them watch tv. I played around with school things, but never really "homeschooled", until my oldest was ready for public school. Even though in my State, as well as a lot of other States, Kindergarten is not required. Which really surprised me, as well as many other people I have told. The requirement for me is I have to send in my Intent to home school form, within 10 days of my child's 7th birthday, which actually gives so much freedom, almost all the way through 1st grade. Now everyone is different, but for me education is very important, I want to at least keep my kids up if not above their peers. It took me a lot of time almost a whole year to choose my Kindergarten curriculum, I was happy with my choice for the most part, but the second half of our Math didn't go well, I ended up buying a whole different math curriculum, and it was the best thing I did. Lesson learned, if something doesn't work, try something else. The beauty of Home Schooling!

It was so much easier choosing a 1st grade curriculum, because I already had a sense of a few of the curriculums. The hardest was trying to find a good science and social studies curriculum. So far I have been happy with my choices.

Being a mother, all you want is for you child to be healthy and happy, and there are just some days that children, even if they were loving it one day, may not want to do school. My oldest loves coloring, yet if she has to color school work, it is the worst thing I could make her have to do. LOL! Sometimes, yes I could be considered a bad mother, but I do bribe my child and say if you do so and so, I'll let you have and do so and so. It works most of the time. Like I mention before, most of the time, I would say close to 95% of the time, my daughter loves school, but she has her moments. Like the other day, when I said it school time, she was like you are the meanest mother, you never let me play with my sisters, ect... School for us takes mostly 2 hours, unless we have some projects and it could take longer. I would love to be that teacher that sends her child to the principles office, but when you home school, you don't have that luxury, so yes, my child has choices. Do school with a good attitude or go back to bed until you are ready to do school! This has so far happened only about 4 times, and her attitude changes very fast as in I am ready to do it now.

I really had no idea that I would love homeschooling as much as I do!

Sometimes the mother in me wants to just give her the answer if she doesn't know it, but the teacher in my says she need to figure it out herself.

School Time!

I decided to make my children a school room, more for them to play school with one another, but also to reinforce some of the things we had been learning.

Here is our Arabic wall. I made an Arabic letters train.

As well as Arabic number trees.

This is our English wall. We have the ABC's, Numbers,

Days of the Week, and Months of the Year.

I keep all of my Schooling supplies on this bookshelf.

I'm thinking to start a blog about my life's adventures!

One of my life's adventure's is trying to teach my girls the basics of life, an example of where food comes from and how to grow our own food. My problem is I don't have a green thumb, nor do I like dirt. So you are probably thinking so, idiot how will you teach your children. LOL. My mother and my sister. My mother grows a huge garden and so I sent them out to learn the basics.
Auntie M, is telling my little angel how not to eat dirt. She eats everything insight no matter what it is. My other angel just wants to show off, she loves the camera. She really is surprising how helpful she really can be.
They are already started to bring lettuce, spinach, peas, and one cherry tomato in from the garden. As well as picked a few juicy red raspberries. I am so happy that I am able to give them this type of an adventure.
One of the things they love the most about working/playing in the garden is after they get to play in the bathtub. Nice brown water, but two sparkling, fresh smelling girls.

Going to try again!

I keep thinking it would be nice to have my own soapbox, but then I seem to never come back. I have decided as of today, I am going to do some up keeping, and start sharing as well as start speaking my mind. HAHA, let's see how long I'll keep this up.