Two milestones in one week

The week of April 20th:

On Sunday, the 20th, Ibraheem asked to try out his bike sans training wheels. We had taken them off at the end of summer in 07, and never really gave it a try. In the interim, he rode his Razr scooter anywhere and everywhere. I honestly believe learning to master the scooter gave him enormous confidence and preparation to handle the two-wheeler. So much so, that after just 15 minutes of riding his bike on the grass, we decided to give it a go in the driveway. He was literally off before my eyes that I didn't have a moment to stop and get a camera or holler to Omar to come watch. My lucky neighbor got to watch this magical moment. I think this moment, and the moment your child reads, are truly magical and transformative. All of this happened in less than an hour. We were laughing at how we had small small milestones to bike down the street, and to the grocery store, and here we were biking for 5 hours in one day. The next day he rode to school, which is a tad over a mile away, and back home. Yay!!

Imraan's milestone happened today, while at Borders, during our afternoon Imraan-directed bonding session. I picked up mags for myself to read while he selected his own. We sat in the kids section and started reading. Next thing I know, Imraan is reading one of this I Can Read books, a level 2 one in fact, all by himself. I help him with harder words here and there, but he really sounded out every single word and read the last 10 pages of the book himself. I was pretty much in shock...again. I can't believe my little 3 1/2 year old Imraan, recently toilet-trained I must add, is reading! Alhamdulilah!!! He was quite proud of himself as well, and watching him blow through the words gave him great confidence. Will post a pic here later.

We are still working on his writing and Ibraheem's storywriting. Last week we tackled geography, and are going to continue with it by making global menus. We have a mama's restaurant menu, and will add the global menu to that.

wake up

It's 7:30 am.

First morning after new bunk bed. We have decided upon awakening that our sleep was blissful and completely sound. For the first time in days, I did not wake in the middle of my sleep. I slowly enjoy the waking up process, a stark contrast to being woken up by screaming boys chasing after each other, and inevitably jumping into my bed.

Imraan walks into our room to make an announcement.

Imraan: No one can use the kids bathroom because the toilet is broken.
Me: Imraan, did you do morning peepee?
Imraan: I already did it in your bathroom.
Me: (incredulous) But did you do it this morning? In my bathroom?
Imraan: (changed his mind) It's not morning right now
Me: Yes it is, look out the window, its bright and sunny.
Imraan: Then wake up.


My 3 year old has devised a new way to get my out of bed, yet again.

Raising Boys

It's actually a title to a book, not just a phenomenon. I've checked out a few books from the library recently about parenting boys. I've learned a lot that was certainly enlightening, some material was common-sense, like making the simplest tasks game-oriented. It's almost the reason why Imraan is nearly toilet trained. The most interesting thing I read was that boys auditory senses work differently from girls. So the key is to not nag, but to say something and recognize a time lapse between the words out of my mouth and into his ear, through his brain, and out his mouth.

Also, there is a new movement of single-sex education that is starting from the west coast. Researches are finding that boys and girls learn better at early elem ages when segregated. For example, if you tell a girl to draw a picture of something, and suggest to add some yellow, she will do it, and not protest (to the greater extent). A boy however, **my boys**, do not take any suggestions, and prefer their drawings to my suggestions. The researcher explained that suggesting to a boy to add some color can imply to a boy that his current drawing is not good enough, and by adding a color, it will be better. This is definitely not the way I want to teach my boys. I really try not to say things like, good job, or excellent work to things that don't need such merit. I'll say things like, oh that looks like fun, or I like how you drew that, or can you explain your drawing to me. Always giving the power back to the kids, while retaining your power!

More later!

Lit/reading/writing

Story bag:
Put several items in an opaque bag, have him pick out three items and tell a story with the interrelated items.

Mad libs

Typing stories on the computer with supplementary illustrations.

mathematical connection to the real world

working on....

Math books related to: graphing, sorting, gathering data

Algebra concepts: assign a value to each letter and decipher words with highest values; plot names in chart and sort, ex: A=1

Geometry: show symmetry, every day objects and the idea of parts and whole

Measurement: speed limits, odometers, rulers - again charting objects.

death

Age 5 for Ibraheem has proven to be a dream. He is really an enjoyable child. I love his company and adore his personality and watching him develop into a small little guy. His favorite playtime activities are action figures, working on his LeapPad, and mostly drawing. He's becoming quite an artist. Conversationally, he likes to talk about death and dying. I suppose it started when we visited the Field Museum and checked out the mummies. He is convinced that after people die, they become mummies. In fact, he stated to me the other day...

Mama, when I have my kids, you won't see them because you will be a mummy!

We're also writing books. He authored one about Lightning McQueen. We keep it all in our homeschool binder which is filling up quite nicely!! I've found tons of great resources online.

Here are some:
School-Home Links Reading Kit: Kindergarten Activities - Table of Contents
Folding Shapes: Are the Sides the Same? - Math Lesson Plan, Thematic Unit, Activity, Worksheet, or Teaching Idea

confused

so today, and yesterday, and many many times before, i tried to get the boys to call me 'mommy'. i know mama is endearing, sweet and cute. but it was cute when they were just learning how to speak, and since i grew up calling my mom, mommy, i thought it would be sweet. i'm over it now, since they can't seem to shake the habit, and its their own word. but imraan however, thought it over, and decided....

mama, since you don't like mom, and i don't like mommy, and you don't like mama, i will just call you ayesha akhtar

so its settled.

Three pictures for Heather!!

First day of school for the boys.

Imraan's favorite dinosaur. He knows its TRex, but he calls it Allosaurus...

At a wedding....

Superman!!!

Eid ul Adha

Here we are again at another Eid, and I am stuck at how to explain it to Ibraheem with importance and significance, as well as relate it to the rest of the community we have taken in as our own. I can't help but get a little upset to see all the displays of the consumeristic side of christmas and hanukkah. i find it a little funny that the market still hasn't figured out that along with the aforementioned holidays and kwanzaa (at least since 1966), Eid ul Adha, this year, is in the same timeframe. As an added bonus, it is before christmas if muslims want to partake in purchasing gifts for family, friends or neighbors, and it still contributes to the bottom line. Alas, ignorance prevails and everywhere I go, I am reminded of the work that I need to do. SO! I have decided to do a few things: 1) Write a letter expressing my disappointment in the OP Public Library's awareness of the fact that in 2007, it is estimated that four million muslims will make this pilgrimage; and 2) prepare and give to the RFCC a Kabah - made from a cubed kleenex box, accompanied with either a few notes about the importance of this eid, or if i'm lucky, a book on it.

Uno!!

A new game we've been playing at home is Uno! I am quite blown away by both boys, first Ibraheem but now Imraan, who actually won the game - twice - honestly. It's such a great game for them to learn; they gain strategy skills, can test their matching ability (number or color), and of course their competitive skills.

Today is Tuesday - homeschool day (boot camp for me!) so we are working on writing and crossword puzzles. Imraan needs work in the bathroom....still struggling with toilet training....

what does mommy do

So, its been about 4 years since I've been officially enrolled in public health school, and now that my kids are in school, I have come across several circumstances where I've had to define my profession. I went to the Academy to talk about hygiene, but when I got there, Ibraheem's teacher had laid out stethoscopes and food pyramid projects and had told the kids I would give instructions on both of those things. All 5 of the worksheets I brought about covering your cough, washing hands, etc was not really useful. Lucky for me, I could try again at the community center, where I had more fun and got a chance to talk to all 15 of the kids at one time. I introduced myself as someone who educates people about health and clean hands - yes i am the clean hands lady!!! I asked some questions to the kids about how they get germs. This is what they said:

• when someone farts in your face
• if you touch someones wart it gives you germs
• picking your nose
• playing with dirt
• playing with my guinea pig

So ok good - they got the idea of where germs come from. A teacher noted to me to stress the importance of bathing - guess there are some issues in that department...

The best is when I walk into the house today and find Ibraheem washing his hands. I immediately am alarmed and ask, what happened?

He says, oh nothing, I just wanted to wash the coming-home germs off my hands before I went to the bathroom....

gotta love it...!

school daze

Went to Ibraheem's class to talk about hygiene, cleanliness, overall best practices for good health this flu season.

Went to Imraan's class to read a story. (The old lady who was not afraid of anything) Imraan sat between two girls - maya and ariana (who he always talks about!) they are twins who only speak in spanish. one of them had her arm around imraan, then later imraan showed her his leg or sock or something.

homeschool update

So its mid-october and here's where we are at with homeschooling:

• Ibraheem is confidently reading level one books. earned his first prize today for finishing (ok, 2 stickers away) his first reading chart! he is reading words everywhere all the time. it is really a phenomenal experience to watch. We turn anything into a spelling game. Some things that have helped solidfy reading words: Boggle Jr. (rec'd as birthday gift!!) - which is also great for Imraan to learn to match letters, so double bonus. Writing cards to people, writing mini-stories next to his artwork. Writing and drawing emotions (thanks nani!). Also good is that word chart, with word families.
• Math-wise: we play bingo almost daily. Both of them love it and it really works on number recognition. we have a number chart (1-100) which we also use when we play school (or when they play school). Ibraheem will call out a number and ask Imraan to correctly say it, which always results in a sticker for his chart. We really love reward stickers and sticker charts for everything!
• When i started all of this home stuff, I didn't have much for Imraan to do. I kept him busy with using foam stickers on construction paper to make collages/pictures. I picked up the library copy of Your Three-Year Old: Friend or Enemy (series recommend by A.S, thanks!) and realized I should be encouraging him to scribble! So thats what we did. I asked him to pick up a marker/crayon and start drawing whatever shape I called out. Amazingly, within a few days, he was drawing people! Just last week he drew something - which I have yet photograph- it was a boy, 'with two arms, two hands, two yegs (still says y for l), two feet. and now he's in the fire'. I laughed about the fire thing b/c i was reminded about how much children btw ages 3-5 are obsessed with fire! So now he too can join in with the coloring projects.
  
• We are also doing some projects at home which kids are doing on Ibraheem's off days, such as the 'hand bat'. http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhandprintbat.htm Hopefully it will keep ibraheem connected with school as much as possible. Although we are all loving the idea of having tuesday and thursdays completely free!!!

more later!

eid party

For the little muslims at play eid party, i gathered several coloring sheets from the following sites.
hopefully the links will not disappear on me!

http://www.islamicplayground.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=57
http://www.playandlearn.org/articles.asp?Type=Coloring&prt=none
http://tj-ramadan.tripod.com/ActivitiesForYoungerKids.htm (loved the maze one to masjid from home)

Homeschool stuff

I started schooling the kids at home on tuesdays and thursdays, and we fill our days with lots of crafts, worksheets, reading, and arabic/islam.

One of the things we did recently was with egg cartons. After they went to bed one night, I separated an egg carton (although I used a paper carton, I think the styrofoam would have worked better) into individual pieces. See the website below for the lady bug example. I had it ready for them when they woke up and they were so excited to make their own. I have an art box stocked with googly eyes, foam stickers, felt, and a bunch of other things to make great projects. Ibu made a ghost with his. I also showed them a craft in symmetry..instead of traditional snowflakes, we did butterflies, and little bears.

We are also doing a lot of crossword puzzles. Omar has a website where he makes them and so far its been a real fun activity. Ima's getting familiar with drawing and I'm having him work on drawing faces, and I cut out shapes and have him create people or houses. Ibu's also been handy with the stapler (learned how to use it at the Academy) and goes stapler happy with some of his construction paper.

We are also keeping up with math and writing....and on that note, need to update my posters!

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Eggcarton.shtml

Just wanted to jot this down before it became a distant memory...the cure I found which satiated my PUPPP during pregnancy was taking dandelion root capsules several times a day. Here's a link to wikis paltry description of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruritic_Urticarial_Papules_and_Plaques_of_Pregnancy. Although anyone who has had it could rant on more and more information. Start taking it upon onset and within a week or two weeks time, the symptoms all disappear!!! I looked into dandelion root, which perhaps due to its diuretic properties, aids in the rapid cleansing of the liver (removing toxins, etc). Good stuff!!

School Days

Time to catch up on what we've been up to so I don't forget our routine!!

It's been one month of school and we are definitely in full swing. Ibraheem and Imraan both attend the River Forest Community Center in the morning 3 days a week. On those three days, Ibraheem attends the Academy of Music and Movement for their afternoon ARTS program. He is really enjoying the different dynamics of his day. He has to wear ballet shoes for the Academy, but since he has 'creative movement' class, we call them movement shoes! Today I attended his birthday celebration at the Academy and was touched with the program. I supplied him with a dozen photos from birth to his current age, and he created a timeline. He and his teacher walked around the class, which was sitting in a circle, and marked each year by one trip around the circle, with Ibraheem holding up the respective page of the timeline. I am really enjoying the different approach to learning and find him really taking off academically. I pulled him out of Tuesday/Thursday so I can focus on his reading, and so far... he finished off two rows of his reading chart!! If anyone comes across books with big print, please let me know! We are motivated to finish the whole chart soon!

Imraan has adjusted very well to his pre-school class. He adores his teachers, Ms Jodie and Ms Debbie, and has learned some really cute songs. Each time I pick him up, he proudly tells me, mama I did not cry!! I love that they are across the hall from each other, which makes Imraan feel so protected.

Lemonade Stand

Today we set up a small lemonade stand. I made strawberry lemonade, and we used Diego/Dora cups. We sold each cup for 25 cents. We had 3 customers (4 if you include a couple as separate patrons). Two customers gave us tips. The kids enjoyed being outside and screaming, 'you want lemonade???' to almost every car or person who passed by. Check out the pix.
After our first customer, the FedEx guy:


They can't wait to do it again!

Happy at a school birthday party


Mid-air!

Dressed up for a wedding

Graduation!!

Ibraheem had his Pre-K graduation today, and Imraan had his graduation from Playschool. The ceremonies were so adorable, especially Ibraheem's. The kids walked in wearing very special t-shirts, they sang three songs, and received diplomas.

Here are some photos..