It’s a funny name, but this isn’t a site to be taken lightly :) English Banana provides loads of free English resources. Those of you who are looking for a free grammar programme for elementary students can use English Banana’s Big Grammar Book.

It’s jam-packed from cover to cover with a great selection of photocopiable worksheets taken from the popular English Banana.com website. We wanted to provide teachers with a really useful book of no-nonsense grammar worksheets that they can dip into and use in class with students at ESOL Core Curriculum Entry Levels 1 & 2 [Elementary Level]. It is also ideal for students to work with at home since the answers are all printed at the back.

The book is divided into four parts and is graded in difficulty, so that it begins with some basic stuff and builds up to more challenging grammar activities. It features a selection of Essential English worksheets which provide practice for crucial basic areas of knowledge for learners at Entry Level, like using numbers, writing the alphabet, spelling days and months correctly, and so on.

Did I mention it is FREE? :P

Download the Big Grammar Book here or here.

OK, I am finally feeling dead on my feet… I guess the Panadol Extra’s worn off. I’m off to catch some sleep before the kids wake up.

A mum once asked on a homeschooling bulletin board if it is possible to homeschool without a library in town. I said it is because *I* homeschool without a library in town :) I told the sister that when I am in Singapore, I am the crazy lady with equally crazy kids dragging suitcases of books from the neighbourhood library. In Islamabad though, I make do and alhamdulillah, it really has not been a hardship. We are blessed with second-hand bookstores which have allowed us to build our own library of award-winning literature and reference books.

There are also lots of free online resources. I’ve been busy surfing (can’t sleep – must be all that paracetamol in my system) so I’ll be sharing links over the next few days in shaa Allah. (Aren’t you guys glad I’ve sworn off Facebook and Farmville?? :P)

So, to kick off my Freebie Frenzy, here is a site that I’ve found useful.

Lesson Pathways is a FREE online educational resource for grades K-5. It contains high-quality, pre-screened online units (Pathways) that are designed to serve as either a full curriculum or as a supplement to your existing lesson plans.

You can choose how to use their resources:

A Guided Journey is a 36-week learning plan in one of the core subject areas, for a specific year or grade level (ie. Year 1 Science). A Guided Journey is made of individual Pathways. You may follow our recommended Guided Journeys or mix and match Pathways to create your own 36 week course.

A Pathway is a single unit on a given topic (e.g. Animal Life Cycles). Each Pathway contains content for one week of instruction, depending on how often you teach a given subject. Each Pathway is made of multiple Stepping Stones.

A Stepping Stone is a single resource. This may be a lesson, video, worksheet, hands-on project, ebook, online game, or other activity (e.g. Create a Spider Life Cycle Poster). Multiple Stepping Stones make up a Pathway.

The site has a planner that allows you to assign, customise and track pathways for each child. If you already have a curriculum, then Lesson Pathways can supplement it by providing you with free online links and materials.

Thanks to Alice, I realised that I’d forgotten to include a few more English resources I use. :)

Grammarland – yet another piece of yesterday’s classics. We love things with a vintage flavour and we love them even more when they are free :P This is a fun and funny read… perfect for Charlotte Mason home-edders. There are exercises from the book that you can do and Jessica Cain of We Don’t Need No Education (oh that blog name brings back memories!) has made some very nice worksheets to save you the trouble. You can access her worksheets here. There are 17 in all.

Another resource I’ve used is First Language Lessons (Well Trained Mind). The lessons were short and easy to implement and even my younger one who wasn’t reading yet found the lessons fun. I have Writing With Ease also by the Well Trained Mind but I really did not like some of the content as it referred to magic, myths and other things that are unIslamic. So I made my own copywork book. (In shaa Allah, once I improve it, I’ll upload it.) We have also begun to do dictation more frequently and for this, I choose a short paragraphs from chapter books she likes. We read the paragraph together and analyze the punctuation and grammar. Then Mars is left to prepare on her own. She is dictated to the next day.

Mars has written a couple of short stories on her own and even one for Science where she imagines what life would be like as a creature living in the trees. She enjoys it but often worries that her works are not good enough. (*sigh*) I found The Creative Journal for Children by Lucia Capacchione at Borders when I was in Singapore and I think it will help her ease up a little and just enjoy the creative process. The activities are suitable for kids from preschool through junior high so in shaa Allah I will do them with her younger sister as well. What I like about the book is that it encourages kids not only to record their thoughts and dreams through writing but also through illustrations. No grading, no criticism… just self-exploration and expression.

I purchased English From The Roots Up by Joegil Lundquist a year ago! These are Latin and Greek root cards and I had big plans for the programme, but *ahem* have not started on it in earnest, I am ashamed to say. We have only been reading the cards for fun. Mars does enjoy learning languages and is keen to start on Roots, but I will have to wait till after the summer (her Math needs work!).

Like I mentioned earlier, we are also reading more poetry these days. I got Mars hooked when I read her Michael Rosen’s (don’t you love him?) Who’s Been At The Toothpaste?. We’ve got a few anthologies and have been working through them. Robert Frost and Robert Louis Stevenson are some of her favourites.

I think I’ve got enough to keep us busy for a while. I now need to curb my curriculum junkie impulses :P

Good times, alhamdulillah.

My kids and I are at the F9 park almost everyday of the week. They have their karate lessons and I tag along. I love going going there because I get two hours to unwind after a day of homeschooling and chores. I catch up on some reading or use the time to plan the coming days’ homeschooling material. What makes my evenings there so enjoyable is of course watching the kids as they train. I’ve had the pleasure of watching the younger ones blossom and been treated to impressive shows of the older students’ skills.

Once in a while though, I don’t have a good time. It is usually when I am forced to make polite conversation with … well, the sort of people I really wouldn’t have for lunch. You see, there are some folks, who, upon finding out that we homeschool, cannot seem to get off the subject and keep quizzing me on the whys and wherefores. Every time we meet, I get the same old set of questions or the same sense of incredulity. Last week, a mum saw me jotting down a few notes and proceeded to question me (again).

Lady: So… what are you doing?

Me: I’m just jotting down some notes for tomorrow’s Science lessons.

Lady: Oh… YOU teach your daughter? I thought she went to Roots because your exercise book says so. (I’d already told her we homeschool.)

Me: No, it’s just a book I bought from the store.

Lady: But… why do your kids not go to school?

Me: Mars has a compulsory exam to sit for in Singapore in 2013, so it’s just easier this way. (I can no longer be bothered to give an honest answer as to why we homeschool. Let them believe in the long arm of Singapore law *S*)

Lady: Oh… can they sit for an exam if they don’t go to school?

Me: They study and prepare for the exam at home.

Lady: (looking quite unconvinced) Oh… I’ve always thought children would not study at home.

Me: (smile becoming a tad forced by now) No, they do just fine.

Lady: (still with the disbelieving smile) I mean, you know, if they don’t go to school, then it can be hard to control or encourage them.

Me: No, not really.

The conversation went on a little longer and by the end of it, I was really at the end of my patience (even though I did not show it). It was not just the interrogation. It was the fact that she really was not interested in my answers because she kept fixing me with a doubtful stare. It was all I could do not to retort sharply, but I realised not a little too soon that I should not have harboured any resentment towards her. Homeschooling is practically unheard of in Islamabad. Many women here live with their in-laws and have a great deal of responsibilities. They would not have the luxury of being able to home-educate even if it was something they had heard about. (Yes, I say it is a luxury because I think it is a blessing that I am able to learn with my children.)

Perhaps my irritation stems from my own feelings of anxiety. While I believe that homeschooling is the best for my family, it has its stressful episodes. We have good days and bad days just like any other family. My kids have trouble with their lessons and sometimes act up too. I find myself having to fight the impulse to make them perfect to legitimise our homeschooling. It is really silly of me – I don’t homeschool my kids because they are geniuses and I certainly don’t need to prove anything to anyone. My kids don’t need that kind of pressure. I should just take criticisms in a positive way by using them to improve myself and my methods.

At the end of the day, what helps to make things bearable is – and it is strange coming from me, a loner who seems to prefer her books and computer to people – good company. I thank Allah for always putting inspiring people in my path whenever I start to slacken or to doubt myself. I got to know the one other (yes… ONE!) mother who homeschools her 3 daughters in Islamabad. I was initially nervous about meeting her – social events intimidate me! – but I gleaned so much about her family from just a couple of visits that put me at ease. She had friends who would help out and hang out at her home – I thought it was lovely how hospitable she was ma shaa Allah. It is also such an ego-booster that her kids practically pounce on my kids like they have been waiting for them forever the moment we enter the gate! Meetings with her revive me considerably – it isn’t just the good food she serves us :) It is also her strong belief and determined effort in home-educating her kids.

Another friend I met homeschools her 7 kids in Karachi. We crossed paths in person at a time when I really needed the encouragement. She was visiting Islamabad and I spent several hours just nattering with her. What struck me most about her was her strong sense of tawakkul – full trust in Allah. She embraced the many changes in her life – the arrival of a new baby, reconstruction to her home and pulling her kids out of public school – with perspective. She pushed on and seemed undaunted, believing in her children’s abilities and in her duty to home-educate.

Maybe the next time someone asks me about homeschooling, I won’t have to fake patience in the face of incredulity. Maybe I can just smile and tell them, “You know, I am not alone in this…”