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Homeschool Charlotte Mason

About Geography

August 31, 2012 by Imaan No Comments
The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures… The child gets his rudimentary notions of geography.. in those long hours out of door… He gets his first notions of a map from a rude sketch.. or with a stick in the sand or gravel.

…Let him be at home in any single region; let him see, with the mind’s eye, the people at their work and at their play, the flowers and fruits in their seasons, the beasts, each in its habitat; and let him see all sympathetically, that is, let him follow the adventures of a traveler; and he knows more, is better furnished with ideas, than if he had learnt all the names on all the maps. The ‘way’ of this kind of teaching is very simple and obvious; read to him… bit by bit… any interesting, well-written book of travel.

…Here as elsewhere, the question is, not how many things does he know, but how much does he know about each thing.
– Charlotte Mason, Home Education

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Homeschool Good Reads

Geography through postcards

by Imaan No Comments

I should be getting out more instead of plonking away at my laptop, but it is SWELTERING here in Islamabad and I am trying to draw up a homeschooling schedule… so, I guess I am justified? ;)

Anyway, I’ve got something to share! Marz enjoys Geography/Social Studies. We had been reading books about children from different parts of the world in June to acquaint ourselves with other cultures. The library has been a wonderful resource, but what we really wanted was some kind of human connection to enhance the experience.

Alhamdulillah, I came across a wonderful idea! Postcard swaps! There are numerous groups on yahoo – some are for homeschooling families and others, for postcard collectors. I think with parental supervision, they are safe, but for added security, you can get a PO box.

You can put together an album of postcards received, label a huge map, branch off into unit studies and research each country/city’s history… great possibilities!

I’ve joined a couple of groups and am already committed to some 30 exchanges, ma shaa Allah!

Here are some links to get you started…

  • Homeschool Exchange
  • Homeschool Shoebox Swap
  • Postcards Around the Planet
  • Postcard Heaven
  • Postcard Kids
  • Postcard Kids’ Geography Lessons
  • Postcard Plus
  • Postcrossing
  • State and Country Exchange

Update!

Here are books we have enjoyed for Geography/Social Studies:

  • Books by Miroslav Sasek a Czech artist and writer. His This Is… series is simply delightful – the illustrations are cheery with a special touch of whimsy. I purchased a few from The Home Library. They were a little pricey, but since I don’t have access to a library in Pakistan, I found them well worth the money!
  • Children Just like Me by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, in association with United Nations Children’s Fund – I had a preview of this book when I bought a condensed version from a second-hand bookstore in Islamabad. This book features children in more than 30 countries – we get a chance to visit each of them as we learn about their families, homes and food. It’s one of those books I wish I could have written :)
  • A Life like Mine by Dorling Kindersley Publishing – I bought this book a few years ago at a book sale for myself… now it will come in handy for my kids in shaa Allah. It profiles 18 children and is formatted around basic needs for survival. Leaves you counting your blessings…

Two other series we like are Child’s Day and Letters from Around the World:

  • Child’s Day: Bongani’s Day by Gisele Wulfsohn
  • Child’s Day: In a Vietnamese City by Jim Holmes & Tom Morgan
  • Child’s Day: In an Egyptian City by Khaled Eldash & Dalia Khattab
  • Child’s Day: Iina Marja’s Day (From Dawn to Dusk) by Jaako Alatalo
  • Letters from Around the World: France by Teresa Fisher (author)
  • Letters from Around the World: Spain by Cath Senker
  • Letters from Around the World: Pakistan by David Cumming
  • Letters from Around the World: Costa Rica by Patrick Cunningham & Sue Cunningham
  • Letters from Around the World: Greece by David Cumming
  • Letters from Around the World: Canada by Andy Orchard & Clare Orchard

I also found a set of books called Maya’s World by Maya Angelou about children from different parts of the world. This is a good introduction to other people and cultures.

(Credit: Postcard photo from Pexels)

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Homeschool

Geography Notebook

January 28, 2012 by Imaan 3 Comments

More notebooking papers! You know the drill… download here or at Scribd :)

Feedback will be greatly appreciated :)

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Homeschool

Making Your Own Notebooking Paper

January 23, 2012 by Imaan 1 Comment

I am rather enjoying making our own notebooking papers. There are several sites offering such papers for sale, but I’ve found several advantages to making my own. It is more affordable and I’ve also been able to customise them to my children’s tastes and writing.

There are several programmes that you can use like Free Serif Software, Scribus and Microsoft Publisher, but I just use good ol’ Microsoft Word. (I’ve got a plugin that converts my documents to PDF.) My lines are essentially tables – I play around with the row heights, borders styles and colours – and I add in clipart as and when necessary. Nothing fancy-schmancy :)

Below is an example of a basic notebooking template – I’ve included a cover, pages of primary-lined sheets for penmanship as well as regular-lined sheets for regular notebooking. The slideshow below from Scribd is in pdf format but you can download the MS Word format here to adapt to your own needs. You can change the title on the cover as well as the footer, type in your assignments as well as customise the number and size of lines and fonts (I LOVE fonts!).

Enjoy!

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Homeschool

Redwork and other crafty thoughts

November 7, 2011 by Imaan 5 Comments

Again we know that the human hand hand is a wonderful and exquisite instrument to be used in a hundred movements exacting delicacy, direction and force; every such movement is a cause of joy as it leads to the pleasure of execution and the triumph of success. We begin to understand this and make some efforts to train the young in the deft handling of tools and the practice of handicrafts. Some day perhaps, we shall see apprenticeship to trades revived and good and beautiful work enforced. In so far, we are laying ourselves out to secure that each shall “live his life”; and that, not at his neighbor’s expense; because, so wonderful is the economy of the world that when a man really lives his life he benefits his neighbor as wll as himself; we all thrive in the well being of each.
~ Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Philosophy of Education p. 328

I’ve just treated myself to some lovely redwork patterns … an `Eid prezzie so to speak :)

As I look at my needles and threads, I am reminded of the art lessons I had when I was in my second year of primary school, at age 8. Looking back on that time, I realise that my schooling that year had many Charlotte Mason elements! We spent a great deal of time on penmanship, reading and useful handicrafts. The crafts we learnt were not dime-a-dozen projects… rather, we made things that were very worthwhile. We did weaving, raffia stitching and even needlework.

I remember when we spent a few months working on our cross stitch samplers. The entire class had to work on this, even the boys! We were each given a piece of Aida fabric and assorted embroidery flosses. We would form a queue in front of the teacher’s desk and hand her our cloth, whereupon she would help us individually. She demonstrated how to stitch a pattern and sent us back to our seats to repeat the pattern. Once we successfully completed a row, we rejoined the queue to get a new row of patterns to work on. When we had filled the entire fabric, we got them stitched into a rectangular pencil case. (Our mums helped to sew up the zippers and hems.)

It was very painstaking work obviously, but one that gave me a lot of satisfaction. My teacher, who was NOT known for her patience, admirably curbed her temper during art and craft hour and persevered in guiding us through our projects. That was the only time I believe, that I received any useful training in art.

By the time I was in secondary school in my teens, education had changed a great deal. It was all about textbooks, exams and grades. Art lessons were reduced to only drawing and painting. We did campaign posters, still life, tiles and such and used different paints and pencils, but it was really essentially just drawing and painting. No real coaching was actually given – you either had the talent or you endured the lessons and horrid grades you received.

I would have loved it if we had art appreciation and art history woven into our lessons and learnt the techniques that the artists employed. I wish we had also been taught other forms of art and craft like knitting, crochet, collage making, stitchery among others as well. (I was terrible at drawing and sketching so I would have liked to have been given the opportunity to try other art forms and media.) I guess that would have taken too much time and been too difficult to grade for exams.

It wasn’t until I had children that I had the desire to get involved in handicrafts. Prior to that, I’d never thought that I could. After all, my grades in art were dismal, weren’t they? I loved the idea of passing on something made with love, by hand, to my children.

So, I tried overcoming my fear of failure and my tendency to overthink things and plunged into craftdom by embarking on a few simple embroidery projects. I’m not what you would call competent and I don’t have the time to be more committed, but I find joy in trying and I think that is what matters.

I want my children to have skills which would serve them well in their adult lives, skills that would bless not only their lives, but also that of others. There is a quote by Charlotte Mason that struck me:

The points to be borne in children’s handicrafts are: (a) that they should not be employed in making futilities such a pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like; (b) that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do; (c) that slipshod work should not be allowed; (d) and that, therefore, the children’s work should be kept well within their compass.
~ Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, Home Education pp 315, 316.

I’ve been thinking of appropriate handicraft ideas for my children… projects that they can easily manage and which they can further develop. I’ve been so inspired by sisters like Fruitful Fusion, Kate and Umme Yusuf. In shaa Allah no more waste and creating of futilities! Here are some I’ve come up with:

  • Baking and cooking – We’ve been cooking together almost everyday and as a special `Eid celebration, I’ve taught them a simple baked pasta recipe today!
  • Cross stitch – Mars has done a few and can read the patterns well. Bear is working on a sampler.
  • Long stitch – Bear is slowly working on a small project
  • Sashiko – this would be particularly good for beginning embroiderers I think as the stitches are easily executed.
  • Embroidery – there are primitive/country designs that are easy for young ones to tackle. I made a simple pattern for Bear to tack.
  • Braiding and macrame – Mars has made a few friendship bracelets… things get a little messy and tangled though!
  • Knitting – Mars has learnt this from her grandmothers! I’m still talking about learning how to knit :P For shame!
  • Crochet
  • Woodwork – I would love to bring in a carpenter to teach my kids!
  • Beading
  • Felt projects
  • Mending, repurposing and refurbishing clothes and other things – I think as Muslims, we would do well not to waste

What handicrafts have you taught your kids?

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Yesterday, I had a sobering chat with my friend wh Yesterday, I had a sobering chat with my friend who is a member of a minority group here. (I am keeping things vague for her safety and mine.) She has a relative who is also a friend of mine. 

In both my early encounters with them, I’d always sensed an air of reserve and secrecy. I understood that we had different beliefs, but I could not understand what I perceived as fear. Not being a native here in Pakistan, I’d had my share of bewildering and unfathomable encounters, so I’d left things at that. Maybe I’d understand in time to come, I thought.

They had always been very kind to me and I tried to reciprocate as best I could. For all our (acknowledged) differences in opinion and belief, we found some common ground and focused on doing some good. My friend’s relative donated science kits as well as books for my homeschooling gang and I’ll always be grateful for that. 

I read news yesterday about how my friend and her people do in fact live in danger. She told me how she fears for her husband’s life every single time he leaves home. She jumps every single time her doorbell rings. She worries about sending her daughter to school for fear of bullying or worse… Target killings of her people are a reality.

It made me feel so ashamed because this is tragic and downright disgraceful for any country, but even more so for a Muslim one. 

It’s OK to disagree. It’s OK to debate. It is NOT OK to terrorize and it is NOT OK resort to violence. It is wrong and it is unjust and it is EVIL to do so. When dealing with people of different beliefs, can we not be civilised? Can we not be HUMAN? Can we not behave the way our deen taught us? 

We need to find a way to make things better. It is not right to allow people who know precious little about Islam to desecrate it. 

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#islam #minorityrights #knowyourreligion #pakistan
Journalists say this time it is different. Rushdi Journalists say this time it is different.

Rushdi as-Sarraj, Yasser Murtaja’s friend, told Al-Jazeera, “This task is difficult under normal circumstances, so you can imagine working under a fierce offensive that does not distinguish between a journalist, a civilian or a military leader.” Israel is working hard “to silence the image and voice, and to ban any news or information that exposes its crimes”.

He also says, “My family doesn’t stop calling me, fearing that I could be harmed. It is an endless circle of fear and exhaustion. But we must continue sharing our message.”

Praying for Muna El-Kurd @muna.kurd15 , her brother @mohammedelkurd and all the journalists putting out the truth. 

#palestine #freepalestine #freemunakurd #freemunaelkurd #savesheikhjarrah #savesilwan #savelifta #savemohammedelkurd
«THROWBACK, Summer + Winter 2019» «We returned «THROWBACK, Summer + Winter 2019»

«We returned to the park after the lockdown earlier this year… sadly our tree for all seasons is no more 😢»

FOREIGN LANDS by Robert Louis Stevenson
Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad on foreign lands.
I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.
If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships.
To where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.
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#throwback #pakistan #islamabad #lifeinpakistan #lifeinislamabad #homeschool #homeschooldays #homeschoolcoop #homeschoolinislamabad #homeschoolinpakistan #naturediary #naturejournal #science #charlottemason #charlottemasoninspired #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonnaturestudy #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasonhomeschool #cmnaturestudy #cmnaturejournal #naturewalk #natureramble #naturestudy #naturejournal #homeeducation #outandabout #ilookisee #islamabadhomeschoolers
A couple of you asked me to make a post of my stor A couple of you asked me to make a post of my story in response to LV’s despicable use of the keffiyeh design. Pictures in this post are from hirbawi.ps and @palestine.pixel … 

EDIT: yes, my second slide should have been edited and it is bugging me. I repeated 1930s… sorry! If you want a more polished version, DM me. You get my meaning anyway, right? 
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#palestine #freepalestine #keffiyeh #gaza #jerusalem #savesheikhjarrah
«YET ANOTHER THROWBACK, Jan. 2020» I was feelin «YET ANOTHER THROWBACK, Jan. 2020»

I was feeling a little out of sorts (again) – I’d left the house a mess (again) and the boy and I were in a rush to get to the Art Co-op. Habiba @ourlivinghomeschool was doing a session on Wassily Kandinsky that day. 

We were delayed by a massive traffic jam and our stress levels rocketed when an obnoxious motorist kept sounding his horn repeatedly as if to shoo other cars out of the way. What was everyone else to do but wait for the jam to ease? 

We made it just in time though…barely! As we ran towards the gathering, it was as if a huge weight was lifted away. This gorgeous view greeted the boy and me, alhamdulillah. When we got down to studying Kandinsky, we felt more than fine.

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#pakistan #islamabad #lifeinpakistan #lifeinislamabad #homeschool #homeschooldays #homeschoolcoop #homeschoolinislamabad #homeschoolinpakistan #naturediary #desidiaries #charlottemason #charlottemasoninspired #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonnaturestudy #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasonhomeschool #cmnaturestudy #cmnaturejournal #naturewalk #natureramble #naturestudy #naturejournal #homeeducation #outandabout #ilookisee #islamabadhomeschoolers #artcoop #artoutdoors
«THROWBACK, Mar. 2019» Once upon a time before «THROWBACK, Mar. 2019» 
Once upon a time before Covid.

The calm before…

We had our Monday meet up again at Fatima Jinnah Park. The air was cool and crisp and the skies sunny when the nature gang got together. Then, it was on to a jolly game of Simon Says – Katelynn’s @_k8erpotater clever way of teaching the kids about body parts and how they move.

The kids did their usual tree climbing and exploring. Then, the dark clouds started rolling in. We took a while to decide whether or not to leave – the park literally looked dark and ominous on one side and cheery and bright on the other. We only started rushing for home when lightning split the sky. The kids were not to be hurried, however. They felt little pellets hitting them and stopped to investigate… hailstones!

Our ramble was cut short and I got cold and wet, but I think it was a gorgeous day. We got to learn about nature in a very real way.
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#pakistan #islamabad #lifeinpakistan #lifeinislamabad #homeschool #homeschooldays #homeschoolcoop #homeschoolinislamabad #homeschoolinpakistan #naturediary #naturejournal #science #charlottemason #charlottemasoninspired #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonnaturestudy #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasonhomeschool #cmnaturestudy #cmnaturejournal #naturewalk #natureramble #naturestudy #naturejournal #homeeducation #outandabout #ilookisee #islamabadhomeschoolers
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