"Come Over to my House"

With today's book club, we started a new setup for reading - kids were divided into two groups: (1) up to 5 yrs children and (2) those over 5 yrs old. Insha'Allah, beginning from the next week, the reading groups will expand to three, adding a separate group for the elder (10+ yrs) boys, who will start reading a chapter book and discuss the plot and characters of it in more detail. 

The elder group's reading for the day was Dr. Seuss' book "Come Over to my House". Before starting on the book, kids had a discussion about the differences they have noticed in the lifestyles of people, as they travel to other countries. Food, of course, topped the list, which then expanded to the types of houses people live in etc., etc. We talked also about what is particular about Pakistan - the country that we live in.

The book took us on a journey all over the world, showing us the houses kids live in, the food that they eat, the ways they wash themselves, sleep and have fun. As we turned the pages, we tried to guess by the pictures and the setups, which continent/country is shown. Sometimes it was easy, as the clues were very clear, but at other times it was difficult. After all the different settings we saw, the book ended with the following conclusion:

There are so many houses
you'll meet on your way.
And wherever you go,
you will hear someone say...
"Come over to my house!
Come over and play!"

Thus, even though there are so many different cultures in the world, kids are everywhere the same - all of them have friends whom they love to invite to their house over to play. :)

The younger Book Worm Club members journeyed through a few short stories. The first book was a delight for all cat lovers, as they pondered over the dilemma of an old man and his wife who had to chose a single cat from amongst not one or two cats but  "hundreds of cats, thousands of cat, millions and billions and trillions of cats!"

Our next book took took us deep into a dark wood to visit some baby owls and their mother. Then when the  baby owls found their mother gone, they sat and they thought (all owls think a lot)....where could she have gone and what should they do? The Book Worm Club members wondered too.

Little Book Worm Zakariyya was thrilled to hear his favourite books being shared with his friends and after the two stories were read rushed to bring another of his favourite books, closely followed by his elder brother Sulaiman who also returned with a similar book. Thus the Book Club enjoyed another two short books:  Red Hat, Blue Hat about an absent minded turkey who has trouble with clothing, and Moo, Baa, Laa which explores the language of the animal world.

After the books were read and laughed over, the little Book Worms shared colour pencils and crayons to construct paper fans under Lubna Aunty's guidance. Soon everyone fluttered their home made fans to cool themselves on that hot summer story filled day.

We're back!

Our summer + Ramadan break is over and the bookworms book club is back again, Alhamdulillah! We are happy to announce the starting of the new session for which many of you so eagerly have been waiting. To say the truth, even moms were eager to meet again, as nothing can refresh better the soul of a homeschooling mom than extensive talks with other homeschooling moms. :) 

Our today's reading: "How to be a Happy Hippo"by Jonathan Shipton

Before venturing into the book, the kids brainstormed ideas about the things (except sweets) that make them happy. It somehow turned out to be a general trend that most of kids loved to go or travel somewhere - and best if even to another country! Traveling by plane was also mentioned a few times. Thus, we can conclude that our bookworms do love to be on the go. :)

About the book: Horace Hippo has everything a hippo could want or need - well almost everything... Horace's dad is a very busy hippo, and Horace never gets to see him. So when Horace's dad promises to play with him one day, Horace waits all day and night. Finally, having become fed up waiting, Horace digs a hole, covers it with grass, and traps his father as he walks out in the morning. Horace's dad takes it all with good humor and the two then spend the entire day together! In fact, as we read the book, some mothers suggested that we should read this book for all the busy dads as well. :)

After the reading, the kids enjoyed their "social time" playing with their long-not-seen friends. Snacks was a welcome ending of the session, as usual.

From today on, we will be holding our book club sessions regularly again, Insha'Allah. 

Bookworms on Summer Break!

After our grand Bookworms Presentations on May 2, book club is taking a summer break. There are plenty of workshops for kids around the city this summer, Alhamdulillah, so we hope you will keep yourself busy. Plus, if you miss your book club friends, this is a good chance for visiting each other! Check back on our blog for further notices about re-starting of book club in the fall.

Bookworms Presentations

Finally the long awaited the has come - bookworms presentations! This week, aunty Hafsa generously hosted all the big crowd (11 families!) in her spacious home. All the kids, not to mention the moms, were very excited, as each family had prepared their very own presentation to present to the group. The presentations were as varied as the families themselves - and that's the fun of homeschooling! We learned about growing a sunflower, we enjoyed a Nasheed on Arabic numerals,  we got to know some new facts on outer space matters, we saw a skit on the common mistakes made in Salah, we watched a Medieval knights tournament, we learned tons of facts on Islamic history and the Khalifa state, we were introduced to the smallest doctor we've ever known, we heard a Nasheed on Hijab and we saw a skit from Islamic history, in which a just ruler killed his own son, in order to implement the justice of Shariah. All of us got also certificates of participation for our efforts!

After the wonderful presentations, we enjoyed a huge pot-luck lunch. All in all, the party was great! Although we feel a bit sad that this meeting was last one of the season (bookworms will be on summer break), we know that we'll be very glad to see all our friends in the fall again, Insha'Allah. Do check back on our blog in a while - we'll have a selection of our presentations day pictures available.

Planet Earth - part 3

Today we had another viewing session of National Geographic series "Planet Eearth". This time, we visited aunty Hafsa (Haneen's and Safia's mother), who kindly invited us to her home. Masha'Allah, the huge TV in their recreation room was perfect for the viewing!

After the video, all of us enjoyed snacks and had some good running rounds in aunty Hafsa's home. Thank you, aunty Hafsa, for having us over!

More on airplanes

Today’s book: “The Glorious Flight across the Channel with Louis Bleriot” by Alice and Martin Provensen

Reflecting on our PAF museum trip, today we continued the topic of flying and airplanes - we read a book about a Frenchman Louis Bleriot, who was the first one to fly across the English Channel.

The book says: “Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) was one of the truly great pioneers of aviation. He devoted the fortune acquired by his invention of an automobile searchlight to the development and construction of his high-performance aircraft, the “BLERIOT XI”. His flight across the English Channel (we got to know that this is not a TV channel but a water body running between to parts of land) demonstrated to the world that barriers of land and sea no longer existed for
the airplane.”

The story of the book goes as follows: On a nice outing with his family, Mr. Bleriot notices in the sky above his native town of Cambrai an airship! This inspires him to build his own airplane. Over years, he makes several attempts – 11 to be exact – to build his own plane and finally succeeds. Mr. Bleriot and his “BLERIOT XI” participate in a challenge to fly across the English Channel with a prize of £ 1,000 offered for it. He sets out on early morning of July 25, 1909, almost gets lost at the sea but 37 minutes after taking off, he finally lands on English soil! Mr. Bleriot wins the prize!

After the story, we made airplanes of our own: a darting one and a gliding one. Darting one has a sharp front and streamlined, smooth body – it flies far and fast. Gliding one has a flat front and wider wings – it flies slowly and gracefully. We talked about the differences in the design of these
planes and why they fly the way they do. In the picture below, you can see some of our darts and gliders.

PAF museum field trip

Instead of our regular book club session, today we had a really awesome field trip to Pakistan Air Force museum. Although nearly all of us had been there already, visiting PAF is always fun: lots of huge planes and other machinery on display, plenty of space to run and, of course, rides to enjoy. First, we followed the track around the models displayed outside. Then we entered the Archives building, where more planes were displayed, along with guns, shields, uniforms and historical accounts with photos - the place was huge! Afterwards, we all sat down for some snacks our moms had brought along and finally went for the rides! The all popular choice was the dodgeing cars, which many of us tried even multiple times. Smaller kids went in a miniature train and the flying airplane. To enjoy some of what we did in the museum, click here to check out the photos.