I realized one day that Middle Way Mom doesn’t include much of our day to day homeschool, and when I’m reading blogs, it’s the day to day posts that I like the most! Well, homeschooling high school doesn’t spark a lot of daily posts with its textbook-centered model, so in sha Allah a monthly post will be more suitable.
So, what’s been happening this month?
US History
Care Bear has been wrapping up her daily lessons in US History and switching gears to studying for the AP US History exam coming up in a couple weeks. She really enjoyed using the Hippocampus platform, so I was really disappointed to see that they won’t be offering some of their classes anymore, ending in June. Bummer. We got the Princeton Review book for the AP US History exam, and she just took the first practice exam in the book. On top of the book, she’s been studying the Barron’s flashcards. In sha Allah all of this is helpful in passing the test! It’s her first AP exam, so she doesn’t know exactly what to expect.
Algebra
I’ve had the CLEP College Algebra exam on Care Bear’s plan all year, but I never looked at it very closely. Lesson learned! I found out the College Mathematics is actually a tad easier, and has less higher level work, so we switched gears (after I bought a specific CLEP Algebra book, of course). We quickly found out that she had to know logarithms, so Khan Academy saved the day with that one! Alhamdulilah, she found out that they aren’t as hard as they seem. Care Bear finished Algebra earlier in the month and has been using the last couple weeks to study the flashcards on InstantCert. I’ll have the results of her College Mathematics test on the blog later this week, in sha Allah!
Biology
Biology has been quite the study monster this year. All three of the families working together this year have learned a lot. Not just about Biology, but about study skills, and that maybe, just maybe, you don’t have to cover the entire book. The biology study group has switched gears in April from learning new information and going through the Biology textbook, to taking the AP practice exam, and studying the Princeton Review AP Biology book. Some kids have started studying flash cards. Without going into a huge tangent of why Care Bear won’t be doing the AP exam with everyone else in her group, she’s studying the flashcards on InstantCert because she’ll be doing the CLEP Biology exam instead. AP materials should prove effective, in sha Allah. We’ll know when she’s done with the exam in May!
Preschool
Little Miss has been having a blast in her preschool at the masjid. Really, I’m a bit intimidated to try to offer something even close at home, and then I remember that I don’t have to emulate a classroom environment. I talked to an unschooling homeschool mom friend about preschool, and she helped me frame my thoughts about it. I can plan things far in advance, but keeping up with it has always been challenging. She said that buying all encompassing kits was really helpful for her, and I think that’s a great idea! While I still want to have a loosely linear structure in some areas, I want to have plenty of spontaneous options. After all, preschool doesn’t need to be “school.” It’s just play time, and it’s great if we can learn something new along the way, in sha Allah.
I also signed Little Miss up for ABCMouse.com. She loves her game time on my laptop, completing lessons, and coloring via their website! I figured with the upcoming move, in sha Allah, that something to keep her occupied would be useful. Plus, it’s been really useful when we’re at her grandparent’s house and they don’t have any toys for her!
Islamic Education
Alhamdulilah, this month I went to Al-Maghrib’s new class, New Dawn! From a dawah perspective especially, it’s so important to learn about Islamic history, and it was so invigorating to be back in a classroom, surrounded by people wanting to learn. SubhanAllah, I felt alive, like I haven’t felt in a long time. I love taking classes, but with little ones in the home, online classes just aren’t as do-able as they used to be. I’m so thankful for Al-Maghrib’s model, and that Hubby took the kids for me for the weekend so I could go to the class.
Everything else
Care Bear has been studying for the DSST Here’s to Your Health exam, and she’s quite excited to take it! Unfortunately, I didn’t call to schedule her exam soon enough, so instead of testing in April, she’ll be testing in the middle of May. Care Bear is fairly certain she wants to be a nurse, so this exam is right up her alley!
I’m starting to notice that Tulip needs more interaction lately, too. In sha Allah I’ll break out the trusty, Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, and make sure she has some one-on-one time with me, too. She’s over a year now, and wants more play time. We’ve started some fine-motor skills like giving her paper clips and an old spice jar. Of course, we can’t forget the gross motor skills! She loves to get on a toddler-size rocking chair and scare the life out of us, but she’s quite steady, mashaAllah!
Well, that’s our April! May will be a lot of packing and getting our home ready to be rented out, but there’s definitely some exciting school milestones ahead, too, in sha Allah!
What a fun post! I love to read what is happening in the days of other homeschool families.
What is a “dawah” perspective? I’ve done a fair amount of reading about Islam, including some of the Quran, and I don’t remember coming across that word.
Dawah literally means “invitation,” and is used in the context of inviting people to Islam. Many times people hear that Islam was spread by the sword, or other areas of history, so it was great to get some more information in that regard. I don’t know that I came across the word until I was a Muslim, so it makes sense you may not have seen it yet. I love to hear about people studying! What faith do you identify with?
Shannen, thanks for your reply! So “dawah” it is sort of like evangelizing. I’ve actually studied Islam because a friend is a Muslim and I want to understand what she believes. It is challenging because Islam is varied. I may throw more questions your way. 🙂
I am a Christian. Not a “cultural” Christian as many in America. I read how you came to Islam so you probably understand what I mean by that. Many identify themselves as Christians and they aren’t. My faith informs everything in my life. So, in that way we are similar. 🙂