I find myself now making daily to do lists the night before for things I have to do the next day, lessons and subjects the kids have to do the next day, and particularly on days that the speech and developmental therapists come or we have doctor appointments, or days where I have to cook. When I have to do a lot of other things other than homeschooling, my to do lists help me stay focused, and enable me to hand over to do items to the kids with regard to their schooling. It reminds me of when I used to have each child check off the lessons they have done for the day in their individual folder when we were still doing OHVA in Ohio. Those were the days when we also had monitor charts where as they brushed their teeth, take baths, etc they check those off the chart put at their bedroom door. I don’t know why I don’t do this anymore. Hmm…maybe I should return to it.

And I find myself preparing for next week’s lessons on the weekends. I have laid out the general planning for the whole year, well very loosely, but the finer details still need to be fine tuned. So far, so good. Alhamdulillah.

I have gotten tired of being continuously on the lookout for used Math U See student kit, so we bought the new ones and Monday they should be here inshaallah. Finally, no more wasting time going to Homeschool Classified and Homeschool Vegsource hoping someone would want to sell what I was looking for while the kids move on without having student books to work on.

The kids are still working on the Great Depression board game, and just last night, as we were sitting in the masjid, waiting for Isha, I asked the kids,

“What game do you think we can make for our Native American history lessons? Not a board game, but something else.”

“Green light red light!” said S.

• And that developed into an idea consisting of:
• the players take on the role of the historical figure
• they choose which era to play
• they will have question cards to answer, if they answer correctly, they move one step forward
• whoever gets to the finish line first wins
• and if the player is a Native American historical figure, that means the Native American wins and vice versa

I couldn’t help getting excited.

Because the comprehension and discussion questions on the American Experience lesson plan proved to be a little difficult for the kids, I ended up reserving a whole bunch of books about Native Americans at the library for them and me to read.

Their book reports are moving quite nicely. It seems that they are enjoying this more than they do the other writing assignments, alhamdulillah. Or maybe they’ve just stopped groaning and complaining about writing. Either way, Alhamdulillah.

We also attended the 4H meeting last week. They had to stand up and introduce themselves and state what is their favorite candy. Each child spoke with audible voice and erect posture. Alhamdulillah. A marked improvement there. Though, the club president did do something which quite perturbed me; they said a prayer before the meal. Huh. When I told hubby, he said,

“Hmmm. why’d they do that?”

Knowing quite well that we are not Christians. I guess next time it happens, we will just ignore it. Or should we object to it? I don’t quite know what to do. My mother reminded me that this happens also in Malaysia in gatherings where the majority are Malay Muslims and there are some non Muslims Chinese or Indians present. She reminded me that this is how they probably felt. I guess I should just remove this feeling of indignance and bear it with more grace next time.

For the 4H projects, N is doing Adventures with Food, S is doing Baking I and H is doing Model Rocketry I. Now I have to work with them on their projects. I got to calling up some of the organizations with which we wanted to volunteer with, but they all (the ones I had called and gotten through to) do not accept children. Liabilities.

We have quiet a lot going on now though. S has started tongue thrust therapy. We are still getting free consultation for the girls’ braces. And I still haven’t finished reading Children Are From Heaven by John Gray. However, I do feel that I am enjoying our homeschooling more than when we were in Ohio. Getting to do what we want and how we want is pretty liberating and inspiring. I love the creativity and freedom. Alhamdulillah for the homeschooling laws in New Mexico. Alhamdulillah.

We did talk about the possibility of returning to Ohio though. I got excited. The kids got excited, but alas, I don’t think it’s going to happen. We’ll just have to ride this out until we love this city and don’t want to leave it, I guess. Alhamdulillah.

Meanwhile, Z is doing very good in reading and writing. And I really mean reading and writing. I haven’t been that consistent with his GD reading, more because he doesn’t really prefer them. Plus, the kids have employed other ways like using the white board, paper and pencil/pen/crayon/marker, and his beloved Pooh books. Z seems to be very inclined to letters, words and when he scribbles, he tries very hard to write actual letters. Just yesterday, he was writing on the white board with H. Then suddenly, H exclaimed,

“G! He wrote G! So smart!!!! Ummi! He wrote G! Look! I didn’t even tell him to! He did it by himself and then he said, ‘Gee!’”

And so he did. Mashaallah. Sometimes I don’t know whether he’s really doing it or if it’s just coincidence, but it seems that Z picks up very quickly. Even his speech therapists are surprised and pleased with his progress. He knows even the shape octagon and says, “Oct!” for it.

He knows his colors. He knows his shapes. He knows all the alphabets. He knows some words. He can write some letters. He knows the concept of big and small (for a while, the speech therapist was working with him on this). He knows how to turn on the computer, click on Start, find Mozilla Firefox, get the website he wants (somehow, I don’t know how he does this, either he recognizes the arrangement of letters that makes up the URL or what…), and even type his name on the Poptropica username and then press enter. I am honestly blown away, but I’m also worried. You give them tools, they can fend for themselves. But the internet can be a dangerous tool in immature hands. He can take pictures with the camera (though of course his snapshots are not centered or clear sometimes, but he knows which button to press at least, even for just viewing on the camera). He knows how to lock himself in the room (which he did yesterday because he was mad at H).

With the voice and words there seems to be a new Z coming out as well. I miss my little sweet Baby Z now.