Days of Our Lives

I took 1-2 days to recover from the exhaustion of cooking for Eid and having people over, but now we’re ready to get back into gear for this quarter. I was working on lesson plans for studying the Great Depression and had gotten some books from the library during Ramadan. Surprisingly I saw the kids taking to the books too. It is surprising becuase they used (especially S) to abhor history when we were with OHVA.

I had planned to start the unit next week, but on a whim, I started it yesterday. An idea came to me,

“Can you guys create a board game? What do you guys think about making a board game of the Great Depression?”

It’s always about making what we learn interesting and fun. Teaching them things in a direct way would be much easier, but I’m not sure if it will be effective.

So yesterday, I took a huge paper and wrote Great Depression in the middle, in a circle. They all sat around the paper which we placed on our coffee table, each with a pen/marker.

“Ok, go ahead and write down what you know about the Great Depression.”

I left them and went to check on Baby Z who was working with his developmental therapist in the sunroom.

When I came back, they had created a web, which was what I was after. next step: learning about the 1920s. The Roaring Twenties.

I had stumbled upon this website when I was googling the Roaring Twenties, and with supervision, I told them to play the game. They were also to read the book 1920s by Gail B Stewart. They took turns reading the book and playing the game and hopefully they learned some things about life in the 1920s in North America.

Then H signed up for BrainPop free trial and they watched the movies on Great Depression. I printed out the quizzes and graphic organizers and had them do them. We talked about supply and demand. I was about to explain to them about buying on credit but thought it’d be better for hubs to explain it to them since that is his area. But as of today, he hasn’t yet explained it. Let me just say that a person holding a doctorate doesn’t necessarily know how to teach children. College students yes, but not elementary aged children.

We also started learning about Khalid Ibn Waleed. I had asked them in Ramadan who they want to learn about, Zayd Ibn Thabit or Khalid Ibn Waleed and the votes was two to one. So I read to them and put in my own words also, from Commanders of the Muslim Army and Heroes of Islam. I have to say that I feel strongly inclined to offer editing help though. if only we can have easy access to shuyukh so elaborate biographies can be written about the sahaba, and written in a language children can enjoy as well as understand. Definitely we need more professionals in the writing field. Ahh…inshaallah, inshaallah later. Right now, I have two very important things to focus on. Oh Allah, help me.