As part of our economics unit study, my son and I are learning about different jobs he is interested in. He wants to be an engineer when he grows up, so we went down a little rabbit trail as he learned about who and what an engineer is.  We read Saving The Day, a story about Garrett Morgan who invented the traffic signal. This led us to make our own paper traffic signal circuit.  Material  1. LED Lights 2. Copper Tape 3. Large Paper Clip 4. Traffic Light printable 5. CR2032 3V Battery  This was a really fun activity my son really enjoyed. I love it when our les ..read more

During our bridge study, we came across Khaju Bridge which is the oldest bridge in Iran. The boys were so fascinated by it that we decided to turn it into a unit study.  The boys and I watched videos and read some articles online about this bridge. Some of its amazing features include: 1. Ceramic Tiles 2. A hidden candle image 3. A dam 4. 23 Arches 5. Stone steps for sitting and watching the beautiful views 6. Tea shop 7. A special pavilion that was used by the Shah of Iran 8. Two stone lions The boys put together a research poster all about what they learned.  Arches a ..read more

Allahu Akbar God is Great (said four times) Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah I bear witness that there is no god except the One God. (said two times) Ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasool Allah I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God. (said two times) Hayya ‘ala-s-Salah Hurry to the prayer (Rise up for prayer) (said two times) Hayya ‘ala-l-Falah Hurry to success (Rise up for Salvation) (said two times) Allahu Akbar God is Great [said two times] La ilaha illa Allah There is no god except the One God My preschooler and I worked on a fun craft while we were learning about the Adhaan. For ..read more

We recently completed our novel study The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind using Lightning Literature. For our final book project, my son made a windmill diagraming the plot of the book.  Material: 1. Straws 2. note cards 3. a cup 4. Skewer sticks or long popsicle sticks 5. Brass fastener We made a rough copy of our plot diagram on the whiteboard. Once we took out unnecessary information my son copied it onto the note cards.  We assembled the windmill and added the flag of Malawi to the cup.  You can also use this project to summarize the picture book version for younger ..read more

During our Lewis and Clark unit study we completed a salt dough map tracking their journey west. We are using Little School Smiths unit study for our lesson plans. All the instructions and labels are part of the lesson. We read What was the Lewis and Clark Expedition as our main book.  Along with the salt dough map the boys wrote a paragraph about the Louisiana Purchase.  We also learned about Thomas Jefferson and his role during the Louisiana Purchase and Expedition West.  We like tying our history and language arts lessons together. We covered Cause and Effect du ..read more

We recently did a unit study on the Nez Perce using Little School of Smiths American Girl history lessons.  The Nez Percé are a Native American people who traditionally lived along the Snake River. The area where they lived is now Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Their name is French and means “pierced nose.” Nose piercing was not common among the Nez Percé, however. After reading and watching videos the boys put together their notebooking page.  We watched this video, which goes through the type of clothing, food, shelter, and location of this tribe.  ..read more

Suratul Balad is all about hardship. Our birth and growth are hard, and the path to Jannah is hard. But, if we listen to what Allah tells us to do, then all the hardship will end in Jannah; we will live in ease forever! For our Tafseer study, we used the Mini Tafseer Book Series In Surah Balad we learn about the two paths. The Path of Jannah is full of trails and tests, and the Path to Jahannam is full of ease. There are five good deeds we can do to help us on the path to Jannah. My son painted the path and added the five good deeds using our label maker and toothpicks.  1 ..read more

We recently did an electricity unit study with our novel study "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind."  During this unit study, we covered circuits, static electricity, and wind turbines.  Books We Read From: 1. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind 2. Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip 3. Electric Wizard 4. Switch on Switch off We used this Circuit kit for building and learning all about how they work.  We also learned about simple circuits  We learned about different conductors. Here we used a lead pencil to create a circuit.  We made a lemon clock.  ..read more

In the Quran, adding certain letters to the beginning of a word will change its meaning. During our study of Surah Moorsalaat, the boys and I explored 8 different prefixes. After reading through the lesson we made these paint palate prefix craft.  We focused on these 8 letter prefixes from this chart.  Then the boys and I cut a paint palate from brown construction paper.  We added 'paint' using colored paper.  For the top part of the flap we wrote the Arabic word with the  letter prefix. On the inside, we wrote the meaning in English.  Ad Duha In ..read more

As we learn about different language topics we like to apply them to our Islamic studies. My 5th grader recently learned how to make a plot diagram for the stories he reads.  Exposition: Beginning of the story where the characters and setting are introduced Rising Action: A series of events that build the story toward the climax Climax: The most exciting part of the story. The turning point is where everything changes. Falling Action: Events leading up to the end of the story Resolution: The outcome of the story. How the problem gets solved.  We applied the plot diagram to the ..read more