There are things to do round here..

In the local school's yard (ignore the cig butts) the kids can play innebandy (street hockey), skateboard, play footy, and roller blade.

In the house those plastic bricks never seem to lose their appeal...

'It's an I' I am proudly informed and I prepare to be defeated at Jenga.

But oh how I wish our car could get fixed, and we had some money to get out of this place, I'm starting to go a bit nuts... But now and again I get a little solice out on my balcony, with the surviving tomato plants thriving (and they now are a lot larger than in this pic, with a few tomatoes on)

There is a green finger or two on my hands then..

Hz's permeating presence

Hz’s motor skills still continue to expand, as he climbs on everything (stools, tables, beds etc) and even tries to scale the kitchen cupboards/ dishwasher as if he is Spiderman, barely hanging on with his fingertips, toes scraping up the sides of the cabinets. He’s just worked out how to get off the bed too without it being head first. He’s realised that things can be placed in as well as chucked out of containers. I took the time to watch time for a few minutes the other day:
Put brick in box, tipped it out, tried again to put it in, misses. Put box on sofa and puts brick in, this time successfully.
Favourite ‘toys’ are: Computer mouse, dishwasher (buttons and knob), cooker (knobs including ability to twist off the safety device), toilet seat (I was perusing eBay for something to make the doors safe for little fingers and saw toilet seat locks, huh! I thought why on earth would you need one of those- now I know). He’s the first child to think the toilet bowl is another sink to wash in uurrgh!, mop, my plants.
He’s starting to use some consistent ‘words’. So far it’s ‘nana’ for anything edible, including me! And ‘naaaa’ for ‘more’. So more bread would be ‘naaa nana’.
Really it is a difficult, but cute time of life. It is almost impossible to get anything done during his waking hours, and you have to clear the kitchen table pretty quickly as he has a good swiping action. We are minus a few cups and plates as our kitchen floor is tiled, good job I don’t have any posh china.
We’ve finally got the locks on the bathrooms sorted out so you can go to the loo in peace, but now are thinking we need to put locks on the outside of the doors too. And have I mentioned the blockades around the house? The computer is surrounded by cupboards/ boxes which we have to clamber over to access the computer. The kitchen doorway is occasionally blockaded with a big box if DH or myself need to get on with some work on the kitchen table. We should really get a gate (there’s no door so can’t just put a lock on) but I expect the other kids will leave it open and by the time we get round to fitting it he’ll have grown out of this ‘exploratory without fear of consequences’ phase.

Some more notes from the trenches..

S’s questions continue, for which I’m grateful:

‘Why does the moon affect the waves?’
Other diverse topics enquired after are: uranium, invention of pizza

Biryani:
‘H is a gangster, I’m a star’

And on another occasion when she’d been with the boys to Jummah prayer, and her Dad asked her why she didn’t want to wear a hijab like her friend, she said
‘I’m a gangster’ oh dear..

‘Come to my class!’ (the ‘a’ is a short one as in the US pronunciation, again oh dear..!) The she continues to try to write with a broken pencil while sporadically putting up her hand. This was soon after the open day at the boys’ school, so she must have been taking something in.

Biryani sits and waits for the computer to come on, and reads out ‘S-O-N-Y' from the monitor. The alphabet is a bit hit and miss, but ‘S’ is a favourite and she will remind you that it says ‘sss’ like a snake.

She is showing some first signs of feeling remorse. She tore a piece of tissue:
‘I’m sorry to break this piece’

Me ‘What time is it?’ WHY was I asking a 3 year old??
Biryani ‘Ten six hundred’

Some notes about nappies:
Biryani decided the used nappy had to go in the blue bin, NOT the silver one. I had some patience with this apparent illogical behaviour, as I’d observed a friend’s child of a similar age wanting to wear his old nappy, NOT a new one. I think Biryani was also in the same mindset, and fished the old one out the bin so she could wear it. You’d think they were special jewel encrusted nappies. However I think it’s more a power game if you ask me…
　
M- playing dominoes with his brother and me.
‘I have to think good’ (not ‘hard’ then?)

Me ‘Which country did Gladiators come from?’
M ‘Russia?’
Me 'No, Italy’
M ‘Oh let’s not go there!’

Summer hols

It's the 2nd week of the holidays, and there is plenty to do around our area. They give out a brochure of activities, many of them free or not to expensive. The suggestions of sailing, wrestling, doing a spot of archeology and making a time capsule were not met with enthusiasm. They really want to just met their friends and chill out! So I think there is a time to just be, especially when you've been at the desks of schools for a great part of the year.
However the 2 younger ones have been to an indoor ball games camp, and have actually enjoyed this, and they are booked for more swimming lessons, as M especially needs practice. But only 1 and a half weeks in, S actually admitted he's had enough of the hols, and is looking forward to learning about more Swedish kings! (he's already read one book this holiday about 1)

Other things going on: strawberries are being consumed.... (One of the few types of fruit and veg Biryani will eat. At the moment it stands at: Carrot (raw), granny smith apples (skin off), broccoli (v occasionally), avocado, and of course bananas). Actually now I write it down it's not too bad for a 3 year old.

'Someone's eaten them all' - these delicious fruits disappear as quick as sweets, mashaAllah..

and the marbles are out, it must be Hz's nap time

and it naptime must be over as they've headed outside...

A few pics..

The bush outside our building's front door, where bees have been gathering. if you stop and watch and listen you see so many bees and hear so much buzzing!

Dandelions and ladybirds, or as Biryani would correct me 'ladyBUGS'.

Elderflowers with their distinctive scent behind the swings..

and a rearrangement of my kitchen shelves, revealing DH's love of pickled garlic, and olives that have given me matching storage jars.

It's not always the end product!

There was a lot of enthusiam to build this caterpillar, but after the frantic painting of toilet rolls, the interest wained. I would like to encourage a 'starting what you finish' approach, but sometimes I just let them enjoy the process of it, sticky fingers, mixing colours, spilling water, it's all part of the fun!

The UK wants to be like Sweden, now Sweden wants to be like Germany!

I've been a bit away from the politics of home ed and what's going on in the UK. My head was completely spinning after last years attempts to get permission here, and never quite recovered. I'm getting the idea that a Bad man is making lots of potential problems for families in the UK. So almost in the same few months the Swedish gov wants to make home ed virtually illegal here, here is a translated article about it.
It seems that other than having an infectious disease, or having extreme behavioural problems (which has happened with one boy in S's class, who now receives his education at home with their teacher visiting after school hours), they want to make it impossible to home educate on any philosophical or religious grounds. So if I think my children are not accessing their potential and could do this better at home it's tough luck!
I cringed to myself at S's development meeting the other day when his teacher was wearing a T-shirt saying along the lines of: 'Everyone has the right to education from a Qualified Teacher'.
So (un)educated are these Swedish bureaucrats that they will refuse to look at hard evidence that for most children, Home education either equals or surpasses that of schooling.
Please feel sorry for my keyboard it's bearing the brunt of my anger.

Some midsummer pictures..

I wanted to take the kids to pick some wild flowers reminiscent of two years ago. I also thought as the weather was so nice that a long walk would be some good exercise as well as much more inspiring than a car or even bike journey. You can notice so many things as you walk along, so many topics of discussion come up. Adventures also happen such as 10 tonne trucks having to swerve as they fail to slow down adequately as we cross a zebra crossing, phew, poor M had told me to wait but I thought I had judged the deceleration of the lorry well enough. For myself yes, but not for M pushing a buggy. I will inshaAllah listen to him in the future!BTW H only pushed a buggy now and again when I wanted to take photos and at one point when M was tired. M never complained, but H found it a bit much walking for nearly an hour (with a break) and then again home. S had stayed at home with his Dad. Anyhow, M was pleased with the flowers and especially liked the playground we found on our way where we had a break from walking. He wanted to go again today, on foot!

Things rarely turn out how you plan ...

It may seem we are going completely against the grain with H's education. Once I had finally realised what home education really was, I was more than enthusiastic to get going with it. But oops, you find you're in the wrong part of the world to let this be possible without a European court battle in Brussels. Secondary level, don't even go there!

H has always been interested in maths and has recently got going with reading. DH and myself have thought for a while he might find the work, especially maths, in the pre school class not enough to stretch him, and he could get bored.

His day care teacher was quite in favour of just letting him be in the preschool class, where it is mainly play. Islam says 7 years is the time to start more formal stuff, and H is just 6.

So he was tested by the special needs teacher and she agreed he was ready, only he needed to practise writing a little. (he has always been averse to drawing anything that resembled anything other than scribbles until fairly recently, and he's left handed)

But in the end, it was H himself who really seemed keen to get going with 'proper' work. He says he likes homework and wants to go straight into class 1. So I think I am being consistent in that I am thinking of what he wants first and foremost. It's funny that in the UK he would be considered a late starter (I started myself age 4!)

Anyhow I hope and pray he will maintain his enthusiasm for learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanity is barely being preserved..

Hz is coming on in leaps and bounds, and my heart is often getting to miss a beat aswell. He is taking more and more steps, and can deliberately throw a ball (and anything else in his hand)
Here was a typical sequence of events:
Grabs kitchen roll (mother tries to find somewhere, with great difficulty ,to put it out of reach)
Plays with toaster (mother unplugs said electrical device)
Plays with plughole where electrical device was formerly plugged in (mother watches out for forks or other metallic objects that could produce fatal results)
Watches sister play with a ball (mother has a 30 second breather)
Tries, in vain, to reach the magnetic letters on the fridge (ha ha, mother had already realised you’d try that one)
Watches mother carefully put hot milk and muffins in the restricted area of the kitchen table, which for this point in time, is out of his reach.
Knowing there is no point going for the snack, turns attention to the Swivel sweeper (hoover thingy), to carry on with mission: its destruction.

Mostly Biryani

Biryani has a pink spoon she calls her own. She’d retrieves it off the floor, takes it to the bathroom and washes it herself (v. impressive mashAllah). It drops on the floor again. I pick it up and wash it. Tantrum – she wipes it on the floor so it’s dirty and she can wash it HERSELF again.
She’s been annoying brothers by remembering a sentence in a Ladybird storybook before he could read it. M has been reading her some bedtime stories (piles of them) a few nights a go. He looked up from the penultimate one and saw she was asleep as was everyone in the house except me and him.
She also likes the Ladybirds ‘Knights’ book. She insists the first page says ‘fight for their country’ another memorised bit of text! I wonder if it’s not too confusing, considering the books mostly about Knights (not nights) and pages (not the ones we’re reading).
She’s also being playing far too much computer. Admittedly most of the games are pretty educational. She pointed out an octagon the other day (a stop sign)I can’t think where else she learnt it from but the internet games.
And today I finally got around to recording myself reading ‘The Billy goats gruff’ All my children and now especially Biryani, love this story. I have read this story so many times, and hence tend to read it ever so fast. I had heard ages ago about Dads who’d be sent to jail being advised to record themselves reading bedtime stories. Then they could contribute something positive to their children‘s lives even while inside. So I borrowed S’s phone and made a recording, only making one error I think ‘Billy boat gruff’. I was still reading too fast even though tried my best to slow down. Since I recorded it (around 7.30 pm) its been listened to 2 times, Biryani turning the pages at(mostly) the right spot herself, and then I was able to get on and pray maghrib. It felt like I had a babysitter in the house for 5 minutes, something better than a TV or computer! Of course it’s not as good as the real thing having a story read to you, you can’t pause and answer queries or discuss points in the story. But as most have already been discussed (the troll needs to cut his long nails Biryani thinks) on the previous numerous readings I don’t think it mattered. I’m thinking of recording some more and wondering if it’s possible to make an MP3 for the car?

Some recent quotes

H kicks Biryani's dolly and I say we’ll have to take it to hospital.
Biryani ‘We have no choice’ (I think copied froma Sonic game dialogue)

Alhamdulillah Biryani is for the most part, toilet-trained (she is doing everything herself as I speak, including jug).
Bladder has been successfully emptied and I hand her a piece of toilet roll.
Biryani ‘It’s too little’ I give another
‘It’s too big’
I’ve got to take that Goldilocks book back to the library methinks.

We were talking about the NobelPrize (it’s quite a big deal here)
M said ‘Too bad you or Abu Jaan can’t do it’ !! You never know....

S's outing

Last month S went with his 'friluft' group to a place called Nimis. It was the first time he'd been to something like this without us parents (apart from the odd school trip). He himself was happy to go unaccompanied, although I had worries in my mind, they were going to be climbing around on these 'works of art'. But he managed to think to take some photos with his phone, just as I'd texted him to do so, so I could see what it was like, mashaAllah. Yesterday I finally got round to reminding him to upload them to the computer for me. I tried to get him to write a blog entry for them, but he didn't want to.

With great difficulty..

I have chucked kids off the computer in coordination with Hz's naptime, so I can actually publish a post. I thought that with no TV and DH at home I would have more time for things I choose to do, but this, on the contrary, seems to get less by the day. Maybe it's because Hz's increasing daytime activity and just having more bodies around just takes up more time. We are doing 4 loads of washing about 3 times a week, the dishwasher twice a day (admittedly it's a little one). Alhamdulillah I have all these modern day appliances. I was talking to DH last night about how families managed 100 years ago, without all this technology and probably more kids, and probably all the work at home was the mother's. I came to the conclusion it was expectations that change, leisure time, would that have any meaning for a working class Victorian family?
Ooh and Hz started walking a few days ago. I keep catching him practising when he thinks I'm not looking.

Anyhow some pictures of a few things that have gone on around here apart from housework...


M reading the speech bubble content of a 'Magic School bus' book to his younger siblings
H has been writing some notes, the first was an invitation to M. They were going to have a party together.
The second says 'hot chocolate powder' which was to remind me to buy it. Funnily, in the end DH bought (mistakenly) 2 packets.
I finally got round to making some scones withe the cream of tartar that DH brought back from the UK last year (for play dough making). I don't know how it differs to baking powder but that's what my Mum's recipe calls for. I did enjoy this Swedish cream tea..It's the hörngädda season again and DH and occasionally the boys have been popping out fishing. This one M and DH caught. The next day S went with him and caught an even bigger one, S willingly broke its neck and then cut off its head as it was still wriggling, uuuurgh. It's in the freezer now waiting to be cooked..Sorry any vegetarians...

The last 2 photos truly show men and women are so different subhanAllah...

Do we really need toys?

Here are 3 toys that I would really recommend in terms of durability and play value. They have just about lasted 10 years of play (the odd screw driver episode may have been required), and have never failed to amuse. A little mental development is also involved.

A sister I know has hardly any toys in her home, and thus does not have to spend hours of her life picking them up.. There are days where I think I could live like that:

Bang bang, what fun breaking health and safety regs for eardrums!

Mashed potato contraption also produces lovely hair made of dough..

Are there any purpose built toys that are really worth buying you can recommend, and any things that you just happen upon which give just as much fun?

The shape sorter is particularly a favourite as the game in itself leads to the toy being tidied up. Lego conversely has taken up a disproportionate amount of my time keeping it under control, but its play value keeps it coming in the house. They just now got back from the toy shop, solemnly announcing they hadn't got the set that BIRYANI wants in stock, aargh, and we have Hz to come!!

A few typical moments..

I find the carrot I gave to Biryani to peel (at her request), is rather slim..

That metal thing on the cushion cover, what does it do? Oh, flips left and right. This fine motor skills business is lots of fun..My brothers are always fiddling with these bits of plastic, it must be something interesting...Yes, fascinating..

These children who live with me and those big people, they find these devices with wires equally enthralling. I must get a piece of the action..

My favourite teacher, H, who shows me how all these plastic items function..The arabic alphabet pieces....

and the elder two praying Isha (as its getting late now, so pray with maghrib before bed). Now alhamdulillah getting them to pray is not too hard, especially S who I rarely have to remind. It makes it a lot easier with DH home to gather them in a jammat. However, I'm not sure how to deal with Fajr, it's like waking the dead. How do other people get them up? and then back to sleep again so they can get up in time for school?

These pics are less than a month old..

but it was still woolly hats and snowsuit weather. But it was sunny enough to be a first picnic, joined by lots of ladybirds. (Which is what they are intently examining)
Hz doing the classic, playing with dust floating in the sunbeam..

and Biryani is now a computer addict since she's mastered the mouse..