Teaching Doubles

Teaching Doubles is one of the main components needed for math fluency and to help develop number sense. The doubles facts is usually the first fact children aged 4, 5 or 6 have memorized. To aid along learning doubles I recommend using real life examples, this is a wonderful way to connect children to this number fact they come across in everyday life, since we see doubles everywhere. Here are some examples;

Homeschooling My 5 year old English Language Arts

Our Reading Wall and shelf work

English

We spent a term working on improving handwriting skills and learning how to join up then we moved on to English grammar. She has been using mostly workbooks to guide her through and it will be her second year learning English grammar, which she does complete but doesn't particularly enjoy or dislike but wishes it was more fun.

Our experience of a Quran Memorization Insitute

It has been a very different year for us, it is our 3rd year homeschooling but we decided that because I was expecting with my third child, it would be better to enroll DD into a Quran institute so that it would take the main responsibility off me for a short while until I was ready to start hifdhs again with her. So on the day she turned 5 I reluctantly went to the school open day, I say reluctantly because I didn't want her to enter the school system yet, I wanted to keep my princess safe at home with me and have a flexible schedule and not have to worry about being restricted to time.

The institute is better known as Rayaheen tahfeedh school, Rayaheen is the name of the school and tahfeedh in Arabic is translated to 'memorization' in English more specifically referring to the Noble Quran. The school was a attached to a masjid and the building itself was a converted villa, and its well known for its tahfeedh program catered for boys and girls aged between 4 to 6 years old.

Update on my 5 year old Quran Memrisation

Following from the post what my 3 year old is up to? I thought of writing a separate post about my DD5. It is our third year of homeschooling, I was expecting my third child and my husband thought it would be better to enroll her into a Quran school which you can read about our experience of it here. We still kept up with homeschooling minus me having to teach Quran memorization. Up until the birth of my third child I homeschooled DD new concepts in Maths and English so that after my birth she could just review and practice everything that she had newly learnt, which worked out very well, as I used workbooks that she would do independently and it gave me time recover and work on a new routine with 3 children. Homeschooling this year was nice and relaxing for me and I hope it was more fun and exciting for her as I intended that this year we would do more hands on learning and make learning more engaging with topics and projects that interested her. A summary of the academic subjects we have covered so far;

Homeschooling My 5 year old Math

Our Old Classroom 

Math

We had spent the previous year of just concentrating on mastering the math facts and strengthening number sense. So, this year was about learning some new concepts like multiplication, telling time, measurement, division, fractions, subtraction, addition, money and 3D shapes. She is able to add upto 4 digit numbers and carry over, she is comfortable using most methods of addition. She has learnt how to subtract this year upto 2 digit numbers and using the borrowing method, but she prefers to use the number line and work out the difference between the two numbers.

Math Haul for Grade 1

Maths Materials we have been using 

Grade 1 Math Materials

Putting these materials together for this picture makes me look like I got a bit too excited on the Math Aisle!! Anyhow, these resources are what my 5 year old has been using throughout the year. Starting from the back to front.

My Place in the World Craft

My Place in the World Craft Activity

As part of our geography unit KS1, DD5 learnt our place in the world. She understood we lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and her Grandma and Granddad lived in England, she understood we all lived on Earth and Earth is within our solar system which is a part of many solar systems in this greater universe, which is part of our Creator's grand design and He is above all that which He has created. This was a far cry from when DD was 3 and she firmly believed that the sun and the moon were in the sky and nothing went further then what her eyes saw. 

Montessori Seven Continents (inc. FREE Printable)

Geography

Montessori The Seven Continents

(keep reading to claim you free 3 part cards)

Recently we have started a new project covering the seven continents. We started off learning about the names, facts and identifying where it is on the map. I set up an area for the work to be displayed and easily referenced. We used the Montessori Seven Continents colors;

North America = Orange

South America = Pink

Africa = Green

Europe = Red

Asia = Yellow

Australia = Brown

Antarctica = White 

Who said learning isn't fun. DD5 and DS3 learning about the seven continents with playdough.

This is how we introduced the unit by learning the Seven continents song and then using a laminated world map and rolling and shaping out Play-dough onto each continent all the whilst singing the song.

The Lyrics to the Montessori Seven Continent Song is;