Making Pizza with Love ♥

Sometimes baking with love, doesn't have to consist of just desserts, in fact we do alot of fun baking with practical foods. My wonderful pizza bakers had fun creating all different kinds of shaped pizza.

Book Log- Introducing Noor & Janan

I am not a graphic designer, however I wanted some Muslim characters for my Beloved's worksheet. There are graphic designers out there who make Muslim characters, but none of them are free or low cost. No way do my characters show the talent and design of the ones you can purchase on a budget from Etsy.

 
No less the thrill is still there and my children are pleased with them, Lil A has named them many different beautiful names. I, however, have kept their names simple- the girls are all Noor and the boys are all Janan.
Their debut is on NoorJanan's book log. Noor and Janan are free to download, however, please use www.noorjanan.blogspot.com as the reference. Always link others back to this page. Thank you!

Download Free on The 3 R's Page

4 Free Bookmarks are included in the download.

In this download, I have shared a Fiction Book Log without Noor & Janan.  A special added bonus are bookmarks with Noor & Janan. I also shared a Nonfiction Book Log. The graphics are by Maggie Appleton. I am encouraging my children to read more non-fiction books by recording their books on the book log, once they have read a book from each 100 call number group, they will get rewarded. I want to see diversity in reading and I want them to learn how to use the Call numbers in the library.

Download Free on 3 R's Page

I made fun learning cards from each of Maggie Appleton's graphics that you can find here. You can use them to play memory or matching with your child. I put them all in a basket and played a scavenger hunt with the older children. At the library, they were let loose with 3 cards, whoever came back first with 3 books for their 3 cards wins.

Small Fox blog has great Dewey Decimal Learning activities. Mr. B also has a great page on the Dewey Decimal System. We also used this download from abcTeach below.

Have you checked out our Reading List for this year? You can find it here. We have also brought our side bar back, we missed our old format, however if you like the Dynamic view better leave us a comment. With our side bar, we were able to put Our Good Reads list there.

Our full Curriculum 2012-13 available for download, Free

We have a nice library in Maryland with many great activities. We have had some really nice libraries in most of the cities we lived. The best library has been in Nashville, TN, the downtown library has a children's section that no library can compare to with an awesome theater. Their book selection is also one of the best, from what I've seen it is second to Alameda County Library system in Northern California. And the whole library is an architecture masterpiece complete with chandeliers.

Nashville Library

Another great library is the Pleasanton, Ca library, although small, it has a great feeling. Like, the Nashville Library it is a place you want to pick up a book and snuggle down and read right there in the library. There are plenty of comfy places to sit and it is not over run by computers or electrical devices like our Maryland libraries. At least it wasn't when I lived there 7 years ago. 

Entrance to the Pleasanton Library

I guess we have become library connoisseurs, but I believe a good library encourages good reading. We are definitely book connoisseurs, you can read more about our modest bookshelves here. I am a little disappointed with the selections of books in Maryland. I have to order more books on Amazon than I care to, but overall we are having fun with their great programs!

Our Modest Bookshelves

S Man's twin at the library, everytime I walk in the library I have to do a double take, it is just too weird!

PS

Living Montessori Now just wrote a post on Montessori Ideas for Enjoying Books and on her post I found out that September is Library Card Sign up month. On her link, I saw a picture of a player from Humble Dad's favorite football team. So I am sharing this pic just for you, babe!

Islamic Education

These three videos on Islamic Education and what our goals should and shouldn't be are excellent.

Abdal Hakim Murad or Timothy Winters is on the faculty of Cambridge University in Britain and has been named one of the most influential Muslims. I just love him and have loved him for awhile now. Some of my favorite speeches by him can be found on Cambridge Khutbas. All recordings from this Great Scholar are free to listen to and to learn from. May Allah preserve him.

Greenbrier & Gambrill

Finding Bigfoot in the Greenbrier Park Quest game was just as difficult as trying to find Big Foot for real. I was beginning to think the blue painted big foot we were supposed to find was just as mythical as the imaginary creature. Until that magic moment when we found a blue big foot by the boat shed. WOW! I won't say it was all Park Quest fault, we could blame our lack of desire to search very hard to the very attractive lake that stood before us. It was calling us in and we obliged.

The road from Greenbrier to Gambrill is a short ride, but it is beautiful ride. We stopped to look at the locals.

Greenbrier was so much fun that it was hard to leave and we made it to Gambrill kind of late. Ok, really late, but unlike Wye Island, we did not get an eerie feeling. The views from Gambrill are majestic and we were excited to go down the trail even if it was dark, we had our flashlight after all.

Park Quest Home

Other Park Quest Post
Park Quest 2012
Patapsco Valley & Rock State Park
Tuckahoe & Wye Island
Greenbrier & Gambrill

Tuckahoe & Wye Island

We loved playing disc golf at Tuckahoe State Park. I don't think my Beloveds realized how much  fun it would be because I heard complaining from the ones who usually don't complain about outings. (Of course the homebody will always complain if you take them away from home). But once we were there, they were all into it. I loved playing frisbee as a child so I was sure that I would like it, and the challenge of each Tee makes it that much more fun!

Ramadan for Children

As long as women have been fasting in more industrialized areas, I am sure the question of what do with our little ones have existed. A healthy child should be full of boundless energy and a well fed healthy child should have that much more energy. While her fasting mother, will be even more tired than she normally is, at least this fasting mother was. As I mentioned in my blog post "Ramadan for Intelligent People", although the younger children are not expected to fast from food and water. They are to watch what comes out of their mouth and what comes into their ears and mind in general, just as adults should. We already have a rule of no movies and Wii on the weekdays, so it wasn't that hard for my children to give up Movies and Wii for the whole month of Ramadan. I say this, just to say I didn't have television as an option to babysit my children during Ramadan.

I'm Fasting

One of my favorite blogs: A Crafty Arab was selling "I'm Fasting" buttons during Ramadan. I thought wouldn't it be great to make t-shirts that say "I'm Fasting". Michael's was having a sale on t-shirts 2 for $5, so it was on!