Asalamu’alaykum Sisters,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that we were on vacation and since then I’ve been planning our school year since our curricula for 2018-2019 finished just before we left.

And this year I’ve opted for several changes, not only in curricula but also my approach to certain subjects.  There are several reasons, but one is definitely wanting to individualise our children’s learning journies a little more.

For Science this year we won’t be using any Science curricula, even though we have used a few in the past and sometimes I’ve pulled together my own.  Last year we did Astronomy for the whole year, which although was great as we got to cover it in so much depth, towards the end we all felt a little unenthusiastic.

So this year, I have decided to cover different topics for a number of weeks, that way we can insha’Allah keep the motivation and enthusiasm high, not just for the kids but for me too.

So this year for Science, we will be notebooking which I will plan by using a mix of two checklists; an idea from homeschooler Pam Barnhill.  Pam suggests using a procedure list to ensure you know what you will use from a particular resource and how you will use it and a lesson plan checklist which simply is using the contents page as a literal checklist which you tick off as you go along. This way you don’t feel overwhelmed by suggested activities but can also be confident you are covering everything and making the most out of your resources.

I have some brilliant Science books that will be arriving in the mail soon insha’Allah and I intend to use these books as spines and notebook along the way.  I have colour-coded the notebooking pages and then will colour code the relevant chapters/books in advance too to make life easier a little later.  I have also added a small section where we can write an ayaah related to the topic, or even a small reflection whereby we can remind ourselves of Allah’s names and attributes.

You can download the notebooking pages for free by clicking below. A frugal and fun way to approach Science this year!

Science resources you may be interested in: