"Oh you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you may learn Taqwa" (English meaning of Quran 2:183)
When it comes to Ramadan I feel a continual sense of urgency. I should be working harder, doing as much as I can to make the most out of the time. I apply this to home education of course. If I'm teaching my children for the sake of Allah there is no way I could take a break now is there? Also I want my children to learn to work hard during Ramadan, so that they will, inshAllah, be ready to make the most of the Ramadans of their adulthood, inshAllah.
I have noticed around on other blogs that Ramadan will be set aside for a home ed focus on Quran reading and memorising. When I read this I'm eagar for more detail! How much time would be spent per day on Quran for a seven year old, nine year old or eleven year old I'm wondering? My boys struggle to manage about half an hour a day each. It seems very little to me, as they are capable of more (I think). Exactly how busy are other sisters keeping their children, and with what! Nosy? But I always doubt that I'm doing enough. And when I read about another child's achievements I point them out to my children. It gives a context. I don't expect them to match up to what others are doing, but it helps to view ones self within a landscape of similar experiences, in my opinion.
So we began today by reading about the details of performing sujood correctly. Then we went on to finish reading about Khalid bin Waleed from another collection of biographies of the sahabah. Although we have read different books on the sahabah I do find that each one focuses on events in a different way, and brings a freshness to the history so that is never repetitive.
Then the boys did their own reading from the list of Islamic books I've made for them.
I've also got them using "My Ramadan Fun Book" workbook from Goodwordkids. This is surprisingly age appropriate. It doesn't ask for much from each page, but they do need to go look things up, so it is keeps a bit of challenge. I'm thinking about getting the other workbooks in the series later on, inshAllah.
Also today we have made a small start on a mini book on the tafsir of Surah Mulk. When it is eventually finished, inshAllah, I'll post its description.
And we have restarted with the maths. Some dismay has been expressed that the course book now requires two pages of work per day rather than the one page from last year. I point out that in schools it is done in the numeracy HOUR. This doesn't help much in the case of people who have had enough after the numeracy 20 minutes.
Ia has been making good progress with her reading, maashAllah. The exercises on Education City have been very useful. I get her to repeat them, especially those which teach reading vocabulary.
Yesterday I sought out some video aids for learning Arabic letters on UTube. Just enter "Arabic alphabet" or "Alif baa taa". There are some useful ones out there and plenty not so good ones too! Unfortunately the best one I found (in terms of presenting the sounds) went on to become very musical, so wan't the best after all! Just got to keep on trying! Anyway I did flashcards with Ia today, and she remembered quite well, alhamdulillah.
3 comments:
Assalamu Alaikum Sis,
How are you? I would really like to speak to you on the phone if possible. If you have my email addy, please could you email me or post a post on my blog which I can keep as anonymous insha'Allah with your email addy and I'll email you my number. Jzk. Wsm, Umm Raiyaan x
it would be unusual to get 30 mins of Quran practise out of my boys, but now and again they have their moments of enthusiasm, although I know little and often would be be much better. They have hour long islamic studies twice aweek which is mostly learning surahs (everyone reciting together and then individually as far as I know), but I think they do not enjoy these lessons v much, but it does keep a focus. And they have their 20 mins in the car listening, and on the way home depending which bus driver they get!
MashaAllah H ASKS me to recite some short surahs with him at bedtime.
It was easier when M had a class which again kept us focused. InshAllah I'm hoping we can get a private teacher after Ramadhan. One main aspect is that I myself am not the best example (not consistent with my own study), nor feel confident in my own recitation to be an effective teacher. All I hope is that I am trying to do my best, but I feel it could be a lot more of course.
You sound like you are giving them access to a wealth of Islamic knowledge, which is just as important as the memorisation IMO, and are we practising what we are learning? InshAllah Ramadhan is helping us to do this..
Assalamualaykum,
Ummraiyaan, I'll get on to that, inshAllah!
Umsuhayb, I use the computer to set the example for recitation. There are many programmes, but I found that many of them were too stylistic in their recitation to be useful for a learner. Juz 30 is very clear, so it is possible for a learner to imitate the tajweed. I'm talking about for us adults too, by the way!
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