Being the first fast, today proceeded more leisurely than yesterday. Yesterday was rush, rush, rush, cramming the day full, but today there didn't seem to be the need. As usual Ramadan brings a different feel to the day, a peaceful mood. Even the morning air felt balmy, it was a beautiful day here, maashAllah.
The boys chose to fast today, and kept it until the end, alhamdulillah. Last year they kept 10 days, this year they are aiming at 15, inshAllah.
We got some of our usual things done, but what I really noticed today was how U is expressing herself more and more. How funny the thoughts of a 2 year old are. She thinks she is going to grow up into a brother and wear "pants", she found that she couldn't do up her own pyjama buttons, so that means "I'm not big now", she likes using the word "either", to mean also or as well, "I want banana either". Between everything else, there should always be time for conversations with U!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Ramadan Mubarak (and skeletons)
Ramadan Mubarak!
"Whoever observes (fasts) during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah's Rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Bukhari)
It has been a busy day, alhamdulillah. The girls made bracelets. Very important. The boys did bits and bobs of all sorts, including a Ramadan chapter from the Iqra textbook/workbook set "Our Faith and Worship". I use it selectively, as I'm not sure about all of what's there, but the boys like the workbook mix of puzzles, gapfills, short answers, diagrams etc. It certainly offers a good format into which to fill your own content.
And what about the skeletons? Our first science unit this academic year is on moving and growing, so I'm looking for related links, starting with human skeletons.
Try this, this, also this, and this one, finally this.
I'll make those links less clear next time, ok.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Nearly Ramadan
We have come across a couple of interesting stories from the history of Islam today. The first came up in our continued reading of the seerah of the Prophet (saw). We have reached the time of the digging of the trench around Medina. At that time there was near famine in Medina and many of the sahabah were very hungry. They used to tie stones to their bellies to reduce the hunger pains. (Lets just hold that thought for the coming month).
One day, during work on digging the trench, Jubair ibn Abdullah (ra) noticed the Prophet (saw) had two stones tied to his stomach. Thinking of how hungry he must be Jabir asked to be excused, went home to his wife and asked her what food she had. She had only a small goat and a little barley, but she set about cooking, while Jabir went back to invite the Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) asked Jabir about how much food he had, and said it was plenty, so he asked all the other sahabah from the dig to join the meal. Jabir was so worried that he did not have enough food for so many, but when the Prophet (saw) dished up the food there was plenty, even enough to distribute to other people outside. Allah had blessed this meal and made it plentiful.
This story was noted in the history by Ibn Hisham.
The boys loved this story, and wrote it up, (which was the day’s English exercise).
The second story they liked was linked to the ayat we studied today, as part of our Ramadan preparation, “And eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread…”2:187 When this was first revealed, “of dawn” was not revealed, and some people were confused and tied to their legs or placed under their pillow, two threads, one white and one black, and went on eating until they could differentiate between the two. There is also a hadith about someone asking the Prophet (saw) about this, and so it was explained, and “at dawn” was revealed as well.
We read about this in the Tafseer of Ibn Kathir.
Those were our Islamic studies for the day. They have also been sitting in the garden, reading about dinosaurs. If I ask them to choose their own topic it is usually castles or dinosaurs.
One day, during work on digging the trench, Jubair ibn Abdullah (ra) noticed the Prophet (saw) had two stones tied to his stomach. Thinking of how hungry he must be Jabir asked to be excused, went home to his wife and asked her what food she had. She had only a small goat and a little barley, but she set about cooking, while Jabir went back to invite the Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) asked Jabir about how much food he had, and said it was plenty, so he asked all the other sahabah from the dig to join the meal. Jabir was so worried that he did not have enough food for so many, but when the Prophet (saw) dished up the food there was plenty, even enough to distribute to other people outside. Allah had blessed this meal and made it plentiful.
This story was noted in the history by Ibn Hisham.
The boys loved this story, and wrote it up, (which was the day’s English exercise).
The second story they liked was linked to the ayat we studied today, as part of our Ramadan preparation, “And eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread…”2:187 When this was first revealed, “of dawn” was not revealed, and some people were confused and tied to their legs or placed under their pillow, two threads, one white and one black, and went on eating until they could differentiate between the two. There is also a hadith about someone asking the Prophet (saw) about this, and so it was explained, and “at dawn” was revealed as well.
We read about this in the Tafseer of Ibn Kathir.
Those were our Islamic studies for the day. They have also been sitting in the garden, reading about dinosaurs. If I ask them to choose their own topic it is usually castles or dinosaurs.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Preparations
I suppose there are two ways to get ready for Ramadan, the personal preparations, and the home ed ones. But the two overlap, and insh Allah we all learn more. Last week I was reading "Fasting in Ramadan" by Dr Abdul Karim Awad. This was good revision for me and helped me organise my HE Ramadan plans. I have plans, but won't be sharing them in advance in case of falling short! Instead I will record whatever materialises out of them as I go along, inshAllah.Today I started making use of that very useful looking TJRamadan site. We read the introduction to the book mentioned above, then looked at the lunar cycle links on TJRamadan.
I thought that this year we will make paper plate decorations, highlighting quotes from Quran and hadith about Ramadan. Why paper plates? Because we usually have food on plates, but we are fasting, so we have knowledge about fasting instead.
Today we studied "So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan) he must observe Saum (fasts) that month...." 2:185
So those are the plates, as I mentioned before we are not artists, but we have fun!Saturday, September 08, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Mostly History
The boys are very interested in history at the moment. I prefer them to learn about Islamic history, because there is so much to learn and benefit from there. We read about the life of the Prophet Muhammed (saw), his companions and the earlier Prophets too. Then there is all the rest of the history of the Muslims, in the centuries after the Last Prophet (saw). I have done very little on that yet. It’s all history that we can learn and read about together. Anyway, the boys want to learn about ancient empires and other civilizations or peoples too, so today we were looking for Aztecs, found this, and later read some of the other sections too. Of course Aztecs and many others worshipped idols, and I was pleased to find that the boys were not interested in reading the details about the Aztec religion, it was their decision to skip over that, alhamdulillah.
Later I used this link from Educating the Muslim Child, and they spent some time on the names of countries, capitals, continents and oceans.
Following their achievements in reading Surah Baqarah I decided to read to J and R about the night prayer (Tahajjud) of the Prophet Muhammed (saw). They loved the following hadith to the extent that they were laughing out loud in wonder, imagining themselves following such a long prayer. I just wanted them to know that what they have done is great, but there is so much more to aspire to, insh’Allah.
Hudhaifah ibn al-Yamaan said:
“I prayed with the Prophet (saw) that night when he started soorah al-Baqarah. So I said (to myself), “He will make rukoo after 100 ayaat.” But he carried on after that, so I thought, “He will finish it (the soorah) in two rakahs.” But he carried on, so I thought, “He will make rukoo when he has finished it.” Then he started soorah an-Nisaa and recited it all, then he started soorah aal-Imraan and recited it all. He was reciting slowly; when he came to an ayah in which there was glorification of Allah, he glorified Allah; at an ayah which had something to be asked for, he asked for it; at mention of seeking refuge, he sought refuge (with Allah). Then he made rukoo….” Muslim and Nasaa’i
Later I used this link from Educating the Muslim Child, and they spent some time on the names of countries, capitals, continents and oceans.
Following their achievements in reading Surah Baqarah I decided to read to J and R about the night prayer (Tahajjud) of the Prophet Muhammed (saw). They loved the following hadith to the extent that they were laughing out loud in wonder, imagining themselves following such a long prayer. I just wanted them to know that what they have done is great, but there is so much more to aspire to, insh’Allah.
Hudhaifah ibn al-Yamaan said:
“I prayed with the Prophet (saw) that night when he started soorah al-Baqarah. So I said (to myself), “He will make rukoo after 100 ayaat.” But he carried on after that, so I thought, “He will finish it (the soorah) in two rakahs.” But he carried on, so I thought, “He will make rukoo when he has finished it.” Then he started soorah an-Nisaa and recited it all, then he started soorah aal-Imraan and recited it all. He was reciting slowly; when he came to an ayah in which there was glorification of Allah, he glorified Allah; at an ayah which had something to be asked for, he asked for it; at mention of seeking refuge, he sought refuge (with Allah). Then he made rukoo….” Muslim and Nasaa’i
Conversations
Over the summer I've had various home ed conversations. Weeks ago I met a sister in a park who said that home ed would be her worst nightmare, as she usually couldn't wait to get all her kids out of the house so she could clean it. That cleaning thing comes up a lot. People say, how do you manage to find time to spend on the children when there is all the cleaning and cooking to be done? It baffles me really. Is there any better way to avoid housework than the worthy pursuit of being with ones' children?
Yesterday I met a couple of teacher/tutor sisters who although confident about teaching other peoples' kids were not so about their own. They felt there was a different relationship with their child when it came to learning. I don't understand that. It seems to me that there is a difference between a mother and a housekeeper, but a mother and an educator are one and the same thing. Are ironing and washing up really seen as part of mothering? I would happily allow someone else to help me with those chores, or even pay them if I could afford to. But hand over the kids and let someone else have all the fun of seeing them learn? That would be me being robbed.
A couple of days ago my new neighbour asked me which school I'd registered the kids in. She managed to maintain her cheery, bright expression through her obvious surprise when I told her I home ed. Then she went on to say that the schools round here aren't much good anyway. Wonder what she'll do with her toddler when the time comes.
An HE friend told me recently how the coach of her kids summer sports programme took her to one side one day and asked her to explain more about HE as he had seen how lovely her children were and would rather his 8 month old turned out like them than like the rest of the kids.
This collection of thoughts from bits of conversations doesn't lead to any coherent conclusions. But I'm always shocked by the idea that some people prefer to spend time with the housework than with their kids.
Yesterday I met a couple of teacher/tutor sisters who although confident about teaching other peoples' kids were not so about their own. They felt there was a different relationship with their child when it came to learning. I don't understand that. It seems to me that there is a difference between a mother and a housekeeper, but a mother and an educator are one and the same thing. Are ironing and washing up really seen as part of mothering? I would happily allow someone else to help me with those chores, or even pay them if I could afford to. But hand over the kids and let someone else have all the fun of seeing them learn? That would be me being robbed.
A couple of days ago my new neighbour asked me which school I'd registered the kids in. She managed to maintain her cheery, bright expression through her obvious surprise when I told her I home ed. Then she went on to say that the schools round here aren't much good anyway. Wonder what she'll do with her toddler when the time comes.
An HE friend told me recently how the coach of her kids summer sports programme took her to one side one day and asked her to explain more about HE as he had seen how lovely her children were and would rather his 8 month old turned out like them than like the rest of the kids.
This collection of thoughts from bits of conversations doesn't lead to any coherent conclusions. But I'm always shocked by the idea that some people prefer to spend time with the housework than with their kids.
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