Still Learning

We've had some lovely time meeting with friends recently. And otherwise, we continue as usual, alhamdulillah. I can't complain, not at all, alhamdulillah this quiet and settled period of life is a blessing, when you think of the turmoil and suffering around the world, and nearer by too.
It does leave me with not much to write about!
For the last two days the boys have been writing long stories. I can see the influence of books they have recently read in the style. After last week's intensive work on direct and reported speech, their grammar was better, but they still forgot to start a new line for every new speaker. The textbook would have them draft writing out twice before making a neat copy. Surely this just tempts young writers to cut their stories short, if they think they have to copy it out again? Obviously that's what happens in the real world of published writing, rewrites, alterations, corrections. But what about the fake world of exams, where there is no time to correct? That's the dilema of the textbook style I suppose. Prepare them for writing, or prepare them for exams? I'm not worrying about it myself, I'm just wondering what the rationale is. I'm just looking for a balance between creativity and accuracy.
That reminds me. Just as the paper could go through the printer again, it ran out of ink. But, alhamdulillah this has a good side because I thought of doing something different as a result. I downloaded worksheets , and they filled them in on the computer. Maybe this is obvious - but it took an ink shortage for me to break away from the thought that everything has to be printed out. This is probably because I went to school before computers got into the curriculum.
Which leads me to my other recent thoughts, that I must DO MORE. I must look for more new ways of working. I must move forward.

Today's quote on the Ramadan plates was
"Fasting is a shield by which a servant protects himself from the fire."

Back to Work

Looking back I think I was unwell in the last few days, hence my attack of laziness. But back to work now!
We are getting through the glitter supplies on the Ramadan plates. The boys are rearranging the plates on the wall, planning how to get the best effect, planning where the next one will go.
Today’s quote was
“The suhoor is a meal of blessings, so do not leave it, even if one of you just takes a gulp of water, since Allah sends mercy and His angels seek forgiveness for those who take Suhoor.” (Ahmad)
The boys are fasting again today, and talking about the suhoor reminded me that on the Jewish Day of Atonement I think that the fast lasts from one sunset to another, so if we feel hungry we should think that Allah has been merciful to us in giving us the suhoor, and shortening our fast. It could have been made so much harder for us. Alhamdulillah.

For science we’ve been making use of materials from primaryresources.co.uk. Now that the printer is back working again (we found the paper feed had been jammed by a battery, keychain and a small bit of yellow plastic) I’ve been printing out some worksheets, and a very loud time was had as they filled in their skeleton measurements.

Ia has done some practical maths, adding and subtracting from collections of apples and oranges, and also jumping onto numbers less or more than. I think she needs more oral maths vocab work.

In our reading about Salah Ed Deen we have reached his early campaigns in which he accompanied his uncle, who went on to take power in Egypt. Later in the day the R found that he could replay this campaign on one of his computer games!

Pause

Today's quote for the plates was

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqoon (the pious)" 2:183

The plates are looking good on the wall now, and the boys are becoming more careful in how they decorate them! Just practice I think. We returned to the plates today after a week of going through the chapters on the Quran in the "Eemaan Made Easy" series. We've been keeping up with the usual maths and English, reading and Quran. Ia has her days of wanting to do a lot, and other days not much.
There is a bit of the "middle of Ramadan lull", going on that I usually experience each year. The first part has such excitement to it, and the last 10 days are full of rush, seeking the last of the blessings before the month is over. This stage is very calm and settled, leading to our "plodding along" style of working just now.
But lots of creativity all the same. The "things to make" books have been taken out, and now there is masses of chopped up packing carton all over the floor.

Conkers

Yesterday was warm and breezy, just right for going to a wooded hill top, and for running down a long grassy slope. (Not me- the kids - obviously). However someone unexpectedly turned up to fix the bannisters, so the plan was off. Instead we went to the library, and on our way we collected conkers. And there were so many of them. I have never seen so many conkers lying around uncollected in my life. This was on a main route, opposite a big park. Where I used to live you would only find the split or mucky ones unless you went out early. We passed a couple shovelling conkers off their driveway. They told us "There's loads, the kids are not allowed them at school for health and safety reasons, it's madness". So just because you can't take it to school, does the shiny conker lose all its appeal?

This morning it seems we are having our first autumn gale. I stayed up after fajr, to try to get some work done. After a while I thought I'd go rest. It was then I heard the ominous drip, drip, drip coming from the loft. So I've been up there, arranging containers under the drips.

Reading about Salah Ed Deen

There hasn’t been anything that bloggable. The boys do enjoy making posters, or display items, but only sometimes. Mostly they would be happy for me to just read stuff to them. And they will often readily choose to do a few written exercises over something more creative. So the last couple of days were a bit book orientated.
I also went to an Islamic talk, which is always reviving. I come away thinking “must work harder, must work harder, must sleep less”. I find that very motivating.
On the way back from the talk I popped into an Islamic bookshop which I hadn’t been to before and there we found “The Life of Saladin” (should be Salah ed-Deen?), by Beha Ed-Din, who was a contemporary of Salah ed Deen, accompanying him for some years. Obviously this is a translation of a translation of a translation, Beha Ed-Din died in 1234. But what a gem to find, the boys were excited, we had to rush straight to the cashpoint (opposite). (We had been looking for a life of Salah Ed Deen book for ages).
We have started reading. The style is a bit heavy, but I love the dialogue details, “The Sultan said this”, and “I said that”. For example today we read about a time when Salah ed-Deen was in control of Jerusalem, with the Franks and their English allies encamped nearby, soon to attack the city. The city emirs were afraid, and suggested that Salah ed Deen should go out to meet the Franks while they would stay behind to defend the city. Salah ed Deen feared that the emirs were actually planning to flee the city. He and Beha Ed Din stayed up all night worrying about what to do next. In the end Beha Ed Din advised the Sultan that all he could do would make an extra 2 rakat of prayer between the azan and iqamah of Friday prayers in the Aksa mosque, and pray a dua from hadith, whilst prostrating, which basically said that he had made all the worldly effort he could and he turned the matter over to Allah for help. The Sultan performed the extra prayers and made dua, causing tears to fall from him. Following that were several days of disorder and confusion in the camp of the Franks as the French and English disagreed on what action to take. On the Monday the Frankish army departed.
What a story of the power of faith and dua.

Aside from that, we have found this website! Ia has been using the Transport to Reading section, and the boys were even doing a MATHS game in the knowledge box bit.

Today's activity

Variety helps. Last week we were concentrating on some of the rulings concerning Ramadan, and there is still much more to do of course. But Ramadan is also the month of the Quran, so continuing the study of the pillars of Emaan, we started learning about the Quran, in the context of the third pillar, Belief in the Books.
We made posters on the "Names of the Last Book", the Quran, al-Kittab, al-Furqaan and the Thikr, and learnt about the meanings of those names.

Planting

Ramadan is a time for refreshment and revival. It's a boost for the imaan, that should, inshAllah help us through the year. The extra ibaadah we do now can strengthen us in the months ahead, reminding us of the good habits we should maintain and helping us shed the bad habits for good, inshAllah.

So today we planted bulbs; crocuses and bluebells. Like a good deed planted in Ramadan, inshAllah the effects (on us) of those deeds will still be there in the early spring when the flowers will, inshAllah, show us their colours. And the flowers themselves will be a marker for that. When we see them we can remember that we planted them in Ramadan, and be reminded of the intentions made in this month. It is reported that the companions of the Prophet Muhammed (saw) used to pray to Allah during the six months before Ramadan to extend their lives so that they can fast Ramadan, and in the six months after Ramadan they would ask Allah to accept their fasting of Ramadan.

So Ramadan should not be forgotten straight after Eid!

The photo is of a tiny hazelnut sapling that I accidentally dug up whilst digging a hole for a rhododendron that I also planted today. When it came out we could see the hazelnut that it had grown from. There are no hazelnut trees in sight, so I guess a squirrel must have buried it there. I planted it back, nearby, inshAllah it will grow. I was thinking that it would be nice to have hawthorn, holly and hazelnut in the garden, and, alhamdulillah, I have uncovered all three.

Ia was very helpful in the garden today, maashAllah, she kept working for hours. The boys dropped in for the planting bits, and the Ramadan thoughts, but they prefer the garden for cricket!