Thoughts

I have been home educating for almost five years now, and it is really daily life to me, but despite that it still remains as a precious thing. I'm constantly aware of the fragility of this way of life. Almost daily in dua I thank Allah that I'm raising my children this way and beg that I should be able to continue. There is no reason known to me now why I should not continue, but major life changing events occur in the lives of people every day. I ask Allah (swt) not to test me with something disrupting our home education. Please, please, please. Very greedy of me, yes.
When my children were babies I would check them while they slept, to check they were breathing. Lots of people do that. Even now I check U before I go to bed. There is no reason why your healthy baby should stop breathing, is there, but he/she seems so small and precious that you fear her loss. I feel like that about HE. I do not take it for granted, and even on the bad days, I couldn't bear to think of giving up. You don't want to give up your toddler even if he has a tantrum all day and sweeps eveything from every surface he can reach.
Everything should be done for the sake of Allah, seeking His pleasure. This has to be the primary intention behind a deed, and it is my starting point with my children as well. But, in the same way that we should learn to love performing our prayers and our fasts for our Creator I have come to love the effort of providing an Islamic education for my children. The process has increased my awareness of Islam. I hope it can be accepted from me by Allah.
I have written this for UmmSuhayb. The right to home educate in the UK should not be under rated. And whatever we have now, we may or may not have in future.
I am horrified that other people should say "no". But they say no everywhere. They say "no" to all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. They say no , no ,no all over the place all the time. And he on the receiving end has his hopes dashed.
Being on the "yes you can", is like walking the tightrope.

Saturday

I can't help but keep an eye on my children's time, even on the days we do no organised work. The weekends should involve a little variety, so as to avoid a tetchy start to the next week. Of course children do need lots of free time to do what they want with, but I find that if I take up at least a little of their time every day, they will value the rest of their time more. The other thing they benefit from is a bit of exercise, it helps keep them in a good mood.
So today I decided we should go to the library after lunch. They did moan a bit and say they wouldn't go, but once we were out everyone seemed happy. It is quite a long walk, that is what puts them off going, but on the way home the boys were racing each other, so that means they enjoyed it.
Public libraries are such excellent facilities. Well, they could always have MORE books of course, but even so, the fact that today we could borrow at least a couple of hundred pounds worth of books, much, much more than we could ever afford to buy, is something I value.
The boys are not finding as much on the fiction shelves now. Over the past year they have read what interests them, and are now on to rereads. I did find quite a few non-fiction books to interest them this time, some of which they have been reading this evening. They like "The Danger Zone" books, "Avoid Sailing on the Titanic" and "Avoid becoming a Pirates' Prisoner". they are quickly read, with lots of funny pictures.

Back to work!

First thing this morning the triop eggs went in. They are supposed to be kept at a constant temperature of around 22C, which could be a problem, as normal room temperature is nearer 20C in the summer, (unless we are having a heat wave, which we are not!) We have been using a lamp as suggested, but I'm not going to leave a lamp on them for three weeks - way too much energy. We'll see.
Ia has been writing some CVC words by herself, she is also reading a couple of pages per night and is quite happy do do a little copying of short words from time to time. Today she also did some counting in 10s (reading from the 100 square), some colouring and so on.
U also wanted a story written in her colouring book, copying Ia. She is asking to use the computer too, so to help her develop some mouse control we spent some time on Poisson Rouge, and, maashAllah, she did improve a little, but found it very tiring.
The boys continued work on the project around Surah Zalzalah. We reviewed what we'd already done (as much for my benefit as theirs) and then I got them to type up the work they did before on listing the major and minor signs of the Hour.
Then we looked at the verse " And man will say "What is the matter with it""(99:3), meaning that when the Earth starts to shake in the final earthquake people will be confused and baffled as to what is happening. We thought about and listed the reactions of people to earthquakes that happen now, using the news footage we watched from the recent China earthquake as a source. How do the people look, do they run, crouch, lie flat, or all of these? What are the people advised to do in case of an earthquake?
In looking at this I am mindful to distinguish between what we understand about earthquakes in this time, and the Final earthquake, which is part of the Unseen, and therefore should not be described other than as it is in divine sources. People now feel panic and confusion at the time of a large earthquake, and Allah tells us that the people will ask what is the matter with the earth at the time of the Final earthquake. I present this side by side, but I do say that the Final time cannot be compared to nowadays. InshAllah this can be accepted.

It is all coming back...

I took the honey and the other remedy this morning and, by the will of Allah, feeling much better now. Finally getting back into HE life, remembering to do the essential chores and so on. Still the boys got away with the basics today, as I realised that I need to do some photocopying before I can start on forthcoming projects. I want to start when properly ready, a messy start could lead to a messy project.
Talking of "messy", I mentioned to the boys today that one day in future they may want to take exams, in which case their handwriting will need to be reasonably legible. I pointed out that even if a person knows all the answers they will get no marks if those answers can't be read. This assumes they will still be handwriting exams when the time comes. Or will it all be computerised by then? Well, I won't mention that as better handwriting does no harm and if anything their keyboard skills need even more work! They type so slowly, and it is hard to encourage them to do more. I think they can express themselves more quickly by hand and find that the typing interferes with their creative thoughts.
Our extra activity today was setting up the Triops kit, a gift they received some time ago. The eggs will go in tomorrow. InshAllah they will hatch. I'm always nervous over these things. The children are so excited that I really want it to work. They were given a kit each, but we are starting with one, just in case of mistakes!

...where was I again...?

Hayfever a bit better today, I took a remedy and the weather was a bit cloudier, alhamdulillah. Tomorrow, inshAllah, I'll try the honey too. I just have to remember to take it in the morning!
The HE is still disorganised, so again I just did the basics with the boys. In terms of education this does them no harm, but if I don't keep them busy after a couple of days they tend to end up grumpy and having an argument. This is why I don't think the autonomous way works for them. They need the structure to keep them fair tempered. So, back to something more tomorrow, although I'll have to look in my notes to see what that something is. It is almost like I went away for months, not a week!
Ia had a friend over today and they continued working on lapbooks on five of the names of Allah. They also played lots and did a little subtraction work. U wanted to do a lapbook too, for a few seconds, then she wanted to recite surahs, maashAllah.
By the end of the day we'd been to the park for a couple of hours, Ia had helped me plant out some nastursiams (super quickly for minimum pollen exposure), I had baked bread, (having FORGOTTEN to do it the day before) and argued the children into helping me clean up a bit. I almost feel like cancelling everything else for a day and just getting them to help me catch up on household things, but this plan is not likely to work out in reality. In an effort to get ahead tomorrow morning I have loaded the washing machine ready to run. But will I remember to switch it on?

Hayfever time

A warm and sunny June day means time for hayfever. It drains me out, like having a heavy cold. I even fell asleep on the floor, while the girls read books next to me. That is really not like me! The ants are coming in through a tiny crack in the patio door frame. They only come at night, so in the day I forget to get the sealant stuff down from the loft. I was far too dizzy and blurry today to get anything more than English, maths, Quran and reading done with the boys. Just the basics.
Ia received a colouring book from her auntie last week, she decided to make up stories about the pictures on the pages. She told me the sentences she wanted to write and I wrote them down. I didn't think she would have the patience to copy it all out, as she had made long sentences, but, maashAllah she wrote out the whole thing in slow, careful handwriting, because she wanted to do it. Overall Ia was very helpful today, alhamdulillah, including in the garden. Hayfever and gardening really do not go together, but before the sneezing struck on Sunday we had been to the garden centre for some gap fillers, now I've got to get them in the ground.

We've been

Out enjoying warm sunshine (most of the time). At the beach.

In the woods.

U's shoe got full of sand. I've got sand dunes in my shoe, she said. Not quite, but there was a lot!

This bush would fill a whole garden. Spectacular, subhanAllah.
When I got home I found that ants had invaded my kitchen and dining room. So, add ant removal to the list of "to dos".