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

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.

Maps

Its been a few days of outings, walks and visitors. We're out of routine, but kids are always learning, especially if you mention that it might be bedtime. There is no better way to avoid bedtime than to suddenly be doing something educational, such as reading a potted history of the Persian Empire, or drawing a map of an imaginary town.

Well done J and R

Today they have (together) completed the reading of Surah Baqarah in one day. MaashAllah. I know that some children manage to memorise large parts of the Quran by this age, and for those children this would not seem like much of an achievement, it is basically reading half the surah each, but for my boys it’s excellent.
And the sun is at last shining, alhamdulillah. The cat is out basking in it.
We did a little French this morning. The boys used to learn the Arabic language where we to lived before, but I have no one here to continue teaching them that yet. I think it is important for them to get to know a little of another language from a young age, so I'll switch to French now, as I can’t personally offer anything else. I have a friend from France whom I asked to check out my rusty pronunciation, which was found to be adequate. If I find an Arabic teacher they can do both!
The boys also revised the duties of Prophets today. Alhamdulillah they remembered a lot from before the summer.
Ia and U have been running in the garden and playing pets and babies. Ia is getting into pets!

The snail

This snail had made it to the top of the patio door this morning.
Been feeling a bit cooped up by the building works on one side and the torrential rain on the other. All of us, all day in one room, pretty much. Alhamdulillah.
HE wise we did the basics, then the boys chose to do some more on their castles project. R did a very good, detailed drawing of Framlingham Castle, which we visited last year. He found a drawing of it in one of the books. J traced a drawing of a Japanese castle. Ia also drew a castle, but was more concerned that there should be enough sheep there, than with the architecture. They also looked castle stuff up online, using the internet linked Usborne Book of Castles. They especially liked this knights site.
Then, around 4 o’clock R decided that they should read the whole of Surah Bakarah, between them. They began, taking turns, and continued for ages, maashAllah. They actually made it to two thirds through. R was determined not to give up, but in the end it was too long for him! I still think they did really well, maashAllah.

Rainy, rainy

As the rain whirled down you could have been forgiven for thinking it was November, if it wasn't for all the greenery and the still vibrant, yellow flowers in the garden. Even the birds are getting confused it seems, we saw our first visitor to the bird table, a thrush, which just chucked everything off the table. Should fit in round here then.
H took the boys to an indoor nets cricket practice, from which they returned highly excited.
I think I've finally settled on an effective routine for the home ed. A lot has changed since the move and we needed to find new ways of working. Now I'm making a weekly list of topics to be looked into, under very general headings, such as "history", "project". The list should be completed within the week, but in no particular order and on no particular day. This gives us the flexibility we need. The boys get to have some control over what they are learning and when, but I still get to "manage" the overall balance. This is on top of daily Quran, and 5 times a week maths and English.
Yesterday I continued reading to them from a history of the Prophet Muhammed (saw). I'm using "Man and Prophet" by Adil Salahi. Its for adults, and I tend to skip over the analytical bits and stick with the narrative, so that they understand better. After that they filled in a time line for key events in the Madina period. We used a time line kit from Learning Roots, because we had been given it, but it is easy to make really. That will go on the boy's bedroom wall, together with the Makkan period one inshAllah...once I find the blu tak.
We've also been doing some more work on the general history of the Prophets as part of our study of the Pillars of Emaan. The favourite facts from that session were that Adam (as) was 40 metres tall and lived for 960 years. Sound incredible? The Prophet (saw) said "Allah created Adam according to his (Adam's) image, and he was sixty arm-spans tall. After him, the size of people continued to shrink until now" This hadith was recorded by Al-Bukhari and others.

Ia has been busy with her art work as ever. She has also been cutting and sticking things into an exercise book.
Today the boys did the final maths test for Year 3. (They love tests - so did I as a child - just the sort of challenge I could manage and do well at) They got exactly the same percentage mark, although different questions wrong. Its a twin thing.
We've also got plumbers in. One of them had an accident today and put his foot through the hall ceiling. The debris just missed U, alhamdulillah.

Hiding

Had a lovely visit from a good friend this week and following some conversation I have decided to stop trying to hide this blog. After all it is not as if I do rant posts, or deeply personal posts, both of which a person may prefer not to go too public. I have gained much benefit from others sharing their blogs, so sharing is good. You never know what someone may take from these sleepy posts! This does not mean I'm suddenly going to put myself on a blog ring, just I'm going to tentatively be more blog sociable!

It has been a good, busy week, the kind that gets blurred out of memory. We worked quite hard at the beginning. Made posters of the names of the Prophets, in order. The picture doesn't look like much, but they took ages. We are not artists.

A few hours of cricket were squeezed between the showers. The girls room is now pink, with curtains that look like a little dress. I also passed my driving theory. That was the easy bit. Now I have to remember how to start the car. H cannot understand how I could forget. But I can, because I CAN'T SEE IT WRITTEN DOWN! If I want to remember something I visualise the page. Where is the driving page?