0 Solar System (Astronomy Project)

We organized and planned a timetable this year, as I have to pay attention to each with different age, grade, and mood etc… LOL.

Alhamdulillah it is working out well so far, so we scheduled Sundays for activities and projects. No strict rules, we do it when kids are in a good mood.

This is a project that Big Sister started 3 weeks ago. A project really help kids to remember and become familiar with the subject they are involved in. It really makes us wonder about the wonderful creation of Allah. How perfect He is!

Big Sister was amazed when we were discussing about the huge sizes of the planets compared to earth. I explained to her that all of these marvelous creations are orbiting under the command of Almighty to serve the human and we have been created for the worship of one Allah.

This is the model she did

Finally we ended up with a lovely layer book containing a brief note about each of the planets.

And these back pages are so useful for writing information. We used it to write down some notes about Superior planets and Inferior planets, the Milky Way galaxy, Small bodies, satellites, the moon etc… finally I made her understand that all of these wonders are mentioned in Holy Quran 1400 years ago and this is the miracle of the brilliant book of Allah.

0 The Whole-Brain Child (Book Review)

I thank the Rabb of the universe for guiding me. This is a wonderful book that is very useful and amazing.

Each and every parents are often experts about their children’s bodies. They know that a temperature above 98.6 degrees is a fever. They know to clean out a cut so it doesn’t get infected. They know which foods are most likely to leave their child wired before bedtime.

 
But even the most caring best educated parents often lack basic information about their child’s brain. Isn’t this surprising?

Hope this book will be a very effective tool for every parents as it did for me to understand what a child goes through in each stage of his life. There are numerous marvelous points which opened up my eyes Subhanallah!  I will try to share just a few points to show that how much it is important to raise a whole brain child.

By raising a whole-brain child we are actually offering our future grandchildren an important gift. Let us close our eyes for a moment and imagine our child holding his child and realize the power of what we are passing on. And it won’t stop there, our grandchildren can take what they learnt from their parents and pass it future along as a continuing legacy of joy and happiness Insha Allah. This is how we integrate our lives across the generation.

The great news the whole-brain child offers is that even the hard times we go through with our kids, even the mistakes we make as parent, are opportunities to help our children grow, learn, and develop into people who are happy, healthy and fully themselves Insha Allah.

Rather than ignoring their big emotions or distracting them from their struggles, we can nurture their whole brain, walking with them through their challenges.

It is nothing to put too much pressure on ourselves. The important point is taking advantage of the moment we have with our kids and remain aware of the daily opportunities to nurture our kids’ development. But that doesn’t mean we have to constantly be talking about the brain. It is important to relax and have fun together. And yes, sometimes it is even okay to leave a teachable moment pass by.

This is what the beloved Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم did with the young Sahabas رضى لله عنهم, fianally who were able to carry the Deen of Allah across the globe fully prepared to face the challenges. 

I hope that what I have shared will inspire the readers to go through the book to get an amazing idea of the whole-brain process Insha Allah.

0 Quiet Book For Little Sister!

Subhanallah! As parents we knew that nothing is more pleasing and cheerful than admiring the stages of growth of our precious ones.

Birth to six years of a child’s life are precious fertile years which should not be wasted. It is a period that they absorb mountains of information and they are curious that they constantly handle and touch everything in sight. They must not be allowed to spend the most formative years of their life sitting like a nonentity in his sandbox. They love to work with their hands which is an important activity in their development.

It is so amazing that the days are passing so swiftly that I still have the sweet memories and feelings of the day I gave birth to my little girl who is turning two next month Insha Allah. There is a tug of war to face, you might wonder what it is….

Yes, weaning the little girl. Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah for granting me the ability to fulfill this particular right of a child as well as the command of my Rabb which can be done only within two years of period. A mother who knows the numerous and wonderful benefits of it will never neglect her child from this valuable gift for minor reasons. May Allah accept us!

Ok, now I’ll dive into the subject which I wanted to post. This is a quiet or busy book which keeps the child busy while he or she is quiet. It has a fine and rich look when done with felt material, but I used the left over materials which was available at home to complete this tedious job. Any way the purpose is served and I am so glad that she loves it so much and my 4 year old also spends time with it.

Teaches self-control and coordination of movements.

Learning to dress. (Self-reliance)

How to use buckles

Peekaboo, they named the little boy Yusuf. Also learning to use hook buttons.

Lacing a shoe (develops hand- eye coordination)

 Zipping (she keeps the shapes inside this pouch)

  Match the shapes via Velcro tape.

Mystery bags (I filled it with bangles, buttons and beads etc…) which develops tactile sense and tying a bow develops muscle control and learning how to complete a cycle.

0 New Grade - Muharram 1436

[And he said], "My Lord, grant me authority and join me with the righteous.[26:83]

Alhamdulillah, Nearly a decade of parenting and homeschooling too! In the true sense homeschooling is what the child learn right after birth even before birth in his or her mother’s womb. Homeschooling is a way of life, Academics, lessons, activity and sports are integral part of homeschooling.

Muharram being the first month of Hijri calendar, brings a great joy to our kids as they usually move into new grades. Big sister is moving into grade 5, little princess to grade 2, little soldier to kindergarten and our sweet little sister in the middle of every one.

Ah, ha! Different ages and stages to handle. But it depends on how we determine it and what is our goal through this journey. I take it as an act of worship and a means of gaining nearness to Allah. So, if our intention is pure in this worship it will be accepted, purified, and blessed. And if we intend with it other than the pleasure of Allah it will be nullified, wasted and will be losing its value. Which can be summarized from the Hadeeth of Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم :

عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ يَسَارٍ، قَالَ تَفَرَّقَ النَّاسُ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، فَقَالَ لَهُ نَاتِلُ أَهْلِ الشَّامِ أَيُّهَا الشَّيْخُ حَدِّثْنَا حَدِيثًا سَمِعْتَهُ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ نَعَمْ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏ "‏ إِنَّ أَوَّلَ النَّاسِ يُقْضَى يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ اسْتُشْهِدَ فَأُتِيَ بِهِ فَعَرَّفَهُ نِعَمَهُ فَعَرَفَهَا قَالَ فَمَا عَمِلْتَ فِيهَا قَالَ قَاتَلْتُ فِيكَ حَتَّى اسْتُشْهِدْتُ ‏.‏ قَالَ كَذَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّكَ قَاتَلْتَ لأَنْ يُقَالَ جَرِيءٌ ‏.‏ فَقَدْ قِيلَ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ أُمِرَ بِهِ فَسُحِبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ حَتَّى أُلْقِيَ فِي النَّارِ وَرَجُلٌ تَعَلَّمَ الْعِلْمَ وَعَلَّمَهُ وَقَرَأَ الْقُرْآنَ فَأُتِيَ بِهِ فَعَرَّفَهُ نِعَمَهُ فَعَرَفَهَا قَالَ فَمَا عَمِلْتَ فِيهَا قَالَ تَعَلَّمْتُ الْعِلْمَ وَعَلَّمْتُهُ وَقَرَأْتُ فِيكَ الْقُرْآنَ ‏.‏ قَالَ كَذَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّكَ تَعَلَّمْتَ الْعِلْمَ لِيُقَالَ عَالِمٌ ‏.‏ وَقَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ لِيُقَالَ هُوَ قَارِئٌ ‏.‏ فَقَدْ قِيلَ ثُمَّ أُمِرَ بِهِ فَسُحِبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ حَتَّى أُلْقِيَ فِي النَّارِ ‏.‏ وَرَجُلٌ وَسَّعَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَعْطَاهُ مِنْ أَصْنَافِ الْمَالِ كُلِّهِ فَأُتِيَ بِهِ فَعَرَّفَهُ نِعَمَهُ فَعَرَفَهَا قَالَ فَمَا عَمِلْتَ فِيهَا قَالَ مَا تَرَكْتُ مِنْ سَبِيلٍ تُحِبُّ أَنْ يُنْفَقَ فِيهَا إِلاَّ أَنْفَقْتُ فِيهَا لَكَ قَالَ كَذَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّكَ فَعَلْتَ لِيُقَالَ هُوَ جَوَادٌ ‏.‏ فَقَدْ قِيلَ ثُمَّ أُمِرَ بِهِ فَسُحِبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ ثُمَّ أُلْقِيَ فِي النَّارِ ‏"

It has been narrated on the authority of Sulaiman b. Yasar who said: People dispersed from around Abu Huraira رضى لله عنه, and Natil, who was from the Syrians. said to him: O Shaikh, relate (to us) a tradition you have heard from the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. 

He said: Yes. I heard the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم say: The first of men (whose case) will be decided on the Day of Judgment will be a man who died as a martyr. He shall be brought (before the Judgment Seat). Allah will make him recount His blessings (i. e. the blessings which He had bestowed upon him) and he will recount them (and admit having enjoyed them in his life). (Then) will Allah say: What did you do (to requite these blessings)? He will say: I fought for Thee until I died as a martyr. Allah will say: You have told a lie. You fought that you might be called a" brave warrior". And you were called so. (Then) orders will be passed against him and he will be dragged with his face downward and cast into Hell. 

Then will be brought forward a man who acquired knowledge and imparted it (to others) and recited the Qur'an. He will be brought And Allah will make him recount His blessings and he will recount them (and admit having enjoyed them in his lifetime). Then will Allah ask: What did you do (to requite these blessings)? He will say: I acquired knowledge and disseminated it and recited the Qur'an seeking Thy pleasure. Allah will say: You have told a lie. You acquired knowledge so that you might be called" a scholar," and you recited the Qur'an so that it might be said:" He is a Qari" and such has been said. Then orders will be passed against him and he shall be dragged with his face downward and cast into the Fire. 

Then will be brought a man whom Allah had made abundantly rich and had granted every kind of wealth. He will be brought and Allah will make him recount His blessings and he will recount them and (admit having enjoyed them in his lifetime). Allah will (then) ask: What have you done (to requite these blessings)? He will say: I spent money in every cause in which Thou wished that it should be spent. Allah will say: You are lying. You did (so) that it might be said about (You):" He is a generous fellow" and so it was said. Then will Allah pass orders and he will be dragged with his face downward and thrown into Hell. [Muslim]

May Allah save us!

Here is our journal with a lovely cover designed by Abi. Jazakallah for all his super contribution to our school.

This is a cute card prepared by kids for Abi 

I didn’t do any updates in our curriculum section as we change it depending on each child’s need, the ones which I have posted until grade 2 is what we did for big sister and then I thought of posting some of the books which we choose for each year differently according to their need. So, it might be helpful for other homeschoolers. For language studies we chose even-moor books, it is very interesting for kids

Finally I end up with the picture of a tedious job. It is a gift to my little girl who is turning two next month Insha allah. Will be posting the inner pages soon Insha Allah.

We pray that each and every day of us be filled with blessings and may our deeds be accepted by Allah!

1 Zul Hijjah 1435 Activities

Alhamdulillah, It is great bounty of Allah that he grants us opportunities to reform ourselves and renew our Iman by granting us some special occasions and months as he is The Most Generous. I thank Allah for granting us the chance of reaching the month of Zulhijjah this year too, whereas most of our sisters are not among us this year.

Allah mentions the virtue of these 10 nights in the beginning of Sura fajr and Numerous Ahaadeeth mentioning its virtues Subhanallah!  These days reminds us the sacrifices of the friend of Allah Ibraheem عليه السلام. It is a great pleasure to discuss the stories of Ambiyas with kids and to make them understand that success of both world lies in total obedience to the commands of Allah.

Masha Allah my kids have grown and each one needs the story in different angle according to their ages. Yes, it is exciting and interesting to watch them how they understand and grab it. There is nothing more valuable than nurturing their hearts with Imani stories which is going to provide them support throughout their lives Insha Allah. 

The elder girls worked with this bulletin board which mentions the virtues of the first 10 days of Zulhijjah, Thakbeer-e- Thashreek, The qurbani meat, Sunnahs of Eid and Hajj day by day rituals by our dear sister Umm-an-Numan.

And the bulletin board in the first of the post is our little soldier’s, all the subject in pictures as the little boy has not yet started reading.

Then comes the “I am learning about hajj” a wonderful game for little ones. This is for our little sister who is quite advanced and in the middle of all our activities, repeating words and imitating her siblings.

Finally I made the girls to write an essay on what they learned. This is what they wrote.

It is what we have done so far. The time passes so swiftly and I have so much in my head to do… May Allah grant us the ability to practice whatever we learned and accept the good deeds we do!

2 Prophet Muhammed صلى الله عليه وسلم Lapbook

Little Princess is turning 6 around in few months of time Insha Allah. Though she was a slow learner at the beginning now she is catching up well Masha Allah, the problem with her is a bit lazy to write but a good reader.

Subhanallah, now I really realize the precious time I had when Big Sister was a little girl and the projects and hands on activities we used to do. But now…… oh, I have to attend to so much of things along with maintaining and paying attention to each one of them with different mentality. But still I regard each and everything I do to be an Ibadah hoping the reward from Almighty and sincerely have the intention that I am raising heroes of Islam Insha Allah.

This is the first lap book done by little princess. She herself wanted to do about Prophet Muhammed صلى الله عليه وسلم. It covers the family tree of Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم , the birth and death, the wet nurses of our beloved Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم the names of his chaste wives, names of his beloved children, his exquisite character, and his blessed appearance etc…

Subhanallah it was very interesting and they were curiously asking me questions about the seal of prophecy which Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم had between his shoulders, the eleven wives, about the wet nurses and so on… we wrote down only the names of the wives and children of the holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to make them familiar so they will know whom they are later when they read about them. The learning roots companion quest is a compact pack which mentions about each of them in a simple way for young learners. I explained to them strongly about the Khaathamun Nabi as we are living in a corrupted environment.

They questioned me particularly about the wet nurses. Their question was why wet nurses feed babies. Breastfeeding for two years is a very familiar matter in our home Alhamdulillah.  I had to explain to them that it was the Arab custom. The sad matter nowadays is that this valuable custom of wet nurses has been neglected and the formulas has become alternative for innocent babies. 

Finally, we are here to cast a glance at our little princess’s lap book. The
great job was that she wrote down everything when I read and explained it to her Alhamdulillah. This is the awesome book that we used for the project.

I sincerely thank hubby for the photograph and video jazakallah.

May Allah accept it and make us among the sincere followers of our beloved Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم !

0 Supermoon 1435 (2014)

And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason. [16:12]

A supermoon happens once or twice a year when the full moon is closer to Earth than during other full moons. We had some fun taking picture of the super moon. Subhanallah! How perfect are the creations of Allah.

August 10 full moon was a so-called super moon. It is when the moon being at perigee. You can see a comparison of apogee and perigee of moons below.

Now, let us enjoy some great pictures of the super moon taken by our astrophotographer hubby; LOL…. Photography is one of hubby’s hobby that he enjoys a lot.

I was amazed at the beauty of it when I looked through the binoculars. For me the moon symbolize the very beauty of women, as its charm highlights the sky. Similarly women charm highlights her groom’s desired life with her delightful spark and enthusiasm.

0 Eid Cards 1435 (2014)

Alhamdulillah, we are almost at the final days of this blessed month. Hoping the rewards from Almighty for all our little deeds we did as he is generous and merciful….

As usual the kids prepared their cards for pen pals wishing for a happy and blessed Eid. We had tried different designs for last two years and this time was a different style most of the stuff was done by big sister and I helped the little ones to complete their cards. 

Above one was done by Big sister

Little Princess’s lovely flower card 

Cute masjid card is for our little soldier’s pen pal. The little boy is fond of masaajids and he wanted to make a masjid design card .May Allah keep him attached to the masjid until the last breath!

And this was done finally for another pen pal of our Big sister,

Wish you all Happy Eid and at the same time we shouldn’t forget our brothers and sisters in Palestine and other places as well… The least we can do is include them and their families in our duas.

May Allah accept the striving of the Mujaahideens and give high rank for the Shuhadaaas! Make us among those who adhere totally to the command of Almighty Allah!

0 Ramadan Prep 1435

Subhanallah, we are here after a long time. Though I couldn’t post anything in my blog we were doing our activities and studies Alhamdulillah. The days were hectic due to some other reasons and my son is also throwing tantrums wanting my total attention.

Qaddarallah, whatever it may be as a Muslim we do have the belief that whatever befalls us is the divine decree and we have to build up our courage and proceed for our Aakhirah along with it.

Alhamdulillah, we are glad to meet another Ramadan and let Allah bless us to achieve what he expect from us through this month. We made a Ramadan bulletin board with the duas to be recited during Ramadan, Oh! If not I’ve to spend half of my energy reminding each one of them the duas. LOL… the tracing and coloring was done by Big sister. The Ramadan calendar dates will be added each day by Little princess so, they will know how many days have passed and how many more days are left to do more and more good deeds in order to get closer to the creator in this great month.

 

I know that time is passing so swiftly and I have to spare my precious little time I’ll get for my Quran, no time for crafts and activities during Ramadan.
And then both of them wrote down their plans how they are going to spend their days in Ramadan. GREAT…. If they follow up their plans. Little princess is turning six around in few months’ time Insha Allah, she is hoping to fast the whole month. The option is hers, no force, no discouragement.

My boy” little soldier” wanted to participate in the activities too, he did the Ramadan pronunciation in Arabic and decorated it. I know that little boy don’t have the idea of fasting at all but always wants to take part in Ifthaar…

Finally I pray that let Allah Th’ala guide us in the straight path and bless us with Baraka in our time for our Ibadah! And most importantly let our good deeds be accepted by the Almighty, if not we will be the ultimate losers, may Allah save us!

1 The Day My Dream Came True!

Is it a matter that is going to happen…? Will my kids get an opportunity to get together and share their emotions with other homeschooling kids as I see in other countries…? What about my kids feeling that they are the only ones who are at home…

These were the thoughts that I was going through since I was homeschooling them.

Alhamdulillah, by the grace of Allah my dream came alive and we had our homeschooling workshop last Sunday with 7-8 families who are homeschooling their kids. Masha Allah it was awesome and kids enjoyed a lot.

 
Indeed, it was something that I never imagined of, due to the fact that the challenges I faced in our society was as intense as homeschooling being very rare.

The problem is that the lack of understanding of what is parenting and what is the role a parent plays in educating their children. Concept of whole child approach (physical, intellectual& spiritual development) is not at all considered to be important than the lesson plans. And it’s a deep subject which cannot be explained in detail whereas it is a subject that each parent should educate themselves before they bear this great Amaanath of raising kids.

I prepared a Powerpoint presentation with some important features to make us understand why we are doing this and I whole heartedly thank hubby for his designing and helping me. Jazakallah 

 (click here to download the presentation)

Kids prepared cards in order to remember their first joy of homeschooling get together while we were doing our program.

 

 

And then we had our quiz session where each mother had to ask questions for kids age around 6-8 to bring an enthusiasm among them. The questions:-

1. How many surahs are there in the Quran?
2. What is the planet we live in?
3. Where was Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم born?
4. Which creation of Allah gives us light and heat?
5. What are the five pillars of Islam?
6. How many letter are there in English alphabet?
7. What was the name of Rasulullah’s صلى الله عليه وسلم beloved and dearest daughter?
8. Who was the first muazzin of Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم?
9. Name any creation of Allah that gives us egg?
10. Who was the first man and prophet of Allah?

Each of them were given a paper to write down their answers and by the grace of Allah the quiz winner was “Big sister”.

 

Little princess too wanted to participate in quiz session though she was out of age group. Her answer says that there are lot of pages in my Quran, It was for the question that was asked “how many surahs are there in the quran” LOL.

The quiz session ended up by giving gift for the winner and the other kids. Finally we had our nutritious refreshments with variety of fruits, Alhamdulillah.

Jazakallah Umm Bareerah for all your efforts and organizing this wonderful day who was insisting me to do this program.

Also I wholeheartedly thank and appreciate the presence of Umm Haani, Umm Haajar and Umm Hamdh for making our program blessed by being the wives of Great scholars of our community as well as others.

I cannot end up this post of mine without expressing my gratitude to my respected midwifery teacher who mentored and guided me on how to conduct programs by opening up our minds and inspiring the imaginations.

And finally thanks for all fathers for taking care of the little ones.

May Allah shower his mercy upon us and help us to raise our kids in a way that pleases him and accept our efforts!

0 Visit to National Postal Museum

Last Thursday the girls wanted to spend some time out with hubby. Hubby was wondering where to take them, finally they went and discussed all what they saw and felt after I saw the pictures as they thought that hubby didn’t mention to me where he was taking them.

What I felt at this moment was the father/daughter relationship which is an interesting and utmost important subject that each father should know if he wants his sweet daughters not to go behind a stranger when he says words like ‘I love you” and “You look so beautiful’ which is going to boost their emotions if they haven’t heard these words from a man before it.

An open communication and spending time together, especially a father with his daughters (as he is the first man they are dealing with) is definitely important during these days of corruption. All of us are familiar with the stories of how our beloved Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his dearest daughter Fathimah رضى لله عنها were close to each other, amazing! What a wonderful example for dear fathers.

We discussed that exchanging letters is an action that was taking place from the times of Prophets also the Quran speaks about it too. Ex: The letter of Sulayman عليه السلام and Bilkees, also the stories of Sahabas رضى لله عنهم which mentions the letters exchanged between the sahabas and emperors etc… 

some of pics....