Sentences R constructed and wrote in Arabic - learning how the ends of words change as a result of grammar in the sentence.

I haven’t posted about Arabic for a while on here. R does Arabic 3 days a week and on those days she only does one other academic subject and her normal daily Quran murajaah and hifdh as I want it to be intense Arabic lessons.  

I believe Arabic is very very important for our children. I was at a course a few months ago and the Sheikh was saying that, ‘Non Arabs give up too easily when it comes to learning Quran and Arabic.’ He even went as far as to say ‘Shame on non Arabs who have been Muslim for many years or practising for many years and do not know how to read the Quran’. It hit me hard but it was so true. Alhamdulillah, I can read Quran but my Arabic is very very VERY basic. I can see now how limited my connection with Allah is due to not understanding Arabic. But the least I can do is give that to my children inshaAllah.

Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us with the advantage of my husband speaking fluent Arabic but anyone who is married to an Arab knows the struggle to get them to speak in Arabic to the children or even to do some Arabic work. I think it would be less of a struggle to do it ourselves!

 It pains me when I see sisters give up so easily and choose another language to teach their children instead of the language of the Quran. Why should we give up? There are so many courses, tutors online and in person. This is my opinion – but if we don’t strive and struggle to teach our childen Arabic we are seriously depriving them of a) a true understanding of the Quran – which is a criterion for their life, b) a deeper understanding of their religion.

I know as a nonArab how I struggle to attain khushoo based on the poor translation of what I say in my salah, how I struggle to really relate to the Quran etc. Do I want this for my children? No way!

At the end of the day, everything I teach them whether it is academics, Islamic Studies, hifdh – it is all preparation for them for the next eternal life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Arabic is the  be-all and end-all. It isn’t – the many non practising Arabs are proof of that. But what I do hope is that in addition to guiding them to be practising with knowledge of the Arabic language will surely aid them in developing a thorough and deep attachment to Allah’s book and Allah azzawa jaal Himself.

It is a struggle for many – but we shouldn’t give it up. I believe it is one of the rights of our children to learn this language. And just as we struggle in many other areas such as teaching them to read, Math, taking them to swimming classes etc, then so must we exert effort if not more so, in them attaining this wonderful language.

May Allah help us all. Ameen.

Red Belt Kickboxing Award

R has been attending weekly kickboxing classes for two years. Just before the Xmas break, she applied to be graded. Last week she came home with a huge grin on her face mashaAllah and brought back her first kickboxing belt – red, mashaAllah.

Yesterday, she also came home with 4 new Beavers badges including the one she’s been waiting for - her one year badge. Her Beavers Jumper is running out of space for badges!

 She really does enjoy these activities – its another way for her to socialise and also I feel is important in learning how to work towards a goal.

http://sciencewithme.com/7-reasons-i-really-admire-homeschoolers/

At dinner last night, we were talking about my husband’s ‘youth’ ending (he’s turning 40 soon inshaAllah). Its kinda a running joke in our family that he is now getting ‘old’. He joked with R and said thats it now – he’s old and death is getting closer. This led to a discussion on death. We’ve always been very honest with our children about death. We talk about the fact that we might die any time and that she too might die and the importance of trying to do as much as good as possible and to make dua for us should they outlive us (!). I think its important to talk to my children about the reality of life and death from a young age as who knows if Allah will take my soul when my children are young.

As the discussion progressed, R asked me about the stages after death. We had a detailed conversation about the stages – death, the janazah, the grave, the barzakh, resurrection, the day of judgment, the books in the right hand, the 7 under the shade of Allah, the siratt, al qantarah, jahannam and jannah. I talked about all of these stages in light of what happens to believers, sinners and disbelievers. She was particularly intrigued about the 7 under the shade of Allah and al qantarah (the bridge where we will get the rights from others). She ‘confessed’ that she had told another girl that another girl didn’t share. She asked me if she would be punished and I told her that there are 2 angels – one who writes down the good deeds and one who writes down the bad deeds. The one who writes down the bad deeds hasn’t started working yet but the one who writes the good deeds has. So, no she wouldn’t be punished but its important that whilst the angel who writes the bad deeds is off work that she doesn’t get into bad habits. I advised her to speak well of the little girl to others and to try her best not to do it again. We then watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlXbLmxfB6U&feature=player_embedded (she found it hilarious but I think def got the message!)

It was a really fruitful discussion mashaAllah and definitely a reminder for myself. So, she suggested we make a poster displaying all the stages of life after death. We’re starting on that today inshaAllah. I can see that she seems to learn Islamic Studies better when it is based on an interest and a desire to create something afterwards.

And Baby Y is dummy free. All my kids are sucky babies – all of them have had the dummy – we threw Z’s away at 4 months old and he found his thumb and then we stopped that just before he was 2. Baby Y is 21 months old and it wasn’t that difficult taking away his ‘buddy’ (thats what he calls his dummy). I thought he would be screaming but he didn’t mashaAllah.

Two small accomplishments at Ummihomeschoolsme. Alhamdulillah!

SubhanAllah, when I was on Hajj I made so much dua for our own home ed and asked Allah to make it easy for all the sisters who are home educating. Most of my close friends live in East London and I’m about an hour away in South (Saaaaf) London. I am forever trekking to East London for trips, activities and our weekly home ed group. But now I’m getting tired.

Since I’ve come back – Saaaf London Home Ed has taken off! Just yesterday a sister dropped something off to me and yesterday was her son’s first day of Home Ed. Other sisters I know are considering removing their children from school too.

The prospect of flexi schooling in a local Islamic School has arisen. So many parents have pulled their children out of this school to home ed that the school has decided to provide a flexischooling system for home edders. I’m not too sure at this point if I will take it up. The fact that these parents have pulled their kids out kinda speaks volumes to me!  I would need to see their teaching style etc. I might be interested in the weekly PE lessons as that is an option. The school is less than 10 minutes away from me so I might just take that option.

R started pottery again yesterday. When she started pottery in 2009 – she was the only Muslim home educated child there but a few of the South London HE muslim families have started taking their children. There were 6 of R’s Muslim friends there yesterday. When I picked her up, the pottery tutor mentioned how chatty the group was! Am so pleased alhamdulillah. We’ve also got a Jewellery workshop planned for the Home Edders in South in February and I’m planning to start up some other activities – am in talks with a few different organisations.

What else takes place down saaaf London – she does Kickboxing in our local masjid, Muslim Beavers. Some sisters have also started up a weekly South HE group but I love our East London group too much to abandon that.  There’s swimming classes for R’s age group and Z’s age group at a local leisure centre which they’ll start in a few weeks time inshaAllah. Z’s first activity!  Its called Aqua Tots2 – so I’m pleased that he’ll be starting something.

And then hopefully when the weather picks up – we’ll have some picnics with the other home edders! I’m so pleased things are ‘happening’ down saaaaf – alhamdulillah!

Winter Days – we definitely spend more time at home but I really do make a conscious effort to take the kids out to our local common to get some much needed exercise and fresh air. R and Z love going down the hill on their scooters – it is a sight to see!

Home Ed is just carrying on as usual. Those of you who have been following the blog will know that when R was very young (too young lol) we were very structured (perhaps that is an understatement) and then we tried unschooling completely and now alhamdulillah we have settled in to what I feel is great for our family – right smack bang in the middle and as most ‘veteran’ home edders said – you end up taking the middle path and become semi structured. I know some of you are probably smiling saying ‘Told you so!’ And I’m smiling right back at you – yup you were right!  Actually reminds me of my journey over the past almost 13 years – came into Islam through a political party, left that and then went to the other extreme where everything was haram (the amount of clothes, books and CDs I threw away - and now regret. Everyone was on bidah and I thought I knew it all and could make takfir on everyone (may Allah forgive me) and then alhamdulillah I feel that the last 8 years has been the middle way and I ask Allah to keep me on the siraatul mustaqeem. Ameen.

I like the semi structured method because it allows the children to learn naturally but also teaches them about structure just as our deen is structured by the five daily prayers etc.

I am also trying to follow the saying of Ali (RA) to let them play until 7, discipline and teach them for 7 years after that and then befriend them. R turned 7 a couple of months ago and I’m trying to focus on reminding her of the prayer times. It isn’t compulsory on her to pray until she is 10 (assuming she doesn’t start her menses before that) but I would like her to get into the habit of realising there are five times each day when everything else needs to stop. Later on, I’ll begin to correct her sujood, ruku, sitting positions etc.

SubhanAllah the wisdom is there in the age of 7 as it really is a turning point in a child. You can see why a parent is told to teach their child to pray at this age and not before. Our Islamic Studies has been completely unstructured – it has mostly been based on discussion, what she sees me do but really based on conversation. But I’d like to begin to do a little structured learning for Islamic Studies now and so have a few ideas which hopefully I can share later.

She’s still Horse mad and I’m constantly finding her reading or making something about horses. I wonder when this phase will end. How they grow so fast – seems only yesterday that she was learning to blend letter sounds..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sy44ccF0kE

• Audio Books – and lots of them. Our local library stocks loads and so we listen to a lot of audio books. Our favourite so far has been Lamb in the Laundry (Animal Ark Series).
• Quick Mental Math. I ask R an addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and she has to tell me the answer before I count to five. Its a lot of fun.
• Old favourite: I spy (Z has started to join in with this too now).
• Counting 1 to 10 in English and Arabic with the boys. Baby Y has been counting to 10 in both languages for the past 5 months now mashaAllah.
• Quran murajaah – listening to surahs she has already memorised and working on new hifdh
• Reading, reading and more reading
• Islamic discussions – mainly related to character especially if we are going to be guests somewhere
• Having a sing along to some nasheeds
• Discussing ideas of new projects

Any suggestions?