Oh The Places You'll Go!

Dear Ibby,

Today you were supposed to do your homework.  You haven't done your Canadian Curriculum in almost a week.  You need to practice your writing and your math.  Just as you finished your Arabic homework, we were supposed to move onto something else and you asked me if you could take a break.  I said no.  You then asked if you could just quickly go read your book and promised it would be only five minutes.  It took a lot from me to say yes.  The I-must-prove-I-can-keep-up-with-the-curriculum Mom in me started to come out but I (literally) took a deep breath, and let go.  I let go of the expectations and stresses, and said yes.  

You broke your promise.  You were longer than five minutes.  But its okay my baby, I forgave you.  It's okay that you took longer than five minutes.  Its okay that you took longer than ten minutes.  Actually its so okay that we never even opened any other homework books today.

As a second child of three children, sometimes your accomplishments aren't as acknowledged as they should be.  But this one is big.  This one deserves a big recognition.  You have been reading for maybe about a year now, but only a handful of words.  But now, now you are really reading.

You're reading so well that you completed a whole Dr Suess book - Wacky Wednesday- yesterday.  And Dr Suess isn't the easiest of books to read.  You even told me how he talks really funny and doesn't always make a lot of sense.  

You reading makes me happy.  But first and foremost, Im proud of your determination.  Your love and passion to learn.  Im not always the typical mom who sits down and reviews flashcards and phonics  [note:  I said not always because sometimes I have those freak out moments when I frantically try to catch you up to the standards].  So because of my somewhat laid back approach, it really truly amazes me when I see the payoff.  When I see the magic in your eyes when you've decided you want to learn something, put your mind to it, and get it done.  Just like you have with reading.

You were so so proud when you finished the book yesterday and my heart just burst with love for you. I hope and pray you take that drive and apply it to many aspects in your life.

Ill leave it to Dr Suess to finish this letter up...

I know you'll go to great places inshaAllah,

Keep it up!

Momma is so proud of you.

Love and duas,

Always and forever,

Momma

Library Card

Have I ever mentioned how happy I am to have libraries in our lives again?!

Yusuf recently got his own library card, which was very exciting for him.

Libraries are usually pretty good with giving kids card out so if you're okay with making sure you can keep track of both yours and your kids' books so the late fees don't add up, (a challenge for me!)  then by all means, try getting them their own.  Its a great way to encourage love for literacy.

Poor Ibby doesn't have one of his own yet.  But honestly the thought of keeping track of three cards kinda scares me.  And he hasn't asked yet.  So, well just leave it as is for now.  Poor Ibby... Sorry baby, I love you.  I probably wont blog about the day you get your first library card, but I promise, it will be just as special.  <3

Creativity

One of my favourite parts of homeschooling: Seeing my kids come up with things completely on their own.
(I'm trying to ignore the fact it involves killing n focus on the fact it was a spontaneous thing he initiated, and he included a beginning, middle and end. Lol. Boys!)

On Hold

A friend of mine used to always talk about putting books on hold at the library.  I thought to myself that it was a good idea and all, but really, who has the time to do that?! :/

Then I moved to Malaysia.  There were no libraries in Malaysia, well, none that come close to the ones we have here.  And I missed libraries!

Now that we've moved back, Ive started appreciating this amazing resource we have... alhamdulillah.  So, I began putting books on hold.  And its a lot easier that I expected, and contrary to what I thought before, it actually saves time.  I don't always have the time (or patience) to take all the kids to the library, or even want to drive to the larger ones.  So, I sign into our online library system, type in a keyword, browse, and place holds on interesting looking books.  Then whenever I have a moment, I drive past the library, run in (or get Yusuf to), and pick them all up.  Sometimes it adds up to nearly 30 or 40 books. :)

Today I just picked up about twenty books.  I searched books on Autumn since its now here (and my kids dont really know much about different seasons after spending time in a tropical country), and also books on the moon, because of the recent blood moon/ lunar eclipse.

If you haven't given this a try, I highly recommend seeing how it works for your family.  For us, we love having the benefit of plenty of books at home, without always spending the time roaming the library.

Libraries

Another thing we REALLY missed:  Libraries!

Acrostic Poems.

Yusuf was learning about Acrostic Poems in his Canadian Curriculum so I asked him to make one of his own using his name.  Mashallah he did well...and did it all on his own.

Those moments when the kids go and do something like this, make all the homeschooling struggles worth it. Alhamdulillah <3

Goodnight Moon

An all time fave in our house, with all three kids.

But what makes it even that much more lovable, is when they read it together <3 

Ta

Alhamdulilah we have a regular Quran teacher coming to our house now to teach the boys.  They really like him and are benefiting mashallah.  Ibby has started letter recognition and writing as well. He really puts an effort into writing (and drawing) which is different for me since Yusuf never really had much of an interest for writing, drawing or colouring.  Its funny how two kids from the same family, same household, same environment can turn out to be so different.  :)

Sorry its sideways, and the quality of the pics aren't that good recently.  I'm going to start using my camera again since my phone doesn't take good quality pics.

Shopping

Being abroad makes you appreciate and miss the little things that you didn't pay much attention to when you back home.  For me, Dollarama is one of the things I really miss especially since were home a lot more! A couple of weeks ago I found a store where I bought a couple work books, pencils and erasers, but I couldn' t find decent paper or paint or kids activities.  

I have recently been introduced to another Canadian sister here who has lived in Malaysia for almost three years. We went out with her last week and she showed us an indoor playground which the boys loved.... and a bookstore which had paper, and paints, and tons of other kids things for reasonable prices, alhamdulillah = ) 

Ibby working on an alphabet puzzle that I found for him

Also found an Oragami set for Yusuf

Painting on our balcony with our new tempra paint 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree

After picking up and moving to the other side of the world, we no longer have the amount of toys, activities and supplies that we used to. So Im learning to improvise and make things by hand.  Ibby is learning his alphabet and loves the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom so I make a coconut tree for him and inshaAllah we will be putting the alphabet on it as we learn.

Yusuf and Momma Journal

I enjoy writing journals and letters to people (fiction is not my thing).   I have scrapbooks for my kids where I randomly write them letters to read when they are adults.  They will have to wait until they are adults to understand and appreciate those letters.  Since mashaAllah Yusuf is really improving with his reading and writing, I decided to make a journal for him and I to keep together, but one that we can enjoy now.  And, as an extra bonus, this makes for an excellent work box activity :)  So today, I wrote him a letter telling him that we were going to start a special journal for him to practice reading and writing and to send messages.  In todays letter I told him that I miss when he was a baby because he was so cute and cuddly.  But how I am glad he is growing up because he is such a big help.  And that I think he is an amazing big brother to Ibraheem and Summaiya.  And that I like him alot.

InshaAllah I hope we are able to keep this up and that it will be something for us to cherish when he grows up <3

Quranic Opposites

My husband bought this from the Learning Roots booth at a congerence a few years ago.  It is really good for building both arabic and english vocab.

Welcome Home Baba

Another sneaky way thay I got Yusuf to practice writing skills :)

Jummuah Journals

One of the many things that I love about homeschooling is that we are able to go for Jummuah (Friday Prayers) just about every single week together as a family alhamdulillah.  I find it to be a really nice family bonding time and also a good opportunity for learning.  I find my kids have easily learned the etiquettes of Jummuah through repetition and routine.
Our routine usually includes:
-listening to surah kahf
-showers
-nice clothes
-atr
-trying to arrive early, and a reminder of the hadith that the angels stand at the mesjid doors writing the names of the attendees
-dua for entering / leaving mesjid
-reminder to be quiet during khutbah (and now as yusuf gets older listening to more of the khutbah)
-meeting friends
-greeting elders by going up to them and shaking their hands
-giving charity
-and most of the time we go out as a family for lunch afterwards

Last Jummuah, mashaAllah I noticed Yusuf really sat nicely and quietly to listen to the khutbah.  The khateeb spoke about the tongue / speaking good etc.  I realized that mashaAllah Yusuf is old enough to learn or retain at least one thing from the khutbah and I thought of the idea of having a 'Jummuah Journal.'  Since writing is not one of Yusuf's strengths, I thought that he could get the needed practice by writing out what he learns in a journal every week.  So the next day, we spoke about the khutbah and he told me what he remembered.  I then wrote down a sentence to summarize it and then he copied it in his journal.

I hope inshaallah we can continue to do this on a weekly basis.

Moments like these...

...melt my heart mashaAllah <3 Especially when they spontaneously took out the books and blanket and positioned themselves on the sofa like this together, all while I was busy in the kitchen making dinner.

May Allah always keep their bond strong, Ameen.

Train

 

Last night we read one of our favorite bedtime story books called Hold Tight!  Its a super cute book mashallah.  And because I had cleaned out my closet and had an extra box laying around I told Yusuf we could make something today.  He chose a train.  

Arabic Alphabet Lapbook

I was really excited to try this project that a friend of mine showed me. I took two file folders and stapled them together, then make a bunch of small booklets and glued them on. Every day were gonna do a couple of new letters of the Arabic alphabet (but not in order) and then learn a couple new islamic terms inshaAllah. If Yusuf sees the arabic alphabet (in proper order) he knows all the letters but he has a hard time recognizing them on their own. I love having homeschooling friends to get great ideas from alhamdulillah! =)

Preschool Class

Today we went to the preschool class. They practiced their names (writing and with stickers) and made a snow picture.

Bath Time Books

Today I decided Ill try something new : reading books to the boys while they played in the bath (since they LOVE the water).  So as I was running the bath water I told Yusuf to go get some books so we can read while hes in the bath.  I turned around for a second, and he had thrown the (library) book into the bath...Perhaps I could have been more clear.

I explained to him that we dont put books in the bath (something I though was common sense!) but alhamdulilah I was able to keep my cool and we actually got a good laugh out of it.

Arabic Around the House

Alhamdulilah Yusuf is really enjoying his new Arabic classes. From Oct - Dec he attended a class further away from our house and he was really enjoying it.. but.. the kids were ages 3-6 yrs and it was a larger class. The teacher was great but it was hard for him to cater the different needs of the kids. So a friend of mine arranged for Yusuf and his to friends to begin classes at my friends house. The new teacher is also great and because its more frequent (45 mins twice a week instead of one hour once a week) I find Yusuf's picking up a lot. So Ive put a few things around the house for him to continue learning his Arabic. I had cue cards and made posters a while back so I put them back up. And in the summer I bought a place mat with the Arabic alphabet and yesterday I made a poster of colours (which I need to learn as well!).