Keep It Simple!

It was way past their bed time. I had just finished praying maghrib, and I was spread out on Junayd’s bedroom floor. I watched as Jundee and Maymi fought over a toy car, one yelling he had it first, while the other claimed it was her who could make the claim.

I coaxed Jundee to simply take another car, and a rush of inspiration surfaced.

“Which one won the race, Jundee?” I asked.

I had a plan up my khimaar!

“That one,” he murmured, taking slight looks at his sister, waiting for a chance to pounce on the car she had in her hand.

“Oh,” I said, “So which one came next then?”

“That one.”

“And which one came third?”

“This one.”

I had always wondered how I’d tackle ordinal numbers without actually having to sit him down, and this was the perfect moment.

“Hey, why don’t you line them up for me, from first to last.”

And that’s what he did.

“So how do we count these then, in the order they won?”

I guided him through to five and he took over from there, scrurrying back and forth between his line of vehicles and his toy drawer. Then another wave of inspiration came.

“How about we match numbers to the order of cars? I’ll write the numbers and you match them.”

So I wrote numbers randomly from 1-16 (since that’s the number of vehicles he had lined up) and he placed them in front of the vehicles. Number 1 matching 1st, 2 matching 2nd and so on. It was a great way to do ordinal numbers, albeit at a late hour. But who said teaching had to be fixed to a certain time or be complicated? I say keep it simple!

How do I do it?

I’ve been asked this question many times when people find out I’m a homeschooler, writer, cupping therapist and a few other things. *blush*

My answer is that I like to stay ahead of the game. And in doing so, I’ll be posting tips for other busy homeschooling Mamas, or just busy Mamas if that’s what you are!

So for today: how do I manage doing cupping for sisters and homeschooling too?

I only do hijamah (cupping) on the Sunnah days: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, so with this in mind I know how to plan for those days. Also, I tend to have appointments in the afternoon which allows for me to homeschool in the morning, cook dinner if needed and travel to the location of the appointment.

As my dear friend Umm J. knows, I am a ‘like-to-have-my-home-in-order-before-leaving-the-house’ kind of person, which means, if laundry needs doing, it’s got to be done, there have to be no dishes in the kitchen sink, and the rooms need to be in some sort of reasonable shape.

~ Umm Junayd

Big Up for Homeschooling!

I was beaming from ear to ear and nodding my head with great excitement on Sunday evening. My local masjid hosted a conference titled ‘Wonder Women’ and I actually thought it would be able historical female figures in Islam.

The first speaker, Br. Ismail Abu Hanifah, gave a fantastic talk about the role of Muslim women, and I can tell you it was so refreshing to hear things other than ‘looking after your husband’ and it was truly about women empowering themselves. He not only spoke about Muslim women gaining knowledge, but also imparting that knowledge to their family, firstly their children.

It was the first time I had heard a daa’i (‘preacher’) speak so highly about homeschooling, and why shouldn’t he… he homeschools too! There were questions such as ‘doesn’t homeschooling make children socially handicap?’ and those revolving around socialisation, but he was so eloquent and firm in his resolve that homeschooling is the way forward.

It was just the inspiration I needed and has put so many things into perspective for me and my goals for my children.

I want them to love Allah and be loved by Him, I want them to be forebearers of the flag of Islam in their actions and speech, I want them to not only commit the words of Allah in their memories, but ingrain them in their hearts. I have aspirations for my children, and how else can I help them achieve them without being an active instrument in their learning?

I love being a teacher to them, and it helps me because I know they see me as an example. I know that I have to be disciplined before disciplining.

So a great big up for homeschooling!

Homeschooling on a Sunday?

No, it’s not something that I would necessarily do, but yesterday that’s what we did.

You see, I love the flexibility of home-educating: you can do it when, where and how best suits your family’s needs and interests.

Yesterday I was itching to start our Qur`an and Qaaidah schedule after I finally devised our new weekly ‘timetable’. Qur`an memorisation and Arabic reading is on our to-do list from Monday – Friday and done before any other lessons. So I whipped out the Qaaidah and did some Arabic activities with Maymi (which she loved) and we all felt good for the rest of the day.

Alhamdulillah, we’ve also followed it on this morning, but Maymi’s a little unsettled and giggly, so it didn’t go as planned with her, but Jundee was on a roll, mashaa`Allah and completed a few pages of the Qaaidatun-Noor we’re using.

I’m off now.. break time is nearly over!

Ma’as-salaamah!

~ Umm J.