Month: May 2018

It’s Ramadhaan and what about Homeschooling?

We are approaching the grand season, we are counting days for the blessed month, and we are waiting to experience its goodness and its merits. Alhamdulillaah Ramadhaan is around the corner and we ask our Lord to help us reach it inshaa Allaah.

As homeschoolers for the last nine years, we have tried to use this month to concentrate on reaping its benefits. We stop formal homeschooling for this whole month. But that does not mean that learning stops! Learning takes place in different ways Alhamdulillaah.

Our school year is Ramadhaan to Ramadhaan, which makes it easier for us to relax during this month and gives us that much-needed break. Planning the school year this way helps our household and suits everyone’s schedules as well.

We have learned to be flexible and with every year we also learned that all that we plan cannot be executed especially in Ramadhaan with so much to do and the whole routine changing without any notice we just need to accept this.

Additionally, if you have a new entry into the family then things can get more difficult. Just like what happened to us. Maashaa Allaah, the little one who has just turned two has changed our normal routine so much, imagine the Ramadhaan routine!

So what have we done during Ramadhaan for the past nine years as homeschoolers?

It was such a pleasure to look back at my blog to recollect what we have done.

This has been our first Ramadhaan Activity Calendar plans, maashaa Allaah. Details here
http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.qa/2010/08/ramadhaan-plans-insha-allaah.html

This reminds me how new I was for homeschooling and how much I was struggling to adopt something that suits our household, Subhanallaah!

A great hit in our homeschool during Ramadhaan during ages 3 – 5 has been the Ramadhaan Bulletin Board. Since Maimoonah is a visual learner these boards every year with a different twist have helped her to learn about Ramadhaan with ease and it also worked as a good reminder for adults.

 

We have worked on Journaling during Ramadhaan from a very early age Alhamdulillaah and this has helped in enhancing many skills. Journaling in Ramadhaan actually works as a beneficial revision of school work.

When Maimoonah was 4 years old we completed a successful kindergarten school year with a structured curriculum and she was able to grasp more information. In order to make her retain that work during Ramadhaan I came up with a fully-fledged Ramadhaan Activity Pack that basically covered almost everything she learned during that year in all subjects. We were able to integrate the Ramadhaan related issues into many activities into the pack. These Activity Packs are commended by educators to be the best kid friendly Ramadhaan Activity Pack to date and so far over 25,000 downloads and still going strong! Alhamdulillaah.

These Ramadhaan Activity Packs can be downloaded for free here

Ramadhaan Activitiy Packs

The followings years yet again we started making Ramadhaan Baskets for homescholing during Ramadhaan. The baskets included many Islaamic Books, Ramadhaan related books, craft items etc to be used during Ramadhaan.

 

As she was growing we started on learning the books of the scholars during the month of Ramadhaan. With the change of situation in the family, with a very difficult pregnancy, relocations and a new baby we did not have enough time to really prepare; therefore we used to read together from the books of the scholars related to Ramadhaan and make journal entries.

Alhamdulillaah now that we are settled we are preparing for Ramadhaan with this Nurture Islaam Series Ramadhaan Pack. Details of the pack here http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.qa/2017/04/ramadhaan-grand-season-packs.html

 

And she has been busy doing the Sittings During the Blessed month of Ramadhaan Online Course and the scrapbook based on Shaykh Uthaimeen’s book.

 

We hope to continue with the scrapbook this Ramadhaan and revise the Arabic for Homeschoolers materials of sister Nadiya. Maimoonah has successfully completed 3 levels of Arabic with the best teacher so far and thoroughly enjoys her classes. Before we start the next level in the coming fall she would revise the levels during Ramadhaan Inshaa Allaah.

Concentrating more on Qur’aan, Arabic and Islaamic Studies during Ramadhaan has indeed been very productive for our homeschool. It gives you a break from the usual busy schedules and allows you to take a more relaxed approach.

Older kids who are preparing themselves for examinations during Ramadhaan may have to put up a flexible schedule to achieve their Ramadhaan goals as well as the examination goals during Ramadhaan.

Alhamdulillaah homeschooling is such a blessing that it allows you to take in charge and makes it easy to adopt the best possible approach throughout.

Sometimes homeschoolers may think they are missing out a lot of work during Ramadhaan by taking a break, but I feel homeschooling is not just school work, rather it is just a part of day to day life. Learning never stops, so homeschooling never stops too. If you do not have to meet certain mandatory schedules in your homeschool my naseehah to you is make use of this month to accumulate your rewards, for indeed Allaah opened the gates of Jannah and closed the gates of the Hell fire and chained the devils in order to make it easy on us to increase our good deeds and decrease our bad deeds. Subhanallaah, He has been so merciful to His slaves and taking this opportunity and enjoying this Mercy is what we should be doing and we should be teaching our children to bond with this grand season to be able to achieve the rewards Inshaa Allaah.

You can check all our Ramadhaan Activities here Ramadhan Activity Packs

You can also have a look at our Awesome Ramadhaan Reminders Activity Pack here 

May Allaah help us reach this Ramadhaan and aid us to make the most out of this blessed month and accept our fast and good deeds. Aameen

Umm Maimoonah
http://www.umm-maimoonah.com

As Salaamu Alaykunna.

I wanted to share with my new sisters to the beautiful religion of Islam, some easy ways to get through the Blessed Month of Ramadaan. Whether you are young or older the concept of not eating and drinking for 10-14 hours sounds really hard. Speaking from experience, I felt the same way some 17 years ago when I became a Muslim. “I can’t eat? Can I chew gum? Can I drink water?” And it was no to all of those questions, MashaaAllah.

So my next concern, being a new Muslim is what do as a fasting person. Ok I can’t eat or drink, sexual intercourse wasn’t my concern because I wasn’t married. Of course, I read up on the fasting but Ramadaan was almost over that 1st year I started to fast. I brought a set of Sahih Al-Bukhari my 1st year of being a Muslim. I was told to stay away from the smaller books due to the false information that may be in them about Islam. That 1st year was hard but the week of Ramadaan I was doing OK, not good but OK.

The next 2 years, I spent reading out of Sahih Al-Bukhari and the Qur’aan. In this set of books, are different chapters (but are called books themselves) on various topics such as: prayer, ablution, fasting, hajj, menses, marriage, so and so forth. As you can imagine, I was definitely busy with learning my religion.

Then the third year of my Islam I was introduced to a class here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called “THE NEW SHAHAADAH CLASS”. I still remember the day like it was yesterday February 6, 2005. Until, today I am involved in this class. My teacher Na’imah Thomas (rahimahullah) really helped me with further learning about my religion. One of those many topics she helped me with is fasting during the Blessed Month of Ramadaan.

When a person thinks of fasting, the first thing they think about is not being able to eat and to control yourself with that aspect of not eating. Not eating or drinking or having sexual intercourse is only a part and some would say a small part of fasting during the month of Ramadaan. Fasting is an act the will get you closer to your Lord if you do it correctly, with sincerity and devotion. Fasting is one of those acts of worship you really can’t show off with because it’s really a secret between your Lord and you, even if you tell someone that you are fasting. Do they really know that you are fasting!?! And the not eating is really mind-over-matter.

Your brain is telling you that it can’t handle not eating for 5 hours let alone 12-14 hours. But we are going to learn that the self always wants things whether good or bad. Always, remember that this is an act of worship and this particular act of worship is special because there is a special reward for the one who does for the sake of Allah seeking His Face and Pleasure.

Ramadaan is the month of the Qur’aan. We should spend our time reading and reciting the Qur’aan if possible. Also, reading the tafsir (which is the explaination of the Qur’aan) will also help you to occupy your time and may even take your mind off of eating and drinking. When reading also we should contemplate on what Allah is trying to tell us in the qur’aan. If you can get your family together some parts of every day to read something from the qur’aan that would be great.

During this Blessed Month, we are also trying to acquire as many good deeds as possible for our deeds during this month are doubled. Some examples of good deeds are: can be helping your family to get themselves prepared for the days fast such as preparing the pre-dawn meals. Remembering not to have such a big sahoor(pre-dawn meal) because it may cause you to want to sleep most of the day and when you eat a big meal it can also make you hungrier faster inshaaAllah. We can also, give charity whether it is money, clothes, knowledge and/or a kind word or even a smile. During this month we should also work on our patience with people, with our family, our co-workers, people at the stores, everyone. During this Blessed Month you want to come out of better than you were before the month.

Some people like to stay busy either at work or cleaning the house, the 1st week or so you may want to do that just to keep you mind off of the not eating and drinking. I usually advise sisters to try to clean your house or workspace before Ramadaan so that you dedicate that time for benefit during this Blessed Month because before you know it Ramadaan will be over and you missed out on a lot of good deeds by wasting time with things that will not benefit you. And Allah knows best

But the last 2 weeks or so hopefully you start to realize that fasting isn’t that hard and it becomes easier. You no longer crave to eat big meals for iftar. No longer say I’m going to make baked chicken, mac and cheese, string beans, cornbread, mashed potatoes and apple pie for dessert because you realize when you break your fast with the dates and water you really aren’t that hungry. You may have a small piece of chicken and some string beans and you are full after that. Some people spend hours cooking, wasting time and food. Some people take this month as a month of food ironic is it!?! What am I going to cook tonight? And you have food left over for the previous night(s). When we should be reflecting on the blessings that Allah have given us of food and drink, in most cases whenever we want them subhaanaAllah. When going shopping especially for food, make a list and stick to it. You don’t want to come home and you have cakes, ice cream, cookies, potatoes chips and candy and you don’t have anything for dinner.

May Allah aid us in cleansing ourselves through worship of Him. 

Sakeenah Green has been teaching the “New Shahadah” (New Muslimah) course in Philadlephia, PA, for several years.

Learn to Read Quran and Speak Arabic

In Philadelphia on a breezy beautiful summer night, my husband and I decided to take a walk with the baby. We walked around the LaSalle University campus; spic and span the streets so pristine you could eat off them. So well-lit in the summer night that we stopped and sat on a bench near the football field to take in the night breeze. After about 15 minutes, we began our descent into the darkness down the hill to our home on Church Lane. Me pushing the baby carriage, I turned my head to the right of me and looked at the ground and then turned to the left of me. I could see them coming down the street in formation running fast as if racing us down the hill. Without any words spoken between us, we picked up our pace. In rank and file these 8-legged brown soldiers moved quickly around us. It was as if they were our body guards and we were rock stars they had to get to safety. What do they want?! Where are they going?! We made it inside the house! Whew! But were we safe? One a night would be caught inside the house throughout the summer.

It was just like when I lived in Medina, Saudi Arabia, one big cockroach a night. I shared an apartment with another teacher who had made the mistake of taking a ground floor apartment. One brown creature a night was the average. They had 2 points of entry, sometimes from under the front door and other times through the bathroom wall fan. No matter what they had to be stopped from entering the bedrooms at all costs because we both slept on the floor. Imagine my horror when one Friday morning during a routine cleaning I found one dead, smashed under my blanket.
Egypt was no different. We had a lovely apartment in the 7th district with 2 big balconies with glass French doors. We kept the doors open and our biggest concern was the mosquitoes at night and an occasional bird that lost its way and would fly through the apartment. But sometimes for some reason, water would flow through the streets and THEY would run wild. I told the owner’s sister, “We had roaches in our ‘shaqqah’ (apartment) this morning.” She said, ‘ minal moyah! Minal moyah!’ (From the water), she pointed to the water that was flowing down the streets.
And just yesterday, at my home here in Qatar, what prompted me to write this story, I heard men in my back hoosh (yard) and I smelled something awful. I opened the kitchen window to see 4 Indian men, masks over their faces, one with a hose in his hand spraying what we call ‘soomm’ (poison). Exterminators! I watched from the window in horror as they opened the drain in the ground. You know when you cook popcorn on the stove and you lift the top while it is still popping and popcorn pops out everywhere? Well instead of popcorn, imagine big brown ‘sa-raa-seer’ with legs popping out of the drain in the floor when the Indian man opened it. “Too much! Too much!” he shouted. I slammed the window shut. They died all around him as he sprayed the ‘soomm’.
You know as I sit here and write I feel there are no end to the stories I could tell about ‘sa-raa-seer’. They have been a silent creepy part of my whole life and have followed me around the world. OK just one…maybe 2 more stories.
I was sitting with a group of Syrian sisters outside the Masjid in North Carolina, eating Iftaar in Ramadhan. Enjoying our food after a day of fasting we were talking and chillaxing, when suddenly a cry went up, “Sar-soor! Sar-soor!” (Although I was used to the word pronounced “Sir-saar” I knew exactly what she was talking about.) Everybody jumped up from the picnic benches we were sitting at. We looked around in suspense at the darkness of the ground, we all wondered, “where was it?!” Finally! A shoe was raised high and then came down with a smash! “Kha-laas! Kha-laas!”  Someone announced. Then everyone sat back down. Had they followed me from Church Lane? Or Medina? Or Cairo?
And in a place I least expected…when I visited my father in Virginia Beach last summer I noticed even in his high-end townhouse, little plastic traps set just under the kitchen counters. “What’s this?” I asked. “Traps for roaches, they come in here sometimes,” he said, “I don’t know how they get in… big ones too! ” “Yeah,” my uncle explained, this whole area is surrounded by water, they like it here.”
“They like it everywhere,” I thought, “Will they always find me wherever I go?”

I know that they are a creation of Allah and Allah has created all things with a purpose. but somehow, that is just not that comforting to me.

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