The past week or so, we’ve been covering Mesopotamia and the land of the two rivers. With some difficulty and a little help, my daughter managed to construct a tiny ziggurat (we were out of glue so we improvised with tiny slivers of packing tape, lol).
Then, we discussed the story of Ibrahim (alayhi salaam) while she colored a picture of a Sumerian city-state. Next, we read from a book called Ali Mitgutsch’s World on Wheels (Rolling Along from Ancient to Modern Times. It has some interesting history from the beginnings of the humble wheel to the automobile. It is written in a way to capture the attention of young readers with some humor.
We’re a little behind on our geography pages (still have to finish Pakistan, Iraq and Iran). Since we were ill for so long, we mostly focused on math and read a lot.
Oh, and we have/had grass! My daughter was really taking care of it and watching over it night and day until we got sick and then she sort of forgot. But, for a while, we had some grass, lol.
Posted inProjects|TaggedMiscellaneous|Comments Off on Ancient Sumerians, Idols, Prophet Ibrahim (alayhi salaam)
مشمشنا مش مشمشكم ومشمشكم مش مشمشنا، لما مشمش مشمشكم، ما كان مشمش مشمشنا [Mishmishna mish mishmishkom w mishmishkom mish mishmishna, lamma mashmash mishmishkon, ma kan mashmash mishmishna.] Our apricots are not the same as your apricots, and your apricots are not the same as our apricots. When your apricots were ripe, our apricots were not ripe yet.
AlhamduLILLAH, it’s nice that people check up on us and make sure that everything is all right. We’ve actually been really productive lately and getting up earlier – (if you know me, you know that I’m a night owl). Since my daughter started praying, we’ve been starting school right after fajr and I must say, the days are certainly longer but we seem to get more work done. The flip side is that in the evening, I have trouble staying awake, lol. I suppose a nap is in order after Dhuhr?
Over the last few days, we’ve covered the prophets Nuh (alayhi salaam), Hud (alayhi salaam) and Saleh (alayhi salaam).
The wicked people of the Prophet Saleh’s (alayhi salaam) time were destroyed via earthquake, so we took the opportunity to make a 3D earthquake to go along with the story.
My eldest daughter is writing mini biographies for each prophet that we cover,(a paragraph), and the younger children take turns narrating the stories to me. We are also writing biographies for the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wa sallam). For this, I am using The Fragile Vessels as a guide.
Arabic is getting tougher but we’re still hanging in there, AlhamduLILLAH. I am trying to find ways to make the vocabulary stick in our minds without always having to act it out or constantly drill, but those are necessary tasks right now. We read from our scholastic Arabic books and illustrated the story. This week’s book was On a Boat.
My daughter did a quick sketch and wrote the vocabulary words on the side. She also completed some copywork on the left.
After completing math and all the other odds and ends, the kids completed puzzles, planted a rock garden and did a bit of weaving.
“AlKauthar has been a milestone in my life, a breakthrough in my thinking and attitude..but the Students Guild is the something ‘extra’ Iv been searching for” Students Guild Brother “When I first heard of the Students Guild programme, I could barely contain my excitement and gratitude to Allah. This was the moment that me, a lay person, could make the transition from being an average Muslim to a serious student of knowledge. An opportunity to fulfill an ambition and to seek another means of attaining Jannah, bi’idhnillahi ta’ala.” Students Guild Brother
“The Students Guild is a unique programme, in the way you are studying the classical texts all from behind your computer screen at home! You still get some of that teacher-student experience as we have regular contact through open sessions with our teachers and Alhamdulillah guidance and naseehah is readily available to us.” Students Guild Sister
“Some of you may be blessed to go to another Muslim country and study under the stars or attend halaqaat with the Shuyookhs. As a sister like me, who has to get on with the practicalities of life and family and travelling abroad is not a viable option. So should I stop there? No, Allah has made a way for me and you through the Guild. Seek knowledge wherever you may be and Alhamdulillah, there is no place like home.” Students Guild Sister
AlKauthar Institute is a non-profit organization providing professionally packaged Islamic education in 6 countries around the world. All proceeds from our courses are invested to further Islamic education globally to ‘Enrich lives through Knowledge.
We’ve been skipping school a little bit (mostly because we’ve had colds). Still, we decided that we wouldn’t let a few sneezes and sniffles hold us back and we ventured outside across the frozen playground to partake in some good old fashioned slipping (me) and sliding (them).
There was a lot of this going on too:
Yup. They still have volcano fever.
My youngest couldn’t figure out how to maneuver
so she just gave up.
🙂 **Edit – I fixed the video at the top (I hope, InshaALLAH).
This week (and a little bit of last week), we’ve been discussing what it means to be forced from your home due to circumstances out of your control. What it means to flee and leave behind everything and start fresh with nothing.
Last week, I introduced the concept of keeping track of history on paper in a time-line in conjunction with our seerah lessons.
We’re also using the timeline display from LearningRoots.com as a visual. It is certainly easy to make your own, but I wasn’t inspired to do so, lol.
Right now, we are discussing the 1st and 2nd pledges of ‘Aqabah, and the eventual migration to Madinah. Some questions that I asked were: 1. Can you imagine that the community around us has cut us off and now we can’t get to the store to buy food and we cannot eat? Or that we are refused service when we need something? What if our mail is no longer delivered or our landlord kicks us out because we are Muslim?
2. Where would we go? Do we know someone who would be willing to let us go and stay with them? Would they be willing to give us clothes, food and shelter? Toys?
3. Would it be easy to leave everything that you have and travel to a new city where you do not know anyone? Would it be easy to leave your family behind?
4. If you are the people who are welcoming strangers into your home, would it be easy for you to give up half of your food, clothing and shelter? Could you give a kid that you do not know half of your things? Would it be easy?
I am trying to help them grasp the concept of selflessness when it comes to other Muslims and understand that sometimes we have an abundance of material wealth thanks to ALLAH and that it would not hurt us to give some of that wealth to our brothers and sisters who are in need. This lead us to our next geography page which we linked to the story of the Prophet Nuh, alayhi salaam, and a simple art project.
We’ve completed a page for Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, India, and now, Pakistan.
What does Pakistan have to do with the Ansar? Well, since we’ve completed volcanoes, up next is floods. The people of Pakistan have really been suffering due to floods and I thought it was a prime opportunity to discuss ways to contribute and how we can be examples of compassion as the Ansar of Madinah were. Imagine that you (gratefully) receive packets of food, shoes and socks for Eid? That you worry about having fresh water? What about wudu and salat? Is there anywhere to pray? Do you know what to do in this situation?
Of course, after discussing floods, I had to discuss Nuh, alayhi salaam. I found an art project online that seemed simple enough and I made just the tiniest of modifications to it. It was a hit with my two middle children, my eldest is being lazy and hasn’t put hers together yet, lol. The bottom plate has a slit cut into it and the top plate is cut in half and I stapled the halves together since they didn’t have the patience of waiting for glue to dry. I also stapled a piece of craft foam shaped like a cabin to the top and then placed the animals around the top. Just a few animals go a long way since there’s not much room.
An important concept that we discussed is loving ALLAH more than you love anyone else, including your family. We tried to imagine how hard it must have been for Prophet Nuh, alayhi salaam, to watch as his son and his wife turned their backs on him. Our instincts may have told us, even after all this time, to attempt to save them, run after them or plead with them one last time. After all, they are family, right? Instead, Prophet Nuh, alayhi salaam, had the strength and wisdom given by ALLAH to shut the door and follow the commands of his Lord.
36. And it was inspired to Nûh (Noah): “None of your people will believe except those who have believed already. So be not sad because of what they used to do. 37. “And construct the ship under Our Eyes and with Our Inspiration, and address Me not on behalf of those who did wrong; they are surely to be drowned.” (11: 36-37)
MashaALLAH, the kids are doing well with their Arabic lessons but I think that we are just a tiny bit behind schedule. We tend to get into it for a time and then back off, sort of a tug of war with our attention span. I wonder if this is from laziness or from being overly enthusiastic? Hmm, I think that maybe I need to actually write down some goals and milestones so that we can stay on track.
We are still using the same textbook but our lessons are mostly oral and role-playing. They like that a lot. It gets them out of their seats and they can be a little silly while still learning.
A big asset to our Arabic program is the Arabian Sinbad series.
This was an Eid gift from my mom and I must say that I am impressed with it. You can see free samples on Youtube or take a look on their website if you’re interested.
There are nine different DVDs but so far we have only watched two. I told them that they have to learn all of the vocabulary on the discs before they can watch the others. Also, we are still using Rosetta Stone’s homeschool Arabic and I find that our programs are great complements of one another.
In other news, we have completed 35 of the 99 Names and Attributes of ALLAH, AlhamduLILLAH. I am proud of their progress. I was pushing for them to learn 15 a week and they probably could, but I now I just add 5 every week and have my eldest recite them from memory at the start of class and write them from memory onto paper at the end of class every day.
Now, if we could only finish Suratul Fajr. Make du’a, InshaALLAH.
