My husband and I are taking the Sacred Scrolls: 40 Hadith Nawawi course taught by Sh. Yasir Qadhi through AlMaghrib Institute (he’s going to the physical location and I am fortunate enough to take it online, alhamduLILLAH). It is a very beneficial class,and I am learning a lot.

One benefit of attending programs of this nature is having direct access to the scholars of our time. My husband asked the sheikh about homeschooling, in particular, what emphasis should we place on sacred vs. secular schooling. The nasiha that he was given is to split their Islamic and secular learning into a 30/70 ratio respectively. Keep in mind, this can be adjusted accordingly as the child’s age, needs and abilities change.

This is basically what I plan to do this year, InshaALLAH. I had my schedule done a while ago but silly me, I forgot to add math to it, lol. I need to revise it now because I have realized that my almost two year old is just a small step behind my three year old.
They are in direct competition for everything, i.e. attention, toys,food,potty training (yes, the boy is still figuring it out,lol).

We are affectionately calling them “the twins” now. For the most part, they have a great relationship and follow each other around the home getting into mutual mischief. So, the real test is figuring out how to keep their attention spans and gently introduce a preschool curriculum, all the while maintaining the progress that my daughter and I have thus made.

We started the new phonics program the other day and so far I like it. There is plenty of work to do without being futile or overwhelming and it is designed with the one-room schoolhouse child in mind. She should be able to do a lot of the work independently so that I have time to turn my attention to the other children.

AlhamduLILLAH, we are blessed to have them so close in age – my sister and I are seven years apart so I can only imagine what it’s like to be making memories together.