I’m not one for busywork, but I would like the kids to write a little more. I’ve asked Mars to keep a special journal for the presentations she has done at the homeschoolers’ club meetings. After a break, she has gone back to copywork again and this time, we’ve set more stringent standards as she herself has expressed a desire to have better handwriting.

Bear has been composing poems – some sound like cute little haikus and all have a touch of drama to them! I’ll have to ask her permission before I reproduce them here. She is quite a shy little girl still and sometimes objects to having attention drawn to her. (I’ve tried to respect her need for privacy and this is why I don’t blog about her as much.)

We’ve been revising the Stories of the Prophets. We’ve studied them before and loved them to bits. It seems that every time we read, we learn something new and find nuggets of wisdom that we can apply to our daily lives. We are thus revisiting these stories, but in greater depth this time.

I’ve made some notebooking papers for documenting our learning points. Of course, any regular notebook or paper will do for journalling, but we have a boatload of paper from the Dad Man’s office that he no longer has use for – they are used on one side, so we are printing on the other. A bit of green living and an excuse to pretty up our papers :)

Here are some notebooking sheets for The Story of Prophet Adam `alayhis salaam. You can download them at Scribd if you have an account or you can just download them here. I’ve kept them pretty simple – not a lot of clipart or anything of the sort. I thought that the kids could draw their own pictures if they wanted. There are extra sheets for fillers and also a few for younger writers, with primary lines.

Please let me know if you have any issues with the document… I hope you like it!

*Edit: I’ve corrected a couple of mistakes and amended the primary lines, so please download the latest version!

NOT what our home looks like … haha…

The rowdy ruffians have been buckling down to more book learning these days and alhamdulillah, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. I’ve told them to work on their weak areas especially – Math for Marz and reading for Bear. I’d thought that they would rail against the stricter schedule, given that we’d slowed down a bit in the last couple of months, but ma shaa Allah, they’ve been tremendously good sports about it.

We’ve had many disruptions to our days – there are always so many frustrations when you live in an older home long in need of repairs. There was a time when our walls and ceilings had to be sanded and everything – I kid you not, EVERYTHING – was covered in a fine powder that took weeks to clean. Then, there were the leaks from pipes in mysterious locations – plumbers came in and out breaking through walls only to find their diagnosis in error. Meanwhile, the glass extension which we had had such hopes for continued to disappoint by letting in rain.

Our small living area was cluttered beyond belief. It seemed that we just could not get a handle on things and there were days when we felt like screaming our lungs out and throwing the towel in. We were anxious to get back to our home schooling. What we didn’t realise though was that our home was schooling us :)

When things settled down and we had to begin the slow process of cleaning and putting everything back in, we became reacquainted with our possessions. We learnt that we had inherited, purchased and clung on to many things that were simply not enhancing our lives. Alhamdulillah, the experience had taught us not to buy anything heedlessly and to give freely what others could use, rather than hang on to them for sentimental reasons. Truly, we don’t need as much as we think we do!

We’ve learnt as well that things don’t always go to plan – in fact, they often go wrong! – and that, really, is alright. We have to learn to just grit our teeth and be patient.

We’ve learnt that we do need others and it isn’t a bad thing. Most of all, we need Allah and we need to trust in Him. It’s funny, but our numerous botched plans have actually taught us to be at peace. We would do well to remember the hadeeth in which Rasulullah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam said, “How amazing is the affair of the Muslim! His affairs are all good. If he experiences ease, he is grateful, and that is good for him. If he experiences hardship, he faces it with patience and perseverance, and that is also good for him.” (Muslim)

Qadr Allah wa ma shaa fa`al. Alhamdulillah `alaa kulli haal.

There is a saying, “All good things come to those who wait.” I think we can and will hold out a little longer, in shaa Allah.

The learning? Well, it continues alhamdulillah… :)

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