You know what is really sickening? It is that at a time of affliction and suffering, some people have raised the prices of food, medicine, blankets, clothes and even shrouds.

Yes, you heard it…

Shrouds.

I was on an Islamic forum last weekend and chanced upon a link. I clicked on it not really knowing what to expect.

It made me cry.

This is a blog about a remarkable young woman named Asma bint Zia ul Haq who met severe trials courageously and stoically. Written by her brother, Omar, the entries are so heartfelt and vivid that one can almost picture this beautiful soul who has passed on. The siblings shared such a sweet relationship that the love truly shines through.

All About Asma

Makes me think… what have *I* done to prepare for the journey?

We did this impromptu lesson some time ago and I thought that some of you might enjoy these links with your kids.

During one of our book hunts, Marz and I found “Eskimo Boy: Life in an Inupiaq Eskimo Village” by Russ Kendall. It tells of seven-year-old Norman Kokeok, an Inupiaq Eskimo who lives in the village of Shishmaref on Sarichef Island, in the Chukchi Sea, just north of Bering Strait (off the northwest coast of Alaska). Illustrated with large color photographs, this book describes the life of modern-day Eskimos and Alaska. It also includes a glossary of Inupiaq words.

We have read this book so many times that Marz wants to meet Norman – I tell her that he must be about 19 years old by now!

The book talks about the beautiful Northern Lights and so we did a short lesson on it. Here are some links you may enjoy:

• Auroras: Mysterious Lights In The Sky – clearly my daughter’s fave!
• Auroras – Ghostly Earth-Sun Link
• Auroras – Paintings In The Sky. What Makes Them Happen?
• Nordly’s – Northen Lights
• Everything Alaska’s Aurora Borealis Page – Everything Alaska also has colouring pages, beautiful photographs of Alaskan wilderness and more!
• AuroraWebCam.Com – The Northern Lights international project from Alaska

(Image of the aurora in Alaska from Pexels)

Ramadhan in Wisconsin was quite painful for us. Incidents like the shutting down of several relief organisations made us feel bitter. We decided to leave for good and alhamdulillah, for many reasons I will not elaborate on, it was the right decision.

I think about the efforts of those organisations and I feel a deep respect for their workers. I also feel I don’t do enough and wonder what ever happened to me… the idealistic girl who once longed to devote her life to charity.

Here is a book written by Suleman Ahmer… some of you may have read his story The City, The Girl and The Little Rag Doll at Islaam.Com. He has written a book about his experiences and it is available for download at this website. You can read the book by clicking on the link below:

The Embattled Innocence: Recollections of a Muslim Relief Worker

Going the regimented route didn’t work out for us … if I’m to be completely honest, it brought out the absolute WORST in me. I trashed my lesson plans and started on a clean slate. Marz and I played silly games, tackled the colouring books and chit chatted in the darkness after Bear and Dad had gone to sleep. We took out stacks upon stacks of books and we just read. It felt good reconnecting with my daughter.

I have decided to follow a more eclectic approach… something along the lines of the unit-study-five-in-a-row way with loads of good literature. So we make the rules up as we go along. So what? ;)

We did butterflies earlier this year, but I’ve decided to revisit this unit … this time remembering to breathe more!

Butterflies, Butterflies!

• Alan & Hui Meng’s Butterfly Life Cycle Photos
• Beal School’s Exploring Butterflies in Kindergarten
• Butterfly File Folder Game
• Butterfly & Moth Printouts @ Enchanted Learning
• DLTK’s Butterfly & Caterpillar Crafts
• First School’s Butterfly Pre-school Activities & Crafts
• Jenna’s Story – Caterpillar to Butterfly
• Kidzone’s Monarch Butterfly Picture Story
• Kidzone’s Online Butterfly Jigsaw
• Life Cycles – The Monarch Butterfly
• Monarch Butterfly Links
• NBII Children’s Butterfly Site
• Science Museum of Minnesota – Monarchs & Migration
• Star Tribune’s beautiful photographs of butterflies
• Yukon Butterflies

Books We Read

• “All Aboard Reading: Butterflies” by Emily Neye
• “Butterfly Battle” – The Magic School Bus
• “Charlie the Caterpillar” by Dom de Luise
• “DK Readers Level 1: Born to be a Butterfly” by Karen Wallace
• “How to Hide a Butterfly & Other Insects” by Ruth Heller
• “The Butterfly Life Cycle” from Enchanted Learning
• “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle (but of course *S*)
• “Where Butterflies Grow” by Joanne Ryder & Lynne Cherry

Random Crazy Stuff

• Pinned a filmy dupatta (that’s the large rectangular shawl that Indo-Pak women wear) on Ms M, gathered up the middle, fashioned huge butterfly wings and let her run about the house in her usual drama-mama fashion :)