I really love the site Enchanted Learning. It is a little online encyclopedia catered to children on a diverse range of subjects, from animals to plants to geography. Enchanted Learning also has an online picture dictionary, illustrated science dictionaries, crafts pages and more. Some materials are also available in other languages. Subjects are arranged thematically and also in alphabetical order for easy navigation.

What I like best about it are the fuss-free printables – they aren’t fancy for sure, but that is EXACTLY how and why I like them. Illustrations are mostly black and whites with only outlines so that helps me save on ink for the printer! Much of the information is free but with membership (it’s WORTH IT, I tell you!), one gets so much more printable material.

Go… check it out. GO!!!!

I have had many stops and starts in homeschooling.

Research was not a problem for me. I found that with Allah’s help, a little ingenuity and tenacity, I did not have to spend money on expensive curricula for Marz. Within 2 months, I had collected and compiled enough materials for a year’s homeschooling, all on a budget.

Support is also not a problem. My husband is behind me one hundred per cent and my in-laws, whatever their views on homeschooling, have never said a negative word.

Organising has not been a problem either – all the materials are there, systematically sorted and categorised, ready and waiting to be utilised.

It’s all good, right? Actually, no…

So what is it that has been holding me back?

I have come to the painful conclusion that it’s my lack of patience that has been ruining every learning opportunity. I would have a number of set goals and when things did not go as planned, I would get frustrated and subconsciously blame Marz for thwarting my attempts… failing to realise that this whole effort is not about MY DREAMS but about helping HER NURTURE HER OWN!

There were other days when I would get discouraged and hold back… afraid to try for it seemed an insurmountable mountain to overcome.

Well, today, I read something very interesting. Marty Lane, in “Learning at Home: A Mother’s Guide to Homeschooling” (Sea Change Publications) lists 12 things needed for parents to be successful at homeschooling:

• Genuinely like your child or children and enjoy his, her, or their company
• Have a sense of humor
• Be able to read, write and do basic math and be willing to upgrade your skills as necessary
• Have a commitment to a philosophy that leads you to homeschool
• Be willing to develop communication/listening skills
• Be prepared to receive criticism for your decision to homeschool
• Have a support system or network and/or a supportive partner
• Be able to learn from mistakes
• Be willing to develop limit setting skills
• Be willing to develop patience
• Be willing to develop observational skills
• Be willing to change

I think that the list is applicable to parents in general, homeschooling or not. At any rate, it made me think a great deal about patience. I once told a friend about how I ask Allah always to grant me more sabr in dealing with Marz and how things just don’t seem to get easier. She laughed and said, “Well, Allah IS helping you whether you realise it or not. We ask for patience, but really, you can’t just ask for it and GET it. It is something that has to be WORKED on – it is only through trials and hardship that you do get patience.”

The Qur’an tells us that Allah is with those who are patient – “O you who believe! Seek Help in Patience and Salaah. Truly, Allah is with those that are patient.” [Qur’an 2:153]

So here I am back on the drawing board, trying very to get back on track and to inject a lot more love and fun into teaching Marz.

A new day with new challenges… and joys in shaa Allah.

I confess, I am not a library person. I like OWNING books and reading them over and over again.

My father encouraged my siblings and I to read … and we read voraciously. When our hobby became an extremely expensive one, he didn’t turn to the library to feed our appetite for reading. (Maybe there weren’t that many good ones in my time? I don’t know…) He took us to a quaint second-hand bookstore in a quiet housing estate in Singapore called Serangoon. It was a small outfit with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling book shelves. The owner set up his well-worn desk outside where several baskets filled with even more used books and magazines were placed. I loved trips to that store.

I have vivid memories of that store and when I found an old picture of it online (see above), I was transported!

When my daughter was born, I used to get completely stressed out, worrying about how to entertain her. Motherhood did not come naturally to me – I had to grow into it and I confess, it took a while before I felt comfortable with being a mother. There were days when I was at a complete loss – Itsy Bitsy Spider had been done to death so what was there to do for the remaining 8 hours till her dad came home? I was (am?) a bookworm who didn’t like dealing with people, what more babies, so… I did what I did best.

I read.

Ms Marz must have been about a month and a half when I read to her “No David!” by David Shannon. It just about blew me away when she paid attention so I kept reading. I joined book clubs and when we left the USA for Singapore, I kept the supply up. I had worried that living in Pakistan would mean fewer books for Marz – she was used to getting some 15 to 20 new books a month.

But, alhamdulillah, I was delighted to find second-hand bookstores galore. I’ve been able to get a wide variety of books for Marz, from fiction to science to geography at a fraction of their normal prices.

My daughter is an avid reader, ma shaa Allah, and trips to the bookstores have been frequent so these days, I can’t help but think about my late father. I remember how he would look on indulgently as we rummaged for our favourite reads.

I remember how it was he who planted and nurtured my passion for books.

I am glad I am passing it on.

Ms Muffet and I have a few all-time favourite books. Some are downright funny and others are just so touching they give you the warm fuzzies! Here are some books about the deep and tender relationship between parent and child that I would recommend.

Guess How Much I Love You ~ Good for babies and pre-schoolers
by Sam McBratney (illustrated by Anita Jeram)
I really love the heartwarming message and the beautiful pen-and-wash artwork. In this story, Little Nutbrown Hare prepares for bed and searches for the right words and descriptions to convey how much he loves his father. He says, for example, “This much!” stretching his arms as widely as he can and “I love you as high as I can hop!” However, Big Nutbrown Hare seems to outdo him at every turn! Finally, the little one says that he loves him “right up to the moon”. It seems he has won the competition of affection but once the young one is asleep, the father kisses him goodnight and says, “I love you right up to the moon and back.”

Love IS hard to measure but it is nice to try anyway!

The Runaway Bunny ~ Good for babies and pre-schoolers
by Margaret Wise Brown (illustrated by Clement Hurd)
Margaret Wise Brown is one of Ms Muffet’s favourites. My daughter was thrilled to be reminded of her other books – the bunny is very much like the characters in Goodnight Moon and My World. The picture of the mother fishing for her child in this book is the very same one on the wall of the room in Goodnight Moon.

In this delightful story, a young bunny toys with the idea of running away. To this, his loving mother says, “If you run away, I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.” What follows is an imaginary game. The little one thinks up of all sorts of scenarios – he becomes a fish in a stream, a crocus in a hidden garden and a trapeze artist, among others. His mother, not to be outdone, always thinks of the perfect solution to get him back. Finally, reassured of his mother’s enduring love, the bunny decides he should just stay and be her little bunny.

Anything For You ~ Good for babies and pre-schoolers
by John Wallace
Another lovely tale about unconditional love, with sweet illustrations and warm colours. Little Charlie has tried to be a helpful bear but has inadvertently made an even bigger mess of the garden, home and himself! (I am sure most parents can relate to this!) Asked to go into the tub, he declares to his mum, “I’d do anything for you!” He goes on to give many more examples of how he can prove his love such as climbing to a really tall tree and so on. So when his mum tells him to snuggle into bed and close his eyes to sleep, he holds to his promise and does so without a fuss. His mother kisses him and says that she too would do “anything” for him.

A mother on a forum I frequent received an email that contained the following:

• In-home caregivers tend to spend more time on management tasks and in restricting behaviour and may have fewer dedicated one-on-one interactions and planned and structured activities focused on developing the infants’ self-esteem and physical and cognitive abilities.
• Infants in home-based care may watch considerably more television.
• In-home caregivers generally pander to the children’s wants, often leading the children to assume that they are the centre of attention and that their every demand would be met.
• More importantly, children in home-based care, particularly in the case where the caregiver is the maid or the nanny, also tend to think that adults are there to serve them. Once left unchecked, this attitude and assumption can be detrimental to the child’s further development, particularly their competency in social peer interactions.

I don’t know where this e-mailer got this information from, but I think that this is nothing but a load of crock. First of all, I don’t see any studies or statistics to back up these ludicrous over-generalised claims. And second, I really hate it when these people (whoever they are) question the parents’ abilities to parent their own children! Ohhhhh… QUICK! Let’s get these kids out of their homes and away from their families! Who knows what sort of damage is being inflicted upon these poor children in their homes!

“In-home caregivers tend to spend more time on management tasks and in restricting behaviour and may have fewer dedicated one-on-one interactions and planned and structured activities focused on developing the infants’ self-esteem and physical and cognitive abilities.”
A lot of big words… all designed to put a lot of self-doubt and instil a serious inferiority complex in mums who choose to take care of their kids. Is this person saying that we are a bunch of flustered, harried homemakers who put our children last on the list of priorities? Sorry, but most mums I know who stay at home do so because they put the needs of their children FIRST and want to make sure they get a head start in mental, intellectual and spiritual development. “One-on-one interactions and planned and structured activities focused on developing the infants’ self-esteem and physical and cognitive abilities”? That’s what stay-at-home moms DO GIVE their kids, not childcare facilities which cater to so many kids at a time!

“Infants in home-based care may watch considerably more television.”
Not in my home! We do NOT do TV at all, not for infants and toddlers at least! At any rate, I would say that too much TV is a problem in ANY home. It is not fair to single out infants or children in home-based care.

“In-home caregivers generally pander to the children’s wants, often leading the children to assume that they are the centre of attention and that their every demand would be met.”
OK, first it was not enough attention and now it’s too much attention?? And, AGAIN, tarring all stay-home caregivers with the same brush. So all in-home caregivers are spineless creatures who spoil their kids rotten and let them run around willy-nilly doing as they please? Come on! Since when is giving your child attention a crime?

“More importantly, children in home-based care, particularly in the case where the caregiver is the maid or the nanny, also tend to think that adults are there to serve them. Once left unchecked, this attitude and assumption can be detrimental to the child’s further development, particularly their competency in social peer interactions.”
This is really laughable. Many families with maids (in Singapore) still send their children to child-/day-care or school. Can the person who wrote this drivel do a study on whether these school-going children are hampered developmentally & socially?

I am not against childcare. I know some families really need it and it may be the only place where some children get any stimulation or education, but honestly, these shallow and unsubstantiated claims really annoy me. It is propaganda that seeks to convince us that children can only learn and socialize effectively when it is through THEIR system and it is the exact opposite of what many stay-at-home moms and home educators feel is vitally important – the absolute priority of the family as a unit and as the best place for a child to be educated.

I read and learn every day. I love my kid to bits. I know my kid. And you know what? Mothers ARE THE BEST PEOPLE TO TEACH THEIR KIDS.

Don’t let anyone tell you anything different.