a work in progress

/ Tuesday, September 6, 2022 /


 

i often get asked what curriculum i use with the boys - there isnt any. technically they are not officially school aged kids yet, i think they usually start school at 7 (generally). Hamza is 6 and Umar just turned 4, so all they ever do everyday really is just play. lots and lots of play. indoors, outdoors you name it. we hardly have any rigid structure throughout the day, i usually go with how they're feeling in the morning. i noticed for quite sometime that their attention span are quite short, Hamza's attention span is longer than Umar's, and i think it has a lot to do with his age and just his personality. He loves books. Umar loves physical play more than sitting down. One thing they do have in common is that they are usually at their best form in the mornings. So if theres any form of constant structure everyday is just that i take the opportunity to teach them iqra' in the mornings. they know its the drill now , so we usually have breakfast, have a little play, and once i feel like they are ready for a sit down read, its iqra' time. 

you see the beauty of homeschooling for me is the ability to tailor our dailys and learning according to our own childs interests and what fits with our family values. before we had children, azhar and i knew that one thing we wanted to have for our kids is a strong basic foundation in islam. we knew living overseas, away from our our families and islamic, malay culture, it was up to us to start that in our homes. reminding the kids of their roots and their deen was our responsibility first before anyone elses. 

azhar's job takes him around a lot and sometimes requires him to be away for 3-6months. we made it a point to ensure that we'd follow him wherever his job takes him, and being committed to a school was something difficult to do - that would mean multiple times changing here and there, and while we get a lot of questions whether it would be an option for us to perhaps stay put and not choose to move around - i would say, the moving experience and exposing ourselves to different cultures and places has its benefits. the children so far have not complained of our moving and i believe its because their main setting of people in their lives everyday remains the same ( azhar and i and each other ), what changes would usually just be the place we're at and the people we meet. 

anyway, i digress. back to our "flow", after iqra' usually as we are all already seated, the day progresses to random writings (copywork/dictation) or drawings, paintings, whichever it is they feel like doing. in our living room, i make it a point to have a visible book trolley to help them easily access to whichever activity they want to do. sometimes i purposely leave puzzle sets on our dining table, or random story books, knowing at some point during the day they'll definitely pick them up and it gets read or noticed.

we also have a time limit for watching television, everyday they get about 3hrs of screentime, and we usually let them watch it around dinner time and before bed, just to wind them down. they know it gets dark, and their bodies get tired by around this time too so its quiet time for the whole house. and then the cycle repeats itself the next day.

some days  during the week id attend a home ed meet up with other home ed kids around our area. but im pretty mindful these days of joining just incase we bring any virus home, but so far its been great. lots of sanitizing and the kids also practice a good amount of social distancing (when they can remember haha).

i dont usually speak about how we do or what we do as much as i would hate to be seen as telling another parent how to parent their kids.

so this post is a post meant to be shared to those who are just curious , who wants to take the leap or considering to home educate. one thing we've learnt in our really short time of doing it with the kids is that the freedom it gives you to spend time with the kids is amazing, the amount of things for them to learn is vast, so many resources are available online and offline and its such a fun experience so far. we have a lot of slow days too, where we all just sit around each other and huddle up enjoying each others company and talking about random things like crocodiles and squirrels. 

the next thing we get asked a lot about is university, college or career. whilst our kids are still so very young, from joining multiple home ed groups with senior home ed parents with kids already in college and some already working - it was enough to convince us there are many other routes to enter uni or college that doesnt require a whole 12 year schooling experience. we can opt to sit for gcse(s) privately whenever we want to, or take a diploma with a basic test entrance, it really depends on where we want the kids to end up ( or for us, where our kids want to go for themselves ) thats something azhar and i decided to help guide and provide the opportunity for them when we get there. 

our goal is to have our kids be as successful as they wish to be, and that success looks different to each and every one of us. some can mean monetary success, some can perhaps measure success to living a debt free and happy life - whichever version of success they choose to be, we pray that end up being first and foremost, a devoted mu'min in whatever career they choose for themselves, that theyd be able to be useful men of the ummah, of their families and beyond


inshaAllah, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for us.







happy new year

/ Sunday, January 2, 2022 /

we decided quite last minute to spend the new years in London. newsflash - my sil is here with us and it has been amazing for us and the kids having another family member over. though its only for 3 weeks, we're making sure we spend as much time together as possible. cant believe the last time we saw each other was almost 2 yrs plus ago!



we rented out an apartment for the weekend which was right in the city - took a train from didcot all the way to paddington station with the  3boys and our luggages. the apartment came with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a sofa bed. it was pretty spacious for all of us, comfortable and convenient.  so the plan was for my sil to be able to do some shopping whilst the boys and i remained at home and ordered in. the thing about london for us is the crazy amount of halal options we could order in - and most importantly, bubble teas! hehe

the biggest regret though was the fact that i decided to leave Umar's stroller at home this time. thinking if we were going to tube it most times, having the (already foldable) pram would be just another added luggage - but mannnnn, without it, Umar just refused to walk so far. his legs gave out easily which was a suprise to me to be honest because hes such a good walker during our hikes or trail walks, but im thinking maybe city walking is not his thing so much. no sticks to pick up, no rocks to choose from, he got really bored and really tired too quickly. it was quite frustrating. so we really had to plan our walks and meals carefully. even had to take the taxi when it got too hard for us all lol.



haha im glad i took a picture of him during one of our walks. this was after taking them to the playground nearby our place (about 10minutes walk) and then deciding to have lunch further. he was just not having it, poor boy. haha! so note to self : NEVER leave the stroller behind.


i also got to sneak out for a few hours to have my much needed break time away from the kids. although i would have loved to have these kind of date nights with Azhar, we knew it was much easier to do these kind of breaks with either one of us with the kids. we're just unsure how the boys would behave around people not us, though i think theyd be fine, its just less anxiety for us i guess. haha.

i have been craving for korean food for the longest time and im so so so so so glad that my sil appreciates korean food too, so we had a nice meal together and bonded over this on our last night in London. a lot of things were shared, meals and just life experiences. 


it was just perfect! deliciously korean bbq and korean seafood stew. i cant remember what the name of my tofu seafood soup was but trust me it was divine!

we woke up and got ready for a quick breakfast nearby. azhar looked for an australian menu breakfast and found one that was closeby about 10 minutes walk from us. all happy faces while waiting for our food to arrive.



we then walked back to the apartment to get our stuffs and head to the train station. this was how azhar had to carry him for most of the time. haha

while waiting for our train to arrive, we sat down and the boys got into their new books that they got from daunt's bookstore. we knew it'd keep them still for a while and keep them busy during the train ride. 


our journey back was pleasant. we luckily got 4 seats to ourselves and the boys were comfortable. this was our second time getting the train with the boys.


ok gotta go now! thanks for reading! 

happy new year everyone!



and then there were three;

/ Tuesday, December 14, 2021 /

oh my goodness how dusty is it in here? newsflash we have a third boy in the family, and his name is Talha. where do i even begin? i promised myself that this whole blogging thing would work, but alas, life took over, and i have no clue where to even start right now.

so yes, we moved to the uk whilst i was pregnant. i kept it to ourselves this time as it was really nerve wrecking being pregnant in the middle of a pandemic, i didnt want to be overly worried and did not want added stress. well i did at one point wanted to announce it, but with moving in and all that, it went by, and then he was here!

we had my parents over for 7 months and it was lovely. none of them ever stayed with me that long of a duration ever since we got married and had kids so that was a first. my transitioning from 2 to 3 was a lot more gentler than it was from 1 to 2. i dont know if it had to do with managed expectations or what not, but it was a blessing alhamdulillah. 

i dont know if i should even say we are out of the pandemic just yet, the world discovered a new variant of the virus, and thats causing some chaos around the world still with everyone calling for a booster jab. so theres that.

Talha has been a beautiful addition to our family. its amazing watching Hamza really into his role of a big brother. Umar is pretty much cruising, being his normal self, but often times we do realise him struggling with Talha's presence. you see, we're outnumbered now. and i guess at some point one of the boys would feel like the attention is off them, and im sure that in some ways leaves them feeling a certain way. we try our best nevertheless :)

giving birth to Talha here was a meaningful experience. i overall, really loved it. it was the most satisfying birth for me. i was left feeling empowered and so proud of myself. i knew i couldnt ask for an epidural this time. i hated the false hope it gave me when i had it with umar, i prepared myself mentally for the toughest labour ever. and boy it was. it really was. i think all my labours were tough and painful and that i came out of it a different person always. i loved how they gave me full control of my birth, and supported me throughout my labour process, of course there were little hiccups along the way with my iron levels being flagged, but like i said, with experience, i knew which route to take, and to listened to my body, trusted my guts and most importantly believe that Allah swt was in total control of things. 



them 3 just chilling in our living room 


                                                   book reading with the animated youngest :) 


friday usrahs, Talha going for the good stuff ;)


                                     my boys and i , at a park post vaccination (12weeks i think) shot for Talha


                                                            cotswold farm with the boys :)


                                                     one of our fav coffee spot with the boys :) 


anyway we've done so many trips since around the UK since my last posting, i dont know if i should blog about them as well.  i mean, i should! for memories sake! hahaha i need the time though. time is what im lacking. ive got lamb soup on the stove right now, my boys are praying with their abah, and talha is just crawling around them, so theres not much time left.

just wanted to introduce talha to this space. Alhamdulillah , thank you ya Allah for this simple life, a life ive always prayed for and intended since before i even had any of them ( Azhar included ).

ok til next time ( hopefully wont take a year ) haha


salam

first walk in 2021;

/ Sunday, January 3, 2021 /

something about walks with my crew that just uplifts me. of course I prefer them in this pusher, more controlled environment so they don't run around like crazies. I'm at this stage right now where everything tires me really quickly. I have to really plan my day according to the energy level I havse in the mornings. if it doesn't feel like I can give much, I'd save it for cooking meals. if I have extra then maybe I'll do cleaning on the same day. and if I'm feeling really up there, then the idea of walking would excite me. most times when I feel like walking, the cooking and cleaning doesn't happen on the same day. hahaha. I call this "choosing my battles". 


I mean, to be honest our house still looks like we just moved in a few weeks ago , while in truth its been 2 months now. some stuff are still boxed up. I have no idea when we'll ever get to them. the house is comfortable enough for us all to sleep and live in. probably not the best condition to have guests over. I don't know when we'll get to it man. I have no idea. 


I had this whole thing I wanted to type about but my husband is being annoying and loud (basically being himself) hahahaha I can't hear myself thinking. so ill try this again some other time. 

ok bye


 


 

the year that was;

/ Friday, January 1, 2021 /

 


my Umar turned 3 right before we ended the year. I still cannot believe how quickly they grow and how fleeting time is. despite the fact that they grow right under my eyes everyday. 


2020 will always be the year that ill remember as the year we packed up our Aussie life and moved across the ocean to the UK, in the middle of a pandemic. Alhamdulillah we were protected from the virus throughout, and that itself is such a blessing.

whilst I've read a whole list of new year resolutions of everyone on social media, I can't help to think of my own. what are my New Years resolutions? what do I want to achieve in 2021? I'm not entirely sure to be honest. am I the only one partially hopeful but erring more towards anxiousness in welcoming 2021? haha. inshAllah may it be a better year for everyone. but after an epic 2020, I kept wondering what else could possibly go crazier in this coming year?


if anything, 2020 taught me that our family values were strengthened more than ever. having the kids home all day everyday was already a norm to me, something I'm used to with or without the pandemic. but one thing that really changed for me was not seeing everyone (friends and family) as much as I'd like to. another big thing that I'm thankful for was the fact that we had Azhar home so much. so much more than we'd normally do. and the best part about it was how I then started to slowly let go of my daily weights onto him. lets be honest, having him home was harder on me than the kids. the kids LOVE having him home, and don't get me wrong - I do too. but I'll admit he messes up our routine so much by being present. hahaha. he's the fun parent, whilst I'm the disciplinarian. but alhamdulillah for it still. we definitely share the load now. and although I struggled having him home for a bit, I now admit, I can't possibly imagine having him in the office outside home anymore. lol


I think we were toying with the idea of home educating the boys at the start. I loved the concept of it. and during this pandemic, Allah made it easy for us to land to that decision. we did a school tour for both the boys and whilst I was in love with the outdoor Montessori approach they had - I wasn't convinced that they'd be fully protected from the virus outbreak that kept happening here in schools. so that was it. I decided I needed to take action within my own hands, and not wait for anyone for education to start. it can start at home, with me and Azhar, for as long as it allows me to. and the beauty of a non standardised education just made more sense to me having two boys with complete different personalities - I wonder how a one sized box would fit all approach would benefit both of my boys. we spend everyday with the kids, its hard to not know what they're into and what they aren't and go from there. 

may Allah make it easy on us, and may this virus go away real soon because to be honest I'm already so sick of reading the news. and may this year be better than the year before. Ameen

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