Year 2012

Imran's family

Alhamdulillah this year has been quite a good one for all of us. Imran was supposed to go to school from September but he didn’t get in the school we preferred, Alhamdulillah. I was quite unsure whether he should start school this early. He just turned 5 alhamdulillah. I did do my istikhara (prayer of guidance) before sending the application. I am actually quite relieved that he didn’t get in. I believe 5 is too early for any kid to start formal schooling. I want my children to enjoy their life and learn through playing and interaction inshAllah.

Imran is very close to his sister Ayesha and brother Yusuf. Ayesha is 3 years and 8 months old and Yusuf is 20 months old Alhamdulillah. I love the way they are always playing together. Even the way they interact with each other is so beautiful, mashAllah. I make dua to my Rabb that they remain very close to each other and learn a lot together inshAllah.

As it’s the end of the year, I was thinking of reviewing our life this year. So how was my life as a mum of three, you would ask. Alhamdulillah it was great and I cannot ask for more subhanallah. Motherhood is hard but there is nothing which makes me happier than being a mum to my kids Alhamdulillah.For me, it's an achievement alhamdulillah.  People ask me how is life now as I am home-schooling. I don’t really think life has changed that much for us. We still do the same things we used to do before. We love reading together. We love playing and talking about everything. We go to places. Even shopping is a great adventure for us.

Every minute is learning opportunity for us. Some people ask me how I assess Imran’s progress.  The simple answer is I don’t and I hope I never need to assess. He loves learning and I am more than happy to help and guide him and my daughter and baby to learn from their daily experiences inshAllah.

I think, as a society we are too obsessed with measuring and comparing our kids. I feel sorry for them. Childhood is such a magical time when kids just love being kids and explore the world around them. By forcing them to do things in a certain way and then assessing and comparing them with each other, we make them feel bored and eventually hate learning. I am very passionate about lifelong learning. As Muslims we are always learning. Our faith is based on learning and implementing the lessons in our daily life. There is hadith saying that wisdom is the lost treasure of believers.

As a home-educator, I am also on a journey of learning and self-discovery with my kids. I am learning with them Alhamdulillah. I feel so blessed that I am aware of what they are learning and we can discuss topics together. Sometimes just listening to their conversations, makes me feel so grateful for having them as our children, Alhamdulillah. It's amazing watching them grow so fast, subhanallah. Time flies. I still remember the day I gave birth to Imran. What a day that was, subhanallah!

So what curriculum I am following… Not any set curriculum I must confess. I do lots of stories and rhymes. I do the stories from the Qur’an. I believe they must know the stories from the Qur’an first. InshAllah in future, especially when they are around 7, I want to do stories from the sunnah of our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi wa sallam. They are quite aware of their Muslim identity. They see us praying, fasting, attending halaqas and they are quite interested in following us. I strongly believe if we as parents can lead life as devoted Muslims bi’idnillah, children can identify themselves as Muslims inshAllah. Children love copying their parents and we should do our best to represent Islam in the best possible manner, inshAllah. It reminds me a great qoute by James Baldwin
 "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."

Dua (supplications) is a very essential part of our life. Dua is worship and Allah subhana wa ta’ala loves to be asked. I teach them duas and hope to raise them as people of duas inshAllah. I am also trying to teach them the surahs from juz amma (30^th part of the Qura’n). We don’t want to send our kids to supplementary schools to learn about their faith. It’s our sole responsibility to teach them about their faith, we believe. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala give us the ability (tawfique) and the ease (tayseer) to raise our children as best of Muslims, ameen!

Alhamdulillah my husband has been playing a very active role as a dad and kids absolutely love him. He supports me wholeheartedly , alhamdulillah. I am really blessed to have him as my soul mate, Alhamdulillah. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala keep him healthy and high in imaan, ameen! I love making the duas from the Qur’an to have a blessed family. I cannot stress enough how important the duas are for all of us. As parents we may have the best of intentions for our kids but without duas we can never achieve anything. So dua is the most essential part of our life, and then comes efforts, never-ending efforts bi’idnillah. As the year comes to end, let us all raise our hands and ask the Most Merciful Rabb Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem, to make us the best of parents and make our children the coolness of our eyes, ameen!

Alhamdulillah this year my parents just celebrated their 35th anniversury. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala keep them happy and blessed together for many more years, ameen! Rabbir hamhuma kama rabbayani sagheera, ameen!

 I hope year 2013 is going to be a very productive and baraka-filled life for all of us, inshAllah. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala forgive the sins of our ummah and help us to do our best to earn His Mercy and Ridwaan and eventually meet Him in Jannatul Ferdous, Ameen! Ameen! Ameeeeen!