The kids fasted today, all half day. S insisted that she fast the whole day but gave in when O served her cinnamon buns and some other snacks. We had a homeschool group session today. The kids learned about what Ramadhan was all about and constructed a date palm tree triorama.
One thing to note:
When O brought up Ramadhan, she presented it in a very enlightening way, at least for me. Never in my life had I been taught in such a way. Well, maybe I had but even if i was it didn't stick in my head.
"Why do we fast in Ramadhan?" she asked.
Then,
"How do we know we have to fast? Do we just guess? Where does it tell us to fast?"
she continued.
"The Quran," someone answered.
"Yes, the Quran. Allah told us to fast in the Quran."
It drilled in me a very important aspect of teaching our children. Born Muslims grow up in Islam. Everything about Islam they are raised with, with no question. In the end it produced in us a lack of insistence in knowing the evidences for any ibadah that we are taught while we are growing up.
Yet, isn't it important to know why we do things? Isn't it important to know the reason why we do something? Isn't it important to know where the evidences come from? Often times we follow what our ustadh says without questionig his evidences. We treat the ustadh with extreme respect which is commendable yet in our reverence of his knowledge, we tend to forget that he's not infallible. Bad mistake.
Surah al-Baqarah ayat 185. the command to fast. I never paid attention before as to where exactly in the Quran we are told to fast, though I know it's in surah Al-Baqarah. it never dawned on me that I should teach the children where the command came from and pinpoint it in the Quran. I am doing exactly what shouldn't be done i a family of born Muslims.
So I would call today a very enlightening day. We finished school at around 11 am today because we started right after suhoor.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Just Another Day
H's worksheet had a teardrop today, as a result from his over chattering, eliciting from me a scolding. I had him redo his worksheet because he was playing around while he was supposed to be doing his work.
We started school today listening to the tafseer of Surah Al-Masad on audio CD. It was nice because I could pause it and ask them questions every now and then. So it was actually tafseer and seerah in one lesson. I hope the lesson stays in their minds.
History today was about the Egyptians on the River Nile. Another chance to sneak in the story of Prophet Musa, though not in its entirety. Also plenty of opportunities for lessons on Tauheed and Shirk.
A day with history is noticeable shorter than a day with science. Yesterday it took so long to teach the concept of why we have seasons to N. I was rendered mentally spent with a beginning sore throat at the end of the school day. Because I had managed to also do Quran recitation with all of them during yesterday's school day, I was offered a reward by F.
"What do you want?"
"Tennis," I said.
So we went to the court. However, we were shooed away at 7 pm. N complained that she didn't get to play. Poor N.
Now, i really dread Science days, just because I can now expect longer teaching time for N. I had them do the word web note taking though, and it seemed to work so far.
Tomorrow, we're going to fast and break our fast together with the other homeschooling families. This will be a practice fast before Ramadhan actually arrives, insyaallah.
N said just now,
"I want a full circle."
Last year, I made a chart for each of them, kind of like a calendar. When they fasted a full day, they got a full moon. When they fasted a half day, they got a half moon and so on. This year, I'm not going to bother drawing exactly a moon shape crescent for a quarter day. I'll make it easier on myself by simply dividing a circle into four quarters.
We started school today listening to the tafseer of Surah Al-Masad on audio CD. It was nice because I could pause it and ask them questions every now and then. So it was actually tafseer and seerah in one lesson. I hope the lesson stays in their minds.
History today was about the Egyptians on the River Nile. Another chance to sneak in the story of Prophet Musa, though not in its entirety. Also plenty of opportunities for lessons on Tauheed and Shirk.
A day with history is noticeable shorter than a day with science. Yesterday it took so long to teach the concept of why we have seasons to N. I was rendered mentally spent with a beginning sore throat at the end of the school day. Because I had managed to also do Quran recitation with all of them during yesterday's school day, I was offered a reward by F.
"What do you want?"
"Tennis," I said.
So we went to the court. However, we were shooed away at 7 pm. N complained that she didn't get to play. Poor N.
Now, i really dread Science days, just because I can now expect longer teaching time for N. I had them do the word web note taking though, and it seemed to work so far.
Tomorrow, we're going to fast and break our fast together with the other homeschooling families. This will be a practice fast before Ramadhan actually arrives, insyaallah.
N said just now,
"I want a full circle."
Last year, I made a chart for each of them, kind of like a calendar. When they fasted a full day, they got a full moon. When they fasted a half day, they got a half moon and so on. This year, I'm not going to bother drawing exactly a moon shape crescent for a quarter day. I'll make it easier on myself by simply dividing a circle into four quarters.
Monday, September 26, 2005
A Nice Surprise
Last weekend I managed to drag the whole family to the AlMaghrib class, Light of Guidance. The night before Saturday, I made sure I drilled into the kids the proper adab they should observe in the auditorium. I feared they would lapse into running up and down the auditorium.
That night we packed bags full of library books, new notebooks for them, worksheets, papers and snacks. It felt like we were going to travel, because that's what I usually do when we do undertake a journey. The objective is to keep them fully occupied so they won't even have to resort to acting all hyperactive. Even then, I worried they wouldn't be able to stand sitting in the hall for practically the whole day.
We went in the hall leaving everything to Allah. The class started at 10 am due to the traffic blocking roads on campus. McPherson 1000 was horribly cold that we moved to another auditorium that was less chilly but still shiver inducing nonetheless.
At first the kids had trouble adjusting the volume of their voices especially H. However, alhamdulillah, they persevered throughout the day sitting in their seats, filling in their journals with stories and drawings. The ten minute breaks every hour helped too.
I was holdingmy breath, just waiting for them to run amok with boredom, but to my ultimate surprise, they claimed to enjoy it and remained seated throughout the day, and even throughout Sunday too, except for some very small portion of time towards the end of class.
"Masyaallah, your kids are so well behaved. They just sat there, not even making any noise."
"I'm so glad you brought your kids. It's good training for them and they'll be AlMaghrib kids!"
"Masyaallah they are SO well behaved. May Allah bless them."
"Your kids are so cute!"
"I told my mom about your kids."
I was more surprised than they were at my kids' behavior. It seemed like they really enjoyed the class though. They even jotted down some notes on the Jerboa and Quran. H though after some time began to fidget in his seat. He turned around and looked all around the room. Later on he said to me,
"Ummi, I saw some people sleeping!"
"You could be Syeikh Y's spy," I said to him, laughing at his antics.
The content of their journals are also very refreshing and I felt truly rewarded. So long I worked on S's writing skills, and there she was, writing all by herself, employing her vocabulary like never before.
F said,
"She's like you then. Can't be told what to write, when to write, what to draw, what to draw. She needs to do it when the creativity strikes her."
I have to say I agree. Ok. So I'll leave her alone now. We did do some lessons on writing though and she exceptionally did a good job in using exact words like nibble instead of mere 'eat'.
I'm thinking of offering their pieces for the class's newsletter, as suggested by F.
All in all it was a much more wonderful weekend than last weekend. When it ended, with a 'big bang', I felt rather sad that it had all come to an end. The kids loved how it ended though. Syeikh had us write 3 major shirk, kufr and bidaah on our paper bags, blow it up and pop it in unison, which produced a rather empowering bang in the class. Pretty impressive in terms of leaving a permanent imprint in our minds.
I am now driven to bring my kids as much as I can to such congregation, even if they don't actually pay attention. The presence of such an atmosphere is blessing enough..subhanallah.
That night we packed bags full of library books, new notebooks for them, worksheets, papers and snacks. It felt like we were going to travel, because that's what I usually do when we do undertake a journey. The objective is to keep them fully occupied so they won't even have to resort to acting all hyperactive. Even then, I worried they wouldn't be able to stand sitting in the hall for practically the whole day.
We went in the hall leaving everything to Allah. The class started at 10 am due to the traffic blocking roads on campus. McPherson 1000 was horribly cold that we moved to another auditorium that was less chilly but still shiver inducing nonetheless.
At first the kids had trouble adjusting the volume of their voices especially H. However, alhamdulillah, they persevered throughout the day sitting in their seats, filling in their journals with stories and drawings. The ten minute breaks every hour helped too.
I was holdingmy breath, just waiting for them to run amok with boredom, but to my ultimate surprise, they claimed to enjoy it and remained seated throughout the day, and even throughout Sunday too, except for some very small portion of time towards the end of class.
"Masyaallah, your kids are so well behaved. They just sat there, not even making any noise."
"I'm so glad you brought your kids. It's good training for them and they'll be AlMaghrib kids!"
"Masyaallah they are SO well behaved. May Allah bless them."
"Your kids are so cute!"
"I told my mom about your kids."
I was more surprised than they were at my kids' behavior. It seemed like they really enjoyed the class though. They even jotted down some notes on the Jerboa and Quran. H though after some time began to fidget in his seat. He turned around and looked all around the room. Later on he said to me,
"Ummi, I saw some people sleeping!"
"You could be Syeikh Y's spy," I said to him, laughing at his antics.
The content of their journals are also very refreshing and I felt truly rewarded. So long I worked on S's writing skills, and there she was, writing all by herself, employing her vocabulary like never before.
F said,
"She's like you then. Can't be told what to write, when to write, what to draw, what to draw. She needs to do it when the creativity strikes her."
I have to say I agree. Ok. So I'll leave her alone now. We did do some lessons on writing though and she exceptionally did a good job in using exact words like nibble instead of mere 'eat'.
I'm thinking of offering their pieces for the class's newsletter, as suggested by F.
All in all it was a much more wonderful weekend than last weekend. When it ended, with a 'big bang', I felt rather sad that it had all come to an end. The kids loved how it ended though. Syeikh had us write 3 major shirk, kufr and bidaah on our paper bags, blow it up and pop it in unison, which produced a rather empowering bang in the class. Pretty impressive in terms of leaving a permanent imprint in our minds.
I am now driven to bring my kids as much as I can to such congregation, even if they don't actually pay attention. The presence of such an atmosphere is blessing enough..subhanallah.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Monthly Conference
Had the monthly conference with K today. Our first for the school year. I had listed questions and issues I have been meaning to ask her when she finally calls. Listed here they are:
1. N has problems understanding concepts in Science. She tends to not stay focused.
History she's okay with, but not Science.
2. H is too chatty. He bothers his sisters and sometimes leaves things out in his worksheets. I can't tell if he's understanding or not.
3. S has problems solving math problems. She doesnt seem to know where to begin.
K's suggestions:
For N:
1. Have a highlighter and have her highlight what she thinks if the main points in what she's reading. (for science especially) This will require her to focus because she will be in control of mastery.
2. Make a graph chart, very much like a story web with the main idea in the middle and all the related points extending out like a web. This will also require her to pay attention and do something so her mind won't wander.
3. Relate the science concept to her, since she takes in history very well. For example, for the water cycle, begin by talking about how when she's wet, gradually the water dries up.
For H:
1. Make a reward system. Tell him if he finishes one sheet he'll get a small treat let's say.
2. if he messes up his worksheet, talk to him about it. Tell him that since he didn't pay attention due to excessive chatter, now he has to do extra work, erase and do it all over again while S and N gets to take a break. So next time he'll think twice before engaging in mindless chatter.
For S:
1. Make a general step by step guide taped to her wok area. She can refer to this everytime she's doing her problem solving in math.
This is why it's great to have a certified teacher monitor you homeschooling. Otherwise I'd have to scout around for these tips myself. Ain't got the time, ain't got the energy. As for right now, virtual charter schooling is the best choice for us.
My 'homework' is to think of goals for each child for this school year, which we will discuss on our next phone conference in the end of October. I also have to mail in that form from the Parent Handbook, oh and yeah, READ the Parent Handbook. Duhhhh.
1. N has problems understanding concepts in Science. She tends to not stay focused.
History she's okay with, but not Science.
2. H is too chatty. He bothers his sisters and sometimes leaves things out in his worksheets. I can't tell if he's understanding or not.
3. S has problems solving math problems. She doesnt seem to know where to begin.
K's suggestions:
For N:
1. Have a highlighter and have her highlight what she thinks if the main points in what she's reading. (for science especially) This will require her to focus because she will be in control of mastery.
2. Make a graph chart, very much like a story web with the main idea in the middle and all the related points extending out like a web. This will also require her to pay attention and do something so her mind won't wander.
3. Relate the science concept to her, since she takes in history very well. For example, for the water cycle, begin by talking about how when she's wet, gradually the water dries up.
For H:
1. Make a reward system. Tell him if he finishes one sheet he'll get a small treat let's say.
2. if he messes up his worksheet, talk to him about it. Tell him that since he didn't pay attention due to excessive chatter, now he has to do extra work, erase and do it all over again while S and N gets to take a break. So next time he'll think twice before engaging in mindless chatter.
For S:
1. Make a general step by step guide taped to her wok area. She can refer to this everytime she's doing her problem solving in math.
This is why it's great to have a certified teacher monitor you homeschooling. Otherwise I'd have to scout around for these tips myself. Ain't got the time, ain't got the energy. As for right now, virtual charter schooling is the best choice for us.
My 'homework' is to think of goals for each child for this school year, which we will discuss on our next phone conference in the end of October. I also have to mail in that form from the Parent Handbook, oh and yeah, READ the Parent Handbook. Duhhhh.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
At the Library
The internet connection has been pitifully ambling along lately, for reasons I have yet to comprehend. So it's quite a waste of time sitting at home trying to prod the Online School. I gave up. We went to the library. If it takes that long to wait for the OLS to process the hours I log in, my time is better spent driving to the library and back.
S was enthusiastic as soon as I said that we might just do school at the library.
"I like doing school at the library because N and H HAVE to be quiet there, so I can do my work."
So there IS a noise problem. Not really from N I think. I think it's more from H. He's the kind of person who likes to chatter endlessly when he's doing something, especially something dull like a worksheet he has no problems doing. I sometimes even cringe in contemplation when he responds to me in a sing song manner and silly chatter.
Does he get it? Does he understand? Is it too easy for him? What's behind those big grins and gibberish chatter? He seems to be aware of what was asked, and when pointed out, he does realize his mistakes. So far so good. At least he asks more questions than the other two.
I told S and N to do as much as they could at home, rather than lug everything to the library. I didn't want to spend so much time at the library because I'd have to come home and cook dinner. So S did most of her work at home and the only things that were left to do at the libabry was History, Math and Study Island.
While we were getting the books out of the van, I warned them, fearing they would all just dash for the computers and abandon their school work,
"When you get it, start your school work right away. No computers until you do."
Inside, I told myself, yeah right. They'd most probably take advantage and not listen to me.
What a nice surprise I got when they all, like good school children, headed for one of the tables and put down their rucksacks, after hashing out a short decision-making discussion over which tables to sit at. The rectangles one turned out to be more spacious than the round ones. The two girls situated themselves comfortably across each other and H went to get a basket of crayons. I got ready to hit the computers.
I left them, trusting them to finish their work, while I checked my mail and did my homework. Who woud have thought googling 'Lucky Buddha' and Elephant-headed Ganesh' would take such a long time? Even then, I still couldn't find anything on the omen of seeing a person who looks like you, though I have an inkling of it from a conversation I had when i was a child.
So now I have to write a 'report' before my next class this Saturday.
While I was seated in front of the computer, forehead crumpled in a frustrated wrinkle, S came with problems with her math. Well, in my frustrations, I snapped at her nd how bad i felt when she actually dilligently finished all the required work for the day with no complaints or sulks. I made sure I commented on it later in the day.
We got to the library at 1 pm. Time goes by so quickly when you are absorbed in something. True enough, it was already 3 pm when I gave up on google and the kids finished their work. Before we left, I told S to look for books pertaining to Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish while I looked for video cassettes pertaining to weather.
My search was unsuccessful. Before I left though I directed her to the magazine rack. When I met her again, she had quite a number of Zoobooks mags. I noticed her leafing through my National Geographic one night. She does have a fascination with animals, and I dub her the 'animal expert'.
For her writing, I had her do brainstorming and then narrow down on a topic. She chose to write about the Snowshoe Hare. I learned something new from her.
"They eat meat," she said confidently.
"What??"
"Rabbits don't eat meat!" I was feling incredulous at her statement, thinking it both disgusting and scary to hear a rabbit being carnivorous.
"Yes, they do. In winter, when they don't have enough food," she replied, undaunted by my skepticism.
Questions darted from me to her as i tried to comprehend what she was saying, and as she enlightened me, I nodded my head dumbly.
All the while I think she was enjoying herself at my expense. One, she was amused by my reaction. Two i think she was inwardly feeling quite proud of herself, and I have to give her credit for standing up for herself. She's not the typical American kid with 'Barney' attitude.
We got home at 4 pm and I was thoroughly exhausted. For some reason i felt utterly sleepy and decided to nap for abut 15 minutes before cooking. I told S to wake me up as i surrendered to my weary eyes on the couch. When she did wake me up, i said,
"15 more minutes," and dozed off. I was that tired.
"Ummi, it's 5:15!" She woke me up again. I stirred a little but went right back to sleep.
I only woke up when F came home and the first thing I said to him was,
"Belum masak lagi," because I knew he would be expecting dinner.
I got probably like half an hour's nap but it was very deep. F helped me cook and thank God i had the wisdom to prepare for the next day before we left for the library. I had figured i'd better do it then. One lesson I learned in homeschooling is to never procrastinate because it will all catch up to you in the end and you wil be stuck to rot in the rut.
S was enthusiastic as soon as I said that we might just do school at the library.
"I like doing school at the library because N and H HAVE to be quiet there, so I can do my work."
So there IS a noise problem. Not really from N I think. I think it's more from H. He's the kind of person who likes to chatter endlessly when he's doing something, especially something dull like a worksheet he has no problems doing. I sometimes even cringe in contemplation when he responds to me in a sing song manner and silly chatter.
Does he get it? Does he understand? Is it too easy for him? What's behind those big grins and gibberish chatter? He seems to be aware of what was asked, and when pointed out, he does realize his mistakes. So far so good. At least he asks more questions than the other two.
I told S and N to do as much as they could at home, rather than lug everything to the library. I didn't want to spend so much time at the library because I'd have to come home and cook dinner. So S did most of her work at home and the only things that were left to do at the libabry was History, Math and Study Island.
While we were getting the books out of the van, I warned them, fearing they would all just dash for the computers and abandon their school work,
"When you get it, start your school work right away. No computers until you do."
Inside, I told myself, yeah right. They'd most probably take advantage and not listen to me.
What a nice surprise I got when they all, like good school children, headed for one of the tables and put down their rucksacks, after hashing out a short decision-making discussion over which tables to sit at. The rectangles one turned out to be more spacious than the round ones. The two girls situated themselves comfortably across each other and H went to get a basket of crayons. I got ready to hit the computers.
I left them, trusting them to finish their work, while I checked my mail and did my homework. Who woud have thought googling 'Lucky Buddha' and Elephant-headed Ganesh' would take such a long time? Even then, I still couldn't find anything on the omen of seeing a person who looks like you, though I have an inkling of it from a conversation I had when i was a child.
So now I have to write a 'report' before my next class this Saturday.
While I was seated in front of the computer, forehead crumpled in a frustrated wrinkle, S came with problems with her math. Well, in my frustrations, I snapped at her nd how bad i felt when she actually dilligently finished all the required work for the day with no complaints or sulks. I made sure I commented on it later in the day.
We got to the library at 1 pm. Time goes by so quickly when you are absorbed in something. True enough, it was already 3 pm when I gave up on google and the kids finished their work. Before we left, I told S to look for books pertaining to Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish while I looked for video cassettes pertaining to weather.
My search was unsuccessful. Before I left though I directed her to the magazine rack. When I met her again, she had quite a number of Zoobooks mags. I noticed her leafing through my National Geographic one night. She does have a fascination with animals, and I dub her the 'animal expert'.
For her writing, I had her do brainstorming and then narrow down on a topic. She chose to write about the Snowshoe Hare. I learned something new from her.
"They eat meat," she said confidently.
"What??"
"Rabbits don't eat meat!" I was feling incredulous at her statement, thinking it both disgusting and scary to hear a rabbit being carnivorous.
"Yes, they do. In winter, when they don't have enough food," she replied, undaunted by my skepticism.
Questions darted from me to her as i tried to comprehend what she was saying, and as she enlightened me, I nodded my head dumbly.
All the while I think she was enjoying herself at my expense. One, she was amused by my reaction. Two i think she was inwardly feeling quite proud of herself, and I have to give her credit for standing up for herself. She's not the typical American kid with 'Barney' attitude.
We got home at 4 pm and I was thoroughly exhausted. For some reason i felt utterly sleepy and decided to nap for abut 15 minutes before cooking. I told S to wake me up as i surrendered to my weary eyes on the couch. When she did wake me up, i said,
"15 more minutes," and dozed off. I was that tired.
"Ummi, it's 5:15!" She woke me up again. I stirred a little but went right back to sleep.
I only woke up when F came home and the first thing I said to him was,
"Belum masak lagi," because I knew he would be expecting dinner.
I got probably like half an hour's nap but it was very deep. F helped me cook and thank God i had the wisdom to prepare for the next day before we left for the library. I had figured i'd better do it then. One lesson I learned in homeschooling is to never procrastinate because it will all catch up to you in the end and you wil be stuck to rot in the rut.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Resuming Work
It's a good thing I had, with very good foresight, worked on the kids' daily schedule for the next few weeks ahead of time. Had I not, I would have been a total wreck yesterday. Alhamdulillah the kids even sat at their table waiting for me to shower and eat breakfast. I was the one who was tardy.
S seemed to have improved considerably in doing her work in good time and so far we have finished school with good spirits. Yesterday we finished quite early. Having history seemed to be easier than Science. N and H were wide eyed after learning about nomads. N was still mulling over the word itself and asked me,
"Ummi, why do they call them nomads?"
"Are they not gonna get mad or something?"
"They ain't gonna get no mad?"
She extended her history report by writing more about the nomads. So when it came to Science today, her mind was probably still flitting about somewhere, that I had to repeat the water cycle to her with increasing building frustration.
Finally I had S go over it with her because I couldn't bring myself to reiterate it anymore. Of course, talking about a hurdle after it has been jumped over is way easier than when actually facing the hurdle.
I tried the hands on. I tried the reading. I tried the animation on the computer. I did the diagram on the whiteboard. After almost running out of ideas, I tried zooming in on the heart of the matter. I used character. Thinking it would definitely grab her undivided attention, I created a character of a drop of water and brought her along its journey through the water cycle. I didn't know if I did get through but b the end of the day, we were done with the lesson. ALHAMDULILLAH!
T'was no easy feat. It made me feel like throwing in the towel but last weekend's conversation with a fellow homeschooler drilled in me a new sense of motivation.
I had attended another of Al-Maghrib's classes. This time, a sister had brought in her husband and two young children in the class with her. I had been very skeptical of the whole thing working as I can see my own children running amok in a campus building while I sit in a class practically the whole day. Contrary to my expectation, her children survived through the day and in fact through the whole weekend.
I went home blabbing to F how it is indeed possible to drag your children along while attending a full weekend seminar.
"Must be the barakah," he said, and I couldn't help but nod my head.
Made me think of the angels hovering above us and it brings a sense of awe. I talked to the sister and found out that she is also doing OHVA with her girls. On top of that, she is also taking courses with American Open University. I asked her,
"Do you have free time?" I was mulling in my head over how she would study and homeschool her children at the same time.
"No, but I like it like this. You know, if you have free time, even just a little bit, Syaitan will come in and make you waste that time. So I prefer it like this. Busy, busy busy," gesturing with her hands, depicting the occupied time that is constantly being maximized and put to good use.
I had to agree whole heartedly. It was the first time such a perception or view was presented to me and I have to say, it's very refreshing, like a sudden splash of rainbow on a cloudy day. Here I was, struggling trying to set aside some slices of free time for myself amidst the chaos in my life, and there was this sister, who is trying hard to busy herself so she wouldn't have free time.
I can see her reasoning being sound and in fact, very reasonable. Makes me reflect on how I waste those slivers of free time that in the end turned out to be 'just a waste of time'. I also remember the feeling of frustration and utter regret after having thrown away those precious minutes for something frivolous or insignificant.
We also talked about her decision to homeschool and after all my observatios and chat with various mothers, I can safely say, to my knowledge, that Islamic schools are not necessarily that different from public schools. Funny how I was contemplating on throwing in the towel and going to grad school myself just the past few weeks.
The thing for me is behavior and attitude and turned out, it was the same for her too. You get this American kid attitude,
"Whatever!" accompanied by an extravagant roll of the eyes and cock of the head.
There are a lot more reasons pushing me to homeschool and it's also surprising how much motivation i receive from even the younger sisters. Sisters who are in college, when i tell them of my homeschooling would strongly nod their heads and agree that it's the best thing. These are girls who have gone to public schools in their child hood.
"Public schools are just filthy," one sister said.
I also found out two sisters who were homeschooled when they turned of age. I can see the wisdom and it brings to mind the option of sending the children to school when they are still young and only pulling them out when they reach puberty. A sister asked me exactly this question while we were walking to Chipotle for lunch on Sunday.
Before I could even answer her, her friend next to her replied rather adamantly,
"Now, it's when they are small that you should worry,"
and I added,
"It's the foundation. They need to have a strong foundation. So the early years are rather important."
I didn;t have to explain more as her friend got her in a rather occupied conversation over how wise it actually is to keep the children home when they are young.
For me, it truly is the foundation I'm concerned about. I have sat and long thought about it, weighed the decision and contemplated over the wisdom of carrying it out. After much thought, I decided that it really is important for me to give them a solid foundation. At school, they absorb their teachers' values and with it, the demeanor of typical American kids, which I do not like.
When they are at that impressinable age, it's easier to drill in values and I want it be ours. Of course, you can still instill values while sending your children to public school, but every family has different dynamics and for us, I just feel it imperative that we hold them close while they're still impressionable.
As for releasing them later on, we have already heard remarks and comments about how girls should be kept at home, due to the rampant violence and sexual activities going on in public schools nowadays. S's pre school teacher even said to me, when I told her I wanted to take S out of school that year,
"When I have my own child, I'm going to homeschool too. I have a teacher's certificate and I'm thinking of homeschooling other people's children too."
"Oh...how come?" I was rather taken aback at her revelation.
"Oh, well, the school is not a very safe place. Just last week a girl was raped in school by a janitor."
I nodded, never even thinking that people would use security as a reason to withhold their child from public schools. Of course it's rather obvious, but protection of the physical i would not worry so much about as compared to the protection of the spiritual.
Yet, it also brings to mind how many Christians in this country choose to homeschool, for various reasons, the most obviouc being religious reason. Makes me wince at home Muslims are not that enthusiastic about it. Either they don't mind or they don't have enough confidence that they can do it, especially for foreigners like me.
I had that thought years ago, but it was wiped out the instant I set my mind on it. However, life is not without its trials. Even to this day, I dream of having the house to myself while my children laboriously pore over their books at school. It really requires strong resilience on my part to keep on doing what I'm doing. At times I find myself lumbering in the dark, almost gagging on the floor and breathing out my last breath, but then all praise to Allah, there would come that helping hand stretched out just a tad bit farther than I would prefer, reaching out to pull me back into the folds of stark reality. The reality that i would be drowned in guilt were I to abandon this job for something else without due need. Because as of now, I know I can do it and if I don't try my best, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life, because as it is, it is my main priority. It is my sole true job: to raise the children and take care of the family. The woes of life....insyaallah will bring about the joys of life in the end.
S seemed to have improved considerably in doing her work in good time and so far we have finished school with good spirits. Yesterday we finished quite early. Having history seemed to be easier than Science. N and H were wide eyed after learning about nomads. N was still mulling over the word itself and asked me,
"Ummi, why do they call them nomads?"
"Are they not gonna get mad or something?"
"They ain't gonna get no mad?"
She extended her history report by writing more about the nomads. So when it came to Science today, her mind was probably still flitting about somewhere, that I had to repeat the water cycle to her with increasing building frustration.
Finally I had S go over it with her because I couldn't bring myself to reiterate it anymore. Of course, talking about a hurdle after it has been jumped over is way easier than when actually facing the hurdle.
I tried the hands on. I tried the reading. I tried the animation on the computer. I did the diagram on the whiteboard. After almost running out of ideas, I tried zooming in on the heart of the matter. I used character. Thinking it would definitely grab her undivided attention, I created a character of a drop of water and brought her along its journey through the water cycle. I didn't know if I did get through but b the end of the day, we were done with the lesson. ALHAMDULILLAH!
T'was no easy feat. It made me feel like throwing in the towel but last weekend's conversation with a fellow homeschooler drilled in me a new sense of motivation.
I had attended another of Al-Maghrib's classes. This time, a sister had brought in her husband and two young children in the class with her. I had been very skeptical of the whole thing working as I can see my own children running amok in a campus building while I sit in a class practically the whole day. Contrary to my expectation, her children survived through the day and in fact through the whole weekend.
I went home blabbing to F how it is indeed possible to drag your children along while attending a full weekend seminar.
"Must be the barakah," he said, and I couldn't help but nod my head.
Made me think of the angels hovering above us and it brings a sense of awe. I talked to the sister and found out that she is also doing OHVA with her girls. On top of that, she is also taking courses with American Open University. I asked her,
"Do you have free time?" I was mulling in my head over how she would study and homeschool her children at the same time.
"No, but I like it like this. You know, if you have free time, even just a little bit, Syaitan will come in and make you waste that time. So I prefer it like this. Busy, busy busy," gesturing with her hands, depicting the occupied time that is constantly being maximized and put to good use.
I had to agree whole heartedly. It was the first time such a perception or view was presented to me and I have to say, it's very refreshing, like a sudden splash of rainbow on a cloudy day. Here I was, struggling trying to set aside some slices of free time for myself amidst the chaos in my life, and there was this sister, who is trying hard to busy herself so she wouldn't have free time.
I can see her reasoning being sound and in fact, very reasonable. Makes me reflect on how I waste those slivers of free time that in the end turned out to be 'just a waste of time'. I also remember the feeling of frustration and utter regret after having thrown away those precious minutes for something frivolous or insignificant.
We also talked about her decision to homeschool and after all my observatios and chat with various mothers, I can safely say, to my knowledge, that Islamic schools are not necessarily that different from public schools. Funny how I was contemplating on throwing in the towel and going to grad school myself just the past few weeks.
The thing for me is behavior and attitude and turned out, it was the same for her too. You get this American kid attitude,
"Whatever!" accompanied by an extravagant roll of the eyes and cock of the head.
There are a lot more reasons pushing me to homeschool and it's also surprising how much motivation i receive from even the younger sisters. Sisters who are in college, when i tell them of my homeschooling would strongly nod their heads and agree that it's the best thing. These are girls who have gone to public schools in their child hood.
"Public schools are just filthy," one sister said.
I also found out two sisters who were homeschooled when they turned of age. I can see the wisdom and it brings to mind the option of sending the children to school when they are still young and only pulling them out when they reach puberty. A sister asked me exactly this question while we were walking to Chipotle for lunch on Sunday.
Before I could even answer her, her friend next to her replied rather adamantly,
"Now, it's when they are small that you should worry,"
and I added,
"It's the foundation. They need to have a strong foundation. So the early years are rather important."
I didn;t have to explain more as her friend got her in a rather occupied conversation over how wise it actually is to keep the children home when they are young.
For me, it truly is the foundation I'm concerned about. I have sat and long thought about it, weighed the decision and contemplated over the wisdom of carrying it out. After much thought, I decided that it really is important for me to give them a solid foundation. At school, they absorb their teachers' values and with it, the demeanor of typical American kids, which I do not like.
When they are at that impressinable age, it's easier to drill in values and I want it be ours. Of course, you can still instill values while sending your children to public school, but every family has different dynamics and for us, I just feel it imperative that we hold them close while they're still impressionable.
As for releasing them later on, we have already heard remarks and comments about how girls should be kept at home, due to the rampant violence and sexual activities going on in public schools nowadays. S's pre school teacher even said to me, when I told her I wanted to take S out of school that year,
"When I have my own child, I'm going to homeschool too. I have a teacher's certificate and I'm thinking of homeschooling other people's children too."
"Oh...how come?" I was rather taken aback at her revelation.
"Oh, well, the school is not a very safe place. Just last week a girl was raped in school by a janitor."
I nodded, never even thinking that people would use security as a reason to withhold their child from public schools. Of course it's rather obvious, but protection of the physical i would not worry so much about as compared to the protection of the spiritual.
Yet, it also brings to mind how many Christians in this country choose to homeschool, for various reasons, the most obviouc being religious reason. Makes me wince at home Muslims are not that enthusiastic about it. Either they don't mind or they don't have enough confidence that they can do it, especially for foreigners like me.
I had that thought years ago, but it was wiped out the instant I set my mind on it. However, life is not without its trials. Even to this day, I dream of having the house to myself while my children laboriously pore over their books at school. It really requires strong resilience on my part to keep on doing what I'm doing. At times I find myself lumbering in the dark, almost gagging on the floor and breathing out my last breath, but then all praise to Allah, there would come that helping hand stretched out just a tad bit farther than I would prefer, reaching out to pull me back into the folds of stark reality. The reality that i would be drowned in guilt were I to abandon this job for something else without due need. Because as of now, I know I can do it and if I don't try my best, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life, because as it is, it is my main priority. It is my sole true job: to raise the children and take care of the family. The woes of life....insyaallah will bring about the joys of life in the end.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Somber
Not a very good morning for me as I apparently had an altercation that should have taken place almost a year ago. but was only brought up today, due to my prodding.
The school day however, started out as usual. S did her work very dilligently, intent on finishing up as soon as possible.
While I went downstairs to eat breakfast, the kids sat at their table ready for school, and i think, in trying to please me and to show that he is doing what he could to start by himself, H shouted,
"Lives of the Prophets! Lives of the prophets!" while fist tapping on the table with such rancor that it made me giggle downstairs.
They had fallen asleep last night listening to the audio cassette. Since H couldn't really do anything independently that much, he chose to do what he could, and that was reviewing yesterday's Phonics lesson of counting syllables.
S did her handwriting and soon proceeded to do her literature. She's getting quite good at her practice tests too. When she started out, she would have small red marks all over the paper, but now, I can only find less than five mistakes. Her writing had improved significantly too.
Leaving her to her independent work, I went on to N for her math. Today she was to work on related facts, both subtraction and addition. I prepared myself for some intensive teaching. i expected some confusion. meanwhile, I made H take out his math book and work on them since it was just on More, Fewer and Equalizing Sets. he breezed through it, with a LOT of chatter.
N as opposed to my expectation, also somewhat breezed through her math, surprising me pleasantly. At first she seemed to have trouble switching the order of addition sentences with suctraction ones but soon after got the hang of it. She even worked on some extra worksheets.
For Language Arts for H, we did the continuation of Jack and the Beanstalk and i had some trouble making him understand the meaning of the word betray. I had him recount to me the story so far and after he did so successfully, I read the remainder of the story.
Then it's back to grammar for S. Today it was Simple past tense and past progressive. Finally I managed to see the diference and she did too apparently. As that was done and over with, she movd on to math, which was counting change the American way. I say the American way because they do it by counting up as opposed to subtracting.
At first S had trouble understanding it, and she was even driven to tears by the sheer work.
"It makes my head hurt," she wailed when i asked her why she was in tears.
"Okay, go take a break," I said.
We had lunch. H and N were done with school. it was just S now and all that was left was math and history.
She resumed her work on math after lunch, with no complaints and even came up with no mistakes. I made sure to lavish praise on her for that. For history, she read independently and as I ambled downstairs for whatever it was that i wanted to do, she finished up.
Now here I am supposed to be writing down what they are to do on Monday on their individual white boards. i also have to make sure i don't forget to log in the hours they did in the Online school. I'd better do this now than Sunday because my weekend class with Al maghrib is going to be full throughout this weekend.
The school day however, started out as usual. S did her work very dilligently, intent on finishing up as soon as possible.
While I went downstairs to eat breakfast, the kids sat at their table ready for school, and i think, in trying to please me and to show that he is doing what he could to start by himself, H shouted,
"Lives of the Prophets! Lives of the prophets!" while fist tapping on the table with such rancor that it made me giggle downstairs.
They had fallen asleep last night listening to the audio cassette. Since H couldn't really do anything independently that much, he chose to do what he could, and that was reviewing yesterday's Phonics lesson of counting syllables.
S did her handwriting and soon proceeded to do her literature. She's getting quite good at her practice tests too. When she started out, she would have small red marks all over the paper, but now, I can only find less than five mistakes. Her writing had improved significantly too.
Leaving her to her independent work, I went on to N for her math. Today she was to work on related facts, both subtraction and addition. I prepared myself for some intensive teaching. i expected some confusion. meanwhile, I made H take out his math book and work on them since it was just on More, Fewer and Equalizing Sets. he breezed through it, with a LOT of chatter.
N as opposed to my expectation, also somewhat breezed through her math, surprising me pleasantly. At first she seemed to have trouble switching the order of addition sentences with suctraction ones but soon after got the hang of it. She even worked on some extra worksheets.
For Language Arts for H, we did the continuation of Jack and the Beanstalk and i had some trouble making him understand the meaning of the word betray. I had him recount to me the story so far and after he did so successfully, I read the remainder of the story.
Then it's back to grammar for S. Today it was Simple past tense and past progressive. Finally I managed to see the diference and she did too apparently. As that was done and over with, she movd on to math, which was counting change the American way. I say the American way because they do it by counting up as opposed to subtracting.
At first S had trouble understanding it, and she was even driven to tears by the sheer work.
"It makes my head hurt," she wailed when i asked her why she was in tears.
"Okay, go take a break," I said.
We had lunch. H and N were done with school. it was just S now and all that was left was math and history.
She resumed her work on math after lunch, with no complaints and even came up with no mistakes. I made sure to lavish praise on her for that. For history, she read independently and as I ambled downstairs for whatever it was that i wanted to do, she finished up.
Now here I am supposed to be writing down what they are to do on Monday on their individual white boards. i also have to make sure i don't forget to log in the hours they did in the Online school. I'd better do this now than Sunday because my weekend class with Al maghrib is going to be full throughout this weekend.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Day Over
They're off for phisycal education: swimming with their father. I'm so very spent, to the verge of bawling my eyes out from sheer frustration and desperation.
First thing that happened this morning: I woke up late, strangely enough, after falling asleep on the couch last night probably around 8 or 9 pm. I thought I would surely wake up in good time the next morning, but I guess my body needed more rejuvenating after all that iron I lost yesterday.
Due to my tardiness, I foolishly skipped breakfast, because leaving the kids at the table while I go down for breakfast would mean leaving N and H with nothing to do. Well, they would have something to do but they would need me there for guidance and supervision. It would be like letting them hang helplessly by a very thin thread. it would also stretch out the school day if I tarried and ate breakfast while they wait for me. So I suppose as a penalty, I denied myself the most important meal of the day.
Turned out to be a very big mistake, as my mood and patience ran very thin amidst the grumbling in my stomach. I snapped more than once and even made H cry. I felt sorry for him and horribly angry at myself. I felt like a snapping turtle who didn't get her morning meal.
For S, today we were supposed to learn about the present progressive tense. When I saw the topic for the lesson, I told her to wait and do it with me. So she went ahead and did her literature and math, which fortunately was quite a breeze for her.
However, my empty stomach probably affected my brain as I struggled to comprehend what I was supposed to teach her. Before this, we had gone over the four principal parts of verbs: present, present participle, past, and past participle. Now there are simple present, present progressive, simple past and past progressive. I mulled over how I would explain it to her without getting confused myself.
Somehow though, I managed to jump over that hurdle but made a mental note to study it further, for I found myself still mulling over the logic of it all.
I had gone over the water cycle so many times with N, and I thought she would know it by now. My assumption was proved wrong. Bristling with annoyance, I told her to read the book by herself and come back to me when she was ready. She did, but she only got past the evaporation part. The condensation part was still vague it seemed like, so I read another book to her. This time she finally got it, I hope. Otherwise, I'd be doing it again with her next Tuesday.
H had some trouble counting syllables. As I told him to do a fist tap for every syllable, I told him to count how many times he tapped. Scrunching up his face and looking lost, he failed. It took him quite some time to get the idea and he had to blow it off by crying. After his bucket of tears was filled, I called him back and we had another go at it. This time, he did better and I even challenged him to count how many syllables there are in his father's name, and then his sister's name. Well, since he got that, my worries are tucked away, safe and sound in a corner I hope I will never have to return to. That's how long her name is.
As for S and me, we had some trouble comprehending air pressure. To my embarassment, as I reveal my idiocy now, I couldn't understand how air pressure inside a balloon is higher than the air pressure outside, after being given an example of pressure inside our bodies pushing out against the air pressure outside. Surely the pressure outside the balloon would be higher thus pressing in against the balloon and forcing the air out. I told S to read one of the books I got from the library yesterday and I sat there staring at the screen, trying to understand what was explained.
After some muttered cursing at the explanation, I came to an understanding and S came to me asking,
"Did you get it?"
Imagine a student asking her teacher if she has finally understood what she was supposed to teach. Shame on me!
So we got over that hurdle but there was another hurdle waiting for me, which is becoming a very prominent feature in the story of my life nowadays.
S couldn't quite understand a low pressure system bearing weather with precipitation and I had severe problems trying to find a way to explain it to her. I can see myself opening and closing my mouth in earnest, explaining away with the help of various hand movements up and down and around while an eight year old sits besides me, dumbfounded and noncomprehending.
the desperation and frustration in me almost drove me to pitiful tears. My face was fighting to scrunch up into a crying expression, but I fought it. Somehow, we got over that hurdle too, but my mind was so drained and ravaged by the whole experience.
In the middle of it all, the phone rang. I explicitly told the kids to leave it,
"Only pick it up if it's Abi or somebody important."
As the answering machine picked it up, I listened. It was my mother. Immediately I reached for the phone hanging on the wall next to my table.
"I just told the kids not to pick up the phone unless it was somebody important. This is someone important," I said to her, and she laughed.
We chatted for a short time as I updated her with my progress in writing, and by the time I hung up, I was in a much better mood than before I picked up the phone. It made me think that maybe an interruption wouldn't be so bad after all.
However, by the time school ended I was mulling in my head how I would fare for the rest of the year. It did feel better once it was over, which made me think that maybe it's just like fasting. You reach a climax in the middle but when it's all over, you're awashed with relief and joy.
I guess, I'll use that mode of thinking to keep me going. Inna maal usri yusra. Inna maal usri yusra.
First thing that happened this morning: I woke up late, strangely enough, after falling asleep on the couch last night probably around 8 or 9 pm. I thought I would surely wake up in good time the next morning, but I guess my body needed more rejuvenating after all that iron I lost yesterday.
Due to my tardiness, I foolishly skipped breakfast, because leaving the kids at the table while I go down for breakfast would mean leaving N and H with nothing to do. Well, they would have something to do but they would need me there for guidance and supervision. It would be like letting them hang helplessly by a very thin thread. it would also stretch out the school day if I tarried and ate breakfast while they wait for me. So I suppose as a penalty, I denied myself the most important meal of the day.
Turned out to be a very big mistake, as my mood and patience ran very thin amidst the grumbling in my stomach. I snapped more than once and even made H cry. I felt sorry for him and horribly angry at myself. I felt like a snapping turtle who didn't get her morning meal.
For S, today we were supposed to learn about the present progressive tense. When I saw the topic for the lesson, I told her to wait and do it with me. So she went ahead and did her literature and math, which fortunately was quite a breeze for her.
However, my empty stomach probably affected my brain as I struggled to comprehend what I was supposed to teach her. Before this, we had gone over the four principal parts of verbs: present, present participle, past, and past participle. Now there are simple present, present progressive, simple past and past progressive. I mulled over how I would explain it to her without getting confused myself.
Somehow though, I managed to jump over that hurdle but made a mental note to study it further, for I found myself still mulling over the logic of it all.
I had gone over the water cycle so many times with N, and I thought she would know it by now. My assumption was proved wrong. Bristling with annoyance, I told her to read the book by herself and come back to me when she was ready. She did, but she only got past the evaporation part. The condensation part was still vague it seemed like, so I read another book to her. This time she finally got it, I hope. Otherwise, I'd be doing it again with her next Tuesday.
H had some trouble counting syllables. As I told him to do a fist tap for every syllable, I told him to count how many times he tapped. Scrunching up his face and looking lost, he failed. It took him quite some time to get the idea and he had to blow it off by crying. After his bucket of tears was filled, I called him back and we had another go at it. This time, he did better and I even challenged him to count how many syllables there are in his father's name, and then his sister's name. Well, since he got that, my worries are tucked away, safe and sound in a corner I hope I will never have to return to. That's how long her name is.
As for S and me, we had some trouble comprehending air pressure. To my embarassment, as I reveal my idiocy now, I couldn't understand how air pressure inside a balloon is higher than the air pressure outside, after being given an example of pressure inside our bodies pushing out against the air pressure outside. Surely the pressure outside the balloon would be higher thus pressing in against the balloon and forcing the air out. I told S to read one of the books I got from the library yesterday and I sat there staring at the screen, trying to understand what was explained.
After some muttered cursing at the explanation, I came to an understanding and S came to me asking,
"Did you get it?"
Imagine a student asking her teacher if she has finally understood what she was supposed to teach. Shame on me!
So we got over that hurdle but there was another hurdle waiting for me, which is becoming a very prominent feature in the story of my life nowadays.
S couldn't quite understand a low pressure system bearing weather with precipitation and I had severe problems trying to find a way to explain it to her. I can see myself opening and closing my mouth in earnest, explaining away with the help of various hand movements up and down and around while an eight year old sits besides me, dumbfounded and noncomprehending.
the desperation and frustration in me almost drove me to pitiful tears. My face was fighting to scrunch up into a crying expression, but I fought it. Somehow, we got over that hurdle too, but my mind was so drained and ravaged by the whole experience.
In the middle of it all, the phone rang. I explicitly told the kids to leave it,
"Only pick it up if it's Abi or somebody important."
As the answering machine picked it up, I listened. It was my mother. Immediately I reached for the phone hanging on the wall next to my table.
"I just told the kids not to pick up the phone unless it was somebody important. This is someone important," I said to her, and she laughed.
We chatted for a short time as I updated her with my progress in writing, and by the time I hung up, I was in a much better mood than before I picked up the phone. It made me think that maybe an interruption wouldn't be so bad after all.
However, by the time school ended I was mulling in my head how I would fare for the rest of the year. It did feel better once it was over, which made me think that maybe it's just like fasting. You reach a climax in the middle but when it's all over, you're awashed with relief and joy.
I guess, I'll use that mode of thinking to keep me going. Inna maal usri yusra. Inna maal usri yusra.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Archaeologists, Archaeozoologists.. Hey!! Brain! Come Back!!
I had a memoir writing session to attend today at 1 pm, so I was somewhat rushing to finish off school by 12 pm. It wasn't meant to be. S spent a long time, about almost two hours doing math. It was supposed to be a review and I had bet on her finishing in less than an hour since we already went through it yesterday.
She even started school early, around 8 am. Her problem was regarding rounding numbers to the nearest hundred when the number itself is more than three digits. Sometimes it's beyond me why teaching instructions give easy examples and shove difficult problems down our throat in the first exercise.
I had taught her how to round numbers to the nearest ten, hundreds and thousands but using numbers with 2, 3 and 4 digits respectively. Then all of a sudden the worksheets asked her to round 19,450 to the nearest hundred. She of course had trouble even comprehending it.
I sat with her, realizing that we probably needed to go over it again in depth. So I scribbled the number on scratch paper and told her to ignore the extra digits.
"So if you're rounding to the nearest hundred, what do you look at?"
"The tens," she replied, after some hesitance.
"Okay, so let's ignore the 1 and 9 and just focus on the 450. Imagine you're rounding that to the nearest hundred. What would it be?"
"500."
"Okay, so now, you just put 1 and 9 in front of 500 and you got the answer," I explained.
Evidently, my way of explaining was less than perfect as I could see that she couldn't understand what was actually happening, so I resorted to using the thousand cube, hundred flat and ones as models. She seemed to gain more understanding after that, but it was like only a small hole was letting in the light. I needed to give her more examples.
So I gave her a number and asked her what numbers that number is between, in terms of hundreds. Silence. Used the models again and asked her. She mumbled the answer. She got it. Lesson over.
Then the father came and peeked over her shoulder.
"Did Ummi tell you that the answer for that is D?"
"I was in front of the computer, and wearily turned to the question at hand, sighing inwardly for the nenver ending issue of 'the nearest hundred'. Considering F's better math skill, I immediately assumed I had made a mistake.
I looked at the question he was referring to, and believe it or not, it was the very same one S and I had gone over.
"The nearest HUNDRED," I said, pointing to the question and then the correct answer.
I could have sworn I felt a slightly gloating sensation at F's silence in realizing his blunder, for he never makes those when it comes to Math. I do. But not this time. Yeah!! I rule!! even if only for a moment.
Hmmm, Malaysian parents, Malaysian educated, trying to teach their kids American education. It's a drive constantly veering off a cliff at the very last minute. To speak the language itself is a sometimes a bother, but to explain making sure to include the terms and all is just, well, an interesting experience.
Then, it was N and H's turn at history. I proceeded to teach them about archaeology. Monday, we had learned about historians. The plan was simple enough.
History: stories of the past.
How do we know?
From two kinds of people:
Historians : study letters and pictures.
Archaeologists: dig up sites and study what found.
However, the concept and meaning went lost somewhere between my explanation and the words. Growing increasingly frustrated and spent, I stopped talking, and told them we were done for the day.
Stupid lesson objectives. Expecting them to know what archaeologists do. I inwardly cursed the lesson and decided that the only way I can attain that objective is to do it the traditional homeschooling way.
At the library, I picked up books about archaeologists and weather, since they have been having trouble picking up what I was teaching them in science. When I got home, they clamored over me as soon as I opened the van door.
Just last night, I was thinking about how I would miss them were I to go on to graduate school. I had stayed up bleary eyed till 1 am, researching graduate programs. I tiptoed into their room after they were asleep and thought wistfully about leaving them home and going to school full time. After eight years staying home with them, I don't think I can bring myself to leave them.
Seeing them running towards me with expectant faces broought a smile to my face and blooming flowers to my heart.
I told them I had gotten books for them and S asked,
"Did you get me any books?"
"Yup. I got some Bobsey Twins. I don't know if you'll like them though."
She had complained that she had no more library books left to read and I had scoured the library shelves looking for mystery books, which at the very moment seem to be her favorite.
I decided to continue the history lesson for N and H.
"You can read it out loud by yourselves, or I can read it to you. What do you want?"
"You!! You!!"
So the choice was me reading out loud to them. We all made ourselves comfortable on my bed and I began reading. Even S came to listen. H lost his capacity for paying attention several times, at which I varied my inflection and intonation, which got him right back up again.
By the time we reached the end of the book, I could tell that their brains had received some stimulation. I can conclude that they had attained the objectives of the lesson.
I had H do his first unit assessment, at which he scored 100%. N, for her history report, drew a picture very like the one in the book and told me to write the caption for her. I told her she could do it herself but she said,
"But my hands are too sweaty!"
I made a note in my head to ask the doctor again regarding her sweaty palms.
When F came home, H said,
"Abi, we learned about archaeologist!"
There we go again. So now I know what to do in cases of failure in reaching the lesson objectives. To the library we all go!
She even started school early, around 8 am. Her problem was regarding rounding numbers to the nearest hundred when the number itself is more than three digits. Sometimes it's beyond me why teaching instructions give easy examples and shove difficult problems down our throat in the first exercise.
I had taught her how to round numbers to the nearest ten, hundreds and thousands but using numbers with 2, 3 and 4 digits respectively. Then all of a sudden the worksheets asked her to round 19,450 to the nearest hundred. She of course had trouble even comprehending it.
I sat with her, realizing that we probably needed to go over it again in depth. So I scribbled the number on scratch paper and told her to ignore the extra digits.
"So if you're rounding to the nearest hundred, what do you look at?"
"The tens," she replied, after some hesitance.
"Okay, so let's ignore the 1 and 9 and just focus on the 450. Imagine you're rounding that to the nearest hundred. What would it be?"
"500."
"Okay, so now, you just put 1 and 9 in front of 500 and you got the answer," I explained.
Evidently, my way of explaining was less than perfect as I could see that she couldn't understand what was actually happening, so I resorted to using the thousand cube, hundred flat and ones as models. She seemed to gain more understanding after that, but it was like only a small hole was letting in the light. I needed to give her more examples.
So I gave her a number and asked her what numbers that number is between, in terms of hundreds. Silence. Used the models again and asked her. She mumbled the answer. She got it. Lesson over.
Then the father came and peeked over her shoulder.
"Did Ummi tell you that the answer for that is D?"
"I was in front of the computer, and wearily turned to the question at hand, sighing inwardly for the nenver ending issue of 'the nearest hundred'. Considering F's better math skill, I immediately assumed I had made a mistake.
I looked at the question he was referring to, and believe it or not, it was the very same one S and I had gone over.
"The nearest HUNDRED," I said, pointing to the question and then the correct answer.
I could have sworn I felt a slightly gloating sensation at F's silence in realizing his blunder, for he never makes those when it comes to Math. I do. But not this time. Yeah!! I rule!! even if only for a moment.
Hmmm, Malaysian parents, Malaysian educated, trying to teach their kids American education. It's a drive constantly veering off a cliff at the very last minute. To speak the language itself is a sometimes a bother, but to explain making sure to include the terms and all is just, well, an interesting experience.
Then, it was N and H's turn at history. I proceeded to teach them about archaeology. Monday, we had learned about historians. The plan was simple enough.
History: stories of the past.
How do we know?
From two kinds of people:
Historians : study letters and pictures.
Archaeologists: dig up sites and study what found.
However, the concept and meaning went lost somewhere between my explanation and the words. Growing increasingly frustrated and spent, I stopped talking, and told them we were done for the day.
Stupid lesson objectives. Expecting them to know what archaeologists do. I inwardly cursed the lesson and decided that the only way I can attain that objective is to do it the traditional homeschooling way.
At the library, I picked up books about archaeologists and weather, since they have been having trouble picking up what I was teaching them in science. When I got home, they clamored over me as soon as I opened the van door.
Just last night, I was thinking about how I would miss them were I to go on to graduate school. I had stayed up bleary eyed till 1 am, researching graduate programs. I tiptoed into their room after they were asleep and thought wistfully about leaving them home and going to school full time. After eight years staying home with them, I don't think I can bring myself to leave them.
Seeing them running towards me with expectant faces broought a smile to my face and blooming flowers to my heart.
I told them I had gotten books for them and S asked,
"Did you get me any books?"
"Yup. I got some Bobsey Twins. I don't know if you'll like them though."
She had complained that she had no more library books left to read and I had scoured the library shelves looking for mystery books, which at the very moment seem to be her favorite.
I decided to continue the history lesson for N and H.
"You can read it out loud by yourselves, or I can read it to you. What do you want?"
"You!! You!!"
So the choice was me reading out loud to them. We all made ourselves comfortable on my bed and I began reading. Even S came to listen. H lost his capacity for paying attention several times, at which I varied my inflection and intonation, which got him right back up again.
By the time we reached the end of the book, I could tell that their brains had received some stimulation. I can conclude that they had attained the objectives of the lesson.
I had H do his first unit assessment, at which he scored 100%. N, for her history report, drew a picture very like the one in the book and told me to write the caption for her. I told her she could do it herself but she said,
"But my hands are too sweaty!"
I made a note in my head to ask the doctor again regarding her sweaty palms.
When F came home, H said,
"Abi, we learned about archaeologist!"
There we go again. So now I know what to do in cases of failure in reaching the lesson objectives. To the library we all go!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Day 2, Week 2
Yesterday, we did very well. Finished school by 1 pm. Today, since we had science, we only finished school at 3:43 pm. For science, we learned about weather. What I did was to combine S's and N's science lessons, and teach them together. Topics covered were weather forecasts, wind speed, wind direction, four kinds of precipitation, four cloud types, humidity, weather fronts and water cycle.
We started last week and only got as far as weather forecasts, wind speed and wind direction. I had S learn hers online and then join N and me. We made a weather vane, an anemometer and did some models depicting water cycle, evaporation, condensation and cloud formation.
It was a very trying session for me, as N couldn't get the terms evaporation and condensation inside her head. She didn't even get the concept of water turning into water vapor. So, my hands in the air, I stopped the lesson and ended school. That was last week.
Today, I resumed where we left off, making sure to drop in the terms evaporation and condensation all throughout last weekend. Sure enough, it paid off. N can now spout out evaporation and condensation with ease together with comprehension as to what they actually are.
However, my new challenge is having S understand what happens when the weather fronts meet each other and what kind of weather they each bring. While N was doing her worksheet on water cycle, I went over the online lesson on weather fronts, which I had told S to read by herself. Turned out, she didn't quite grasped the concept until I went over it with her. I'm getting quite worried about her comprehension of passages.
I've been having her do practice tests for her reading achievement test. Her comprehension of the passages seemed fine.
Then, after we got over that hurdle of understanding weather fronts, there was humidity. N was playfully squinting her eyes at me while I explained what humidity is, and that just drove me crazy, though I didn't actually show it. After some question and answer session with them, makig sure they understand before I pressed on, I shut up and took deep breaths, to counter the irritation I was feeling.
There I was trying very hard to make them understand what was being taught, with visual aids and what nots, yet their brains simply resisted my effort. I almost quit and ended the lesson, but I was already more than halfway into it. Might as well get it over with. I could always reinforce it with more trips to the library if they still don't get it.
My effort at restraining anger and frustrations was put to the full test and I suppose I can say I persevered, though not with a smilling face, as I would have liked. Never thought teachig could be this tiring. It's more difficult to teach a kid than an adult. if given the choice to teach in elementary and university, I guess I'd choose university. I can just lecture and let them do the work themselves. It's such a shame that school teachers get paid less than professors for the amount of work they have to do. I have to say the elementary teachers have it tougher, if they do their work properly that is. A teacher can simply teach a whole class, give them homework and let the parents and outside tutors do the rest.
Homeschooling is a whole other creature. You yourself are responsible for your student's success and it's a very big burden to uphold. Nevertheless, I've chosen to be an Atlas and so I'm stuck with the world on my back.
The science lesson for today was ended with studying the four kinds of clouds and the type of weather they bring. I left them making a cloud chart using cotton balls, black paint and a blue construction paper. We also made a humidity tester, which almost got me into a fit for the trouble it caused just trying to tape together two sides of contruction paper.
I had hated doing science all these years, just because I had to get out all the materials, set them up and do a hands on activity, which does take up a lot of time. But this year, I resolved to have fun doing those and so far, I still have my sanity.
S had a wee bit of a problem with math today. She was supposed to learn about rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundreds and thousands. Alhamdulillah, we got over that hump.
Tomorrow, H's going to be reading Jack and the beanstalk. I hate Language Arts too, for the simple reason that I have to be doing the reading aloud. Reading aloud by itself is okay, but checking comprehension and going back to the passages for evidence is very taxing. It maks my mouth dry and my patience thin, especially when I hear responses like,
"I don't like doing this,"
or
"I don't want to talk about the story."
Heck, I don't want to either(especially when I've been talking for the past hour), but baby, we have to make sure you grow up understanding what you read, and acquiring those vocabularies strewn about like priceless diamonds out there now don't we?
I can't believe how some mothers are actually reading Harry Potter out loud to their children. I can't even go through one thin picture book without fighting the urge to put the book on the shelf forever once I'm done.
All the mental juggling is draining my mental capacity, and coupled with bouts of anger management and impatience, I'm really a wreck by the end of the day. On the other hand, it does feel good to reach the end of the day accomplishing what we've set out to accomplish. Their white boards are wiped clean, signifying that they've done what they needed to do for the day. The lessons are marked done, and their brains are filled, I hope.
Thus ends Day 2 of Week 2 for 2005/2006 school year.
We started last week and only got as far as weather forecasts, wind speed and wind direction. I had S learn hers online and then join N and me. We made a weather vane, an anemometer and did some models depicting water cycle, evaporation, condensation and cloud formation.
It was a very trying session for me, as N couldn't get the terms evaporation and condensation inside her head. She didn't even get the concept of water turning into water vapor. So, my hands in the air, I stopped the lesson and ended school. That was last week.
Today, I resumed where we left off, making sure to drop in the terms evaporation and condensation all throughout last weekend. Sure enough, it paid off. N can now spout out evaporation and condensation with ease together with comprehension as to what they actually are.
However, my new challenge is having S understand what happens when the weather fronts meet each other and what kind of weather they each bring. While N was doing her worksheet on water cycle, I went over the online lesson on weather fronts, which I had told S to read by herself. Turned out, she didn't quite grasped the concept until I went over it with her. I'm getting quite worried about her comprehension of passages.
I've been having her do practice tests for her reading achievement test. Her comprehension of the passages seemed fine.
Then, after we got over that hurdle of understanding weather fronts, there was humidity. N was playfully squinting her eyes at me while I explained what humidity is, and that just drove me crazy, though I didn't actually show it. After some question and answer session with them, makig sure they understand before I pressed on, I shut up and took deep breaths, to counter the irritation I was feeling.
There I was trying very hard to make them understand what was being taught, with visual aids and what nots, yet their brains simply resisted my effort. I almost quit and ended the lesson, but I was already more than halfway into it. Might as well get it over with. I could always reinforce it with more trips to the library if they still don't get it.
My effort at restraining anger and frustrations was put to the full test and I suppose I can say I persevered, though not with a smilling face, as I would have liked. Never thought teachig could be this tiring. It's more difficult to teach a kid than an adult. if given the choice to teach in elementary and university, I guess I'd choose university. I can just lecture and let them do the work themselves. It's such a shame that school teachers get paid less than professors for the amount of work they have to do. I have to say the elementary teachers have it tougher, if they do their work properly that is. A teacher can simply teach a whole class, give them homework and let the parents and outside tutors do the rest.
Homeschooling is a whole other creature. You yourself are responsible for your student's success and it's a very big burden to uphold. Nevertheless, I've chosen to be an Atlas and so I'm stuck with the world on my back.
The science lesson for today was ended with studying the four kinds of clouds and the type of weather they bring. I left them making a cloud chart using cotton balls, black paint and a blue construction paper. We also made a humidity tester, which almost got me into a fit for the trouble it caused just trying to tape together two sides of contruction paper.
I had hated doing science all these years, just because I had to get out all the materials, set them up and do a hands on activity, which does take up a lot of time. But this year, I resolved to have fun doing those and so far, I still have my sanity.
S had a wee bit of a problem with math today. She was supposed to learn about rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundreds and thousands. Alhamdulillah, we got over that hump.
Tomorrow, H's going to be reading Jack and the beanstalk. I hate Language Arts too, for the simple reason that I have to be doing the reading aloud. Reading aloud by itself is okay, but checking comprehension and going back to the passages for evidence is very taxing. It maks my mouth dry and my patience thin, especially when I hear responses like,
"I don't like doing this,"
or
"I don't want to talk about the story."
Heck, I don't want to either(especially when I've been talking for the past hour), but baby, we have to make sure you grow up understanding what you read, and acquiring those vocabularies strewn about like priceless diamonds out there now don't we?
I can't believe how some mothers are actually reading Harry Potter out loud to their children. I can't even go through one thin picture book without fighting the urge to put the book on the shelf forever once I'm done.
All the mental juggling is draining my mental capacity, and coupled with bouts of anger management and impatience, I'm really a wreck by the end of the day. On the other hand, it does feel good to reach the end of the day accomplishing what we've set out to accomplish. Their white boards are wiped clean, signifying that they've done what they needed to do for the day. The lessons are marked done, and their brains are filled, I hope.
Thus ends Day 2 of Week 2 for 2005/2006 school year.
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Year When There Was Three!
This is the second week of school for this 2005/2006 year, and for the first day of the second week, I have to say things are looking up, alhamdulillah.
The first week was simply hellish, for lack of a better word. I guess we all were too tense in getting back in the swing of things. S is a dawdler. I suppose it took some reminding for her to break the habit. The first day of school last week, she was still doing school at 8 pm. I wasn't in too jolly a mood either, to say the least.
H on the other hand, was more than elated to finally be 'in' with his sisters. His history lesson that day consisted of learning the cardinal direction in which I had told him to stand facing the 'north' wall. From then on, I gave him directions to go to various places, only using cardinal directions. He really got a kick out of it that when his father came home, it took all he could do not to switch to his 'chatterbox' mode.
"Y.yy..y.yyy...o...oo..uu.u.u.....w..we..we....learned north, south, east and west. Ummi told me to stand..stand..facing the north..and then...and then....she told me to turn south, and then ...and then...east......"
I was upstairs, still doing school with S, quite in a foul mood because of her dawdling, ultimately dragging me in with her procrastination. Yet I couldn't help but smile when I heard H chatter away his 'lesson learned' for the day.
I half expected this week to be stress inducing too, but alhamdulillah, we all probably learned a hard lesson from last week, and by 1 pm, school was over. I had dreaded this school year just because I would be teaching three chilren, all at different levels at the same time. I honestly didn't know how I was going to handle it. I half feared I would go insane.
With homeschooling, preparation can take up quite a big chunk of your time, but once it's done, things can go smoothly, provided you omit the other factors such as dawdling, lack of attention, phone calls, doctor's appointments and such. it's very much like Chinese cooking: chop, chop, dice, slice, mince, julienne, but when it's all ready, you just toss it in the wok and before long, you'd be treating yourself to a steaming plate of fried rice bristling with tantalizing aroma.
It took roughly about eleven hours yesterday for me to prepare their individual schedule for the next three weeks. I usually do it one week at a time, but since I have weekend classes this two coming weekends, I thought I'd make it less stressful on myself by just going all out and lay out their lessons for the next three weeks in one sitting.
I had to open up their online school, look at their weekly schedule, then look and study the individual lessons per subject, jot down the objectives of each lesson, the worksheets and pages on their workbooks that need to be worked on. Halfway through it, I was spent and very much wanted to quit, hands up in the air. However, I know only too well the trouble that would cost me, for once you start with the schedule, you have to stick with it till the end, or you will be floundering much like a fish out of water once the lesson day arrives.
So now, I don't have to worry about their lessons until the end of September. I only have to worry about S's coming 3rd Grade Ahievement test coming up on October 3.
The first week was simply hellish, for lack of a better word. I guess we all were too tense in getting back in the swing of things. S is a dawdler. I suppose it took some reminding for her to break the habit. The first day of school last week, she was still doing school at 8 pm. I wasn't in too jolly a mood either, to say the least.
H on the other hand, was more than elated to finally be 'in' with his sisters. His history lesson that day consisted of learning the cardinal direction in which I had told him to stand facing the 'north' wall. From then on, I gave him directions to go to various places, only using cardinal directions. He really got a kick out of it that when his father came home, it took all he could do not to switch to his 'chatterbox' mode.
"Y.yy..y.yyy...o...oo..uu.u.u.....w..we..we....learned north, south, east and west. Ummi told me to stand..stand..facing the north..and then...and then....she told me to turn south, and then ...and then...east......"
I was upstairs, still doing school with S, quite in a foul mood because of her dawdling, ultimately dragging me in with her procrastination. Yet I couldn't help but smile when I heard H chatter away his 'lesson learned' for the day.
I half expected this week to be stress inducing too, but alhamdulillah, we all probably learned a hard lesson from last week, and by 1 pm, school was over. I had dreaded this school year just because I would be teaching three chilren, all at different levels at the same time. I honestly didn't know how I was going to handle it. I half feared I would go insane.
With homeschooling, preparation can take up quite a big chunk of your time, but once it's done, things can go smoothly, provided you omit the other factors such as dawdling, lack of attention, phone calls, doctor's appointments and such. it's very much like Chinese cooking: chop, chop, dice, slice, mince, julienne, but when it's all ready, you just toss it in the wok and before long, you'd be treating yourself to a steaming plate of fried rice bristling with tantalizing aroma.
It took roughly about eleven hours yesterday for me to prepare their individual schedule for the next three weeks. I usually do it one week at a time, but since I have weekend classes this two coming weekends, I thought I'd make it less stressful on myself by just going all out and lay out their lessons for the next three weeks in one sitting.
I had to open up their online school, look at their weekly schedule, then look and study the individual lessons per subject, jot down the objectives of each lesson, the worksheets and pages on their workbooks that need to be worked on. Halfway through it, I was spent and very much wanted to quit, hands up in the air. However, I know only too well the trouble that would cost me, for once you start with the schedule, you have to stick with it till the end, or you will be floundering much like a fish out of water once the lesson day arrives.
So now, I don't have to worry about their lessons until the end of September. I only have to worry about S's coming 3rd Grade Ahievement test coming up on October 3.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Three Pupils
September 6 marked the first day of school this year. The year I get three students. The year I have been dreading since the end of last school year. Teaching just one is hard enough. Two is pretty challenging. Three is indescribable. I didn't know and I guess still don't know how exactly I will handle this school year. Whether I'll end up in a mental hospital or end up sending them all to school.
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