Outdoor Arabic

We had a meeting again yesterday, to discuss how and when we're going to do Arabic, Tajweed, Memorization, and Quran.

"Who wants to be the scribe?" I exclaim.

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Ok, I'll ask again. Who raises his/her hand first gets to be the scribe. Ok, ready?"

"Who wants to be the scribe?"

"Ok, N's the scribe."

At the end of the meeting, we decided :

1. Arabic will be done outdoors, dictation-style, vocabulary-focused, in the mornings when we take our morning walks
2. Memorization will be done throughout the week
3. Review of memorized surahs will be done sub'ee-style between Zuhr and Asr
4. Quran reading will be done whenever I am available
5. Tajweed will be done between Zuhr and Asr (I just need 15 minutes for it)

So today, we commenced our Arabic at the 'big' playground in Buckeye Village.

The only thing that puts a damper on our schedule planning is Baby Z's schedule. His schedule has really taken some wild turns. I was beginning to think that he is settling down into a regular schedule, but apparently, I was proved wrong. I would spend an hour nursing him to sleep, only to have him alert and fresh at the end of the hour. Subsequently, I gave up trying to put him to sleep at the appropriate times, and only waited until he is somewhat sleepy, lest I spend hours nursing him to sleep but to no avail.

This morning, we had another one of those sessions where I nursed him both sides, for one hour total, and at the end, he started scratching his neck, and woke up.

"Kids! Take him, you guys go first, I'll catch up!"

I hollered to the kids in frustration, and proceeded to the bathroom to take my shower.

So they went ahead, all four of them, to the playground, while I showered and ate breakfast. When I got there, Baby Z was sitting demurely in his stroller, happy as a lark, and the kids were swinging.

"Where'd you guys want to do it? At that table over there?"

They were all excited to do the Arabic dictation. So, under the late morning sun, we all sat at the picnic table, and did our outdoor Arabic. The kids took out their folders containing loose leaf handwriting papers, and I opened our Gateway to Arabic Book 1 for some vocabulary. Meanwhile, Baby Z sat in his stroller, minding his own business, that is, until he began to stand up and gestured to be picked up.

While saddling him on my hips, I dictated the Arabic words to the kids. Fascinated by his surroundings, Baby Z pointed to everything, uttering soft babbles. Straddling him across my tummy, I held his back and swung him around like a helicopter propeller, to which he squealed in utter delight. After a while, he grew heavier in my arms, the kids' demand for more words, and having to check their spelling tired me. This was easier in theory than in practice, at least because of Baby Z. That is basically the summary of my experience homeschooling with a nursing baby; it's a vicious continuous cycle of juggling challenge, in fact, the ultimate juggling challenge, at least in my life experience.

Nevertheless, we did get our outdoor Arabic, plus some Quranic vocabulary. I guess I'll settle with that for now.