Friday 16 January 2015

Teaching toddlers and pre-schoolers alphabets and numbers

Salam everyone!
Just a few tips that worked for me (still is working)  and the girls when it comes to learning alphabets and numbers. I did start teaching them the numbers and letters of the alphabet by reciting them or singing them out if you prefer. Once they mastered both orally, I started tacking the visual aspect.
For the alphabets, I decided to got by the SATPIN phonics methods. There are different ways of learning the alphabet, I was really interested with satpin, as once they have mastered the 6 letters, they could actually move on to reading/forming certain words using those letters, which would give them an idea of how reading/writing words work. We are still working on the letter learning part. If anyone is interested, you can go on youtube and type satpin which would show you a loop of the 6 letters. What it does is, it familiarise your child with the phonemic sound and also encourages them to think of words that may start with the same sound. For example, my daughter knows 's' stands for snake, but will sometimes come up with her own example. We recently went to ASDA and she saw the ASDA sign and went Mummy look 's' for Sarah and 'a; for arm. So, i find it really good the way they not only think of letters as sounds but as sounds which form parts of the word.
A good way to practise writing the letters is a wipe off book. I bought one a while back from Wilkos for £2.50, and its really great as they can practise the same letter over and over again, we also got the number book for the same price. I also try to google images for the different letters we have been learning, so I would ask her, what letter is this and she would tell me which one she thinks it is. I would always choose a different image, that way she hasn't learn because she has memorised aspects of a particular picture shown before, but actually know what the letter looks like. So far, I must admit she's doing really well, she can now write a few letters on her own, without the help of the book or dotted lines.

The letter 'a'
I use the same method for teaching numbers and it's going pretty good as well. The key to all this is consistency, do it everyday so they memorise it quickly, and once one letter/number is secured moved on to the next one. Do not try to make them run before they can walk. Take one thing at a time. It doesn't mean that you should only teach one subject a day. We actually cover quite a few subjects in a day and all within an hour. Just structure your lesson and make sure it looks like a lesson. Have them sit down and listen to you and explain what you are doing and it is 'our' fun time together.

The letter 's'
We have a time table everyday and it lasts only an hour. As I said previously, my children do attend nursery, so they have been 'schooled' all day and probably are tired. But they do look forward to our evening lessons, which is a more formal education than nursery.

I have also recently introduced them to Arabic as part of our curriculum. They already know their arabic alphabets now as we have been 'singing' it for years, but I thought they were ready to handle another form of 'writing'. I use exactly the same format for Arabic, So we sing out all the letters of the arabic alphabet, then we work on recognising the letters. I do speak to them in Arabic during the lesson, so the know the difference. As Arabic is not my first or even second language, it is  a bit tough for myself. But, it seems with me speaking to them in Arabic, make them understand we are now learning  a new language. I would say small things to them like 'ijliss' meaning sit down, and would do a hand gesture for them to sit down. I would sometime say the word in both arabic and English a few times so they know what I am talking about. It seems they now understand a few words and I do not need to translate anymore.

French is also one of the languages I speak. They already have a good understanding of it as i speak to them in French and Creole at home. We now use it in a more formal such as learning to count in French. What I would do normally is for example say 'one two three' then repeat it in French 'un deux trois' then in Arabic 'wahid ithnaan thalatha'. They now understand all those things mean the same thing, but are just in different languages. As we are already working on recognising numbers in English, it would not take them long to recognise them in Arabic and French inshallah. Next step if for me to make sure they identify the numbers in the different languages, without getting confused.

We also cover 'surahs' as part of the lesson. We everyday recite the 3 quls and surah al fatiha and at first they used to sometimes mix up the surahs but they are getting better alhumdulilah. With the surahs, on top of praying loud and using the same surahs over and over in prayer, I find that you can actually make it a little ritual for them to learn them.  We normally recites all the surahs quite a few times when we are in the car travelling, and with tajweed so they think of it as something melodious and instead of singing they would actually recite the surahs.
Alif

The lesson ends with 'reading  a book'. I would take a book and look at the cover and talk about what they can see on it, what do they think the story is about, for example, today we read a book called 'rainbow' and I asked them what do they know about rainbows and they told me it's up in the sky and we saw one when we went to see the castle (holy Island trip) which was absolutely correct. They also told me it's full of colours and I asked them to name me all the colours they know. And I had a pretty good list. Then we discussed about what things can be of what colour, such as the sun being yellow, the sky blue etc and they gave me their own examples. After I finish reading the book, I would ask each of them to read the same book to me, and they would pretend reading it by looking at the pictures and forming their own stories.A study recently found that children who are read to (by parents) are more prone to become independent and avid readers.

At this level, children do not really need to be taught, what they actually need is the different skills to learn and apply their knowledge. A child should be able to recognise differences and similarities. They should have the knowledge to understand how things work. There are different skills that needs to be develop, and   2 very important ones are memory skills and motor skills. Playing jigsaws puzzle is a good way of getting them to do both. Puzzle help them to analyse, deduct, refine their motor skills and memorise where things go.I would firmly encourage parents to introduce their children to jigsaws and help their train their brains.

All this is do-able within an hour, with homeschooling, much more is covered in a minimal amount of time compared to schools.




Wednesday 14 January 2015

Separation anxiety of a single mum


                           
Salam, for the past few days I have come to the realisation that my babies are grown ups now, and they don’t really need me anymore. I always thought that it takes forever for a child to become independent and not rely on their parent anymore. I mean, I always assumed that once a  parent, you always have responsibilities and will always find yourself busy doing one thing or the other for your child. Growing up, I remember that even at the age of 18, I still had to have my mum take my clothes out and even spoon feed me breakfast in the morning cos I would refuse to it otherwise.  Even later on in life, I  remember when my sister became a parent and how even more than 10 years after being one, she’s always busy looking after and taking care of her children.
When I had my daughters, I knew we would have some tough time coming, and I needed them to be independent and be able to do things for themselves, so from the start itself, I tried to encourage them to do things by themselves as much as possible, I avoided picking them up unnecessarily so they would not make it a habit, I refused to do things for them which I knew they should be able to do, and slowly they started doing things by themselves. By the time my daughters were about 7/8 months, they could feed themselves without any help, obviously it would get messy, but I refused to hold the spoon as I believed they could do it, and having had 2 children so close in age, I realised that I couldn’t be in two places at the same time. If they were to have a tantrum I would avoid contact with them at that particular moment and leave them to deal with their tantrum the best way they can. They soon realised I guess that tantrums or no tantrums they are not going to get anywhere and Alhumdulillah they don’t really bother  fussing about for no reason as it would not get them the attention they want. It is hard to ignore, it is hard to pretend you don’t hear it when that’s all you can hear, but somehow Alhumdulillah I managed to do it, it was easier to think for the long term instead of the short term. Have I paid attention to them , they most likely would have calmed down, but it would also have encouraged them to have more tantrums, which I guess would eventually get on my nerves.
By the time they were two; they were both out of nappies and could go to the toilets on their own. Well, they still need some help with cleaning themselves at times. I am proud of their achievements, as any parent would be.
Now, my 2 year olds and 3 year olds can both dress and undress themselves; they can put their shoes on and take them off and also, they tidy up after their mess and help clean up the house when I ask them to. Every night, before going to bed they will actually clean and tidy the whole house, including my room. Subhanallah, they are amazing. I am not trying to blow my own trumpet or theirs but I have come to acknowledge the fact that they probably are more ahead of their years now. They probably take on more responsibility than I did in my late teens. This was my aim from the beginning. We only have each other for support, and their might come a time when we can’t  be there for each other for some reason or the other, so one would need to rely on oneself. I just did not expect this to happen so soon. Every morning when they wake up the get their breakfast (I just put a tray of their cereals and milk in their room), have some play time and wait for me to wake up. They brush their teeth by themselves and go to the toilet and sort themselves out, when they are done with their breakfast, they put it in the sink. When I wake up, they would start tidying up their room and put their clothes on for nursery. It truly amazes me that they don’t need me anymore. I do feel a bit worthless. I mean they are only 2 and 3, they should still need me, shouldn’t they? And now, they have even taken to remind me to take my bag, phone and even get my shoes so I can get ready quickly Subhanallah. Like I said, I couldn’t feel anymore proud of them but I do question myself, was I not hasty in making them so independent, so self reliant that I have taken away something from them which other children of their age have. Maybe I over thought it and might have been a bit pushy and have ruined something in their childhood unknowingly. Maybe, I tried to teach those lessons about how hard life is too early along the line. Would it have repercussions in the future? I mean it’s hard to say, they seem normal, they play like any other child would, they do the same activities other children of their age do, but I do know they also know about responsibilities towards our house and towards each other. They look after each other, they comfort each other, they help and support each other, they also do fight but I have seen them protecting each other against strangers when they felt a stranger could pose a danger for their sibling and have physically fought with people when they thought those strangers could be endangering their siblings’ lives. Is that normal? Or have we become such a solid family unit with 3 adults instead of 1?
Recently, I went to visit a friend and stayed with her for a few days. I could clearly see my kids future in her kids. Yes, we all have different personalities, but I am sure she would agree that our parenting styles and ideologies are quite similar. She has been a single mother for about 10 years now, and also has 2 kids, and is a real role model for me. I have always looked up to her, never thinking that one day, I would end up in a similar situation. Being around her and her kids, I realised how strong her family unit is, they were not mother and kids anymore, they were all on the same level, they each protected each other and had their own ‘adult’ role to play in the family unit. Tabarakallah, she’s an amazing super mum with super kids. I also realised that her kids were way ahead in maturity for their age, they were very responsible kids, and even though similar to my kids they engaged in activities for their age, they still thought way ahead of their age and would respond to things in the way a sensible adult would.
In no way, I am saying that’s what going to happen to us, but for some reason I could relate this to my family’s future. I just wonder though, did we not take away their innocence and naivety by making them aware of life? I am not talking about her, just for myself.
I am also struggling with the fact that my children do not need me anymore, maybe I just feel left out. We do engage in a lot of family activities up till bedtime. Maybe, it’s just I fear to be lonely without them, and I am unable now to see them grow and be independent. For the past few nights I struggled to go to sleep, I’m starting to dread the silence after the kids go to sleep, I actually wish they would wake up and ask me to do things with them. I never realised how lonely my mum must have felt when we all left the house for uni etc. For the first time, I can relate to my mum when she used to say how lonely and incomplete she felt without her kids. They do say a woman is incomplete until she becomes a mother, so maybe it’s a woman is incomplete until she feels needed by her family. I’m actually wondering what would I do when they are a bit older and have a lot of ‘work’ to do for themselves, would they neglect me?

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Homeschooling: Teaching shapes to toddlers and pre-schoolers

Salam,

I'm actually not a stay at home mum and do work(as a teacher) .As a teacher, I work with older kids, so toddlers and pre-schoolers are my personal experiment at the moment. I do believe teaching start at home, though i do hope not all parents decided to home-school cos I would be jobless otherwise.
I do not rely on school to teach my children, but prefers to educate them myself. I do believe a lot in audio,visual and kinesthetic learning. My children and I are probably more keen on kinesthetic, which is a lot to do with our sense of touch and feel. We have been working on shapes for a while now, and my 3 year old pretty much recognises different shapes. I was trying to find ways to teach her remember how many sides does each shape have, and while thinking about it an idea came to my mind when i saw her playing with pencils.She was trying to build 'things' with the pencils. It was brillant, just what we needed, so we started making shapes using the pencils, and within minutes she and her younger sister remembered the number of sides each shape has. They were counting the number of pencils they would need to make a shape, in order to know the sizes.
But, this simple shapes lesson turned into much more with their help. It helped them with counting the number of pencils they would need, and also with the concept of 'too many' vs 'too little' when choosing how many pencils they would need.  Furthermore, my 3 year old, who has been working on small /smaller; big/bigger etc made the shapes and analysed which ones were smaller/bigger and why she thought so by counting the number of pencils used and how much space it took on the floor.
My youngest, who is still learning to count used this exercise to work on her knowledge of colours. She tried to remember which pencil in the shapes were of what colours. She knows a lot of colours, but sometimes struggles to tag the right colour name with the shade.
I really enjoyed this exercise with them ,and would say they were they were the ones leading me on through out.
We have also incorporated making shapes in our exercise routine, whereby use parts of our body to form different shapes while exercising, and since we've introduced this, this seems to be my 3 year old favorite exercise routine.




Monday 12 January 2015

The Myth about Bad parenting



                                                        
Salam everyone,
I had this preconceived view that there is something as bad parenting and good parenting. I would not take away this view, but I have definitely learnt that sometimes even with what we can call best parenting, things don’t always turn out so rosy when it comes to children.
I have worked with children for quite some time now, and I have even designed and delivered parenting classes for a charity. There is not one particular right way to bring up a child, yes; consistency makes a difference but it doesn’t work for all.
With my two children, the way i deal with each of them when it comes to any issue is quite different. They are 2 different individuals with different needs and need to be tackle differently even when facing similar situations. And, they would be called ‘normal’ children by most if not all (if we can really define what’s normal). Unfortunately, not every child is labelled as normal. In my line of work, I come across different pupils showing different forms of behaviour, which would sometime be called ‘challenging’. All the children that I work with have been expelled from schools for reasons that could scare even an adult in many a situation, but then you get to know those children and realise that they are much more than the files you’ve read, and they are not the monsters described on them.
As adults, we tend to look for what we see as ‘normal’ and when this ‘normality’ is not present; we easily dismiss it as challenging/unacceptable behaviour without getting to the root of the problem. The other day, I was in a supermarket and a 7 year old was having a tantrum and people were looking at the parents like it’s their faults, and some even gave passing comments about bringing up children. I am not surprised by the reactions of the people around; after all we have been accustomed to what society has agreed on being normal.  A woman even went up to the mum and said can’t you calm your kid down; it’s no age for him to act like that! Were they wrong to judge someone they don’t know? Were they wrong to judge someone’s parenting skills, would they have done any better in that situation? Honestly, I haven’t got the answer, but what I could see was the Mum being hurt by those comments. I think most parents bring up their children with the best of intentions and sometimes we may choose the wrong way to go about it but most parents want to see their children succeed and have a comfortable and happy lifestyle.  I don’t know if there was anything wrong with the boy, but I thought it wasn’t my job to tell mum how to deal with her child, whom she knows best. But, it did make me think about a particular parent of a child I work with. This parent had been in similar situations a number of times, and eventually decided that she will shut herself to protect her child and people in society. This parent, who I would describe as an excellent parent, she loves her child as any parent would, she cares for him as any parent would and more importantly she even disciplines her child when he acts out and rewards him for the good he does. But, talking to her made me realised she has lost her own life in the process. She hasn’t had a social life for years, if she needed to go out on her own, she felt too embarrassed to ask people to look after her son; or she had been turned down so many times, that she knows there’s no point in even asking someone to babysit for her. It’s quite a sad state of affairs.
I remember reading an article a while back, with a similar situation to the supermarket scene, and a lot of people including parents were commenting to say if your kids don’t behave, don’t bring them with you or we don’t have to deal with your rotten egg etc. So, i wonder if those same people happen to have a ‘rotten egg’ would they stay at home all the time? What would they do if they were unable to find a babysitter? People are quick to judge (including myself) without understanding the ins and outs. I can never put myself in this mother’s shoes cos Alhamdulillah I do not have a child who suffers from a learning/mental disability. I do not know if i could have done any better than her, or was it that I morel ikely would have been worst?
I work with a lot of children who actually would be called SENs and a lot of those learning disabilities cause them to act different to the norm and as a result of our misunderstanding, it builds up a frustration in them;whereby they see themselves as inferior to ‘normal’ children. Once we are able to accept them with their differences and allow them to cope with their disabilities the best way they can, then they turn out in many cases to be the most well-behaved and polite children, of course with the help of good parenting. Some parents do the best they can, but it’s not only up to them to create successful stories for their children but also about society accepting that we are all different and need to accept our differences and accommodate for it. So well done to all those Mums out there who sometimes think they have given up on their life for their children’s sake.Even if people around you do not recognise the selfless sacrifices you make on daily basis, you are worth much more in your children's eyes. It is easy to judge when standing from the castle, but had you been down in the mud, only God knows how you would have coped.

Monday 5 January 2015

The forgotten daughters



Salam.
This story is an incomplete story based on facts. Only Allah knows what's the ending of the story.
There was once 2 beautiful sisters Tabarakallah. They were the most adorable little things, they were the best gifts any mother could ask for. Their mum called them Hamida and Hadiya. Hamida and Hadiya lived in beautiful house, that their mum had decorated only for them. They loved her to bit and she loved them back, all the same.
Hamida  and Hadiya were quickly growing up and it was time for them to go to nursery. Hamida, by then was now 3 and Hadiya was 2. They started getting more exposed to the world, even though their mum used to take them out  a lot, but they used to mainly go to places full of kids and mums, and never really realised there were other people around them called dads.
Slowly, at school they would see men coming to pick up children, and the children would call the men: "daddy". Then, it hit them, they do have a daddy, yes he comes almost everyday to see them. He doesn't live with them, but he loves them, he picks them up, he holds them and he looks after them. That's what daddies do, and that's also what happen in cartoons and books. Like Peppa, she got Daddy pig or even Red riding hood, she's got her daddy who save her from the big bad wolf. So, this must be their daddy! From that day, they decided to call the man that looks after them Daddy.
But, unknown to them, this man was not their daddy, even though he always answered them when they call him so. No, he wasn't. He was the man who looks after them when mummy is busy, he was the man who would give them gifts, he was the man who would take them out and love them as if they were his own. But what he wasn't, was their dad!
There was a time when they were not born , and their mummy had married a man, a man who affirmed he would lay down his life for his kids, would love them so much that they his kids would love him more than their mummy. This man was the father of Hamida and Hadiya. He was the man who promised to protect his children against anything and anyone that would hurt them. His name was Yahya. Yahya wanted to be the dad his father has never been for him. His father was most of the time out of his life, and even when he was in, did not really show any interest in him, and he hated that.  He promised himself, he would never become his dad. A promise he would fail to keep as the future would tell.
Yahya moved away from Hamida when she was 4 months old and barely tried to keep in touch with her. Yahya and Hamida's mummy went their separate ways when Hamida was 4 months, and Hadiya was still in Mummy's womb. Yahya did not look back at Hamida, she came a few times looking for him, but never found him or would find him for a few minutes and then he would vanish. Hadiya, on the other hand found him for the very first time and the very last time when she was 3 months old. Unfortunately or fortunately, both of them have no recollection of him. But, mummy always tell them about him, as they need to know there was a Yahya, and if one day when they are big enough, they want to venture in the world and find him, then they can cos it's their right!
Back to the present, Hamida and Hadiya are playing with their daddy, and mummy is looking at them and thinking, they could not have chosen a better dad. A dad who selflessly love them, without having a right to, without being asked to and without having a duty to. But there will come a day when they will realise they daddy cannot be their father as he is their uncle (mummy's brother). This man chose to play the role of dad in their life without being asked to and there was their father, who should be playing this role, who have the duty of playing this role, who promised to play this role but never once did he as much glance at them. Mummy might have made a mistake in choosing the wrong dad for them , but they eventually chosethe right daddy who love them as they should be and cherish them.
The story is not over yet, Yahya had moved on and very far, where he has a son, a son he adores and cherish, a son he call his world, a son that means everything to him; but in all this he forgot, he forgot abou his daughters who as he once said were his means to Jannah!


"Whoever takes care of two girls until they reach adulthood - he and I will come (together) on the Day of Resurrection - and he interlaced his fingers (meaning in Paradise)." (Reported by Muslim)
So can there be any greater honor given to daughter and for those who wish to have them and bring them up properly? And he said in another Hadith:

"Whoever has three daughters or sisters, or two daughters of two sisters, and lives along with them in a good manner, and has patience with them, and fears Allah with regard to them will enter Paradise." (Reported by Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhee and others)

And in another Hadith: "They will be a shield for him from the Fire." (Reported by Ahmad and Ibn Maajah)

Putting hadith on social network doesn't make you a pious person, it is your actions and deeds that makes you a good Muslim for the akhirah, anyone can be a good Muslims for the dunya by tweeting, facebooking etc but our deeds are recorded on Allah's network and shall be our witnesses on the day of judgement. Fear Allah.

Saturday 3 January 2015

Yezarck's Magical Touch

Salam everyone.


I had been staying over at my friend Yezarck over the Christmas holidays. And obviously, needless to say , an artist den was the best place for children to get creative with all the resources around. My youngest seemed pretty much intrigued by Yezarck's sketch book and decided to leave a few contributions there. I am putting up some pics of my kids doodles transformed by Yezarck, even though there is many more, and some that she is still working on. This woman can get the best out of nothing. She is a talented artist Mashallah Tabarakallah based in the north east with roots in Africa and the Carribean which can be seen in her work.
On top of that, she also makes wonderful artwork on glass such as the very sturdy glass jars (pictured below), she gifted my daughters. It is amazing how they are still in shape after all the torture they have been through but they seem to to never break. My daughters love them and use them like piggy banks and pencil holders.
She also make beautiful jewelry boxes with name engraved on it in Roman alphabets and in Arabic. Lovely gifts for young girls.
Please have a look at her websites and feel free to buy anything from her as most (if not all) of the money gain from the sales goes to the people in Syria.
 https://yezarck.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Yezarck?fref=ts
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Yezarck









Project Ready Steady Cook

Salam everyone!
For the past month or so , I  have formally introduced my 2 and 3 years old to formal cooking lessons. Alhumdulillah they are really enjoying it.  We call it our Sunday bake off.
My daughters have been playing with cooking dough and helping out with cold food all along, I thought it was about time to introduce them to the hot stuff.
We started off with making cupcakes and decorating them with gel and they loved it. They didn't mind getting their hands dirty and  putting the tray in the oven. It also helped them to do their maths by counting the cups and worked their gross and fine motor skills by mixing the different ingredients and decorating their cupcakes. My 2 year old decorated her cupcakes using the gel frosting to write letters of the alphabet, while my 2 years old used the gel to draw shapes.
I also introduced them through this to their first 'science' lesson. I let them put the tray in the oven, so they can realise how hot it is, and watch how the cupcakes became bigger as they were cooking. They were all excited about it and even told me to be careful as it is really hot. It has created awareness of hot and burnt in them while cooking. Alhumdulillah now when i cook, and i stay away you might get burnt, they actually understand what I mean and even comment about it.
So far, we have made jellies which required them using a whisk on a hot stove, and my little girl even told me the whisk has to be  a big otherwise her hand would touch the pan and it would burn. Some people may think they are too young for this kind of stuff, but I would like to reassure you, I supervise every action they make and do take over where I think it would be too dangerous. We decorated our jelly with fresh satsumas which made a healthy dessert for them.
Recently, we made some pancakes using chocolate tablet. I showed them how we melt the chocolate using hot water and they both attempted the exercise. They enjoyed their new science experiment and are always asking to make pancakes nowadays.
Cooking is not only a family activity now but it also relaxing, therapeutic and a good method of learning and teaching.