Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Time to shift gears

Salaam,

It's been quite a while since I last blogged and it's time to shake the cobwebs from my head. Now that Ramadan is over we are trying to pick up the pieces and plow ahead in the curriculum. It was tough to focus toward the end of the fast. My daughter is quite ahead and I need to sort of regroup and figure out new activities for her to do so that we don't skip any important details.
We celebrated Eid on Friday, October 12 but it looks like the local celebration was on the 13th. We did our gift exchanging Stitch by stitch
and attended the salat on Friday but also went to the Eid celebration downtown on Saturday. Fun for the kiddies
There was quite a turnout which made the wait extremely long for the rides. Sadly, the bazaar wasn't all that spectacular, yet I managed to purchase a tiny dishdasha for my son for about ten dollars. I hope they have Eid ul Adha in a different place because it was so humid! Humidity is hard on a niqabi! Prayer mats are all trampled now
The cool thing about this Eid is that I met a sister from the States! I haven't seen any African American sisters who live in Canada since I got here. The bonus is that her family attends the local mosque. I also met another African American sister from Florida who is a motivational speaker. She and her husband were here at our local mosque trying to assist with organizing halaqa's and other general social events. We also met a family on Friday's Eid prayer who invited us over for breakfast and we ended up staying the whole day, AlhamduLILLAH. May Allah grant mercy and peace to all the wonderful Muslims we met and the ones that we did not have the opportunity to meet. Ameen.
If you knit, there is a website which you may or may not have heard of called ravelry. It is a good place to organize and show off your knitting and there is even a group for Muslim knitters! Read More...

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Ramadan is coming to an end

So, I have been fasting for what seems like forever. I have never had trouble with fasting until this Ramadan. Also, I don't think I have ever been so busy! I have been teaching every day - including a couple of times on the weekend. My daughter is doing quite well and has progressed in ways that I hadn't foreseen.

She's reading early reader phonics books and can sound out words slowly on her own. She's also really good at mathematics - especially abstract concepts.

Working hard

I need to stop by the local mosque bookstore, InshaALLAH, and pick up a set of Islamic curriculum books by Good Word like these. They sell the whole set at cost so it's $15.

This should, InshaALLAH be a good Eid for the kids because the older they get, the more excited they get. I like to watch them open their gifts, I get a real kick out of that. Read More...