When my daughter was a baby I never intended on homeschooling and actually truth be told I thought home schooling was for freaks who wanted to socially deprive their children from all the public education system had to offer.
When my daughter was about four I met a woman who homeschooled all her six children, I remember telling her I didn't know how she found the patience and she told me something that made all the difference (and I myself have told countless people) "Patience isn't something that we are born with, it's something that is learned as you go along" ma'ashallah she was an amazing woman and although she died from cancer three years after that I will never forget her.
So my daughter starts school and she never really thrives, her reading is behind, her writing is behind and nearly every day she pretends to be sick, . This continues for a year when I decide enough is enough and make the decision to leave my job and home school her. Almost straight away her reading and writing improves and in the space of a few months she went from barely being able to read any words to reading chapter books! That alone was the encouragement I needed to keep going and that I did.
Oh you wouldn't believe the negative comments I have received over the years from people who think I should put her into school (as if it's actually any of their business) many people are curious but some are just plain rude (to those people I start talking a lot about government conspiracies and that usually gets rid of them ;) )
I wouldn't say I that I wouldn't send any of my other children to school but with A I would not, it just doesn't work for her. You can't fit a round peg into a square hole and I know my daughter well enough to know that the 'traditional' school system is just not for her. She excels at home actually, she may be ten but ninety percent of the subjects she is studying this year are at high school level ma'ashallah. What works for one doesn't always work for all as is clearly shown with her.
Originally I was unschooling her but that didn't work so well, I'm just not organized enough ;)
So now we start at 9.30 with Arabic every morning.
From ten to twelve we do maths, english and history
From one to three we do science, geography, social sciences etc
From four to dinner she works on a project that we decide on previously and it could be from making a bird bath to sewing a dress to making a clay pot.Sometimes she will just spend it reading.
For an hour each night I try to give her an hour with just me to do whatever she wants so tonight we watched a documentary on the Aztecs sacrificing rituals but tomorrow it may be scrabble or baking muffins.
We do have other projects and things we do but i think I will save those for another day :)
She is also expected to do chores daily and they change from day to day but I have not touched her bedroom since she was four and she also does her own laundry and puts away the dishes. I don't pay her for general helping around the house because that is just being part of a family but for jobs like washing the outside windows or scrubbing the stairs she does. Teaching our children to be responsible is one of the most important things we can teach. When I see a mother who does everything for her children I often think she is robbing them of the pride they feel from being able to handle responsibility. Life skills are something I really focus on in homeschooling her because when I left home I did not know how to cook at all or clean or even sew on a button! I would never want that for her.
I do feel strongly that insha'Allah I will continue to home school any children I have because I see the continued blessings from it. Well statistics just speak for
themselves!
Basically the reason I home school is because it is what is best for my daughter and her sense of security means more to me than all the free time in the world.
Have a blessed weekend my dear sisters xx
.JPG)
