ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ "Nun. By the pen, and what they are writing." [68:1] I am standing inside a used-bookstore. It is extremely hot. A bracket fan installed up in one corner spews out bursts of humid air. Beads of perspiration slowly roll down my back as my eyes minutely scan the shelves, up … Continue reading Books that Impacted Me as a Teenager: Confessions of a Bibliophage
Category: Home Education
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم The thing with being a writer is, that you evolve with time: your thoughts, writing style, and even priorities, keep changing. I suppose that is true for every aspect of life: the only thing constant in life is change. As a homeschooling parent who also likes to write, I keep growing … Continue reading The Clouds Parted and “the Son” Shone Through….
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Perhaps you have been wondering where/how I am? And, maybe why/to where I seem to have disappeared? Why you are seeing less of me? Yes, I will admit, things in my life are different now. However, this change did not happen overnight. Life has a way of throwing surprises at you. … Continue reading Standing on a Bridge, Aspiring to New Vistas
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ One of the most beneficial legacies that a Muslim parent can leave behind for their child, is to facilitate their connection with the Qur'an from early childhood in such a way, that it leads to them having a heart that is steadfastly attached to the Qur'an, a tongue that recites it … Continue reading How to Teach Children the Qur’an
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ What does being a niqabi, an unschooling parent, living in culturally-rigid Pakistan, not being able to people-please and sweet-talk my way into and out of superficial, culturally-enforced social conversations, and being a work-from-home, freelancing housewife make a woman? Answer: a Majorly Misunderstood Misfit. But, in order to answer this question in … Continue reading The Fruits of Unschooling: Better a Misunderstood Misfit, Than a Cultural Conformist
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَانِ الرَّحِيمِ Success: a lot is said, written, and taught today about how to achieve it in life. For most if not all human beings, becoming successful in life is a top priority. But before I begin talking about it too, first I would like to wonder out loud what exactly success means … Continue reading 4 Childhood Indicators of Future Success
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Misunderstood. Put on the spot. Challenged. Quizzed in public. That is how I find myself feeling more and more often as an homeschooling unschooling parent, now that my children are older and meeting more people in social settings. People are usually all praise for their demeanor and behavior, until the bomb … Continue reading Parents, Can We Stop Judging Each Other?
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ A group of young women makes its way inside a bustling cafe. They choose a table and make themselves comfortable on the cushioned chairs around it, chattering. When the time for placing their order comes, one of the young women orders a grilled chicken sandwich with a garden salad on the … Continue reading Homeschooling Children: Accepting Their Individuality, Letting Them Grow
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ To continue from where I left off last month at the end of Part 1 of this post, I want to point out how and why letting your children learn mostly via play and not through structured lessons and classes for the first 10-12 years of their lives is not "crazy". … Continue reading “Unschooling” Update and Frequently Asked Questions – Part 2
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ "How do you remember names, places and events that took place decades ago, complete with all the little side details?" "Having a good memory is not always good, you know. It means that you remember the pain of the hurtful aspects of your past. And it also means, that the regret … Continue reading Life Lessons at the Threshold of 35
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ As someone who had no younger sibling; who never in her life babysat any little children for even an hour; who has more than the average penchant for personal privacy, solitude and demarcated boundaries of living space, I often find myself at the receiving end of the following question: How can … Continue reading The Apprentice
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ My daughter is now 6 years old and my son will soon be 4, اِن شَاءَ الله. Since the past 11 months, I have been homeschooling them and, contrary to how I anticipated this journey to be like at the point when I was about to embark upon it, it is I who … Continue reading Happy, Havocked HomeFront: Riding The Home Education Wave and Lovin’ It
