Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Koran for kids

How do your kids learn koran?
I have had a hard time with this. DS1 used to go to Islamic Center, but he hated it, he cried the whole time he was there. Out of the hour he was there the maulvi (teacher) spent about 5 minutes teaching him. The rest of the time he was reciting what he needed to know. If you have ever been to a Islamic koran class, especially the pakistani ones you know what I mean. I would drive 20 minutes to get there and sit outside and wait for him and then take him home.
Then last summer a new Islamic center opened in our town, it was such good news, we were so happy! It is very kid friendly and modern, clean and decorated beautifully. They also saturated koran classes and I took both kids to the classes. The teacher was a young American born maulvi and very nice, the kids loved him. He would bribe the kids with pizza and other relevant kid bribes. Then there was talk of him leaving! all the moms were horrified, the board of the masjid wanted him to work more and the teacher was asking for more money. So in the end the teacher left, the moms, me included even offered to pay fees to supplement his salary, but the board refused. The kids were so sad and the classes stopped. To save money the board decided the regular Imam of the masjid can teach the classes, so he started and the kids went to one class, after there were no kids showing up that stopped too.
I am sure there are more sides to this story, I only know this side and I know my kids loved that teacher. Anyway, this summer I started quran learning online, It is an online service which provides tutors to teach children the Koran. The price is very reasonable, cheap I would even say. There are three free classes and there are various times and days you can set it up for. I set up a 3x a week program for both kids, there is a sibling discount too. The teacher my kids have is very nice and teaches the kids through Skype and Gotomeeting. You don't have to buy any software, everything is provided by the company.
DS1 is doing so well with this and I am hoping he will be on Suparh30 by Eid and DS2 is on Kaida and learning the compound words. I am so glad I found this service! I know how important it is to teach the kids Koran, and in the country it is very hard, I am ashamed to say I didn't start it earlier, I finished koran when I was 8years old thanks to my mom teaching me. I am ashamed I did not do that for my own kids. But Inshallah this method will work.
As for how may day is going, DS1 is complaining of toothache so off to the dentist we go!....

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Did It!

I made the cakes! I made the cars cake, it looked great, just like the car! I used the mold and then thought I burnt it but it came out fine, covered it in the the different colored icing, just used frosting out of the can and used food coloring to make the different colors. The prepackaged colored frosting is so expensive, so I made my own and used sandwich bags as icing bags. It all worked out. DS2 (youngest, I'm going to use DS2 or DS1 for each son since it is easier to write!)anyway he loved it! The cupcakes came out great too, the kids decorated those with the left over icing, so they had fun. I am glad I tried and did this, I think I spent about $10 on cake supplies for his birthday, colors and frosting and cake mix I had at home already.

The other update is on the movie, I finally went with DS1 and watched the movie Harry Potter! it was very very good! however, I should have reread the book!, I have a very bad memory and I couldn't remember what had happened and what was going to happen, I kept asking DS1 and he was getting annoyed!A problem with that movie is I hate snakes! and that Nagini is horrible, I had to close my eyes when it came on the screen!
I couldn't believe how many people were upset in the theater! there were people crying! It was so funny! I have read the book, most of the world has by now and everybody knows HP lives, so why cry when he dies in the movie! he lives again anyway! it was sad to see an end to a series, and to see the characters older was wierd too. It was sad to see the bond DS1 and I made over these books come to a close too. We read all the books together and watched the last 3 movies together. I have to find another series for us to start, any suggestions?

Monday, July 18, 2011

Birthday!

Today is my youngest birthday! I cant believe he is 6, wow! I remember when he was born, so vividly like it was yesterday. He was an easy birth, I drove myself to the hospital and was induced, he arrived about 3 hours after induction started! which is quick!. Now he is 6, wow! I think I should be sad he is growing, but I love it once the kids become independent, I hated the diapers and the pooing and peeing everywhere. I hated the late night feeds and the dependence the kids had on me. I was crying with joy the day we stopped using diapers, I knew I would never have to use them again!
Update on the Harry Potter movie, I am going to take oldest today to watch it, probably in the morning, when tickets are cheaper, I know I am cheap, but I have to be.
I ahve to make the frigging cake today too! I have to make a cars cake, and some cupcakes! I have never made cupcakes before! Birthday boy wants a lightning mcqueen cake, so we went to Michaels yestrrday and bought the mold and the frosting. I had the fod coloring at home so I will use the cloring to make the different colors and then use plastic sadnwhich bags to make icing bags, cut a corner off and use it for th edetail. I am so stressed about this!. It was my idea to make a cake rather than buy one, but I didnt know Birthday boy would be so specific about what he wants!
How do you celebrate birthdays? In Islam they are not celebrated, when I was little we didn't celebrate them either, we just bought a cake and cut it after dinner. I have kept that tradition now too. Tonight, after and if I make this cake, after dinner we will all get together and put a candle on the cake, sing, cut and eat. We never do any big parties, I don't think it is right to commercialize it so much, he got gifts(Cars 2 game!) and a cake, that should be it right?