Mommy and Zaid on a mission:)

so it's been around 2 weeks since i started helping Zaid memorize some Quran. The idea just came one day without planning for it subhanallah! He was holding the Quran and i came and showed him the smaller surat that he already knows, "look you know this one, and this one, oh my god and this one.." the more i showed him, the more his smile got bigger habeby =) I asked him with amazement I think you can know all of them, do you want to? and he said yes. and from that night he kept the Quran next to him in bed and we started memorizing the following surat after reading the bed time story.

I just feel so proud and happy that he is excited to do it. The other day i was turning the Arabic channels and Shykh Sha3rawy was on, may Allah have mercy on his soul, amen. I immediately asked Zaid with such enthusiasm, "do you see what this man is holding? it's the Quran, you know Zaid this man knows all of it he memorized it all". The look on his face was priceless habeby, and i told him your gona know the Quran just like him inshallah.

wallahi if that happened, I'm going to be the happiest mom ever and i pray that this day will come.

Of course in order to help him, i need to be very aware..because I'm helping him memorize during bed time i have to be careful not to push him too much; if i feel that he is tired, or I'm tired to know when to stop..when to repeat, how far to go. some nights we memorize 3 ayat, the next we keep repeating just one ayah over and over and it is ok. I have to keep in mind that some words are hard for him to pronounce so it takes more time. I have to keep it fun and positive, sometimes the way your voice, high or low can make the difference to catch his attention more..etc. I have to say, at the beginning it seemed easy but sometimes i feel like i just wana kiss him good night and leave to be just by myself lol. May Allah give me strenght to continue and see my Zaid a Hafez ya Kareem, amen :)

When Ammar went to camp, Zaid asked if he can sleep in our bed...i thought for a minute and said yes habeby you can..i was sitting on the computer and subhanallah i remembered that Bayan sent me a website a while ago that repeats the ayat u want to help the kids memorize! so i found it, turned it while zaid in bed. Too bad he can't sleep in our bed everyday ;)

here is the website: http://harfkids.com/quraan.aspx

I also noticed that Zaid really loves it when the teacher gives him a sticker everyday for things they did inside the class, and i just thought how can i use the same idea to help him do other things. Usually parents use the Behavior charts to help kids follow the rules, clean up their room..etc i never really liked it cus the kids seem to do what they are asked just for the prize not understanding the work itself, and i could be wrong. Any way, so today i went and bought a calender with cute baby animals pic and showed it to zaid..he LOVED and was soo happy to know it's a calender..he said just like Miss Igner's (his speech teacher), i explained to him that i will give you a three stickers if you do three things everyday and he was lisitining carefully:

1- copy 4 lines from any Arabic story.
2- copy 4 lines from any English story
3- whenever you see me praying, pray next to me. (I'm hesitate about it but i would like to try it)

I also wana put a star shaped sticker next to each surah he know, but I'm keeping this for later.

I see him writing and reading English everyday and it is so amazing to watch, and it is time to start with the Arabic. Yes he goes to Sunday school every week but it is not enough..kids need to practice it just like in school..and i really hope this will work, im so excited :)

if anyone is reading and have some good ideas to help zaid, plz share it :)

Life with a1st grader =)

soo this morning we dropped zaid at school then i took Ammar to the van rental place. Ammar is taking the ICH youth to their Annual youth camp, i think this is their 5th year mashallah! Ammar has been so stressed about it..buying the food, planning, dealing with parents..late registration, waiting list..etc and on top his school work and teaching@ UCLA. but he is excited at the same time.. i hope they all have fun and may Allah protect them all and bring them back safe. I'm really so proud of Ammar for everything he does..he has a vision and goals that I've never seen in a young man before. he doesn't just talk to talk.. he is a leader not a follower or complainer. and i hope some people would appreciate that. i see him how he gives all his energy and soul on what he does in the masjid and how some people mistreat him. I see him how he gives all his time even though he is suppose to be working part time now to some people that might not deserve that, but he never gives up because his goal is higher than pleasing those kind of people..walhamdulilah there are so many supportive people around him more now, may Allah bring baraka to his life and help us see the good in people, ameen
.

I've been just keeping busy with my angels. Every Wednesday zaid has self defense class and every Saturdays goes to soccer.

Every Mon and Fri, i try to go with zaid to spend some time inside the classroom and volunteer to help the teacher with whatever i can and it's been so fun. I stay from 8 to 11am usually and then go back to stay with Lana so Ammar can leave to work. Zaid is loving this too..when I'm in the class..all the kids are like is that ur mom? you can tell that he is loving all this attention when he replays yes :)

It's been so refreshing to go out and do something like that alone. I always worry about zaid when he is in school especially that Ammar and I didn't really like his KG teacher. she used to tell us that zaid is very stubborn and sometime doesn't listen n things like that! at the open house, i made sure to tell his 1st grade teacher how he seems to enjoy her class alot unlike KG. She asked me who was his teacher! and when i told her she was like, oh my son was with ur son then..and he also did not enjoy it! another mom was volunteering too and said, "she just didn't have that warm personality". But his teacher now is amaaazing mashallah (she is Egyptian and was raised here :)..she is very organized with her paper work and most importantly very clear. Her hard work shows. I was very curious to see her inside the classroom. first they have breakfast, then a math page, then carpet time with new words and sounds, story with the stuffed lion, stretching..more words n sounds...but all this in a fun and relaxing way, the kids are very quite and follow her nicely..she makes teaching looks very easy mashallah! all that while I'm sitting in the back folding and stabling those decodable books. In KG they used to give the kids copies of them, but the PTO raised money so each child would have their own colored decodable, they cost $600!!

I really encourage all parents to spend some time inside the class. You can understand what goes inside, it helps when doing homework by using the teacher's way so the kid doesn't get confuse, and most importantly it gives your child more confident when he knows your next to him :)

ok i feel like there is so many things i wana write about but im getting tired now...tomorrow Saturday i invited my friends over for dinner, im excited :) so here is some pic of thing we've been doing!

it is so nice to see his love to read, bed time stories :)
@ the Natural History Museum to see his Dinosaurs, he knows all their names!mashallah

my loves :) Fun and practice time :)



@Home Depot

2nd Eid Party

so alhamdulilah we had the 2nd Annual Eid party on Saturday and i think it was successful! we had around 154 ladies there..all ready to party and have fun:)

we decorated the hall early but we didn't finish on time cus the guy opened the hall for us late ugh..mashallah many ladies were there on time! to our good luck!

we started by reciting Quran. then explaining the program, some jokes, and finding some hidden talents among the audience! that was really fun..it was nice to see the ladies happy and not afraid to sing and have fun! mashallah there was this lady who was singing i think to Um Kulthum and she really had an amazing voice mashallah...maybe we should contact her to sing next year!

after that it was time for Mughrib prayer..and then we did a play;)

the play was about how the women committee are struggling to plan things for the ladies, and how the women are being negative and not helping us;) me n the ladies from the committee were the actress...we had to play ourselves after the original 4 actresses couldn't.. we were 8. we had to meet few times before the party to rehearse..after i finished my 1st part at the play, i went off the stage to see my friends acting their part..i thought i'll get a different feeling wathcing with the crowd. to my surprise, one lady came (i never saw her before) and said.." we are here to have fun not to listen to some la3y"!!! i was shocked!! the whole play was about some ladies being negative and not supporting us!!! I just smiled and said ok n walked away to the stage to do my other scene!! the last scene was like that, the women committee are having a meeting after finishing one event..the president is asking us to plan this other future event, and here i take the mic and i talk about how hard is it to plan those events n that i wana quit! but after what that lady told me, i actually added some lines..like i wish the ladies would appreciate what we are doing more..its such hard work..blah blah then i said my line about i wana quite. i think that lady felt bad afterward because she came before leaving and told me thank you for this party..we had a good time!

i think the play hit the right nerve to what we deal with and most importantly, the ladies felt it.

after that, we did the Fashion show, some music, and dinner time. Then some funny quizzes with prizes, and then time for the raffle tickets.

then it was time for sweet and dancing, of course some ladies have to do something to make us irritated...those ladies were upset cus they wanted the DJ to put more Moroccan songs! the DJ already put 4! then they said : oh no that was Tunisian!! i was gona lose it!!!! it was like talking to little kids!

Then around 9:30 we started cleaning up...

alhamdulilah..other than that! everyone had a great time..and the food was good, it was from Al Noor restaurant. :)

inshallah next year we can plan another one :)