Assalaamu Alaikum

A day in our life is extremely variable, as every day has a different set of
outside commitments.  Someone has an Arabic, Qur'an and/or halaqa every day, and sometimes there are two on the same day.

After Fajr, the children usually go back to bed until 8 or so.  They have
breakfast and get started.  (Breakfast, for those who enjoy food stories, is
usually juice, fruit, cereal, oatmeal, kamut, pancakes or waffles (made with buttermilk), scones, english muffin bread (a friend gave me this recipe and it is soo easy), or muffins.  If anyone wants eggs, they fix them on their own.) 

After that, school begins.  The older two are pretty much on their own, except for questions.  My daughter has questions for geometry pretty regularly, and my older son needs watching to be sure he stays focused.  They work for an hour or so on Qur;an every day, but they usually do this at night after I've gone to bed.  I have to do mine in the am, before my mind gets too busy.  I can listen to them, if they need it, the next day.  My teens are turning into nightowls.  My son needs extra work in writing, so I've scrapped any sort of a curriculum and am just having him write every day on whatever he chooses.  They do school at the kitchen table, if they need my help, or on the living room floor.  Occasionally, they'll work up in their bedroom.  They both read quite a bit.  Brian jacques and JR Tolkien did this for my son.  It took a long time to find something that would hold his attention for a long book.

My daughter is using SharhAl-Aqeedat-il-Wasitiyah for one halaqa, Fundamentals of Iman for another, and is beginnning to use the Ideal Muslimah for the second class as well.  My son is mostly studying about the Khulifah ar- rashidoon right now, and reading more in Islamic HIstory and stories of the companions of the prophets.  We used Signs of the Hypocrites for a while for after salah family reading, but now will bring up different hadith, or just talk.  I'll probably start my son on the Ideal Muslim soon as well.

I usually do my arabic homework while they're doing school, and work in some of my reading during this time as well.  I also knit, quilt and sew, although haven't done much quilting this year.  My current books are Math:  Facing an American Phobia by Marilyn Burns, Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh, The Ideal Muslimah by Dr. Muhammad Ali al-Hashimi, The world of the Angels by Sheikh Abdu 'l-Hamid Kishk, Tafseer Soorah al-Hujuraat by Abu Ameena Bilal Phillips, and tafseer ibn katheer.  I have downstairs books, upstairs-by the bed- books, stuck in my Arabic book bag books, stuck in my driving bag books.  I also try to keep up somewhat with what my children are reading so just read Marlfox by Brian Jacques.

I can clean, cook dinner and whatnot while the older two are doing school.  I try to get laundry going before they're up and sometimes finish up at night. My house is never totally clean though, and sometimes looks like a total disaster, especially with projects spread about and my youngest one's lego creations all over.  My youngest does minimal school.  I'm using Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons, bob books and other books from the library for practice, explode the code workbooks off and on, Miquon math, Horizons K math for fun (he does this when he wants to), lots of library books and read aloud, D'nealian handwriting, practicing Arabic letters with tashkeel, stories of the Prophets and from sirah, and Qur'an.  He plays a lot with pattern blocks, number cubes, and lego, lego, lego.  He, more or less, has charge of his day, and I try to fit school into his moods.  It goes quicker and I prefer an extremely relaxed learning method for up to fourth grade or so.  He also does things from Mighty math, Let's go  Read: an Ocean Adventure, Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and Read, Write and Type on the computer.  I do have the Jumpstart Arabic Kindergarten, but he hasn't done too much with that yet.

My husband usually comes home for lunch and dhuhr, except on days that I have to go to Virginia for Arabic class as he needs to get home early on those days to watch the boys.  So, for the most part we have three meals a day together, which is really nice, alhamdullilah.  Afternoons, when there is no other class, are spent finishing up loose ends from the day, reading, playing, chores, etc.  My daughter now volunteers at an islamic school on Fridays, so with her Monday afternoon halaqa and Weds. afternoon Arabic class,  her school  week is reduced to about 3 days.  She spends most of Monday morning reviewing Qur'an, so does only math that day in the evening when she gets back.  My son does extra Qur'an review on Friday as his classes are Sat. morning and Sun. morning.  He has Arabic Thursday afternoon, Friday night and Saturday night as well, so I started giving him Friday off from regular school.  With Jumu'a, there just isn't much time for anything else.  I think this is working better, as now I have extra time to spend with the youngest one.

I only have three children and have been homeschooling for about 7-8 years andfeel really relaxed about what I'm doing, so I probably have much more free time that many of you sisters who have been blessed with more children.

I need to go get bread, etc going, and continue with laundry, etc.  Many, many salaams to all the sisters on this list.  I really enjoy Wehn, as I feel it gives me a whole new community.

Salaam alaikum,

Azhar