Meet Cikgu Lollies

So i told you that I volunteered to teach the young ones among the Msian community here. I agreed to volunteer for a number of reasons even though I do worry about the conflicting of opinions that might arise. But in the end, perhaps I am that person who likes to touch and feel for herself, so I accept. And i pray that all will be good. And my experience will be beneficial for me and also for the children. And May Allah be please with these.

Anyway I am teaching akhlaq. Ok ok laugh laugh. AT first I said sungguh tak seswai I teach akhlaq. But then it is probably the easiest for me. I am teaching the young one age ranging from 6-7 years old and also the middle young one 9-11 years old.

The young ones are tooo cute, masya Allah. They looked scared at first and I tried my very best to win their hearts. Cewah macam bagus. And some of them probably after feeling more comfortable, happily showed me his ninja turtle bag. And some also have many stories to tell. Too many perhaps. And also some just like to call me but really has nothing to say. *Pening* But the girls are just adorable. Masya Allah. Bat eyelashes.

In the end, I found myself tercungap2 jugaklah handling the little ones because they need so much attention. And they are quite active too. Not all of them can read. And not all of them can write Allah and Muhammad in arabic. Insya Allah no rush.

When I thought dah cukup tercungap with the little ones, the middle young ones are even louder. Can you believe that there are 42 in the class of the age 9-11?? And more than half of them are boys? And more than half of the boys are excited little people? Sometimes the boys were so loud, I forgot there are girls in the class too.

But they are pleasant children. maybe one or two who says words yang memeranjatkan to my ears. I wonder if their parents know.

By second week not only I found some are very adorable while one seven year old had ipod stuck in his ear (which i told the boy to keep it away when I teach) listening to song I don't even know the title. I received cute hugs from the little one and I also heard the word bodoh and penampar (not directed to me though).

Aduhai Tuan Hj Bakhil, Cikgu Murni senak dada macam ni. :P

Anywaaayyy, my first lesson to all of them, irregardless of the age was,

WE LISTEN WE OBEY.

I think before I start babbling on this is the sunnah, this is how Prophet Muhammad s.a.w do or this is what he said, and also this is what Allah tells you to do, I should make them to understand (And agree) that they will always listen and they will obey to Allah's command and the Prophetic ways.

Insya Allah, if I said the Prophet eats with right hand, no one will eat steak using fork on their left hand. Same goes to all of us.

Anyway we made bookmarks as one of their first activity.




May the children have love to the deen. And may they grow up guided.

Jihad gak ni

It is a jihad for me to be happy and cheerful and understanding and compassionate to this person, who fled from her war torn country, when she is rude and selfish and thinks little about others' difficulties.

It's ok, she had a hard time.
Her hard time shapes her the way she is now. It is not her fault.
Be sympathetic.
You don't really know her.
You could also be in her position. Err ok..

But please, for now, just don't get in my way.

"None of you will truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself". (narrated by Bukhari)

May Allah calm my heart.

Do you love me?

Do you love me Jack?
I love you. But I love Allah more. Then I love the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.. Then I love you.

*kisses and hugs*

Oh I am in love.

Panjat Lagi Sikit

I went back to my old post in the early 2009 and I said I wanted to be cool in 2009. Angkat kening kat diri sendiri.

Well lots of room for improvement. LOTS!

Anyway forget about the domestic goddessy thingy. I have lost interest altogether. So I cook and eat and call some people over. But I am finding less and less time for fine cuisine (cewah). I admit, it is not my forte. Tapi jangan marahlah kalau makcik kata makcik masa a very mean tasting chicken curry hari ni dengan banyaknya sebab bolehlah menjala roti esok untuk di cicahkan.

I find my time being squeezed even at the starting of 2010. Alhamdulillah. I pray I can keep up with them and take the benefit of this time before I fall sick, or have to leave the country, or some intervention that prohibits me or die.

I have been thinking to myself how some people keep up with their time. They are even busier. Someone has 10 kids, she teaches people nearly everyday, meaning she has to prepare to teach, she also learn, and she cooks (sedaplak tu) and and and.

It dawned one me that Allah must have put barakah on her time. And made her better in time management. Allah creates time, the concept of time and thus our perception of time. he can make your time short or long. He can make someone to gain within one hour gain nothing except the clicking of mouse or understand a verse of His words or clean up the whole kitchen or teach someone or even make daawah.

I pray that Allah give barakah on my time and bless this gold that I am spending.

Anyway, my class has added more syllabus which is actually voluntary but I thought why not. Thus making my time completely full four out of five days on weekdays. Leaving me very little time for proper housekeeping (alasan). I only have Tuesday free for myself that I am hoping to do the groceries and do mini housekeeping, try to exercise (hardest), read (hard), homework and other things. But I have a feeling soon this Tuesday will be taken up also.

My weekends are mostly full too. I still have the teenage girls programme which is actually once a month but I can sense the other sisters are trying to push it to twice a month. I am actually reluctant because Friday is my day with my children. It's already a challenge to have our "class" together. And I find that at the moment I am the stumbling block in this group. *Tak tau nak cakap macam mana. tetiba rasa nak nangis*

It really makes me think whether I am perhaps one of those who doesn't rush or exert myself for good deeds. And I fought with my innerself with ikhlas or being terpaksa otherwise. When people offer me something on the plater, I hesitate and think alot to pick up. And finally the platter is being pulled away.

Last year I thought of doing something different than what I use to do. I volunteered to help out in a programme. But it turned out sour on my side. And I am frustrated and sad. Then I became a bit reserve and would avoid doing voluntary work or help out. It's a struggle in me because I think I miss a lot of deeds.

But as if tak serik, I agreed to help out the Malaysian group to teach the children over the weekend religious class. I pray that this is a wise decision and it will be good for myself and for everyone in dunya and akhirah. Perhaps I will put up an entry on this one.

Anyway, I am praying that I can always better myself in everything. Achieve what I aspire to achieve. Bersemangat. Steadfast. Make friends. Be warm. Spread love. Sprinkle peace.

Tahun ni nak panjat lagi sikit and observe territory of possible expansion, Insya Allah. Hopefully not my width though.

New Toy Uolls

Yayyyy my second new toy for the this year. Wopedeeeee!!

And a total surprise pulak tu. Loverku sungguh prihatin of my innate desire.

He must have understood the difficulties I am facing having to cut up the carboards and papers and having in the end crooked lines. Stressful life!

And thus a surprise new toy for me!

I present to you







A PAPER CUTTER. HAHAHAHAHHA! (Cheap thrill I know.)







For a more professional looking paper cut. Yapedadidu!!

Now maybe I can start hinting on the handbags again.

Laaa dah tahun baru

I like to update the kids progress ideally every September (or before January the following year) like I did in the past years. Mainly because their school year begins in September. So it's easy to make planning and envisage what to achieve for the whole year. But this time, I was a bit lax because so many things happened in between September and now.

Looking back what I started last year which was mainly my other blog. Even though there were not many notes in there, but I tried my best to be consistent. It is just that, I started off with children's type of language, but in the later notes, I became lazy and just wrote the notes down in adults form of language. But the main point is there.

The blog had helped me to keep discipline in having notes. And it did help me to think properly and force me to be sure of facts (as much as I am able to). I sincerely hope it has help some of you as much as it did me.

Anyway after a year, I have identified the major challenges in teaching my children.

WEEKEND TIME

First of all, I can only do it in the weekend. The problem about weekend is I have to share it with other activities like people inviting us for makan-makan, outdoor activities especially in the winter (which is now) and other classes. It is hard to steal time sometime to have a good sit down with the children.

And because of that, sometimes I get stressed up. Because I am like that. I am crazy over datelines. And I am worse with datelines that I created myself.

And stress is not good because than I would rush to finish what I have prepared.

So I want to try to be relax about this. And try to make up some activities that we can do on the go relating to the subject. This one I am not so creative at. I am a very academic person and most of the time needs a book to assist me. But I do like to think about this, for the next coming year. May Allah give me good ilham.

FINISH QUICKLY

The next challenge is, because I want to finish the "syllabus" quickly, I made the children very tired. Especially Batrisyia.

I made an attempt to do some workbook on two subjects which are tafseer and hadith (only for Haziq at the moment). This one takes me alot of days, even weeks to complete. Even for a short surah like Al kawthar.

Out of my eagerness to complete a "syllabus" in one go, I forced them to finish them all, sometime a 13 pages workbook. And some of the questions require "deep" thinking of description.

For example

What should you do to ensure that you will get the drink from the pond of Al Kawthar

I have forgotten about the fun of learning. Even though the workbook looks like fun (err ya ka?), but the pressure tires them.

So this time round, I want to take it easy, Insya Allah. Plenty of breaks. And if we cannot finish it today, we'll do it next week.

I really have to learn to calm myself and reassure myself, that I am not failing myself just because we cannot complete it on the very same day. We are not rushing for anything because there is no big exam to catch. (except for my increasing age and if I die who would do this for them? <---this is the reason why I am panicking all the time).

So next resolution, is to take it easy.

Other than that, I think the kids do enjoy it. Jack is sitting longer than usual or if he goes away, it would not be because he wants to play with the PS2. :P And sometime he would quote what I said which I don't even remember saying it. Sya too would point out things she knows.

And sometimes there are some fruits from the seeds I tried to sow. In my explanation of the second hadith of nawawi (the famous Hadith jibreel). Read it HERE. haziq learned to ask questions. Not that he was afraid to ask, but many times he asks unnecessary questions which in my opinion is irritating.

He asked a newbie in school what is pi to the power of two just because he knew the answer. I told him about Ibn Abbas who was one of the great scholars among the sahabahs, when asked how he obtained all his knowledge, he replied, with an inquisitive tongue and a contemplating heart.

I am not sure whether he understood it, but Insya Allah, whenever he poses good questions, i would praise him. I hope he understands that questions are important, but a question posed must have benefit to you and the one who is around and also the one asked. Not to create argument or to embarrass anyone or to boast your knowledge.

I ask Allah to guide me, for I don't even know whether I am doing enough or what I am doing is right. May Allah bring them good knowledge and make them leaders of the muttaqun.

Their memorisation are getting better. And I do see improvements in Batrisyia. It was hard asking her to memorise. *Tarik rambut* But she is improving. And this matters most to me. She can go one ayah a day for short ayah like in Surah At Tin or a quarter ayah in long ayah like in Al Mulk.

Zachary is as usual imitating everyone. And I think that makes it easier for the youngest one if their elder one are doing memorisation. Because he imitates so much, he has subconsciously memorised Al Kawthar. I am happy.

Masya Allah. may Allah make Quran as spring in their heart.

Haziq is seemingly doing well in his secondary school. With stiffer competition. They are now dividing the kids according to levels. And Haziq takes competition seriously. He loves maths and for now Chemistry and english. He is so so in subject french. But I never tell him to take less important subjects lightly (even though that was what I did). He also likes his pertukangan class even though he has no flair in it.

Sya sticks to the same friends as usual. So perempuan. I need to pay attention to her science and highlight to her the important key words. And understand the concept.

Zachary enjoys everything. And he takes competition seriously. And also leadership seriously. he is very proud when he was selected as the leader and would tell me how important he was when he became the leader of the girls. hahahhaha. Lu sukalah mat.

He is also thinking of ways to make sure that he get the star of the week cert next year.

I am thankful that Allah has given me the chance to work with my children. I ask Allah to shower me with ilham, bring me good knowledge and make me easy to be understood.

This post may sound sterile, but be rest assured I am enjoying myself. When I first started, I wondered how will I keep up with the content. Would I run out of ideas? But truly the more I get into it, the more I need to know. The challenge is not to make it boring to the kids. This is the problem with reading adults abook. To downtone it for children! May Allah make it easy for me.

They may not memorise everything, for I never gave them a formal test (maybe I should), but I pray they get the essence of it all, which is fear Allah and follow His Messenger s.a.w.