Flag Bearers

We are always hearing about how muslim women are the flag bearers of the religion considering that we wear hijab. But did you ever consider how the hijab also attracts other muslims and identifies us? Take this example. One day we went to the gas station and dh and another guy saw one another but nothing really happened. Then I got out of the car and the guy got that aha look on his face and gave dh salaam. Without me there neither one knew the other was muslim. Then there are the women who don't wear hijab and you never know they are muslim either but they see you wearing it and a conversation ensues and maybe you have a new friend. Funny that there are unknown benefits to Islamic requirements that we didn't forsee when we converted. Think of all the salaams we would have missed had we not covered and all the muslims we wouldn't have met.

Etsy sisters

Have you ever checked out Etsy? Its a place to buy handmade goods. I wanted to see what our sisters were selling and came across this. Pretty cool eh? And you can also find hijabs, eid cards, jewelery, paintings, buttons, t-shirts etc. Its nice to find something a little unique in this day and age. What's your favourite shop? Have you found anything amazing there or on similar sites? Share your gems with us today! And not to leave out our non-muslim sisters, take a gander at some of these awesome finds here, here, here and here.

Book Club

Currenlty I belong to the book club at my library but I thought it would be fun to start a book club here on my blog. I wanted to start off with Islamic books but right now I have exhausted my collection. The book I have just started is called The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng (a Malaysian). I saw this book on a friend's facebook account (before I left) and decided to give it a try. So please read along with me and we will discuss it insha Allah together in a few weeks. Happy reading!

Bonnets and Buggies

Last weekend we went to St. Jacob's. We planned it even before we realized it was part of the grade 3 curriculum social studies unit about settlements in upper Canada (the previous name of Ontario). St. Jacob's is a mennonite village. Arrriving late we missed a lot of attractions unfortunately but we had previously paid someone a condolence visit so that was the priority. We were able to see the museum to learn the history of the mennonites here and we did get to see them on the streets in their horse and buggies. At the bakery we saw mennonite women working. Although there are also mennonite women in our little town too, I've never seen them working at a store before. One of my friends has just had a baby so I thought I'd get her a handmade gift. I checked out the baby quilts but yikes for $100 I just couldn't afford that. Not to say that they weren't worth every penny considering all the work that went into them but I think we are so used to Walmart sweatshop prices that realistic prices floor us. There were also baby bonnets and those were for $20. I was thinking that if I gave it to her she would assume that it was a $3 bonnet from Walmart and wonder at my lack of generosity so I passed up on it. But they were so cute. Insha Allah we will go back in the spring so we can do the trip justice this time. At least though we did pretty much cover the mennonite settlement in upper Canada requirement.

Hey I want that 'Jilbab' !

The other day I saw a commercial that caught my eye because the cartoon character was wearing an awesome 'jilbab'. Of course my kids had to point out to me that it was not a jilbab and that it was a male character on a nintendo game who was wearing it. But I don't care; I want it! Tell me what you think. Here it is.

New Magazine On the Block

Some of you may know that Muslim Girl magazine disappeared last year. I wasn't entirely thrilled with that magazine anyway but there were some good things about it. It was also the only muslim magazine I have ever seen sold at corner stores right here in Canada. I remember when the fall issue was about to come and I expected it to be called the Ramadan issue but instead they said it would be the election issue. Are you kidding me? After that they had some kind of publishing problem. But now there is a new magazine out. I'm not sure who's putting it out but its called Muslimette. Check it out! I haven't read it but it looks promising. If you get it let me know what you think.

The Socialization factor

Everybody knows that the first thing people point out when you say you are homeschooling is how are your kids going to learn to socialize. But I am taking care of that; I've signed them up for gymnastics and oh joy, oh bliss Tae Kwon Do right here in this little town! Also I've joined two homeschooling groups in the area so we can participate in field trips and activities. The kids had their first Tae Kwon Do lesson last night. Next week they will get their uniforms which will be white instead of black like their former Kung Fu uniforms. The belts are different too as some levels have stripes. Tonight will be gymnastics and lucky for us this is the first year they will be having kindergym and they have brand new equipment too. On top of this the kids will continue to take arabic and Islamic history classes at a school in which they get to play in the gym during the break.
Masha Allah, alhumdullilah for everything.

Saturated

Seems the world has gone so far the other way and things have become so extreme that people are waking up and saying enough! On Oct 11th catch the documentary or watch it later online.

Mommy friendly clothes

Here is another company (but sadly in UK) that provides maternity and nursing abayas; something really hard to find. If you know of any North American links please share.

1000 visits

Masha Allah my blog has had 1000 visits. Sure I know some of them were from me (why do they count me anyway?, lol) So its that time of the year again. Time to pack up the summer clothes and take out the winter ones. Got that done yesterday. Hubby told me to stop having 4 seasons which of course means hey if you just would have stayed in Malaysia then you wouldn't have to be doing this. What else is on my mind? Well I'm worried about that whole socialization and physical activity thing for my kids. Yesterday I got Wii Fit Plus which has kung-fu on it since there are no martial arts classes here. But hey my kids need friends and real exercise. I'm on the hunt for a solution. This town has very limited choices. My daughter did go skating yesterday though which is good. Insha Allah I will be able to solve this problem as well.

Net full of homeschool supplies.

Well to tell you the truth as of yesterday I really felt like giving up. Today though alhumdullilah I netted some good finds. From an educational toy store I got an electricity kit for my sixth grader and a magnet set for my third grader. At a teacher's store I got 4 books, two from S & S, one from Nelson and one from Geowat Innovative Teacher Publishing. Finally I went to Toys'r'us and found the Complete Canadian Curriculum series (they don't have grade 8 though). I also got magnetic letters and numbers there for my kindergartener and a microscope for my eighth grader. Best of all Nelson and CCC both have answer keys. I think now I can finally make it through those rough seas insha Allah.

Sea legs.

I guess when we make a sea change we have to find our sea legs. I am really wobbling through this deja vu experience called homeschooling. Yes I did it 10 yrs ago but with only 3 kids and two toddlers playing around. This time there are 5 kids (those two toddlers are now in grade 8 and grade 6) to teach and a toddler and a newborn. I decided to buy an easel to keep the SK and preschooler occupied while I teach the others. Otherwise I've been teaching the SK one how to write letters and her name by writing with markers on a wipe off book I got from Avon. I highly recommend it. It also comes with books for numbers, colours and shapes and cd with songs about these topics. Haven't played it yet and wonder what sorts of instruments might be used. As for the bigger kids its been tough as I realize I have missing parts of the curriculum and have had to order all sorts of books from the library but they are not textbooks or workbooks but more like the types of books you borrow to do a project. So I am not really satisfied with this cookie cutter option. Also I must hunt down a microscope for grade 8 science. He has to learn about cells. I checked Walmart's kids section but nothing there. I intend to check The Source. On top of all this I have the added problem of having no answer keys for the textbooks and workbooks I have. I guess I could order them but that would cost a pretty penny. The sea is very rough now but I hope I can get over this patch and experience some smooth sailing. Any advice from homeschoolers out there? I'm all ears. Oh and if you are wondering what happened to all my old homeschooling stuff, well most of it I sold and the rest is stuck in Malaysia.