Our journey begins

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful.

Before we begin anything we mention the name of Allah for our lives revolve around Islam as shown in the Quran:

قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Say: "Behold, my prayer, and (all) my acts of worship, and my living and my dying are for Allah (alone), the Sustainer of all the worlds (Quran 6:162)

Today is our first official day of home educating, although we have been home educating since Saffiyah was born, we are now official inshaallah (God willing).  Our reasons for Home Educating are many, the mainstream school system simply did not suit Saffiyah and it became painful for me to send her in when she was begging to stay at home day after day, in addition I find the school environment artificial and feel that when a child follows their own path of learning, they not only enjoy their learning much more, they also build a knowledge base far stronger than when they are dictated to.  Our methods are eclectic, which means that we mix and match and take resources from numerous sources so that Saffiyah’s education can be tailored to suit her needs. 

We are Muslims first and foremost and that makes up quite a large chunk of our learning, it is important to us that morals and manners are learnt from reputable sources, which is why we follow the ICO Islamic curriculum for Islamic education and add on resources as and when needed, such as mini tafseer (explanation of the Quran) from http://www.ad-duha.org/html/mini_tafseer_digital.html not only requested by Saffiyah as she was learning her surahs by heart, but also important in my opinion that she knew exactly what it was that she was reciting, where it came from and why. 

This is not an Islamic blog alone as we follow a number of interests based on Saffiyah’s current level and her own natural curiosity although you will see that I refer back to Islamic sources so that we remind ourselves constantly of our roots and beliefs, for that reason, both Muslims and Non Muslims can inshaallah benefit from our journey, or at least that is my hope.

All other learning, as I have previously mentioned, is mix and match and depends on Saffiyah’s current interests.  At the moment that includes the solar system, the human body, arts and crafts, baking and most outdoor activities (at the moment the favourites are skipping and roller skating).  Saffiyah also loves to read, actually that is an understatement, she would rather read all night than sleep!  (Some who knew me as a child may ask me why I appear surprised as I was exactly the same and would only ever accept book tokens as gifts, I even turned my wardrobe into a library as a young child).

The reason I have called the blog Journey to Self Sufficiency as that is my intention inshaallah to become self sufficient or as close to self sufficient as we can.  At the moment we eat mostly Organic produce from local farms, bake our own bread and everything is cooked from scratch, I have never agreed with so called ‘convenience’ foods.  We are also raising chicks and have our own chicken coop in the back yard (I can’t really call it a garden as it is too small).  I have a greenhouse partially built and intend inshaallah to also grow our own vegetables and salads.

We are members of our local Home Education group and also of two groups in nearby counties and one based mainly in London.  We have friends from around the country who home educate and friends from around the world who don’t but support our decision.

Current books we are using are as follows:

Collins My First book of The Solar System: http://www.theworks.co.uk/Collins-My-First-Book-of-The-Solar-System/9780007910274.html

Collins My First Book of The Human Body: http://www.theworks.co.uk/Collins-My-First-Book-of-The-Human-Body/9780007442959.html

Mini Tafseer: http://www.ad-duha.org/html/mini_tafseer_digital.html

My Secret unicorn series (Saffiyah’s choice of reading): http://www.puffin.co.uk/nf/Search/QuickSearchProc/1,,,00.html?strSearch=&homeNav=Y&travel=&textSearch=&advSearchStr=&adv=0&searchProfile=UK-618838-global&path=c618838-00000000%23%23-1%23%23-1~~f24||50756666696e~~nf10||4d792053656372657420556e69636f726e

Rainbow Fairies Series (Another of Saffiyah’s choice of reading): http://www.rainbowmagiconline.com/uk/books/books_rainbow.html

Little Animal Ark Series (We’ve had these for a while but Saffiyah likes to read them): http://www.hodderchildrens.co.uk/BOOKS-FOR-5_7-YEARS__LITTLE-ANIMAL-ARK.htm

My First Quran Storybook: http://www.goodwordbooks.com/product-details/My-First-Quran-Storybook/532.html

My Quran friends Storybook: http://www.goodwordbooks.com/product-details/My-Quran-Friends-Storybook/893.html

In addition to these, we take books from the public library and our own library and refer to those from continuously.

Now I need to make an important note for any Muslims reading this, the last two books come from a company called Goodwordbooks, these follow the Sufi sect of Islam and are not on Quran and Sunnah.   I therefore do not recommend this company for books, however, I got these books before I knew this and have checked the books inside and out and these particular ones do not contain anything that I object to, in my opinion these are very basic stories from the Quran that need to be built upon but serve as an introduction for younger children. والله أعلم  Waallah Allam (And Allah knows best).

We follow the Quran and Sunnah alone inshaallah and will not accept additions to explanations of the Quran and main collections of ahadith (Bukhari, Muslim, Sunan Al-Sughra, Sunan Abu Dawud, Jami Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan Ibn Majah, Malik’s Muwatta) (this list is not exhaustive), we accept Quran and Sunnah as our main and primary sources from which rulings have been taken and inshaallah do not blindly rely on others views.  We do not follow any one Madhab, I strive inshaallah to follow the strongest opinion (which does not mean the most extreme; it simply means the opinion that is supported by the strongest evidence).

"Indeed the people of Truth and the Sunnah do not follow anyone (unconditionally) except the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم (May Allah honour him and grant him peace), the one who does not speak from his desires - it is only revelation revealed to him."

[by Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmoo'ah al-Fataawaa, vol 3, page 216,
Daar Ibn Hazm Print, Trans: Aboo 'Abdis-Salaam]

 

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيل

O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end. (Quran 4:59)