The Hungry Reader!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah with Maimoonah growing by the Grace and Mercy of Allaah challenges grow too! One major challenge that I am facing now is supplying enough appropriate materials to contend her hunger for reading! When she was small it was easier to satisfy her with few books here and there and it was much easier for me scan through the materials before she get them on to her hand.

As a vivid reader from an early age she can just survive only with books from the time she wakes up till she goes to sleep this without wanting to play or do anything else except salaah. I would be so satisfied if she could do that if all the books she reads would be based upon Islaam and all are beneficial.She is fine with it too as long as the books are interesting and gives engaging information. But sadly as you all know it is not that easy to find such books that would be pleasing to our eyes!!!  Few months back I became more and more concerned with what I want her to read. 

Children do love fiction, mysteries, adventures and the likes. As there are differences of opinions with regard to reading fiction books amongst the scholars as much as I would like to totally eradicate such books, I just did not want to do more harm than good by taking that stance, especially because Maimoonah is brought up without TV and exposure to other entertainments like games and etc. She does go online for reading online or do some educational activities. She has no toys except for very very few little things. Of course we take her out to play and engage her in acceptable edutainment activities. Other than all of this most of her time is spent on reading. The challenge for me is no proper library, and even if I am to buy some books they are pretty expensive plus how should I provide something that is balanced and would benefit her?

This led me to consult one of the students of knowledge and discuss my concern. Alhamdulillaah the naseehah I received:

 "Focus upon always finding them some forms of beneficial non-fiction, from historical to practical to craft (knitting crochet sewing, cooking ) etc." 

"In terms of fiction books there is some historical fiction  that seems to not have the dangers of modern books. And Allaah knows best. Because things creep in unnoticed. Here I think you just have to use your discretion and always , make sure to read/skim well before hand."

So I have been thinking on those lines and making some effort to make it beneficial for Maimoonah. We do not have a fully fledged Library here where we can choose materials and benefit and very rarely you would find some good books in the stores and even if you do find some they would cost a huge amount. But Alhamdulillaah my dear friend here in Doha who has 3 girls and are also homeschooled and faces similar challenges invests in books and readily shares everything with us. Last week Maimoonah borrowed these books and this really made me write this post in spite of all my commitments!

These books keep her occupied for hours and she learns too. When she talks about what she read we try to relate that back to the perfectness of Allaah's creation. 

Opening more than 80 odd flaps and looking through the little details makes it fun and exciting indeed.

Working on those lines here are some of ideas that have occurred to me that I hope to make it work when I am relieved of some commitments soon Inshaa Allaah. I thought I would share them here for myself first and for others out there who are in a similar situation.

Islaamic Books

Alhamdulillaah the QMuslimah Library has some nice Islaamic books. So we keep borrowing them in and off. Other than them we focus of the Golden Series of the Companion Books by Darus Salam. I think now they are having a new edition on those series that look much more attractive. These books along with the Sealed Nectar, Stories of the Prophets, Darul Kitab Books, When the Moon Split and the Noble Qur'aan are what Maimoonah reads and re reads especially when she has ran out of other books I am happy to note that she can hang on to these for some hours! 

Non Fiction Books

Look for these kinds of non fiction books that can be useful for a long time. Checkout this website for some nice books as they seem to be much cheaper than others. Science Books and Encyclopedias are doing the job too! Having some hands on experiment guidebooks and sp[lying some of those items to use and try things out would occupy them for sometime and helps them to investigate and discover while acknowledging the ability of Allaah to Create everything. 

Arts and Crafts

Girls this age I think are very creative and love to do more and more arts and crafts activities. Those days just painting would be more than enough but now I find that Maimoonah loves to explore some creativity coupled with imagination. Having some Arts and Crafts books and sewing projects would be a lovely idea with some materials to explore. Especially with the Community Project at the Tarbiyah Classes she is learning how to perfect her crafts and make use of them. So I would want to have some craft supplies and Arts and Crafts books to help her explore Inshaa Allaah. 

Sewing

This is something we need to work on again. Due to time and other commitments we have not being continuing sewing for a long time and hopefully Inshaa Allaah I want to start on easy projects with her soon. Little sewing idea books would also help in this case and would love to get her some supplies soon Inshaa Allaah! 

Fiction
To have a balance I also lookout for some old fiction books with good language and give her those books. Some of the books she has read are some of the famous five books, Sheltie, Animal Ark and few others. Almost all of these books have some thing or the other unislamic contents, so we make sure that they are explained and corrected.

Cook Books
Cooking books and projects are next online. Maimoonah is trying out her cooking skills but I need to make her more independent soon Inshaa Allaah. Reading and understanding some cooking and homemaking skills would benefit her. Need to work on those lines soon Inshaa Allaah!

Trying some healthy snack after reading a recipe! 

Those are few of the things that came to my mind. I am sure many of you are doing these already and please do share what more you do to keep you little reader occupied.

Alhamdulillaah every situation we are in is indeed a blessing and mercy of Allaah that we keep remembering His Greatness and we keep learning many things too. As children grow we need to think ways and means to emphasise more and more the purpose of our creation and make them contend with worshipping Allaah alone and inculcate the passion to do so with whatever is available. May Allaah make it easy for all of us and may He keep our children firm upon His Straight Path. Aameen!