What’s the Deal?

October 28, 2009 at 3:51 pm | In Homeschooling, Kids, Writing | Leave a Comment

Our Great Depression study went on for weeks. I had dreaded the New Deal because it involves a lot of explanation. We have been doing our learning in the living room lately, and that particular morning that I started going over the New Deal, I was also rushing because I had a doctor’s appointment at 9 a.m.

Two of the kids were not paying full attention, and I just snapped. I had planned on doing the lesson with them because the New Deal, as I said, requires some explanation. But as it went, I ended up telling them to write a report on it from their own research and understanding. All the information was there, they just had to learn it themselves. And I left for my doctor’s appointment.

Suffice it to say, they did do that impromptu assignment, alhamdulillah, with no complaints. H was done first, as always, this boy likes to finish his work ASAP just so he could get it over with. His report was pretty good. Then came S’ report. Much better. Well, I can’t really compare the two because they are at different levels. With N though, it came much later.  It required her to write, rewrite, and I had to show her again and again. I have always been struggling teaching her because as it is, I don’t really know how to teach her effectively. I have a different learning style and this affects my teaching. She is more hands on and even though she loves creative writing, she doesn’t really like rules, so when it comes to writing reports or the like, it’s really something to deal with.

But alhamdulillah she finally did finish her report, past the deadline, but at least she finished it alhamdulillah. They didn’t want me putting their reports on the blog, so even though I really want to, for memory and easy, referable documenting purposes, I guess I’ll respect their wishes.

Overall, the writing report steps I had prepared before helped them in writing their reports as they referred to it throughout the process. Though, I did realize that those needed some major corrections on my part.

First Reports of the Quarter

September 6, 2009 at 11:47 pm | In Homeschooling, New Mexico, Writing | Leave a Comment

Alhamdulillah the kids finally are done with their reports; their first reports for the 2009/10 school year. Alhamdulillah I kept some of the OHVA writing books before we moved. I threw out some but kept some because I love how they instructed the step by step process to writing reports, stories, poetry, etc.

In a way, now, it’s a lot easier to do the same kind of writing (for example all of them writing reports) at the same time, even though they are writing on different topics (depending on their topics of interest for the quarter) than having them work on their own work for writing which is not necessarily the same thing. That was how it was before when I was doing OHVA, and it was a more of  a hassle for me since I have to constantly juggle them on many different things on the same day for many days on end. This is much much better alhamdulillah.

And since they’re interested in their topics (except for N, she’s been doodling ‘I hate HB’ in her book now), it makes it much more tolerable for them. When I asked N what HB refers to, she said,

“Human Body.”

It may have been partly my fault too, because I sort of insisted that she pick Human Body as her topic of the quarter because she already had picked out a Human Body Science Project related book from the library when everyone was picking out books related to their topic. As usual, N was indecisive. She had picked Ocean as her topic of the quarter, but while checking out books, she got distracted and got Human Body books instead, so when we got home, I told her to just change it to Human Body. She eventually agreed. But apparently her heart was not in it. So, right now I’m thinking of letting her change her topic of interest for her Science and History since she already did her writing on Human Body.

Autumn09Report1Newr

S’ chosen topic of the quarter was Mysterious Places: Lost City of Atlantis, and at first she chose ‘How Waves Form’ for her report, but later changed it to Tsunami when she couldn’t find much information on it. She practically did the report on her own alhamdulillah. She did use the Thesaurus, and I did point out some information she wrote up that didn’t sound quite right, but overall I think she did pretty well.

Autumn09Rep1Ski

H chose to write his report on beam bridges. His topic of the quarter is Buildings, Bridges etc. At first he claimed not to find any information on beam bridges in the books I got him (because we went to the library during Jumuah, so he wasn’t with us). The information he got about beam bridges was from the internet. I had to help point out some information about beam bridges in the books to him, and also google some on the internet for him. On his written final draft, I think he really made the effort to write it as best he could, because his writing…is pretty ‘not pretty’.

All in all, I’m quite happy they are all done with their first reports of the school year. I’m in the process of being taught (and laughed at by H because apparently I don’t know how to make one) to make a chart of report-writing. I find this step-by-step process very helpful especially for the ‘teacher’.

And maybe it might help some homeschooling mothers out there too…

ReportStepByStep

AnatomyReport

Pick a Scholar! (S)

October 11, 2008 at 8:56 pm | In Homeschooling, Writing | 2 Comments

688 Whitehouse Ln.

Columbus OH

54321




October 10, 2008

Dear Hayaa’,

Do you know who Fatimah is? She is a great woman scholar who lived a long time ago.

Do you know any one with really beautiful handwriting? No? Well I’m going to tell you who. Fatimah used to write letters for her dad because she had really beautiful handwriting! She even wrote her dad’s name after her name when she finished writing any letter. That shows how much she cares for her dad.

Did you know that she also has a nickname? It is the Beautiful Jurist because she was very pretty and was able to issue Fatwas. Some one who could issue Fatwas was called a Faqeehah (Jurist).

I admire her because she was very knowledgeable and open minded. An example of her knowledge is that she used to correct her husband who was ‘king of the scholars’ while he was teaching. She was also so knowledgeable, that the king took her for his advisor, and didn’t let her go back to her village to even visit!

She has inspired me to learn more so I can correct people like she did. I learned about her while studying a class called Torch Bearers. I hope you learned enough about her to follow her example. She is a role model to look up to…

Your friend,

~S~

Pick a Scholar (N)

October 10, 2008 at 8:03 pm | In AlMaghrib, Homeschooling, Writing | Leave a Comment

After some rewriting, this is her final draft. To me, her first draft was more full of life, but alas, I did the school teacher on her. Next time inshaallah. Sigh…it really takes a certain level of awareness to rid yourself of the ‘old school’ mentality and change the way you teach and parent your child. Such is the life of a homeschooling mother.

ABDUL GHANI

By N. F.

Abdul Ghani was a scholar. He was born in 541 A.H. in Jumaa’eel in Nablus, Palestine. His whole name is Abdul Ghani ibn Abdul Wahid ibn Ali Al-Juma’ili Al-Maqdisee Ad-Dimashqee As-Saalihee Al-Hambali Taqiyyuddin. He was an enormous man: tall and broad. He was tan with pleasant hair and a thick beard. He had a large forehead and straight white teeth. It was as if light shot from his face. His eyesight weakened in reading, writing, and even crying.

I like him because I’ve never done anything like he did. He was rich, but he didn’t want to be selfish, so he bought clothes for his students while he didn’t have clothes himself. He also did the same thing with food. He ate a little and secretly brought food to the poor people. He married his cousin, Raabi’ah, whom he had 3 sons with: Izzuddin, Jamaaluddin, and Muhyiddin.

Abdul Ghani was known for his know ledge. Like in this story. A man once said to Abdul Ghani, “I said I would divorce my wife if Abdul Ghani had not memorized 100,000 hadiths, so is my wife divorced?” Abdul Ghani smiled and said, “No, and even if you had said more, she wouldn’t have been.”

After Abdul Ghani died, people who were cleaning his body saw rope marks on his shoulders and back. They said, “This must be the kind man who left food on our doorsteps!”

Abdul Ghani is the best scholar to me. I want to be more like him. Leaving food on people’s doorsteps is my favorite part, and I never knew that people were allowed to marry their cousins, but still, I think Abdul Ghani is the best scholar ever.

Pick a Scholar! (H)

October 10, 2008 at 6:24 pm | In Homeschooling, Writing | Leave a Comment

I decided to focus mainly on writing and math for the secular portion of our homeschooling, leaving the rest of the subjects as part of the individual interest-based pursuits. Their first writing assignments is for them to pick one of the scholars that we learned about, and write an essay (S’s was to write a letter to someone telling the person about the scholar she picked) about the chosen scholar.

We started out doing spider webs : what you like about him/her, why you chose him/her, and what’s interesting about him/her. From the spider webs, I had (mainly N and H) write what they’re going to write for the beginning, middle, and end. Then, it was on to their first drafts. I had a little trouble with N, as usual, and it was only while I was taking a shower that I realized that I was stubbornly trying to get her to follow a method set by the ‘educators’. I remember the comments her grade OHVA teacher gave regarding her writing: that she needs more organization, tends to go off topic, and needs to develop her topic sentences. I realized that I don’t want to push her to follow a method of writing, (after reading her very interesting first draft that she basically wrote from scratch, with no planning ahead) and risk her hating writing because she was forced to follow one ‘right’ way of writing. This is what happens in schools. Everyone learns things the same way, regardless of his/her individual strengths and weaknesses. Most of those who go to school dread going to school and view learning as something that only happens in school. So, I told the kids,

“Each of you is different. So I’m going to use different approaches with each of you. I don’t want to hear any protests of ‘why doesn’t s/he have to do this/that?’ when I do something different with one of you.”

Now that I’m not bound by a deadline of completing a certain number of lessons by a certain date, I feel freer to follow what I feel is right for the kids, though I have to keep reminding myself not to feel obliged to follow others’ expectations, definitions of education, and judgments. So I told N that she can write her way (without prior outlines) but that she would have to do the rearranging later on, after the first draft, as opposed to starting to write from an orderly outline, step by step. I think she is somewhat like me, in which she needs to free write at times. The ideas and words just flow better. Organization comes later. But since rearranging on paper can be very confusing and tedious, I told her next time she writes, she can do it on Microsoft Word, while the other two can write on paper. I really liked her first draft, as it’s really brimming with her voice. That girl has a voice and it really shines through her writing, mashaallah. I don’t want to destroy that by imposing strict writing rules on her and taking the joy out of writing. I might have made that mistake with S, and I don’t want to repeat it.

H, has submitted his essay. Unsurprisingly, he chose Sulayman Ibn Mahraan, the one I also found the most interesting, due to his quirky nature that is not unlike hubby’s in a way. When H sent me the email in which was attached the document, he also sent a picture. As he is now in the masjid, praying Jumuah, I can’t ask him what it was or what it has to do with Sulayman, but I guess I’ll just put it up here to accompany his essay. I just realized that he has some typos that shouldn’t be in the final draft, but oh well…

Sulayman the Scholar

By H. F.

This Ramadan I’ve been learning about scholars. I chose scholar #4, Sulayman bin Mahran al Koofee al A’mash to do man essay on because he is unique. He is unique because he is the only scholar that is sarcastic. I also chose him because hem is like my sarcastic dad.

He is pretty interesting too. He went to jannah even though he was sarcastic. After he died, someone saw him in a dream and asked, “How do you do?” He replied “I was saved by the mercy of Allah”

He also knows what not to do when he is mad. One time he had a fight with his wife and he got a blind man to talk to her. He cared about her even when he was mad. He spared time for her so she didn’t have to put hijab on.

I like him because he is nice. One time he was walking with another scholar named Ibrahim anakha’e. Ibrahim had one eye and Sulayman had a bleary eye. Sulayman said they shouldn’t walk together, because then people would say that only people with bad eyes could be scholars and that would be making a sin. Ibrahim said “so?” Sulayman said how about they split and save them and the people. Ibrahim reluctantly agreed.

You really should learn more about Sulayman. He’s really great even though he’s sarcastic. He would have been called an Imam if it wasn’t for his sarcasm.

Today’s Writers Belated

September 13, 2008 at 9:28 pm | In Amusing, Homeschooling, Kids, Ramadan, Writing | 2 Comments

Fun Fasting!

Dua List

General Dua

Z has to learn to stop hitting.

Z’s allergy shall go away.

Ummi has to remember her Juzu’.

Abi has to get a job.

Personal Dua

I want to be good in math.

I like good handwriting.

I don’t want to be lazy while learning.

I want to survive while fasting.

I want to have a clean house so we can clean it more and have a pet.

Spiritual Dua

I want fast and beautiful recitation.

I want Allah to forgive my fasting.

I want Jannah.



Do you know how to fast? Some little kids said they will, but little kids don’t know anything. Anyway, when you wake up very early in the morning, be sure to avoid being groggy. My advice to that is to wipe this disgusting stuff from your eyes. When you get downstairs, make sure you eat a heavy breakfast, such as: a bowl of cereal, a peanut butter sandwich, rice, and this yummy hot chocolate drink. When you’re done, get upstairs, brush your teeth, and make wudu. After you pray Fajr, read Quran and make niyah. At Maghrib, you don’t have to eat dates. Just eat something else that you think is better (but not candy). And, just to let you know, it’s always hard on the first day. In summer, Isha is early, so be prepared! In winter, it may be easy. You can play through the day, but if you are too hungry, you’d be better off sleeping. You know what? I think Eid is a very good way to celebrate Ramadan. Because it makes you happy and all, and you have all this candy! Sweet! Oh, but don’t forget, the Shaytan are free on Eid.

By N. M. F.

I couldn’t help smiling while reading this. This is so N. I didn’t expect her to include her du’a list though. And she mixed up the days being longer in summer when talking about Isha being early. N and her ‘own way of thinking’. Quiet but quite a handful, subhanallah. I had to change her font settings though because I had trouble pasting it here.

Today’s Writers

September 9, 2008 at 11:44 pm | In Family, Homeschooling, Ramadan, Writing | 3 Comments

Assalamualaikum S, N, H,

Today, I want you, while I am in class, or whenever you can, to be writers for the Ramadan Daily Journal. You have a deadline to meet, which is tomorrow morning, so make sure you finish your writing assignment by tonight!

Check it out here:
http://tjramadan.talibiddeenjr.amanahwebs.com/tjramadandownloads/DailyJournal_Ramadan01.pdf

By the way, you can also get some ideas to write in your journal from the above. You can write down in your journal what you had for suhoor and what you had for iftar and how your day was, how you felt, what you did. All of this in addition to the good and bad deeds you write in your journal. Also, write down what dua you made to Allah for that day.

Ummi

This was my email to the this morning. The first article I received in my inbox after that was H’s:

How To Fast

By H. F.

Well, it is very simple of how to fast, but if it is your first time fasting, then get ready! Hello everyone. I think ill tell you why we fast. Well first of all, Allah told us to, and you can’t be a Muslim if you don’t fast in the month of Ramadan. Fasting is one of the five pillars. The five pillars of Islam are what you need to do to be a Muslim. The other four are: belief in the unseen (Angels, Allah, Jinn’s, and Shaytaan/Satan). These are the steps of fasting

  1. first you wake up very early in the morning
  2. second you go downstairs and eat until you are full (make sure you drink!) this is called soohoor
  3. Then you go back upstairs and pray.
  4. then you read some Quran
  5. Then you can sleep if you want to
  6. When you wake up, make sure you don’t eat!
  7. At sunset, eat some dates and drink some water (WARNING! Don’t eat to much because it is hard to pray when you are full)
  8. go back upstairs and pray
  9. come back down and have a real meal
    did you see how that felt like? The needy may go like that for days!
    And that is how Muslims fast in Ramadan.

THE END

Then, S’s which reads very much like H’s except for very little. She claimed that she didn’t read H’s before she wrote hers though, so mashaallah…I guess they just are on the same wavelengths (hmm..for all the times they are not, my ears hurt).

How to Fast

Fasting easy once you are used to it, but all those who are starting, listen up! First of all, we fast because Allah told us to. Second, because if we don’t fast, we are not a Muslim (it is part of the five pillars). Lastly, it helps us gain taqwa (piety).

This is how you fast;

One: wake up early before Fajr and eat a heavy breakfast.  This is called suhoor.

Two: pray Fajr. Read Quran or do any Islamic thing after you pray because it is a blessedtime.

Three: Take a bath (it refreshes you).

Four: Read more Quran or memorize a surah.

Five: Take a nap if you feel hungry.

Six: Wake up in time for Dhuhr.

Seven: Cook if you don’t have anything for iftar.

Eight: Read Quran.

Nine: pray Asr if it is time.

Ten: Set out the food while you wait for Maghrib.

Eleven: After you hear the athan, go outside to see if it really is Maghrib (the computer might be wrong.)

Twelve: Say the dua before you break your fast, then you break your fast.

Thirteen: Pray Maghrib.

Fourteen: Get ready for bed.

Fifteen: Pray Isha once you hear the athan.

Sixteen: Go to bed early so you can wake up early for suhoor.

Can you imagine doing this for days without suhoor or Iftar? Well that is what some poor people do. Be grateful to Allah that you have food.

But remember, you will fast for a whole month, so be ready, and eat a really big (and healthy) suhoor.

Also, it is good to make dua during Ramadan because it will be likely that Allah will answer it by the next Ramadan if it is a good dua.

That is how you fast during Ramadan.

And now, Assalamualaikum to all, and may Allah make your fasting easy.

J.S.M.F.

And as of now, I am still waiting for N’s article. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

A magazine by a Muslim girl for Muslim girls

August 1, 2008 at 7:53 pm | In Writing | Leave a Comment

Muslim American Girls Magazine, founded by a 12 year-old Muslim girl from Minnesota; Shabnam M. Mashaallah! I had thought of creating a Muslim children’s magazine for a while, but it still hasn’t materialized! Talk about achieving your dreams through action!

I stumbled upon it from Amel’s wonderful blog for Muslim writers, and both N and H seem to be interested in submitting something to it.

Miscellaneous

May 10, 2008 at 10:32 pm | In AlMaghrib, Baking, Family, Homeschooling, Mothering, Siblings, Thoughts, Writing | 2 Comments

Alhamdulillah life post OHVA is lighter and freer. Almost every morning now, if the sun is out and shining, I send the kids outside, and tell them to take Baby Z along. No, I don’t get to really sit down and have coffee and read the morning newspaper, but I can now tidy up the house, take a shower and sit down at the computer in an empty household. However, I have started telling them to make sure the house is tidy before they dash outside to frolic in the morning sun. It’s very frustrating to be doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast and walk into a messy living room or rooms, and no one to hail to do my bidding. As I struggle to complete writing my article assignments, I also struggle finding time to sit down long enough without being interrupted by a baby needing to nurse, a baby dropped in the living room as his sibs return back outside to continue their outdoor play, and a set of rowdy children banging the door behind them as they barrel in the front door.

Not so much freedom for me, but alhamdulillah baby Z’s eczema seems to have abated significantly ever since his nap schedule became regular.

Since I wasn’t that busy logging in hours, attendance, checking lesson progress, and dealing with a myriad of issues pertaining to the OLS of OHVA, I’ve been able to actually nurse Baby Z in peace, albeit it being an hour straight at a time. We’re all much much happier now, and I’ve even started to take interest in baking again.

I coaxed them to bake something for themselves, and one day they made meringue cookies. Yesterday they made cookies to make ice cream sandwiches with. As for me, I baked myself my Namaste Carrot Cake again, but this time using Ener-G egg replacer, hoping for a normal cake. Alas, I seem to have taken the cake out too soon, and all I got was a gummy, spice-laden carrot cale. At least, I think that’s the problem. Nevertheless, I’m only more determined to experiment until I get it right. So I’m inshaallah going to play around with cake recipes or if I’m lucky, after doing more reading on the chemistry revolving different kinds of flours, I might come up with my own recipe.

H had his last soccer game of the season this morning. He scored a goal, and the weather was really pleasant too, allahu akbar. I had boiled some corn for them this morning and we brought the whole pot with us. As usual, hubby stood on the sidelines and churned out shouts after shouts of encouragement, commands, comments, and amused disappointment throughout the whole game. S was busy chomping on a corn, and calmly, she asked her father,

“Wanna a corn?”

“No, not now. I’m shouting,” he replied, not taking his eyes off the players on the field.

“That’s why he needs the corn,” S said to me, and I burst into laughter.

We finally bought gates to put at the kids’ doorway, the kitchen hallway, and the front door hallway today. The house hasn’t been child-proofed for Baby Z, as I anticipated moving out, but it’s not happening anytime soon it seems. Handy S and H set up the gates, much to their parents’ pleasure, especially hubby’s. He wasn’t that enthusiastic about putting them up, but alhamdulillah we have some handykids around. Proud of their handiness they are too!

As for me, I am still buried under the task of reading my high stack of books, and have yet to finish my writing assignments, which has been driving me crazy to say the least. I just realized that I have only spent Ramadan in Malaysia in my ‘childhood’, since I came here at the age of 20 and have spent Ramadan here ever since. I have never experienced Ramadan as a wife and mother in my home country. How sad is that? Nevertheless, it sure has some perks too, alhamdulillah.

And alhamdulillah, my lengthy nursing times in the room have been spent listening to Anwar Awlaki’s Umar Ibn A-Khattab, and suffice it to say, it has infused me in this ethereal world of the sahaba. Even Baby Z looks forward to the lecture whenever it’s time to nurse for his naps and bedtimes. Life with Baby Z is much much more enjoyable now, especially because I’m finally able to relax into a schedule that is more like the one I’m used to when S, N, and H were younger.

Without the pressure and hassle of OHVA, life seems much more relaxing. Plus, the weather is still spring-like, though the flowers on the trees have mostly dispersed, leaving the trees green, making it look more like summer.

Inshaallah it seems like I’m taking the next Almaghrib class: Seerah, the Shepherd’s Path in mid June, even though I said I probably won’t. Circumstances inshaallah have changed such that it would be quite possible for us to do it with less hassle than before, bi iznillah. I look forward to this class.
So now, before I feel like I have wasted my time yet again on the computer, while two writing assignments are yet to be finished, I’d better sign off, and wait till much later before I finish up those 4 drafts sitting in my blogger account. Plus, I have a one year old who is starting to wail because he is probably bored because all his sibs have left him with his mother who is on the computer typing away, and hubby, as he does every Saturday evening, has gone off to play soccer. A mother never gets to completely rest, does she? In Jannah inshaallah, in jannah.

Reading Rainbow 14th Annual Young Illustrators & Writers Contest

March 27, 2008 at 1:20 am | In Family, Kids, Writing | 6 Comments

This is the second time the kids are entering this contest. The first time I entered them in the Reading Rainbow Annual Young Writers & Illustrators Contest, all three entered. Now, since S is too old for it, only H and S are entering. Since our local PBS station does not hold this contest, N and H are entering as independent entries. They have been working on their stories diligently for about a month, though I have to say, it took a lot of work on my part too.

N and H’s OHVA teacher had sent me a very helpful PDF file that contains tips on perfecting a child’s writing, and I went over those tips with both N and H. And mashaallah, the tips were written very well, and it was really easy to go over it with the kids, as it was tailored for them.

Since N had entered NanoWrimo last year, she was somewhat used to writing towards a huge word count, and even though I told her the maximum word limit for this contest was 350, she didn’t quite have a sense of what a 350-word story would be like. Her first draft ended up with close to 1000 words or maybe more. H went over the word limit too, though nowhere close to 1000 words. With N, she really went to great details with her story, and as I went over her story with her to trim it, I shared her grief. I told her we would save her first draft because it was a really great story with great details, but that for the contest, we would trim it to a compact 350 word story.

As I sat with her to help her trim her story, I found that she really had trouble doing it, and I understand the feeling perfectly. As all writers know, carving out your writing is a bittersweet experience. You feel sad that you’re throwing away some ‘great’ writing, but at the end of the trimming, you do end up with a more tight and better story. Nevertheless, it took longer for N to trim hers than H.

It took a lot of juggling on my part to find time to work with them on their stories. We have had to email their files so that one person could do it on the computer downstairs, and the other on the computer upstairs. I had to sit through the whole trimming session, guiding them without helping too much. If it was up to me, I would have done it for them, but that would have defeated the purpose, wouldn’t it? Same case with filling out the forms for the library cards. Oh, what we mothers have to go through with our children! I think fathers (especially those men who value efficiency over effectiveness) would have done it the ‘efficient’ way rather than do it the ‘effective’ way.

‘Working on their Reading Rainbow stories’ was one of the items on my to do list that remained on the to do list for quite some time. On Monday Mar 24, I was finally able to delete the ‘mail their Reading Rainbow entries’ off the To Do widget on the desktop with great relief. By the way, that widget really is helpful, convenient, and most importantly, saves the trees! jazahu allah khair hubby!

N’s story: Smiley’s Spelling Surprise

H’s story: The Mystery of the Money Thief

Reading their story, I could see the marked improvement in their creative writing. When they entered the contest last year, they had done their story on Windows Paint, incorporating the text into the illustrations, but now, they seem to be placing more emphasis on the text than the illustrations. I even had to cajole them into making more illustrations.

I love how S’s 2006 entry centered on a common problem children have, and the solution for her character’s problem was ingenious, and maybe one that I should use (hmm…). One of the objective of parenting is to guide our children to resolve conflicts on their own. In a way, I do think creative writing paves a way for them to learn just that, as a story is not a story without a problem and a solution!

N’s 2006 entry was really colorful. She has an eye and ear for noticing human personality and quirks. Her stories always amaze me with colorful and interesting characters. When we were both doing the Nanowrimo, I have to say that she was able to get past the ‘editor’ (since she basically had no editor in her) and just write without worrying about how it would turn out, whereas I couldn’t get past the ‘editor’ in me. That’s the beauty of writing like a kid. No worries.

H’s 2006 entry compared to his most recent one, displayed a marked improvement in vocabulary, word choice, and sentence structure. He was in Kindergarten when he sent this in, and now he’s in 2nd grade, but doing 3rd grade Language Arts. Though, his stories still center around mysteries and action. I suppose those are typical boy stories?

At any rate, they are enjoying creative writing, and it’s great to have outlets such as these writing contests for them to hone their writing skills and encourage creativity. Alhamdulillah!

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