[~أمة الله~]

2) You have 8 children of ages 12+ to 24+, each of whom were haafidh by the age of 13 or 14 MashaAllah! They have also all attended Arabic-medium schools while simultaneously being homeschooled by you in the Singapore and British curricula. What inspired you to have such an extraordinary vision for your children?

It wasn’t so much as having an extraordinary vision. Simply, my husband and I wanted our children to grow up knowing their deen and the Qur’an. In order to achieve this, the most obvious choice was to enroll them in the Tahfeedh school where they learn the Qur’an, the deen and everything else in Arabic. At the same time, we also wanted them to be able to benefit the Ummah. We wanted them to acquire skills and knowledge that will make them bright and useful Muslims. So my children started memorizing the Qur’an from the time they were two. At the same time they would also be starting pre-writing skills, love reading and being read to.

From here, the progression was quite natural, Alhamdulillah. By the time they went to school, they would have memorized a few juzu’ of the Qur’an and were able to read from the mushaf. They would have also learnt reading and writing Arabic numbers and letters at home. Naturally, all these gave them a head start although they didn’t know Arabic. As for the Singapore curriculum, by the time they started their Arabic school, they were already independent readers in English and competent in Grade 2 English and Maths.

Alhamdulillah, in this way I managed to achieve three things:

First, the headstart meant that I never had to worry about their progress in an Arabic school because I believe that being able to read from the mushaf and understanding numerical concepts mean that, all they had to do in the first year of school is pick up the lan g u a ge They didn’t have to learn new concepts in a new lan g u a ge

Secondly, I was able to keep up with the English curriculum because I only needed to build on their early foundation. It wasn’t always easy to keep up with the Singapore and British curriculum, with the progression of Arabic education and having more children. However, as long as they continued to read in English, I was able to pick up and progress from time to time, during school holidays usually. I have seen parents struggling to do this quite unsuccessfully because the children never had a foundation before attending Arabic school. The children continued doing hifdh at home at their own pace and the school lessons were regarded as a kind of revision. In this way, they memorized the Qur’an much earlier than the school programme.

And lastly, the work we put in before they started school meant that they were already used to learning and were able to focus. They also loved learning,

Here , I’d like to mention two important tips for those who are considering doing something similar:

First, work hard with your first child. Everything that you want to achieve in your children, do it with the first child. If you work hard with the first child, the second child will follow suit with half the work you had put into the first. How? While you’re working with the first, that little baby on your lap (your second), would have picked up everything that you’re teaching the first one and by the time you need to teach her, she would have already learnt them.

Second, make the Qur’an the centre of family life. You can’t expect the child to want to sit and learn his surah when dad’s watching TV and mummy’s browsing on her iPad. Without the love of the Qur’an exemplified in the parents, a young child will be even less attracted to sit and learn.

To Be Continue ....