Khairaldin's first education?

Assalamualaikum..

Firstly thank you to all of you who still drop by at my blog even though I update once a month. It is so nice to know that you are checking on me or us. *hugs* Anyway, I have been quite tied up lately. We'll be going back to Malaysia for a few months Insha'Allah. So, I have to start packing because it is not easy to pack for 4 people!! Hubby's never done his own packing, because I am a bit obsessive when it comes to packing. I have to make sure how the clothes are packed and what match with what. Haha To be honest, I just wanna make myself look busy even when I'm not. So excuse me! ;)

So, as per my previous entry, Insha'Allah Khairaldin will be starting school in September 2012. We are still waiting for reply on his waiting list and have been doing a lot of thinking about his first education. Just wondering, how do you parents choose what type of school to send your kids to? Is religion something you look at? Or the distance from home? Do you all even plan beforehand what type of school to send your child to? As for me, since we are living in a non-muslim country, I find it important to firstly educate my children about Islam. Alhamdulillah, at this age (2.5years old) Khairaldin understands that he has to eat with right hand, read Bismillah, and a few other basic Sunnah. Knowing that we (people around him) have taught him all of this basic yet very important sunnah, make me feel that Islamic school is a necessity for him. I want him to know and to learn a LOT more about Islam. I don't want him to be one of those to just follow blindly because one day, he would be bored of following our instructions and that's when friends become their best adviser! So, I want him to know why we do what we have to do in this life. I need him to know the important of this life.

Last Sunday I attended a Ta'leem at our local Masjid. Masha'Allah, the topic discussed was exactly the things going through my mind. Iskandar received and e-mail about the ta'leem and I said I wanted to go without knowing what it's about. When the Maulana spoke, he started mentioning about 'Ilmu' (knowledge). He emphasised the importance of knowledge and how it could help us in the Hereafter. Nowadays, we are interested on the best secular education to send our child to. For example we make sure that the discipline level are top notch, results are clean sheet without any Bs even, just to name a few. What we have forgotten is, how would all this help bring us to Jannah? It's not wrong to send our children to the best of all school, because even if you are a doctor, you can still help a patient because of Allah Taala. You can serve the society because of Allah Taala no matter what your profession is. But you have to instill in your heart that everything you do IS for HIM and noone else.

As the Maulana continued, he quoted a hadith, as follow; Rasulullah Salallahualaihiwassalam said, "When the son of Adam (human being) dies, his deeds are stopped except for three things, namely, his good deeds, his knowledge, and his pious child who prays for him". I'm gonna concentrate on knowledge and pious child. When we learn, we have to set our intention of why we are learning. Is it just for the sake of passing the test? For the sake of pleasing our parents with all the As? Or even for the sake of "going to school is the norm", not knowing what our intentions are? Intention is very important without a doubt. It can make you and break you! So we have to choose wisely.

Coming back to Khairaldin, when I was carrying him, I prayed for a baby boy. I desperately wanted this "baby boy" to lead the younger siblings to the right path if one day either of us are gone (before them). Alhamdulillah, Allah has answered my prayers and Khairaldin is now a responsibility (Amanah) from Allah to us. Because Allah has given us Khairaldin, it is only fair for us to take care of him the way HE has wanted us to do so. Sending him to an Islamic school has always been my first choice. However, because of this wait list, I have told Iskandar that if he doesn't get a chance to join this school, I want to home school him. You see, I have always always! wanted to be a nursery teacher. After having kids, I don't feel the need to be a nursery teacher. Somehow this hadith has lead me to my dreams again. As the hadith said, knowledge is one of the things that will not stop even after we die. This means, if you have learn something, teach!! The person who learns from you will pass on the knowledge and the cycle will continue. Even when you die you are still getting deeds! How amazing is that? SubhanAllah. For all the wrongdoings I have done, I really need those deeds to accumulate continuously! I have told myself, if Khairaldin doesn't get a place at Leicester Islamic Academy, this is such a blessing for me. Education doesn't have to be in a school. Even if the child goes to the best of school, the parents still need to carry on and practise the things being taught at home. This way the child will know the importance of the things he have just learnt.

Yes, I am still sane. I don't plan to teach my kids till high school or further. Haha. My plan is to take it one year at a time. There is no need for him to start school at 3 years old because everyone is doing it. I pray that I will be able to teach him as much as I could before he reach a certain age. I want him to remember us as his teacher and educator. In the end of it all, we need his/their prayers when we die. All I want is for him to become a pious child who will always remember his parents and make du'a for his parents. And like a quote I found before, "to be in your children's memories, you have to be in their lives today!". Insha'Allah, that is exactly what I am aiming to do.

2012, everything new :)

SubhanAllah Walhamdulillah! It's already 2012. I know I know we should be aware of the Hijrah year. The only reason I'm excited is because it's the year Khairaldin will start nursery, Insha'Allah. When he turned 1 year old, people kept reminding me to register him for nursery. You see, in the UK, the education is free so if you want nursery closest to your place, you have to register as soon as possible. However, we can only start registering when the child turns 2. Fast forward, Khairaldin turned 2 in June 2011. We didn't bother that much since we had Layina around and was pretty occupied. He then had his 2 years development appointment when he was 2 years 3 months. At that time, his nursery nurse reminded us to start looking for nurseries. So we did.

Iskandar and I discussed about his big step into the 'real world'. We were contemplating on whether to put him in an Islamic Nursery or to put him in a ermmmm I shall call it, 'Western' nursery. Iskandar and I decided on enrolling him into a 'Western' nursery because we thought there "wouldn't be" any government funded Islamic Nursery. Obviously I'd consult my parents for such matter since they have experience. We told them that we planned to register Khairaldin into an Islamic school when he's a teenager. Because if we are still in the UK, I'd be easy for him to go for his prayers or even Friday prayers. My parents didn't agree to that because according to them, we should instill Islam at a very young age. Once they know the importance of Islam, it would be easy for them to follow up. So maybe when he is a teenager he can start 'Western' school as he has been taught the importance of Islam. We thought, that made a lot of sense than what we had in mind.

I was very determined to send Khairaldin to an Islamic nursery. I want him to know this Beautiful religion! I don't want him to waste his youth. Alhamdulillah, thanks to Google, we managed to find 2 Islamic Nurseries which were government funded (ie; FREE). Without hesitation, I called the nurseries to have a look around. SubhanAllah! The nursery stole my heart straight away. I lovvvvvvveeee the nursery from the moment I entered their parking space. It's such a decent nursery almost like private but it's not. The nursery were in between semi detached houses. I think the nursery was formed from 2 semi detached houses. So, it's quite big. As I had the tour, they also told me that they have primary school in that building. Suddenly I'm thinking, how can they manage to make a 'proper' school out of semi detached houses?? Straight away I felt the place might betoo cramp for Khairaldin. But Masha'Allah, it really is Allah's power. The house/nursery/primary school is huge in the inside!! They even got a hall in there! It's amazing! The space is just surreal. Of course bear in mind there's only 1 class for each Year. So Year 1 till 6 there's about 30pupils in a class. It's still a big number for such a place.

Then I had a look at the nursery. It's an extension from the Primary school which if it's a house, it's considered in the garden :). When I went there, the nursery pupils were in a different room. They were having 'Islamic Studies'. I was so glad to have come at that time because I really wanted to know what they were learning about. I was brought to their classroom and as I entered, all the children gave salam "Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh!!!". Ahhhhhhhhh! Imagine 3 year olds saying that! Super duperrrrr cute. SubhanAllah. Now you know why I'm in love with the school? :D The teacher then told me that they just got back from NEC waterworld. Basically it's something like Aquaria in Malaysia. So, the teacher was telling them a story about a shark. Mind you, it's an English storybook not even Islamic but somehow they managed to link it up with Islam. The story was about a Shark who was scared of everything (weird enough ey?). The way they linked it was at the end of it all, he wasn't as scared because he knows that Allah will help him regardless of anything. Of course there's a lot more to it but I didn't stay for the whole story time. Because the kids just got back from NEC underwater, they can then imagine how the sharks and other animals looked up upon Allah swt. Masha'Allah. It's amazing.

After we have finished touring the school, I went to the office to enrol Khairaldin. Since there's only 2 Islamic Nursery in Leicester, I didn't think twice about enrolling. But sadly, there was already 73 people enrolled before us. Khairaldin is still enrolled but in the waiting list. The school only accept 50 pupils and 20 pupils are already confirmed because they're the siblings to the primary pupils. We will only be able to know if Khairaldin has a place or not at the end of January. If 23 people cancels their application, Khairaldin will then get a chance to study in that school. Insha'Allah.


I'm so excited for him and I know he will feel comfortable in this school. Please keep Khairaldin in your du'as!!!!! May Allah help us throughout our journey on bringing up a soleh(ah) children. Amin Ya Raabalalamin!!

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