The long search about finding a proper Quran teacher who fits all my requirements finally ended. It’s been couple of weeks since having this uncomfortable feeling teaching her this subject. Knowing how far from adequate my knowledge on her current level.
It also doesn’t feel right when we go with professional and qualified teachers for her other education like piano, speech language therapy, gym, so why we go with a mediocre and unqualified one for something as important as learning Quran?
As always, what we ask is what we get.
After clicking lots of profiles in superprof app for months, following few learning accounts, without satisfying results till I just stopped searching. But, giving up on this is not an option.
As always, things always granted when we desperately want it the most.
The right one found me at the first search after long pause of searching at the end of last week.
The teacher accepted the request not long after that.
The funny thing happened when we discussed about the lesson time.
When I offered choices of our free afternoon schedule, the teacher said he could only have mornings since he had fully booked from afternoon till night.
I had certain unusual idea in mind that I would like to propose to whoever that will become her Quran teacher.
To have the lesson at the same time she usually has her lesson daily with me. Right after subuh.
Since the teacher said he wasn’t available during usual and normal hours, so I thought it was perfect time to offer the unsual idea of mine.
I asked.
He agreed right away.
We paid in advance.
He gave the lesson link with the schedule in an instant.
On the day, we requested five minutes before the appointed schedule as we always do.
He accepted at exactly 5.30 am.
This is why we should always ask everything in details.
I want a Quran teacher who :
– has proper knowledge and qualification in teaching the subject
– speaks english well (more because of her first language is English and she thinks in English), not just one that can speak English, like me.
– know how to teach.
– last but obviously not the least, on time to the last minute.
Alhamdulillah, as many other things in life that I have requested so far , this time too, all is granted on the right time.
First lesson done well. Hopefully will continue to do so. Amin.
As we finished isya and she folded her mukena, she came to me and looked at me, then whispered in tiny voice, “Are you binung (bingung)?” since she caught me staring blankly.
“I am not feeling well,”
“Can I help you with anything? Do you want some tea?”
“Ya, i’ll make some tea later,”
“I’ll help you with it. With sugar or honey? Or without sugar?”
“Without sugar. Do you know which glass to use?”
“The green glass,”.
Then I just watched her doing it step by step in her own way.
While mine is put the tea bag on the glass, then fill it with hot water while hers is fill the glass with hot water then put the tea bag.
As her hand went up and down with the tea bag, she asked,
“Enough?”
“Yes,”.
The glass didn’t have any handles on it, when she touched it she knew she couldn’t bring it to me.
I thought she would ask me to just go to the table and drink it there (i still sat on the sajadah), but instead she said, “Wait, I need a tray to bring this, but where is it?”
(there’s usually a little tray for drinking glass on the table)
“In the drying rack, I washed it. Is it dried enough already?”
She took it and answered, “Not really, but it’s fine”.
She put the tea on the tray and put it on the carpet. One sip, it filled the whole body with warmth.
Little cup with enormous effect
Listened to the empathetic tone. Listened to her offering help, even asked with some details. Watched her doing the task systematically and solved the problem well.
It was a joy that no kind of tangible achievement could give.
I once wrote last year, I have three qualities that become my compass in raising her. At the same time, Edward de Bono’s book become one of the on-going readings on the shelf.
Being shown that she displayed one of the qualities properly and showed that she knew how to think accordingly.
This is the kind of learning and training result that matters the most for me.
This might be just a simple thing for others, but this is the kind of event that could wipe all my worries tremendously for a while.
It was one of the moments that I could assure myself that she would be ok.
As always, a sudden plan striked again last Tuesday. Realized that she had only one morning meeting, house cleaned, many hours to go to a simple exam this afternoon, dinner’s secured, then immediate preparations fixed to go to some place that she would love.
Since pandemic began, in London, and especially here, guess I am getting better at making sudden trip happen. Last minutes field trip becomes banal. The tricky thing is, before I could tell her that we would go somewhere, I had to carefully planned everything. Not all the plan successfully executed, but most of the time, it did.
The perks of having all things done at home as early as possible, having plan A and B for weekly meal prep inside the brain, when sudden idea came, we could grab it fast. I could only go outside peacefully knowing everything inside is taken care properly.
Glad also that her current school and homeschool schedules still allow us to have this chance. Packed Monday balanced with easy Tuesday. Some days I look like an ambitious chinese tiger parent that filled her kid with lots of extra activities, some days I could look like a laid back Dutch or Scandinavian parent that let her child play freely all day. That Tuesday, it was the latter.
Left the car and ordered the taxi because of the restriction and again turned out to be the best option. Although his car also one with even number license, the driver knew the routes to beat the restriction which I and goggle maps didn’t. New knowledge is always welcomed.
It was rained right when we arrived, yet it knew how precious the chance for a proper outdoor session. Not long, the sun said hello within few minutes.
Little bunny finally reunited with things that she had been missing for months. Proper playground and (lightly) soaked on the water. This time, I wouldn’t go with the tone saying how pity to live in the city where we had to pay for this kind of basic thing for children.
(But you said it!)
I know.
But, such a nice break from Roblox, isn’t it girl?
Always been a polygamous reader since many years ago. Couldn’t stuck with one reading at one time. Belows are the past few months that currently entertain the mind.
Reading is my leisure.
Beautiful lightning, day and night, is my pleasure.
The reading corner in natural morning lightBarefeet reading during afternoon golden hoursBeautyCar-wash reading in natural morning lightPeach tea is the elementClassic reading about the cityThe city tour guide by the tubeFeels like listening to life advices from the old man
… that I miss a lot. Among tons of excitement life in London has to offer, its parks and gardens are things that I treasure so dearly (it is one of two best things in London). Especially when the leaves change colors during the most beautiful season of the year.
It was a period of life when I captured the same views for ten times in every corner. Sat on the bench while watching people, lay down on the grass while looking at the beautiful sky. Walked slowly around the quiet garden admiring my shoes, counting my steps, and taking some shadow selfies. Listened to my loud mind asking random things that I didn’t bother to answer. The period when I felt such enormous gratitude inside.
The period that I remembered telling myself often,“when life is on the low, remember that it was once this high and glow”.
It was one of the periods when life was the most beautiful and the heart was indeed beyond full.
Kew GardensKyoto GardenSouthwark ParkBrockwell ParkHyde Park
These past three days were few of the rare days on this motherhood jungle where I had enough proper space and time for myself or doing things that I needed and wanted to do.
On Thursday, I let the little girl doing her online piano and therapy by herself. After few months, the relationship with the teachers and therapist have been safely formed. She managed well and it was not bad at all. While she was busy doing lessons, cleaning spirit striked hard, this time was the long overdue fridge. I did the freezer few weeks ago. The fridge is quite tricky when it is not empty. So, when it was quite empty and the chance was granted, it was only right to grab it. That happy feeling after cleaning was good mood booster.
Empty space for breakfast treats on the first and fruit row on the third. Leftovers row were packed.
On Friday, the doctor decided to stay at home after 36 hours shift and before another 24 hours one on weekend. Knowing the sudden good news, my brain was racing with plans.
Since we had no one to sit the little girl other than us, having him at home during weekdays is such an opportunity that I wouldn’t waste. So, after done with first subject at school, I went out to take care some things in few places.
Stopped by the bakery, the nasi kebuli place, then heading to Snapy. Planned to do grocery after Snapy, when suddenly something came to my mind.
The car tax is due next Thursday and the schedule would be pretty tight next week. It was lucky that I had everything in my bag and I was at Snapy so I could make copies of document needed. Groceries postponed and rerouted the plan to SAMSAT. It was even luckier that it was still quite early so I could arrive before they closed for Friday prayer break. Car tax stuff taken care in less than 10 minutes. Few years ago, I wrote how much I love this drive thru service in this post.
At times like that, it reminds me of my late mom whose one of the best skills was being able to think quickly in many situations. Something that I learn a lot from her.
It was a relief having the most important thing done quickly so I could move on to the next things on the list. Unlike the usual routine, I decided to do the grocery in the supermarket below the apartment this week considering few things that I still needed to do.
Returned home to store all the stuff and checked the little girl’s work and sadly, needed to cut her game time and asked her to fix the schoolwork before I submitted it to google classroom. I had reminded her dad to check and made sure that she did it properly. But yeah, that what happened when daddy sat the school from home session.
Done with things at home, went out once again for few things which turned out took longer than expected. But, luckily, having the doctor stayed at home means dinner is also taken care of. So, although something didn’t run according to the plan outside, but at least, I got things covered inside. My comfort food served well that day.
Prawn aglio olio
In normal days, kitchen is closed and clear before maghrib, but that day, I could only manage to clear everything after Isya. One of the reasons why staying outside and being away from home too long is not for me. I didn’t have enough energy to take care what’s inside properly.
That day, it reminded me of old days where I had no choice but to spend hours working outside and felt too exhausted to take care anything inside.
Another thing that reminded me of my late mother is her golden rule to always leave home when it’s tidy. You wont be happy coming back to messy home. So, whatever I need to do outside, I always try taking care the inside things first.
Then, the following day, I still needed time to do things I had to do so I booked one night stayover for the baby in grandpa’s house while the doctor was on duty.
Among those things that I had to do, one is work-related, another is chore related, but the most exciting ones are about things I have been planning for myself.
Plans were always changing in the last minutes. Before, planned to drop the little girl early in the morning then went places. But, once again, something more important barged in and need to taken care of asap. Once again, rerouting the plan was unavoidable.
Instead of heading to my dad’s house, I drove to the bank first instead to change the account and card. I love weekend banking while it was early. It was empty and comfy.
Dropped the little girl, then instead of heading to the work place as planned, I drove home and doing things that I thought more pleasant for that time.
Things like :
– finishing left over fried rice with tahu isi for lunch.
– having a piece of gemblong after that.
– thinking whether I should go with left over spaghetti or left over sambel goreng with krecek for dinner.
– folding a huge pile of laundry without hurry while watching The Bennets.
-exercising while watching Notting Hill. Never watch it until the ending before and I missed London, so, it was a good choice.
– baking the choco chip muffin after long hiatus. The ingredients were ready and the baking equipment had arrived from London.
– enjoying the silent, tidy home all by myself.
– writing this post and few things in mind without looking at the time continously.
– reading whatever I want to read according to the mood.
– doing nothing and lazing around while listening Dave Mathews Band.
I could hear someone screaming : What’s so fun with those things? Where’s the going out plan? Window shopping to the mall without limit? Trying out the food outside? Driving somewhere you want while you have nothing in your hand? Why wasting this precious chance to do useless things like that?
Then I will calmly reply with John Lennon words :
The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
Enjoying some time outside is nice. But, this time, what I need is staying inside peacefully.
For this day, it reminded me of old days where I had nothing to take care except myself. But, on the other hand it also reminds me of what future days might look like when the little girl is older and busier with her own stuffs.
Then, does this mean I’d rather have this kind of day all the time?
Bien sure, que non. Never once I wanted to return to the old days. I am where I am suppose to be and doing what I suppose to do, at this time.
Beside, what should I want to be in charging mode all the time? A good phone is only good when it serves its purposes.
Having such abnormal days were refreshing and I couldn’t wait to have my normal days back with fully recharged batteries.
After 1,5 years practising with nice keyboard we bought in London (P-32), we finally upgraded the instrument to piano digital CL-745 after a thorough researches from the doctor.
It was such a dilemma buying new instrument while we have my big old made-in-japan upright at my parent’s house. But, the urge to upgrade is quite strong because the little girl’s current situation needs more improved instrument so she could play better.
The option for the little girl to play better was between change our instrument or move to a bigger place. Although the choice was pretty clear that we should go with the less headache one, but it still took months until I finally said yes to a new instrument.
The first repclass was the turning point moment. When I saw she played nicely in front of small audience, I finally realized that new instrument was no longer an option. More, with her first exams coming in few months, it gave us more valid reasons to provide proper instrument for her.
So, right after the first repclass ended, off we went to piano store, paid, and they sent it right away to our place. We wrapped the keyboard inside its cover and placed it on the cupboard, set up new arrangement so the new piano could fit in the room.
Thank you for your services, beautiful.Hello, new friend!
The highlight of having new instrument for the little girl is I am getting a new reading corner for myself. So, everyone is happy, I guess. Hope the new instrument will bring more blessings and stay longer than the old one. Amin.
For me, the day always starts right after the house on the right order.
I always believe that our house, our space represent many other things in our life. I am obviously not a clean freak or marie kondoish tidy, but I need a clean and clear house to make me function well.
Made-bed, cleared-sink, crumbless floor, hung clothes are few signs that the day is ready to roll. First thing first in the morning should always be about cleaning the house.
Second win of the day currently is when all the google classroom assignments notifications are all disappeared. All school works that don’t need any recordings should be submitted right away. Right after they’re handed in, you can forget about that. Almost all the school works done along these 2 months are with the tag ‘done early’.
It might also happen because the level is still quite easy for her. So, what I need to do is to make her sit and do the work before lunch time. I am also quite lucky having a little buddy who loves learning too. It indeed helps a lot.
Manage, deal with, and plan quite well for this homeschool thing and school from home period are the biggest return my degrees give me so far. Although whinning here and there are unavoidable, but everything is quite on the track.
The last and the biggest win of the day when I manage to pull myself out to have outdoor time with the little girl. I’ve been whinning endlessly about how hard to have simple outdoor time here. More, all the parks are still closed until now, children are banned from mall or even apartment swimming pool. So, the choices to have a simple, free outdoor time is quite limited.
This outdoor plan usually happens from a sudden idea strike. Like two days ago, I needed to stop by Snapy to print out the new piano book, then something came to my mind right before we went. Asked her how about having outdoor lunch before Snapy? I offered her rice box or sandwich and she chose the latter. We had a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice too on the fridge. I also told her to bring her old scooter that finally arrived after 9 months.
Parking is also another tricky thing to have outdoor time here. Why didn’t go by public transport then? Because we need to move places and guess what? Children is also currently not allowed to ride on public transport like MRT, only angkot allowed. Being children is underratedly hard here.
I found a legal parking spot one kilometer from the place. I walked and she rode on a scooter from there. It was not too hot that day and obviously quiet, so we could enjoy the space mostly for ourselves. It was nice to be able to take off our mask without worry and breathe properly. Enjoyed lunch while listened to singing birds and watched butterflies and some other insects along the way.
But , what about the afternoon? Afternoon is space for more relaxed activities. If she has afternoon classes, then she is doing it. In between, it is our free time. Some days are laundry days where we should fold our own clothes, some days are grocery days, some afternoon spent by lazing around amd having nap, if we want to. Also afternoon is the time when I do my exercise. I need quite proper time and space to do it. So, having those small wins of the day done before noon is important.
Some days with high level of winnings like this, where all three winnings done before 12pm, could give encouragement for many days to come. Even higher because before that, we already accomplished all these daily melodies too. Kind of day that is constantly needed to keep going well and sane to deal with pandemic life when you’re living in the country like mine.
I (really) had hard times during first two weeks of formal school. Adjusting and adapting to the new life and schedule was a total headache. I had so many things that I want to keep but still couldn’t find the right flow to do that. But, most of the time, we only get what we ask for, and usually, when we really want something, then we’ll find a way for that. My goals are clear : I want to keep all the routines and I want my peace of mind too since morning.
Having formal school in daily life doesn’t mean eliminating all the home school learnings schedule that has been built for the last 1,5 years. So, what we need is some adjustments here and there, squeezeing some this and that, and finally after exactly a month, daily rhytms with new melodies formed.
Day starts as early as before subuh with breakfast. Before, piano was given the last slot of morning routine before break, but, a month or two before first day of school, I changed the order. Knowing that this piano is the hardest routine that takes the longest time, I changed it to the first one after set of subuh routine (subuh, iqra and quran memorization). Then, it followed by math and theory music training with apps, and a 15 minutes session of game before school hours starts.
The consequence of having longer duration for piano practice, we have to squeeze all the apps session to the minimum. From three levels of numbots to one level/day, from ten minutes of timetable rockstar to five minutes only and a level of notes reading or pitch training which aims for three stars.
These all done so she still have some spare time to play game before school time. This is an important routine that should be kept. The more learning routines she has, it means the more playing time she deserves.
I also apply that all school works should be submitted right away so we don’t have to deal with it again. Because tomorrow will come with new ones. I could proceed to the second leg of the day knowing that the google classroom to do list has zero notificiations.
Current school timetable fits us pretty well because everything has done before 11am. It gives us proper time to breathe before heading to the afternoon schedules. Right after school ends, she still has sometimes to have 15-20 minutes break for playing or watching before having lunch and do her dishes.
It’s good that the ‘only’ thing that we have to alter is the morning time. We still can keep the afternoon routines as usual, only with few eliminations like art and gym because they’re still on the restrictions during PPKM.
Not only the little girl, my schedule has changed accordingly too. My me time has changed from a session of 1,5 hours morning course to leisurely reading and kitchen/house cleaning since I had to give up the course for a while.
After few weeks dealing with online course and online school altogether and ended up being so exhausted after that, no time to do house works properly, had to ask permission to be passive for half of the course since I had to accompany the little girl, understood less and less lessons daily, the decision to (temporary) halt the course became the only thing to achieve my second goal above.
After all, you can’t just have everything.
Keeping this kind of routines regime becomes a bit easier because we have Alexa as the time keeper. We always rely on her to set timer for everything. Time keeping is an important thing to keep everything on the track.
James Clear this week newsletter mentioned the importance of time keeping quoting from author and journalist Mitch Albom :
“Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check its watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.”
The whole day routine we do above is not a temporary project. It’s been built since the first months of life. The only change throughout the years is the melodies. But the rhytms, has always been the same.
I don’t know about other children, but mine is living in an environment where the flow of the day stays practically the same whether it’s weekend or weekdays. This post, described our typical day before having formal school.
Having and forming daily routine that is consistently done in rain or shine, weekdays or weekend, snow or sunny is hard, time and energy consuming at the beginning, need strong commitment and high level of self-discipline. Among any other routines, beating yourself daily is the hardest of all.
But, I am lucky that I have lived long enough to experience how this thing becomes a long term investment and enjoying the result for myself. Having daily routine is the long-term investment that will keep compounding throughout the years of life and I want the little girl to have it too for her life.
For me, it’s one of unbeatable privileges you can pass to your children without worrying about its value decreased or it’s being stolen from them. An Investment that will make everyone’s life easier, especially during bad days and hard times, like now and future years to come.
This kind of clarity makes the daily self-beating becomes more bearable.
This writing had been started few weeks ago and finished in an hour thanks to an article I stumble upon while having leisure stalking. This one talks about principles of effective research and to have such thing, it starts with having effective use of the researcher daily time. One of the punch lines from the article :
I heard a story years ago in which a representative from McDonald’s was asked what gave McDonald’s the edge in the fast food industry. They replied that McDonald’s took care of the little things, like making sure that their restaurants and surrounds were always extremely clean. Representatives of other fast food companies replied incredulously that surely that was not the reason McDonald’s did so well, for “anyone could do that”. “But only McDonald’s does” was the response.
That ‘took care of little things’, ‘anyone could do that but only McDonald’s does’ reasoned well with me.
The article has many interesting lines that become the fuel that I need today to finish this writing as early as 4 am and to deal with today’s long to-do-list since we finally have our boxes from London safely arrived in my dad’s house last night, after NINE (with capital) months of waiting and fighting.
Alhamdulillah.
Bonne journée a vous et trés bonne journée à moi, j’éspere.
A Penny for My Pensieve 