THAT'S HANDY HENRY...

I often sit and worry about how little work gets done around here now that we have two little monkeys darlings in our household but the last two days have given me a reminder of why we decided to home school in the first place. I often forget that lessons do not have to be the children sat at the table pen in hand and a workbook in front of them. Many times the children may ask a simple question and we then go on to discuss this at length which seems to be more absorbed than any other kind of learning style.  

Recently my children asked me what religion their Nan (my own mother) is and I explained that she does not really follow any religion but she will always say church of England. My husband asked what exactly church of England means and we went on to discuss it a little further. A and L became excited at this point as they are huge fans of horrible histories and recalled the episode of Henry VIII and his ties to the church of England due to him wanting a divorce from Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. 

We discussed this for a while and then went on to speak about how people would change religious rulings to suit there own desires. This led nicely to a discussion on Muslims of today and how we also follow our own desires to suit ourselves at times. We then went on to read through some verses of Qur'aan where Allaah mentions people who follow their own desires and also some authentic ahadith which speak of the consequences of such things. 

Its so beautiful that a simple question about one thing can be turned into a full on Islamic lesson maashaaAllaah. This really is the main reason we home school and I must keep this in mind when i start to panic over the lack of working on times tables or handwriting practice.

Tomorrow inshaaAllaah I think I will use these verses and hadith for the children to practice their Arabic writing (pictures to follow inshaaAllaah). I often find the verses/hadith stick in their heads more if we have been discussing them anyway and also when written out. Who would have thought Henry the VIII could be so handy ;)