Morning Circle time - Planned versus Unplanned

With five kids all under 9, and a 4 month old baby, one can only dare to expect anything to go as per a plan!

These days in our home education, on some relaxed and easy mornings, I try to grab a few books to read together in our circle time right after breakfast.

So this was my plan:

A pile of books(pictured above) that consisted of:

- Our family read aloud mainly for the 9yo and 7yo (The Wind in the Willows).

-Allah's 99 names chart to work on memorization

-A picture book I quickly picked up for the 2yo

-I love Islam textbook (Islamic studies)

-My planner to note down the weekly readings that I do with the 9yo and 7yo.

Versus

This is what happened, all unplanned:

-A group recitation of Surah Fatiha - the first thing we read daily both in Arabic and English. Joining us was the very spontaneous 2yo doing his best and loudest recitation, with joy and excitement of reciting in a group.

-Read Allah's names from the chart, listened to the gnashed once for memorization and then I noticed that the 4yo got fixed onto counting all the 99 names. He wasn't getting the right count so he patiently kept at it counting again and again for 15 minutes or more.(Math).

No Pre-K math worksheet could have kept him as encouraged and persistent like this.

-We Read aloud the 2yo's picture book - "I Went Walking" (Same plot as Eric Carle's Brown bear, Brown bear, What do you see?) that turned into a fun guess the next animal game for everyone. Completely engrossing the 2 yo! All the older siblings kept encouraging and asking him to guess the next animal giving him clues, speaking in the cutest toddler voices to encourage him and filled with joy as he guessed and laughed with happiness to see everyone cheer him on! (Pattern recognition, memory development and vocabulary for 4yo and 2yo).

-Finally, we didn’t even get to our meaty family read aloud during that same sitting, as I was now interrupted with the baby needing my apt attention. So I made a mental affirmation to get to it at the next opportunity in the day.

During the entire circle time, that lasted about 45 minutes, the 7yo had grabbed the baby from my lap to hers, cuddling, rattling noisy toys, keeping her busy and playing with her intentionally as she had noticed that I had got more engrossed reading and playing with the 2yo and 4yo.

-My daughter, whose a fresh 7 years old, is usually natural and quick to pick the baby, always instinctive, ready to notice and fulfill the baby's needs. She usually tells me "mama baby needs you", "mama I think she needs to feed now", or "mama, she's too hot, I know she doesn't like that shirt you put on her" and right away goes on to undress the baby's extra layer with such confidence and perfection. And most of the times she's right!

-All of the above and much more that happened, that I can't even pen, couldn't have flourished under any pressure of plans, schedules and curriculums.

Subhan'Allah, I'm filled with contentment for such mornings and the blessing of being able to be present in the moment with my children. For, it is indeed hard, indeed a skill that has been taken away from us. That truly, when one immerses into the present, the level of contentment, is at its highest and and the mind and heart is truly at rest like nothing else.

“A child is a person in whom all possibilities are present – present now at this very moment – not to be educed after many years and efforts manifold on the part of the educator.”

— Charlotte Mason

I invite you'll to make time and space for such beautiful mornings more and more - to work with what's in front of you rather than what's inside of you as per a plan. This will not only help you release the load of anxiety that lives in your mind full of constant racing thoughts of what you need to do next. But, it also makes you feel full and grateful as you deeply connect with the most important treasure around you - your relationship with your children that is going to last for a lifetime!