Naima B. Robert – The {VIRTUAL} Salon Is Homeschooling an Act of Resistance
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Bismillah salam alaikum, and welcome to the third session of
the virtual salon. It is wonderful to have so many of you with us
again, today, we are going to be talking about a topic that has
come up a few times in our sessions so far. And it is the
theme of education. And specifically, and very much in
keeping with the fact that most of us, our children are at home. And
we have, in varying degrees been invited to play a much more active
role in our children's education. We're going to be talking
specifically about home school, and home education. And my
question to the panel, and these amazing ladies who have come on,
and I'm gonna give a shout out each other when you come on,
please, can you just introduce yourselves? Tell us a little bit
about yourselves. But my question to you or so we can jump right
into it is Do you think that home education, or education in
general, can be an act of resistance can be a form of
resistance? Anyone can jump in? Just put your hand up or unmute?
What are your thoughts on that question?
Yes, ma'am.
Now they come at everyone. I'm excited to be back here. My name
is Imani beshear, I'm originally from Maryland in the United States
of America. I am an international journalist and writer also an
author and I currently live in Mexico. I think specifically
speaking as a black American homeschooling is indeed an act of
resistance specifically based on socio economically, and how it is
that our public school education is set up and built in the United
States.
Our public school system like today, we're celebrating
Juneteenth June 19. For anyone who's unfamiliar, June 19 1865,
was the day that slave and slaves enslaved people in Galveston,
Texas, found out that they were indeed emancipated, not
necessarily free but emancipated. However, the Emancipation
Proclamation was signed two and a half years prior to them finding
out so we celebrate Juneteenth, this day, June 19 1865, today
being the 150/5 year as a representation of that
emancipation, but we also have to remember all of the things that we
were not allowed one thing that we were not allowed what's in
education, we were not allowed to read, it was illegal for us as, as
black people, enslaved people to read. And then that trickled down
into our educational system. Our educational system is very poor.
In teaching us what it is that our real history is, it's very poor in
teaching us
cultural things as somebody who's an expat. I've lived in five
countries. My son was not born in the United States, he was born in
Europe. And that was purposeful. And simply because we don't learn
how to coexist with others, we don't learn
practical things and practical tools in public school systems.
And so I don't trust that as a black parent that my son will
learn more of his identity in a public school setting. And
specifically as an expat, I would prefer my husband and I haven't
the range of what it is that we teach him number one is sonically
and number two,
as far as himself and who he is and where it is that he comes
from. I think that as someone who had the blessing of having a
father, teach me who it is that I was outside of being a Muslim, but
how it is that I fit as a Muslim and as a black person in American
society, I think it would do me a disservice to then put my son in a
school setting that would undo and unravel all of the things that
generationally my father and his father tried to undo with us,
although we were public school children speak to that for a
second before we pass the mic, because I think something that you
mentioned and that had no has come up in previous sessions. IMANI is
this idea of legacy. And this idea of you know, in your case, your
grandparents fighting for something, and fighting really
tooth and nail and in this case, it was their Islamic identity and
you purse
And he feedings very responsible for that legacy and for continuing
that legacy. Would you say that that's the that's true? Is that
how you feel? Absolutely, absolutely. You know, when we
think of our ancestry, we think of what it is that our forefathers
and our forefathers had to endure in order for us to have what it is
that we have. And so for me to have the privileges that I have to
go and live outside of the United States of America after remember
all of the work that was done, and put into everyone that came before
me, so all of the work that my grandparents and their
grandparents and their grandparents had to work to
instill to, for those who attempted to try to keep their
Islam, for those who, you know, tried to fight to keep their
names, you know, my grandparents had to go to court in order to
keep their names to Kenya, and yet, they had to actually go to
court to fight to keep their names as black American people. And so
with that ancestral history, and that generational history, I
absolutely cannot undo all the hard work and the labor that they
did to ensure that we stay connected and understanding who it
is that we were, I have a little like, something that I want to
just push in there. But I'd like anyone else who wants to maybe
jump off him and his point to jump in first before I come with this.
Anyone else who feels that that? What's your answer to the
question, what do you think maybe am?
I absolutely agree what system with sustained money said,
especially when she touched on the education system, I'm based in the
UK. So it's kind of like even from a primary level, we were taught
about World War One World War Two, you know, the Great Fire of
London, all those sorts of topics and with children are taught about
the the inventors and the pioneers. But I mean, looking at
the curriculum as a whole, never were taught any South Asian
history, any sort of black history. And you know, that black
British history of South Asian history is so important. It's
essentially what made our country what it is today. But
unfortunately, our children are not taught that. And I really feel
that homeschooling can totally be an act of resilience against the
standardized education system, but also, unfortunately, the systemic
racism that a lot of our children do face. So yeah, so to answer
your question, absolutely. And I think also, homeschooling can be
an act of faith as well. I think that's sort of really important to
put in there. And it's really about allowing our children to
have a solid firm foundation and sense of identity. So when they do
go out into the world,
they're sure of themselves, you know, they've come from a home or,
you know, they, which essentially sentence them me myself. I'm from
a South Asian background, but my husband is from African
background. So essentially, I'm raising black children. And I've
had to unlearn and learn so much. And for me, even though my
children are quite young, my oldest just turned six, my
youngest is only three, but we've already incorporated within our
own homeschool sort of African history, salvation history. So
they know about the amazing, you know, kingdoms and of Africa and
the kings and the queens we've already started. That's how I
really feel that it is definitely active resistance. Yeah, no,
totally. I hear that. And I want to actually I'm going to just
really I want to pick up on that because I know that as, as I've
heard a lot of black families, African diasporic families talking
about the importance of teaching, black history, African history or
whatever it is to to our children, because it's something that is
very narrow in the curriculum. It's kind of all based around
slavery. We talked about this last last week, but do you as a South
Asian feel that there is benefit? And you do you feel there's
benefit in your children learning about their South Asian roots as
well. And South Asian history? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I
was just discussing last week about the you know, the British
Empire and unfortunately, we're still taught today in the UK
education system. You know, about the wonderful things about the
British Empire, we're not talking about any of the you know, the
crazy the atrocities and what what it really is. So to really give
our children a, a real world view, I guess. Homeschooling really
allows us to give our children a real world view of what history
actually was. And not the sort of Eurocentric sort of whitewashed
version of it. 100% I've got some people in the chat saying I've
already told my eldest about the Queen taking the cookie, Nora.
Yeah.
Who would like to jump in now? Rama, Rachel, Bill keys, who's
next? Yeah, I can I can go in.
Yes, ma'am. Adhikam everyone, my name is Rama. I'm a mother of
three children book author. And so in terms of homeschooling for me.
The thing is, is that my parents never felt comfortable with the
public school system. However, they felt that they didn't have
the knowledge enough to do the homeschooling because they were
immigrants. They came to the country they didn't they barely,
you know, knew the language. However, one of the things that
they've done is that
At they were always supplement our education. So on the weekends,
they would enroll us in Islamic schools full time Islamic school.
So essentially, we were in school seven days a week, because on the
weekends, we would go to the Islamic school where we would
learn, you know, the curriculum in terms of reading the Quran, and
the history of Islamic education that had deeds and everything like
that. So for me, I grew up knowing that there was a lack, obviously,
in these public schools, and the fact that they're not centered
around me and my identity, and I faced a lot of racism as well. I
faced a lot of prejudice from my teachers. And that's ongoing until
I went to university and things like that. And when I had my
eldest, she is now turning eight, I decided to actually hold her
back a year and not to enroll her in school here. They start, you
know, they start preschool as youngest four. And but it is not
mandatory to put them in school into grade one until they turn
six. So that's the government requires you to put them in school
at the age of six for grade one. So I held her back, and even just
doing that little part, because I felt that she wasn't ready. That
little part, I would get a lot of criticism, and a lot of the
schools would ask me, where did you put her in preschool. So for
me, that's, that was my first try in homeschooling. And I honestly
didn't do any homeschooling, we would just live our normal life, I
found that even those two years that I held her back had
tremendous benefits into her self esteem, and that the fact that she
took more of herself and she was more confident when she went into
the school, I was had the ability to now put her in, in Islamic
school, something that my parents couldn't afford to do, we were
seven, there was no way that they could afford the tuition of seven
children in private Islamic schools. It's very expensive. This
is me taking the extra step that I thought my parents couldn't afford
to do. But now I'm even seeing that. That's not enough. That me
putting her in a private school we're in where you know, she is a
Muslim, and everyone is of the same faith, which something I
really desperately wanted when I was his child is not even enough
because she is a Muslim, but she's also a black Muslim child. And
then that aspect of it is also not addressed the last few months now
being home and seeing the things that she's learning. And actually
me participating in that, I've actually seen that my child is not
happy at school, the amount of work is way too much. The fact
that some of the things that they're learning could easily be
done in a few hours, my child is expressing things like, I don't
like being in my room for four to five hours on my own.
I don't like school, I wish I could spend more time with you
guys. Because you know, I have three, she's the only one in
school that is having to do all of this homework, and the other two
are home with us. And it's just I'm seeing that it's just, she's
not even happy. She's not happy doing this, I see that there is
actually not the benefit. Like you know, here I am trying to do extra
things that my parents couldn't do. And each generation that's
what we do, we try to do more than our parents couldn't do. But here
I am thinking No, at this point, you know what, my child is not
happy. She's not even learning the things that I need her to learn.
Therefore, I we've made the decision to homeschool full time
next year. Because what what was happening at this time was school
at home, it was not homeschooling. So Insha Allah, I look forward to
this opportunity to now have more control into what my child is
going to be learning have more of that influence, but also giving
that freedom to my child to to be happy. And, you know, my one of
the My greatest goal is to, to give that sense of the love of
learning and to my child. And I feel that the school system
actually robs them of that. It robs them and it sucks out their
creativity, it turns them into robots that are being asked to do
what they need to do at a certain time, doesn't address the
different type of
personality of a child, the type of way that they the child might
learn. None of those things are addressed. It's really factory
base, you know, and the systemic racism, the biases, whether it's
in public school, whether it's an Islamic school, all of those are
present at all time. So I really do see that as an act of
resistance, because it's not easy. You're going against the grain,
there's a lot of stigma attached to it. And also a lot of, you
know, a lot of people don't understand and that view this as a
sub part of education, because most people just adhere to this
modality of learning, right? So it is an act of resistance because
it's not easy.
That's amazing. And I just saw, I know, Rachel, you want to come in
here, but I just would like to ask whoever is watching this. How many
of you have discovered during lockdown that your children were
not happy at school? Has anybody had that experience where you
know, you've been doing the whole school thing, right? You've seen
the school run, you've been in the homework, everything's been as
normal, normal, normal. But since lockdown, your children have
confided in you and actually admitted that they're not really
happy at school that they'd much rather stay home and be with you.
I certainly had that experience myself surprised a lot. And it
was, it was revelatory. And it was revolutionary, because I did
decide to make some decisions based on that. And just a couple
of things that are coming up from the audience's, you know, the, you
know, totally echoing what you're saying right about the the
stereotypes and the unconscious bias, and the target based grade
bass education, and maybe that there is a different way of doing
things that there is a freedom to be explored. And I know that
Rachel, we did a live last week, and we talked about what it really
means to put your child's education in their formative years
into the hands of a stranger. So Rachel, take it away, girl, son,
I'm waiting.
I think my home mere existence is a rebellion.
And it's not just homeschooling, it's just me, in general, I'm more
one of those people who, if I want something to happen, rather than
looking for someone else to do it, I tend to do it myself.
So
I'm a mom of five.
So private school was never going to be an option, that was going to
be a joke. Because I'd have to work a million hours in the middle
of nowhere, to even think, even fab. My eldest is adopted.
And our first interaction with whom education as parents was
through him. When I realized when I adopted him, he's biologically
my nephew vital to them, and eight,
that he was not happy in school.
He was totally unhappy. And he was unhappy to the point where he was
coming home. And I just had a new baby. And he was reacting really
badly to very small minut details that will change.
So I sat down, and I talk a lot with my kids. And I spoke to him.
And he said, I don't like you that don't go.
So go, anyway, is that an option? So most definitely is an option on
your mother. It's an option, I will drop anything for you to
know, what's the best version of you.
So with him being a home, home education, for the younger ones
became a first choice. It wasn't a reaction. It was a choice.
I did to prove a point to people who were naysayers. I did take the
one that is now 11. To our local school. They do something during
the summer called an introduction day. So I took Aisha and it shows
exactly like me, she is rebellious.
And we took her in, and they were trying to teach this four or five
year old who had been reading with her brother for years. Her
alphabet, said, Well, how did you like it? When I picked her up and
she stood there. And I loved it instilled that level of confidence
in her. She turned around, she looked at the teacher and she
looked at me and she's like, Can I be honest? I mean, yes, to a four
year olds are stupid.
That is literally what she said. You know, you are a four year old
as well.
And she went gasps I'm a different breed of four year old man. We're
not talking about the same sort of thing.
So that became okay, no one's going to school. So then what do
we do?
It it was a bit hypocritical on my part because I was chilled. I was
still teaching high school while my kids were not in school
and teaching in high school, open your eyes to a lot of things.
Especially when my eldest then decided the boy didn't then
decided to try secondary school.
And he was I was called in for insubordination. So not listening
to authority. That was not the case. five foot nine black male at
the age of 11. told his teachers well told his maths teacher who
was a five foot nothing white one
meant that her equation on the board was wrong.
He tried on several occasions, the tower, the equation was wrong. She
didn't want to listen to him. He politely as we told him, put up
your hand and sit there. Her remark to him was, if you don't
want to be here to learn,
leave,
he's on the autistic spectrum, he left.
So I was called in.
As we sat with the heads, we were told that he was not listening to
instructions, and he wasn't doing the work.
And he was, he was doing the work. He'd done the work he was done.
You told her that the last equation could not equal zero.
He was the only black child in his class, I came armed with a
deregistration letter, which is what we need to hand in in the UK,
in order to withdraw your child from school. They said to me, we
don't believe that this is the place for him. And they were in a
way expecting me to argue to keep him there. And I said, You know
what, I think we're on the same page here. Here is a
deregistration letter, I signed it and dated, handed over, collected
my child, gave them back their blazer, said, hand it off to
someone who can't afford one, because they're like 70 pounds
each. Give it to charity, I will give you the rest of the uniform,
because it's all good. We don't need it, he can come home, and you
can be the black man that he needs to be in his own house.
It's about time, us as black people stop putting our children
under the foot of someone that doesn't need them.
Or doesn't want them.
And for me, it's not rebellion is self preservation.
If we want our boys and our girls to exist as people, we need to
give them that solid foundation to be the people that Allah subhanaw
taala said they should be.
So for me, I say to my kids, it's not rebellion. It's self
preservation and self determination. If you can't exist,
you can't rebel.
If they're going to kill you, you can't rebel, because you're not
going to be here anymore. To stand firm on your own path and get
there.
upon Allah, somebody's asking, where is the hot button, but
somebody has found the hearts now. Thank you so much for that CES.
Really, really, really powerful. But I have a question because I'm
sensing and maybe my panel can can, like, you know, feed back to
me on this. And those of you who are watching, I'm sensing a real
shift here because our parents, our parents, sacrificed for our
education. Right. And wasn't it always education, everything is
education. If you're from Africa, you know, it's education,
education, education. Yeah. Pakistanis, Indians, Bengalis,
everybody so it isn't maybe as well, they got to that stage where
it's like, education, everything while our so
there's a shift here, because I'm hearing that this education that
our parents fought so hard for us to to have, and insisted that we
submit to and I use the word submit on purpose, because for
many of us, our black and brown parents may not have stood up for
us against the school. I don't know whether you guys have noticed
that. Back in the day. It was if the school told you that it's
this, why didn't you listen? If they told you to do that, why
didn't you do it? You know, like, I know the way that you guys had
that experience as well. But yeah, come on, Rachel. Go go go. I'm,
I'm a millennial. And my parents did stand up for me, okay, you
millennial, okay. No, my parents did a very unique thing. I went to
a grammar school.
And as they realized that the grammar school was not fitting.
They made a negotiation. And I only went to school for three days
a week. Oh, wow. So I went Monday to Wednesday, and then Thursday,
to well, Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, they set up a black
historical cooperative
in Hackney, in London, and that's where I went, and that's where all
of my closest friends are. And we are all very similar in that
manner.
Be it Muslim, Vietnam, we are all very similar in that and
our children are all very similar, in that they don't stand for
nonsense. They will call bits of people out on institutional
racism, no matter where they are.
They will call them out.
My daughter when she was about seven or eight, called out a
police officer at Stratford Station in London, telling him
that you've got a group of boys here. Why
Have you only pulled the black on to the side? That makes no sense.
And that's not fair. And she said to me, Mom, tell them you're his
mother and take him home.
And I did.
And so it's an it's, it's a, I think it's a difference in whether
your parents came, and then finish their education here. And I'm in
the UK, or they came to work here.
I'm lucky. My mum came as the child of diplomats who came and
she was schooled here. So we knew the system really well. Yeah. So I
went into that cooperative. And that cooperative also taught
Maths, English and Science. So quite a lot of us piggybacked off
that and did GCSE is two years earlier than everybody else. Okay.
So at 14, I had 10, GCSEs. At 16, I enrolled at Leeds University.
So my mum knew the system well enough
to navigate those waters for all of us.
So when we, when we then had our own children,
we navigated the waters for them, because we understood the current
of the river.
I hear that and do you think that just as you know, you and your
mother understood the system, because she had been in it and was
able to negotiate and ask for what she wanted and insist on getting
what she wanted in the system, just as you did? Do you think also
that parents who have grown here and have actually been schooled
here are aware of the dangers of the system as well? And don't just
trust blindly that, of course, it's a British education, because,
you know, we're colonial countries, you know, what it's
like, the British education is the standard, right? That is the gold
standard. I'm wondering how many here had pushback from their
parents, because they're rejecting that British education that was so
valuable at one point, what are your thoughts on that?
Can I can I Yeah.
I'm actually not feel feeling really well today. So
but I'm extremely, extremely passionate about this subject.
And that's because I September, I'll be going on 20 years of
homeschooling my children 20 years, Masha, Allah Azza Baraka,
Allah. Wow, that's amazing. 20 years. Wow. Yes.
And,
oh, my I have five. And
none of them have actually been to school. It's literally from the
beginning. My first son went to school in the later part of his
high school, which in Canada, grade 11. And he went for a half
of the year, so as semester, so that he could play soccer on the
school team. And that was it. And then and the only other time he
went to school was when he got into university for engineering.
The second one never went to school at all, he actually didn't.
Sorry, can I just just jump in there? Did you just drop that on
us? That Oh, the first time we went to school when he got into
university to study engineering.
That's amazing.
And the second one, actually, he was doing something from about
grade four called unschooling, that's a whole nother subject,
okay.
And then, the third one, these are all males, these are all our boys.
The third one did part time
in school, online for grade 11 year. And then he went back to
being homeschooled after that, so
and he's now applying for computer science. The second one got into
university for marketing business. He's finishing off that. So it's
been a lifestyle for us. And
one of the reasons one of the main reasons why I decided to
homeschool from the very beginning was pretty much what you what the
whole topic is about it was he resisting the system. And really,
it came about because just watching my my brothers go through
the school system, even myself, like in Canada at the time,
it was starting where they were supporting more black women in
schools. So there was more attention to the black woman at
school, but still are black girls in school, but still the black
boys were being left behind and left behind in a way that was not
even just the fact that they weren't getting a proper education
but it was very detrimental to their to their self esteem and
self worth. So for me, it was really just I decided, You know
what, I am going to facilitate my children's education, I'm going to
facilitate them big
humbling a whole person. And that means thriving self esteem and
self worth. And by thriving, I mean, I mean, continuous. So
whatever her, you know, a lot throws their way or, you know,
life brings to them that they're going to be able to
have the proper self worth and self esteem to be able to manage
through through the crisis.
And so, because yeah, because watching my brothers go through
this, I, and, and my youngest brother went into Islamic school,
and it isn't, isn't much of a difference. Like, Rama has
mentioned this before. We're both in Canada. So the Islamic school,
I mean, it was more detrimental in a way because of spiritual racism,
and it affects your spirituality. So I, you know, decided not to do
that, and I have studied early childhood education, and just in
my studies, I could see the systematic
discrimination, and racism that was embedded in the Canadian
Canadian school system. I mean, you know, just down to, you know,
basic,
the history that is being taught the,
you know, English, the resources, the books that are being read,
like, it's just everywhere, right. So, you know, I decided, like, you
know, I'm going to, I'm going to try to do this, teach that myself.
And,
you know, I had, I had, I had one black son. And so I thought, and
then, two years later, I had another one. And then, you know,
three years later, I had another one. And I was like, Okay, this is
this is a tribe, and this tribe is not going into this, you know, and
then I have a daughter. And then now I haven't gotten some, my
youngest is 10, my son. And so it's, again, it's become like, a
lifestyle for us. And, I mean, I could, I can see the benefit.
Just Subhanallah it's so amazing to actually interact with, I mean,
you know, I know it's there, my children, so it's like, okay, you
know, prideful or whatever, but
just being the difference between them and say, like, another black
boys has been through school. I mean, you know, like, their
cousins and things like that, like, it's just, it really is just
the way that they carry themselves. And the fact that they
really,
you know, don't see the limits that were placed on other people,
you know, I kind of taught them to look at the world through their
own eyes. So you're looking outwards, right? You're looking
outwards at the world and you're seeing what you're going to be
able to give to the world well Allah talented Allah has given you
and you're going to, you know, you're going to help the world
you're going to, you know, give the world you're going to, you
know, but not to look at yourself, the way that person is looking at
you. Right? Oh, that eliminates we're gonna say hold on a second.
Oh, that rewind that come again. Please drop that one again. Guys.
I hope you're taking notes. I hope you're getting those truth bombs
and those mic drop moments, Masha, Allah, I want to see them, please,
when you put them on Instagram, tell me says please say that,
again, about seeing the world.
So basically, you know, teaching them to look at the world, through
their eyes. And, you know, to see what they're going to give to the
world. And, you know,
the talents that Allah has given them how they're going to share
that with the world, right?
And not the way that the world is going to be viewing them. So with
you know, with all of the
sorry, I'm like
super safe for me to be sick. Okay. I'm trying.
Yeah, so just the way that they're being viewed by other people, and
the restrictions that that puts on you, the damage it does your your
self esteem, your self worth and your confidence, and your ability
to function in the world. Like
it's, it's just amazing how that little that little
aspect, or that little thing has, has really changed the way that my
children function. And around them as a lot of you know, there's a
lot of people of color in the Muslim community, and, you know,
even in the homeschooling group, so you know, as one of the
founders of the Toronto welcome home school is very large in
Toronto here. And it's predominantly indo Pak, and just
the way they functioned in that group of people. Not not,
basically not taking on the people's biases and prejudice, and
that sort of thing and be able to, you know, stand in front of people
perform and
You know, President do presentations suggest science
fears and all those kinds of fears, and just not really be
concerned with what other people are thinking of them. Right?
And so, yeah, it's,
I mean, it's a struggle. It's definitely not an easy thing to
do. But I mean, anyone who's even thinking about it, I'm telling
you, I'm here to tell you 100% It's the best way to go. 100%
Inshallah,
you guys got that from the OG herself? A lot. I think maybe 20
years she's been in this game maybe longer than anybody else,
correct me if I'm wrong. But since you mentioned that homeschooling
is a lifestyle, and I'd like some of our other panelists, to be in
homeschooling, to speak a little bit to that, please just feel free
to unmute and jump in. And I just jump in real quick before we move
on, because something that Billy said really spoke to me, when she
talked about children being focused on what the gifts that
they give to the world, I think a lot of us notice, well I've lifted
myself is that after I graduated from university, I didn't know
what I wanted to do with my life. This sense of finding yourself
this sense of all going and traveling the world discover your
gift, like you guys all seen on the social media and on the
internet, find yourself do go backpacking after school, it's
like, it's because in the school system, they are not there to
discover who you are and what your gifts are. It is really just being
a machine that absorbs this information. And then you go on to
the world, to use whatever information that you got, or
whatever path that you think that is going to be. That's the easiest
for you. Like for me for myself, if I had been homeschool, I know
now today that creative writing and writing is what I was
passionate about. My parents didn't understand that creative
writing like immigrant parents, how do you explain that? It was a
no go, right? So it was all about get a stable job, you know, a
prestigious job and you know, and that I can explain to your family
that I can explain to guests when they come home. But it just struck
me like, that is really what's going on. It's children are
graduating from school and have absolutely no idea who they are,
what God has given them to give back to the world. How can you
nourish and sustain the gifts that God has created you with? For you
to flourish and make an impact into the world, we are not
teaching that the system is not about understanding that it is not
about nourishing, any sort of gift or anything. It's about making you
conform to that. And we also talk about adulting What are your kids
learning about financial independence? What are they
learning about? Living Independently, we are just it's a,
I have to grow up, like get married. And I have to figure all
of these things out that no one has taught me yet I am here I have
graduated. And I've done all of these things. So unless you have
amazing parents that are like I said, supplementing your education
with real life learning and supplementing your education were
other things that make your your personality and you know,
reinforces your identity.
Absolutely, you have no idea what's going on, you are a
shepherd like you are basically a flock and you're just following up
on this train of this factory. And we are graduating kids that might
have graduated from Tufts University, they graduate and they
have absolutely no idea who they are what they want to be. And they
have nervous breakdowns, and they have all of these things. So that
just spoke to me. I was just like, oh my god, that is the piece that
I was missing that I you know, I really understood later in life.
And I wish that you know, I mean, it's not too late to hamdulillah
my kids are young, and you know, I'm sure that I'm on the right
path. But you know, that's the the mentality that's the, the mind
shift that we need to make. Totally and I've got, you know,
people in the you know, people saying this school does not
prepare you for real life at all and, and one sister whose son is
two and a half years old, and is she's being asked about daycare
already.
She's she's really feeling very inspired to homeschool now. Yes,
go ahead, Rachel.
I've, I've got a lot of friends who are my age, who are not, they
didn't come through the same system that I did, which was a
very bizarre system in itself. They came through the regular
school system. And when they say this thing of trying to find
themselves I find it hilarious.
And my question back to them is what have you been doing for the
last?
What have you been doing? Yes. What have you really been doing
for the last 30 odd years? But for me, I understand where bookies are
saying
Homemade is a lifestyle. It really is. Because it's all encompassing.
My my two older one can meal plan shop, meal prep, and have my
fridge stocked
while I do some work,
and I am so proud
of them being the people who they are that I don't need to think
about. How are they going to be when they leave home?
My daughter's already told me, she's not standing for no man
who's going to tell her she can't do X, Y, and Zed. She's not going
to do this, she's not going to do that she'll do this. And I'm gonna
do that as I sit on this zoom now.
My 11 year old is running the ship out there.
She's got her two younger brothers showered, dressed, all sorts going
on.
And people say to her, don't you think that's a lot of
responsibility? But then when I have kids of my own, it's gonna be
a piece of cake. Like, why do I need to think about it now that
I'm young. Let me get on with what my mom's trying to instill in me.
And then when it comes to that point in my life, I don't have to
think about it. It's second knowledge. And I do.
Yes, you may have a charger Amara, if you don't even have to,
in a way, it's going to be innate. And that innate ability for her is
what I want. I don't want her to struggle. I don't want her to be
like, a lot of moms who have their first baby and they look at this
fragile thing. But what am I meant to do?
She can be the baby. Her brother can be the baby. They know how to
change nappies. They know what they're doing. Yeah. They know
what they want from life. She's running her own business. He's
running his own business. It's not.
I'm gonna stop my life in order to study because they watched me go
through university at the same time while parenting them. So I
went through uni. I did. She's my masters baby. I have a PGCE baby.
I have a PhD baby.
We love it. Mashallah. It's like it's one of those things where
people think life needs to be compartmentalized. Yes. And
doesn't, doesn't? Yeah, why can you not do a Masters in a small
group while bouncing that baby on your knee? Lecturers don't care.
As long as you're getting your work done. They don't care. So why
does he need to be you have to finish school, go to university,
then find a husband, then go to work, then have children when it's
the right time. It's the right time. Just get on with life. I
love that. And I think humanity wants to jump in here. And I think
MIT has been taking some serious notes because your little one is
still small. Listen, hey, Mashallah. Is this conversation
giving you life right now? Are you like, yes. loving sister, Rachel,
my goodness.
Oh, my goodness. Because I my first job working overseas in
Cairo was teaching. I taught 10th and 11th Grade English literature.
And one of the things and one of the tools that I wanted to do was
get to know my student. And so we would sit on the desk and we would
do like these unconventional things. And my administrator Miss
Imani, you cannot do this, you cannot do this kind of teaching.
This is not okay. They're not, you're not giving them enough
tests. And I'm like, they don't need test. I need to know who they
are as people, I need to know what it is I had students who had one
parent, because another parent had died, I had students who had dealt
with a sibling who had died. That was not even like in their well
into their 20s. I had students who had, you know, behavioral issues
that had deeper issues there. And obviously, you know, international
schools don't always come equipped with a counselor or a therapist or
any of those things. And so, as a teacher, you end up being these
things. And I remember my father telling me, he said, if ever you
have a kid that acts up, don't yell at them and don't send them
out of the classroom. There's something deeper there. So when I
became an instructor, that's what I look for with my students. My
problem, my problem kids became my colleagues come over here and say
with me, you're going to be my favorite for the day. Let's pass
out these papers with me do this. And so my administration was like
what test test test test test? And I'm like, number one, not all kids
are test takers. Number two, we cannot continuously group. All of
these kids that come from all different backgrounds, all
different circumstances, all different type of learning
environments into
One learning environment and expect them all to thrive. And
then when they don't, we have to fail them. And they just get left
behind, as opposed to having someone that can really take the
time with them. So I think it's problematic one, in the sense that
you put these kids and you group them all in one thing my son was
by recognizing his numbers and his alphabet, by sight and saved
before he turned two years old. So for me, I'm like, I'm not gonna
put him in a school where just like, you know, Rachel's daughter
or the other, you know, sister's daughter, she's like, what these
kids are stupid. Like, I, I brought them to a center when we
were living in China. And they pretty much were telling me, Oh,
your son can help us, like, teach the other kids. And I'm like, why
would I pay you for my son who's two and a half to come and teach
these other toddlers? It doesn't make any sense to me. So yeah,
when it comes to for me, when it comes to that, my thing is also,
whether you have a slower learner or a faster learner, that also has
a huge impact into their learning environment. And for me, I want to
nurture my son in where he is to not feel like he's constantly
competing with other children makes a huge difference. And I can
imagine his self esteem and his self sense of who he is. must just
be off the charts because he's just a boy in the world. Right?
And you guys are you have a traveling lifestyle? Don't you?
Think that's right, sis. Maryam, did you have? Do you have a
traveling lifestyle? Don't you in money? I think your internet's
breaking up. I want to pull a system idiom in here just to speak
on this lifestyle thing, because I think for a lot of people, the
thing about homeschooling is that looks so scary is, you know, what
does that look like? What does that mean? You know, does that
mean that I'm going to be teaching all day long? Does that mean that
I won't be able to have a life of my own? Can I still work? If I
want to homeschool? Everybody has been forced to homeschool quote
unquote, now? What do you think people's locked down experience
will have taught them? To think that homeschooling is great or to
think now be No, no, no, you just open those schools, our kids, put
those kids right back in what are your thoughts?
Okay, I think through speaking to a lot of mothers and parents I've
been speaking to at the moment, coach, parents don't need you.
So I'm a homeschool and parent coach. And through speaking to
them, I realized that people have really got to know their children
as a person. And it's not to say they didn't know who they were
before, but really getting to know your child for who they are, what
their likes, for what their interests are, what they actually
like doing. And I think there's this daunting sort of
misconception that if you're homeschooling it has to be like,
for example, like school, you know, nine to three, and
completely like, sister Rachel touched on that homeschooling is a
completely it is absolutely a lifestyle.
For myself, after I had my two, the two little ones, I had the
Todman, the new board, and I went back to university, I said, You
know what, I'm gonna do a postgraduate in education. So my
children grew up seeing Mommy, you know, learning and you know,
studying and doing an exam. So for them, it's like, for me, the most
important thing is instilling that love of learning in them. And
children naturally have that. And unfortunately, I really do believe
that the school system kind of sucks that out of them, you know,
the curiosity, the natural interest that they have. And I
think it's really important to first and foremost see our
children as our child first, before we ever view them as a
pupil. They're not our pupils, they're our children, first and
foremost. And if we can create that positive learning environment
within our homes, they will absolutely thrive and flourish, I
can honestly hand on heart say that, if we're providing them with
that sort of positive learning environment, I'm quite big on
pushing the narrative of the whole child. So not just looking at the
academic side, but also looking at looking at their sort of the
emotional well being their mental health, because especially from a
young age, those two things are very, very well connected. I
always say that, if we start thinking about, you know, when we
went through the education system, and we're at school, perhaps there
was a particular teacher that we really liked him, you know, we
really enjoyed their company. And maybe we fell in love with that
subject because of that reason. So see your role as a facilitator of
your child's learning. So not so much as a teaching role, but just
more as a facilitator. Yeah. And I just would, would love to just
pick your brain on this as well, because a really good question has
come in on you know, do you think it's necessary for the parents to
be educated to a certain level to be able to keep up with
homeschooling especially when you get to high school GCSE a level?
What are your thoughts on that? No.
Absolutely not? Absolutely not. There are so many amazing
resources online you can get tutors, if you do not need to be
educated to a certain level not at all and to be honest, when you
become a teacher and you go through the whole you know, the
PGCE, you are not taught
anything, you're highly taught anything you know, so I mean
I don't even think that many teachers are qualified to teach,
you know, some of the subjects if, for example, you might train in
English, but somehow you,
for example, yeah, so to answer your question, the answer is
absolutely not. And Hamdulillah we are so blessed to have so many
resources and things online online schooling, you know, tutors to
have one hand, and do you know what, honestly, there is no better
person equipped to educate your child than yourself. You've been
doing it since you gave birth, you know, everything that your child
knows, it's because of you. And Allah has given you the natural
ability, the natural talents, we just need to tap into them. And
take back our role, as you know, as mothers take back our role,
take back our children's childhood and take ownership of it.
Allah has given us these natural abilities. Yeah, this is echoing a
theme actually about taking back control, which was something that
came up a lot. In our last session, I just want to give the
mic to Rama go ahead says.
Great. Um,
yeah, I think someone had mentioned here a question about
single mothers.
And maybe someone that's a little bit more knowledgeable on that can
can can speak to it. But what I wanted to say is that in terms of,
of the lifestyle, what I've noticed recently is that my my job
has now shifted to working at home, which has now created this,
you know, concept of how I even want to change my life and how I
want to now have the possibility and create an opportunity that I
can continue to do that. I really sincerely believe that this year,
all of the things that have been happening is forcing us to
reimagine our lives, and to ask ourselves really hard questions,
and to kind of redesign the kind of lifestyle we want to live. And
so yeah, it's it's, it's created this opportunity for me to imagine
a different lifestyle is that beforehand, when we were doing the
whole school run, and I was running to work, and all of that,
I couldn't imagine a different lifestyle, I couldn't imagine a
lifestyle where I was homeschooling the kids how that
would affect them. I couldn't imagine working at home and how
that would impact but now it has really forced me to reconsider
some of the choices that I have been making, and really created an
opportunity for us to have conversations where my daughter is
telling me you know, what, I'm not even happy at the school,
making me question some of the decisions that I'm doing, working
outside the home and seeing how I can have the ability to change
that certain desires that have always had to travel and do some
of the things that a man is doing where, you know, world schooling,
as they call it, where you travel the world and you school there,
and things that I could never have imagined are now a possibility
because I am taking that journey and you know, doing our own
education. So I'd hamdulillah I'm just grateful for some of the
things that have happened. It's been, you know, very scary and
things like that. But if you really take the time to think
about this time, and what it has taught you, I'm hoping that other
people are also noticing that we are able to shift our life into
different directions. Definitely, it's amazing to see how Subhan
Allah subhanaw taala you know, from adversity, such amazingness
can come and I think that that is the that that freedom to
reimagine, and to recreate ourselves, our children's, you
know, systems, our routines, our education. Go ahead. This Rachel
kind of was before me. Oh, but he's, I'm so sorry. I
know, that we do this, you know, we always had to make excuses for
you, because you're Canadian, right? That told me that Canadians
I have two problems at and end up not feeling well. So that's why
I'm not jumping in.
The mic is yours.
Okay.
I can answer the question about
level of education. So I know, it's a running joke with me. I
didn't want to learn math, or relearn math after grade six,
seven level. So I did not do that.
With my first one I tried. And it was I just had a hard time with
math. myself growing up, so I was like, I'm not going to relearn
this. No. So, so all my children, you know, after they get to
finally grade, sixth grade, seventh level, they have tutors
for math. And it hasn't been an issue at all, because
the ones that needed math continued and the ones that didn't
need math went with level and that was all good. Right.
And then also to the question about being a single mother, I've
been a single mother for the past five and a half years. And
it hasn't I mean, it's a it's kind of like shifted our lifestyle a
little bit but
Um, you know, being being the person who was the, the one who
was the main facilitator for the homeschooling or my children's
lives.
It didn't, it didn't really hinder anything, and it didn't really
disrupt much. And then as well, too, I had six years ago, I had
really started focusing, focusing heavily on my business, and
Hamdulillah. It's really grown over the years. So also running a
business like,
I guess I could be, say, like a full time business, and
homeschooling my children at the same time, that's also very
possible.
Do you think that's because your children are older? Or that you
have older ones to help with the younger ones? Could that be a part
of the dynamic? I think, I think in the case of having to go
somewhere, and not having to bring my children along with me, that
did help. That definitely did help. But in terms of anything
else, I mean, because it's your lifestyle, kids, they learned how
to move with you, right? If you have to do something they come in
with you, even when they were baby, you know, they knew they
knew how to just flow with whatever is happening, right. So
I think that, because you are so used to routine with the school
system, and everything needing to be so scheduled, that it's hard
for you to understand that children can be a part of your
life 24/7 You know, and, and that's you, okay, and it's
actually pretty cool. And it's not run away from our children, which
I'm sorry, guys, I just cannot just jump in here and say, I think
our culture, you know, when people maybe not so much Muslims, but the
wider culture that we live in, when people had to have their kids
at home, they were losing their minds, like they could not even
fathom how that could be doable, how that could be in any way
enjoyable. And I wonder what has happened in our society, or maybe
even within us, I don't know, where we do see spending time with
our children and having kind of any kind of extended interaction
with them as something burdensome, you know, and something that's to
be avoided at all costs. It's like you kind of outsourcing the
parenting. So everybody wants to have children, but not everybody
wants to have children in that way. I don't know whether anybody
else noticed that. But But, but I definitely, definitely, I have a
lot of people messaging me saying, How did you do it, you know, the
first, like, maybe a couple of weeks, like, I don't understand
how you've done this for so long.
But then quite a good number of them message me like after two,
three weeks of it. And so now I can see, because I've gotten so
much closer to my kids like, I started having
a feeling of love for them in a different way. Right, then, and
you know, our communication is so much better. You know, I don't
know how I'm going to do it when I have to send them back. Right?
Because they know that this is their lifestyle, they have to send
them back. They're working outside. You know what I mean?
They don't they don't see in their mind that they actually can change
their lifestyle for their children. So they're like, how am
I going to send them back? I'm going to, you know, it's going to
hurt me so much when I do that. And I give them the option, why
don't you sit down and start thinking and planning about ways
that you can not bend them back? Like it's a possibility? You know,
like, huh, outside the box, you know? Yeah. And just to close off
this, this part of the conversation, I'd like to know
from the panelists, you know, do you think that we are going to see
more parents opting to keep their kids out of school now that
they've had this experience? And how do you feel about that?
Rachel, yes. Okay. So I genuinely like my kids,
which is good.
Really nice, that they're crazy. But they're nice people. I, I can
have a genuine conversation with my daughter, the genuine
conversation with my son, my four year old, he's not right. He's
just not right. But he's a lovely kid, I can get him to do the
laundry. Right? If the kids are giving you stress, find them
something to do. They will be glad to help you do something, because
they always want to be with you. And I think that's the innate
ability in children to want to be with their parents.
For me, I think that our culture has kind of done for a long time.
It seems that the wider culture not maybe not so much Muslims, I
don't think Muslims struggle from this suffer from this as much. But
now we're going to find that this next generation of Muslims are
going to be under pressure from society a lot more than maybe we
were in the sense that there's like a move to get kids into a
system, get them into daycare, get them into a school, you know, get
them into activities and all of that kind of thing. Here is
There is a push for that sort of stuff. But for me personally, I
think, for those people that are saying, Okay, I need to work
outside the home, I'm a single parent, learn the law of the
country you are in.
And I say that with
sort of a set of no set of rules in my head.
During the week, my 18 year old is not here. He's doing his last year
of university. Lovely kid. Excellent, young man. But I still
have five children.
Because a good friend of mine doesn't want her daughter in the
system. She is a single parent. And she said to me, would you mind
and I said, No, homeschooling, find another homeschool mom, who
you can interchange with us three days, she works three days. And
then you swap. The reason why a lot of people are afraid of that
is they listen to the two hour rule that the government has on
babysitting, and swapping babysitting without having to pay
for it.
Then think, again, get yourself a CRP, get yourself a childminding
license, and swap it that way. And that route no longer applies. Or
if your child is registered as being home educated, it doesn't
say that that child has to be home educated by you.
That child just has to be receiving an adequate education.
If they are receiving an adequate education via someone else, who is
also educating their children.
That two hour rule no longer applies.
Because it's no longer classes Babysitting is classed as
independent education. That sounds like what we might need to have
sorry, Dr. Rachel is a session where people who are interested in
the the you know, like literally the nitty gritty of it, the
legalities of it, the logistics the practical side, to be able to
do anything with you. Well, firstly, guys, you should follow
all these amazing ladies on Instagram and Facebook and
Twitter. If you go to my Instagram, you will see all there
they are all linked there. But follow them, you know, get into
their DMS have a conversation but certainly I would love to
facilitate an opportunity for people who do want specific
questions answered, to be able to sit and literally pick you ladies
brains, because, you know, I know that there's so many questions out
there. Mashallah. So just to type just to tie us up for this
section. Anyone else have a anything that you you want to
share on? Whether you think that more people will homeschool? And
whether you think that's a good thing, and maybe just final words
of encouragement for the ladies who are on here? Because I can see
that some people are on here because they homeschool already?
Or because they're interested or because they're kind of curious.
So final words for the ladies who are on who are listening to this.
And the other gentleman
we have is, I'm a trustee for the Center for Personalized education.
And we have had several 1000 requests on our Facebook groups.
The Instagram handles everything to say how do we go about home
educating our children.
And a majority of that, surprisingly, are Africans in
diaspora.
Not smart.
A lot of us I'm the only black trustee.
But all of the other trustees are saying, if you've got that
marginalized element of society, who are going to start home
educating in large numbers, you're going to see a change in
legislation very soon.
Very, very soon. Because the way the UK legislation works at the
moment, is it's a parent's choice how they choose to home educate
their children, you can homeschool World School, you can unschool you
can climb trees all day, and you can have as structured as you want
or not as structured as you want.
But we are seeing forever and forever. That is gonna have to
move to something slightly different.
Because the freedom one moment, my four year olds doing craziness. I
told you, he's crazy. But it seems that they're going to have to
legislate a lot more if they want to keep control.
That's going to be necessary. And if that happens, I'm disappearing.
Okay, off the grid for you doctor rate, okay.
At the moment if your child has never been into school, they in
the UK, they fall into a category of being unknown.
So you don't have to have visits from the LEA you don't have to do
lots of other things. Because your children I'm not even known about.
If they wanted to locate your child, they have to use doctor's
records to locate your child. We don't have to ask permission here.
So if they need to go down that route, that's a free
don't have information that they need to go through in order to get
your details. And they don't want to spend the money to do that.
That's why they are looking and may actually look at compulsory
registration.
Okay, well, we will have to address that as in when that
happens. But any any, any parting words as we close off this
section? Yeah, I think I think certainly, especially in the
United States, a lot of people are going to opt for it. Because a lot
of companies now where people would have to work outside of the
home or allowing them to work in the home, because they're seeing
because of COVID. And the whole pandemic, that you know, them,
that people working remotely actually works, that it's okay
that, you know, they don't have to be in the office, they actually
just had a I forget what publication it was, but there was
an article about having a four day work week, versus a five day work
week. And so those are things that they're really considering and
really talking about. And I think the more that people have had to
be at home, with their children. And, you know, as it's been
expressed, learning what it is that their children are actually
going through at school, and, you know, having this time to say, you
know, what, is it really worth that, I think it's going to be
something that, you know, it can't be denied, I remember, just in my
own experience, my son, I guess he, he was about one and a half.
And I remember somebody telling me that a cousin of his, which was
like only a week older, that she was saying her ABCs. And I'm like,
okay, but he's speaking Chinese. So we're comparing apples and
oranges here, like, you know, for me, I think, you know, anyone
that's here that is considered homeschooling, understand that
your kid can go at their own pace, you don't have to go at the pace
of a curriculum, you don't have to go at a set, you know, time or oh,
gosh, they have to get this at this stage, each kid is going to
have a different stage. And when they get things, and you just
champion them and what it is that they do know and continue to
nurture and honor what it is that they're learning. I think that's
the most important thing. And the best part about having your babies
at home with you is that they don't feel like the dumb kid or
they don't feel like they're not getting something because somebody
else is they're allowed to do things in their own time. And I
think the more that parents are seeing this, while they're at
home, while they're taking the time to say you know what, okay,
this is kind of complicated. Now I can understand why like, I'm not
the math parent, either. So I'm
probably, you know, like Billy said, once that fifth grade, sixth
grade math, and they got some new school math that I've been seeing,
I'm like, I don't even know what this is, you know, tutors,
language, foreign language tutors, you know, I don't have to be you
know that it's okay. If you're the parent that you don't get it and
you don't understand it, find someone who does, just like Rachel
said, if it's partnering with another parent who may be that
science whiz and understands biology, not me. You know, hey,
can we swap lessons, I'll do some English writing. And you can do
some science some days and maybe do it like that. But I certainly
think that it'll be an influx of more parents wanting to take the
task on of homeschooling. Amazing. Yes, ma'am. What about you? What
are your thoughts? Thank you, sis, I thought I was gonna say that I
echo system and minus thoughts on I think, you know what, after
speaking to parents, I think it's really interesting, because now a
lot of parents are starting to see the flaws in the education system
where perhaps they didn't, and realizing that us as parents,
because if we have been through the education system, we have a
lot to unlearn. So essentially, we need to D school ourselves,
because maybe there's a certain view of education that we see,
okay, does homeschooling need to be at the desk? You know, do you
need to have table and chairs, you know, wherever in the garden,
we're on the stairs or on the floor, or on the sofa, wherever,
you know, learning is essentially it's a fact of life, you cannot
separate learning and living it's, it's they just come hand in hand
together. And so I think definitely, there will be an
influx of lots of homeschooling parents, especially from the
messages that I've been getting the people that I've been speaking
to, and just knowing that you as a mother, you know, you have the
power to change the next generation. And just owning that
power and knowing that you have the power to break that cycle of,
you know, oh my gosh, I hate learning or I don't like math, or
I don't like this, you have the power to change that. And just
owning that. Wonderful, fantastic and the OG bin please let me go to
Rama first and I would like to end Rama if you're available if you're
able to come on, if you have some final words. Otherwise, I'm gonna
go to System and the peace. Yes, ma'am.
advice for parents who are considering it. Maybe in
particular as a result of you know, the lockdown and the
quarantine.
echoing what the sisters are saying definitely I feel like
there will be an influx of people who were decided to homeschool at
least for the primary years. I think that that if somebody were
seeing
You know, okay, I can't really do it for you know, for the long haul
I feel the primary years are,
you know, will show so much benefit to your children, you
know, in the long run, right? Just being being able to stay at home
and close to you. And, you know, being able to be nurtured in that
way, in the individual ways based, you know, based on personality and
way of learning and, you know, just being with their siblings,
and not having to rush in and being forced to do things that,
you know, they're not interested in and sitting for long hours,
and, you know, wasting a whole lot of time and their talents being
pushed squash. And, you know, there's so many things I'm sure a
lot of people are, are realizing that and recognizing, you know,
seeing so many new things in their children right now that they had,
they weren't able to see, and they didn't have the time to see it.
And then, you know, if they do put their children back in there
probably, again, see the difference, like, okay, you know,
last week, my child, you know, was able to, you know, have time to do
this, and now, you know, now they can't, and maybe that will be
something that will help them decide to to start homeschooling,
here in Canada, Ontario, where I live, and probably majority of
Canada, it's, it's totally
up to the parents,
to what, you know, how they educate their kids, there isn't a
lot of restriction. And, you know, like Rachel was mentioning off the
grid, my children are off the grid until they went to university. So
that was interesting. And,
yeah, I feel like I feel like it's something that people are
definitely going to try to try to do. And I'm just, I'm just so
happy for children who, you know, will be able to experience this, I
send you my Mashallah. It's amazing. And Rama, just
you're just just starting to think about it just embarking on this
final word, how excited are you on a scale of one to 10.
I'm very excited, because even though I have I'm just
contemplating now, and I don't have much experience other than
you know, that at the time of the pandemic, it wasn't my heart for a
long time. And I remember going to many meetings of these
homeschoolers, organizations that are near my house. And what I
noticed for me is that the children that are in those
gatherings are different than other children. Very, very
different, the way that they behave, the way that they express
themselves, the way that they hold themselves, even the way they walk
into a room, the way that they, they're fully present. For me,
that's one of the things that I noticed, unfortunately, there's
not a lot of diversity in the groups that you know, that I have
seen here locally, it's a lot of you know, white people.
There isn't that much. But we do have a few Muslim families that do
it. And my hope is for us to kind of come together and like little
piece has a organization that I've heard about in Toronto, you guys
are lucky to have that. And hopefully Inshallah, that we can,
we can do a collective like that. Because that would be that would
be amazing for us to unite and to have that experience. So I'm very
excited in this changes that I'm seeing for my children and the
time that they've just been home. And just seeing the organic edge,
like the organic learning that I'm noticing. It's something that I
never really fully experienced. I always thought that some of the
things that they've learned was coming from the fact of being a
school dad at school, and now I'm seeing them looking into things by
themselves and learning things and, and that spark of, you know,
just creativity in that spark of just there wanting to learn. So
witnessing that, for me is a tremendous encouragement to go
forward. I'm trying to speak about this as much as possible. So just
to kind of empower people, to let them know that, you know, God has
given us opportunity to even witness this opportunity to
experience it. And it is high time that some of us take on this
journey to kind of re define our lives, redefine and restructure
the way that we want to live. Because this feels right,
honestly, the high pressure of waking up a certain time rushing,
that moment of rushing and just just rushing, getting somewhere
that oh, that that only if that only thing that we can change and
like just that simple fact that I'm not rushing anywhere and in
the mornings, rushing to go and to come back. That has alleviated a
lot of stress and given me so much contentment in my life that I'm
like I have to preserve this feeling and just watching my
children flow
Rich I'm very excited i inshallah I pray that more people are able
to do this and that we can unite and, you know, create the next
generation of children that are going to be changemakers because
they are more empowered in themselves and they're not going
to have to, you know, struggle to discover themselves and struggle
to prove themselves to anyone, and they're going to be confident in
who they are, because that's how we've raised them to be amazing,
mashallah, fantastic. Thank you so much medium. Did I give you a
chance to say final words? Yes, did I Wonderful. So I just want to
take an opportunity now to thank everyone for being here with us
for yet another virtual salon. We are going to go to the members
only or the people the live session where we get to do some
q&a and we get to have a bit more of a chat and get some you know,
get some conversation going. But just thank you so much for being
with us. I pray that Allah subhanaw taala facilitates
everything for you and allows you to do the very best for yourself
and for your family until the next time said I want to come
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