Summer Program

 The best decision I made this summer was to confiscate the computer and video games from Abdulaziz and Ahmed. It made them less tense and agitated for one thing, and the best thing, they get to entertain themselves with their toys and books. I just love watching them sprawled on the rug with their cars and garage or their pirates and pirate ships role playing and using their imagination.
What really breaks my heart, is kids in this country are not reading enough, and some parents are not encouraging their kids to do so. Wallah…I know it isn't an easy thing. Normally my boys like to read, but sometimes they view it as some kind of homework. Abdulaziz loves comics, and I do encourage him to read them. However I want him to read other books and we started with something as simple as The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and a French story called Une Affaire de Lunettes, about a young boy who gets transported to different worlds through his magic glasses, which he enjoyed reading both books. I'm also planning to make him read stories from history and mythology before the summer is over. I also have a couple of books in Arabic lined up for him to read. What I do is we have 30 min. of silent reading every day, and sometimes he gets captivated by the story that he continues on reading after the 30 min. are over. The best part is reading for them stories from the Quran on some evenings before bed time. Ahmed still doesn't understand but Abdulaziz is enjoying it.

This year I didn't put my kids in Flex summer camp as I usually do in the past. Last summer was a huge disappointment. So why waste money and time to something that doesn't benefit them? Ahmed is going to Little Gym for three hours every day and enjoying it a lot. Abdulaziz spends the mornings with me. We study and read, and prepare for his new blog which will start soon (he gets to work on my computer an hour every day once his blog is working). In the afternoon he goes to a private instructor for swimming and Squash lessons 4 times a week. By the time he gets back home, he could hardly keep his eyes open!
Before I end this post, please try to encourage your kids or siblings and even yourself to read. No matter what kind of book or in what language or genre, reading shapes a person's character and it makes a huge impact in one's life.