Winter reads

 

Late autumn and winter: a time to return inside, to gather at home, to cuddle and to snuggle.

I love this time of the year, when the skies are ice-blue, the air crispy cold and when home becomes a real castle against the harshness of the season, subhanallah.

For me this is always the time to get out special books for read-aloud in front of the chimney, it is the time for hot drinks, dimmed light and candles. And it is also the time for redecorating spaces and making everything a bit more cosy and comfortable.

While reading our favourite books, I love indulging in childhood memories and to wander into my special girly land of dreams. I love to share these stories with my children and to wave such beautiful tales about our own life.

Our most beloved winter reads are mainly old classics that have snowy themes, like many of Swedish author’s Astrid Lindgren books, such as “Guck mal Madita, es schneit”, the books from Elsa Beskow, from Lena Anderson and other stories with magical drawings about heal worlds full of harmony.

In the early mornings, before working on my laptop an when having the precious chance to have some me-time, I always and still love learning more about child-education but also about how to heal with the herbs we’ve recently collected and about gardening in general. I enjoy dreaming about what to plant in spring and how to develop our farming skills, inchaallah.

My actual favourite books are:

Wolf-Dieter Storl “Der Kosmos im Garten” and “Kräuterkunde”
Rebeca Wild „Genügend gute Eltern“
Christian Signol „Marie des Brébis“ (wonderful biography of a simple shepherdess),
Lena Anderson/Christina Björk „Linnéas Jahrbuch“

What are your preferred winter-reads?

 

Three cups of Tea

I’ve just finished this wonderful book of an American who came to found dozens of schools in the Middle East.
Mashaallah, what an impressive accomplishment and what a brave man – A person who really fights terrorism, who really builds bridges and really respects other cultures and religions.

A wonderful example of how one can change the world. A really beautiful read.

 

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time

A book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

 

“The book is titled Three Cups of Tea after the northern Pakistani customs of hospitality of honouring guests and making them friends and a part of the family over successive servings of tea.
Inside the book, David Oliver Relin takes us on a trip along with this American climber, Greg Mortenson, who almost made it to the top of one of the most difficult, harshest peaks in the world, the K2.
Reading through the first few pages, one reads about how close he comes to his goal of climbing the mountain but fails and almost loses his life in the process.

But the story that starts out as a tale of survival on the base camps quickly shifts gears as he finds himself in a small village, Korphe, at the foothills of the Himalayas.
He is transported centuries back in time as he realizes that nothing much has changed in this small village for generations or in the lives of these people, called the Balti. As he regained his strength living amongst these people, his life changed forever, in a way he had never imagined.
He left the village with a promise to return one day with a gift of a school for the children who surrounded him with their smiles as he was recovering

 

He was finally able to raise enough funds to return to Korphe and give the children their school after enduring through learning local languages, customs, and any other hurdle that came his way, of which there were many.
But this turned out to be only the beginning of a life-long mission for him.

From this first school, Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute (CAI) that he later founded, over the next decade, would build and support hundreds of schools all over northern Pakistanand Afghanistan.

This is the story of an ordinary American who, unknowingly to himself, became a hero to thousands of children who would otherwise never go to school.

What he thought was his failure to climb K2, made him the champion of the lives of a whole generation of children.
He did all this with the greatest personal sacrifice, having to stay away from his home, his wife, and his children his loves so much.

He also put his life in incredible danger and persevered through the most hostile land, fiercely rugged terrains, harsh climates, thugs, warlords, and the fundamentalist Taliban in a time of war in the region, all for the sake of these children.
A soldier of peace, he fought a war for the helpless children and women, among them with pens and the true teachings of Islam, so that they can stay away from the fundamental madrasas and the terrorism they spread. ”
(Parts of the book review by Ali I.Raja, MD, Arkansas, 2007)

 

For more information:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com

https://www.ikat.org

 

Images of an active School

« To teach a young person doesn’t mean to fill an empty bucket, but it means to lighten a fire. » (Aristotle)

 
 

If it is quiet on this blog, this means that life in reality is very busy.
I am these days especially occupied with the school, with practical weeks, with new changes, with lots of thoughts on structure, teaching and pedagogy but also with private life, our garden and other projects, alhamdulillah.
Time for writing here is rare, so I send you greetings of peace with these images from our very lively, very busy, fulfilling, creative, innovative and sometimes also challenging school-life at the “école vivante” where learning happens everywhere.

 
 
 
 

Favourite books that inspire an alternative approach on education:

Rahima Baldwin Dancy: “You are your child’s first teacher”

Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Everyday Blessings” / “Mit Kindern wachsen”

Naomi Aldort: “Raising our children, raising ourselves” / “Von der Erziehung zur Einfühlung”

Rebeca Wild: “ Erziehung zum Sein”

Rebeca Wild: “ Kinder im Pesta”

Rebeca Wild: “ Sein zum Erziehen”

Rebeca Wild: “ Freiheit und Grenzen, Liebe und Respekt“

Rebeca Wild: “Raising Curious, creative, confident kids”

Mary Griffith: “The unschooling handbook”

Barbara J. Patterson: “Beyond the Rainbow bridge”

A.S. Neill: “Summerhill, a radical approach to child rearing” / “Summerhill”

Jürgen Reichen: “Hannah hat Kino im Kopf”

Lucy Calkins: “Raising lifelong learners”

Stefanie Mohsine: “Schulfrei”

John Holt : “How children learn”/ “How children fail”

 

icy

 
 

We finally had some snow, subhanallah. The nights are very very cold here, almost like living in a freezer, because not all of our rooms are heated. In the morning the windows are covered by a layer of ice and we usually have no water until midday, because tubes are frozen. During snow storms sometimes electricity goes and nature shows its rough side.

But now the sunrays warm again and during day everything melts – being outdoors is then nearly warmer than staying inside…

I love winter; I love the innocent layer of white that covers everything. I love when nature seems to fall asleep under an icy blanket to gain new energy for the coming season of spring. It is as if we, as human beings, get then also the permission to take things on a slower pace, to focus on our homes and our souls, to plan for the coming seasons, to become calm and centred. Alhamdulillah.

I wish you a blessed warm Friday
and leave you with my actual list of books I currently read:

Sepp Holzer “Wo ein Wille da ein Weg” („the rebel farmer“)
Maria Treben „Gesundheit aus der Apotheke Gottes“ („Health from God’s Garden“)
Wolf-Dieter Storl „Mit Pflanzen verbunden“ (Culture and Horticulture“)

First Snow and some Books

  

We had rain and snow the whole week, and sometimes no electricity. Grey days, lots of clouds and a harsh cold are coming into that valley. Subhanallah. It seems as if a hard winter begins early this year.

I love this time of the year, I love these rare grey days when it is wet outside but cosy inside. It makes me feel very very thankful for having a warm place called home, alhamdulillah.
And I love the moment when we heat on the first fire in the morning.
Then I know it is time to put on two or more layers of woollens, I know it’s time to finish some old knitting and this is also my favourite time to grab a good book and a warm cup of tea in the early mornings and to make myself comfortable in front of the chimney.

Normally I read a lot of non-fiction books about pedagogy, religion and green living and it has been a long time since I last read light fiction, but these days I am really into an old favourite of my youth: dreaming, remembering, and enjoying Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables”.
And over the last days I was also really fascinated by reading two very interesting biographies:  

About the green soul of Wolf-Dieter Storl: “Ich bin ein Teil des Waldes“ and
about the deaf actress Emmanuelle Laborit: „The Cry of the Gull“ („Der Schrei der Möwe“). Both are absolutely inspiring books. 

Thanks God fort he gift of reading!  

 

What is on your bookshelf these early winter days? What are your actual favourite books?
Wishing you a blessed Friday and a warm cosy weekend, friends!

  

 

Our Autumn Season Corner

 
It’s the little things that fill me with gratitude and happiness, even in the middle of a busy day.
Subhanallah. A nature table (on the top of the chimney), for example, a season’s wire and a basket full of treasures…

  
  
Wooden postcard block inspired by the new book from soulemama Amanda and Steve Soule: “The Rhythm of Family”  

Welcome Autumn!

  
  

Welcome Autumn – we love you!

Time to harvest the red-golden gifts of nature; time to put on socks and a long-sleeved sweater; time to breath the fresh air; time for  flying kites and running through the fallen leaves; time to switch more inside the home, to craft or to crawl together under a blanket and to pick up a book…

I’ve finally updated our books-list and I’ve added some new categories there, go have a look…
happy weekend and happy autumn to you!

Raising

“Parenting is a path of maturation and growth if we dare to learn more and teach less” (Naomi Aldort)

 

Every single day I grow deeper into my role as a mother and from year to year I realize more that being a good mother means being ready to educate myself, not the child.

Islam teaches us to strive to better our character everyday with every mundane act.
I think this is especially true concerning parenting. To become a good parent I have to better my self, I have to change, to question, to develop my own personality every moment from new – I have to grow with the child.

I look with awe and wonder at my children, I see them as a beautiful gift from God, subhanallah, and I have to admit with humbleness that it is mostly me who has to learn.
I have to learn to give unconditional love and empathy.  
I need to be taught to let them be and to take them as they are.
I need to step back and to hold back my inner pressure to intervene.  
I must learn to hold back my will to teach, my will to criticize and to give advice.  
I have to learn to get rid of old patterns and schemes.
I have to work on my own preconceptions and on old behavior I stuck in.
I have to accept and to trust.  

I simply have to love, myself and the child.

There is a lot to say about all of this, and a lot to work on. But today I simply want to recommend again the very wonderful book of Naomi Aldort “Raising our children, raising ourselves” (“Von der Erziehung zur Einfühlung”) and her website which both are an  incredible source of inspiration on the path of growth as a parent.
I am thankful to be on this path. Happy Friday, friends!

“When your child presents you with a challenge, you have an opportunity to take a step toward your own self-realization, and by doing so regain your clarity about your child.” (Naomi Aldort)

…things to do…

 

Already a is week gone since I wrote my last little post… mashaallah, time flies and there are so many things to do, alhamdulillah :

- praying Istikhara about all those things to come, 
- organizing some medical visits for our little girl who has a very bad hearing since her birth. We already removed some growth and put some grommets in her ears (your treatment recommendations are very much appreciated if you have some experience with the same problem!) but need now to see if things go better or if there is a deeper problem (please keep her in your dua’. JAK).
-  leading the enrolling for the next school year.
- a lot of things to plan and to think about for the future of the school, about exams and a curriculum to prepare and about the youth project in general (inchaallah I will write more about it soon).
- keeping care of our new little rabbit family and an extended garden with a lot of things in growth, alhamdulillah (thanks God we had a lot of rain during the last week).
- a whole pile of things to store, to mend, to clean … and some many other ideas in my head about what I want to re-organize, to sew, to make new, inchaaallah.

I got a pile of really great new books from friends which are a wonderful inspiration and which I recommend to you.

So when I find a little moment to just be, I try to calm down, to re-center my thoughts, I drink tea (yes, I got a new Swiss mug) and I read in those books:

John Seymour: “Das neue Buch vom Leben auf dem Lande” (“New complete book of self-sufficiency”),

Naomi Aldort: “Von der Erziehung zur Einfühlung” (“Raising our children, raising ourselves”),

Susanne Fischer-Rizzi: “Medizin der Erde” (“Medicine of the earth”) and “Mit der Wildnis verbunden”,

Ursel Bühring: “Mit Ursel Bühring durchs Pflanzenjahr”,

and the ever great Sisters-magazine, which is a wonderful way of boosting my ‘deen (faith).  

Happy week’s end, happy reading and happy May to you!

Logotherapy, Islam and some Books

In the morning, when the children are still asleep, I often crawl into the warm corner beside our chimney, welcoming the first sunrays with a cup of tea and a good book before the hustle and bustle of the day starts and this morning I thought  it is time to give you an update of the books that are in my mind at the moment…

 

Last year a very dear friend of mine introduced me to the concept of logotherapy and since summer I already read some different books about and am now in love with it.

I like the concept behind it so much as it seems to me being the only successive approach to life, to human problems in general:

The thing is not to question life and hard times and to ask “why?”

But rather try to give an answer to the (sometimes hard) questions life is offering us and to face it with a meaningful, positive attitude.

I love the concept of seeing the human being as free and independent (in the last consequence even free from the own ego and desires), always having the possibility to change and to take direction on our own, even in the worst of cases, might it only be by an inner change of view.

I see that the Islamic concept of seeing life as a test, trying to make the best out of any given situation, to behave in one’s best way is nothing different.
Logotherapy fits so very well with Islam and its concept – it seems as if the one just complements the other. I think logotherapy puts circumstances, thoughts and human psyche in words and Islam gives a concept of meaning and purpose and offers even a whole detailed way of life. Both enrich the other, subhanallah. 

If you are also interested to read more about logotherapy, I first recommend you Viktor E. Frankl’s book “Men’s search for meaning”.

I liked the book so much. I found it very disturbing in the beginning because I never could and still cannot stand to hear all the cruelty of concentration camps, in which Frankl spent some years of his life. But he managed to write his story with deep hope and optimism – very touching and very true.

I also recommend all the books from Elisabeth Lukas (available in English, German and other languages), a specialist in logotherapy.

At the moment I am reading another book on psychology and healing, called “The secret of instant healing” (Quantenheilung) from Frank J. Kinslow, which my father recommended to me. The book is much less of a spiritual one and some parts do not fit with my Muslim point of view, but the whole thing of healing through positive energy and thoughts seems to be great…. I am trying on it and will give you an update later, inchaallah.

What about you? What are the best books you’ve read over the last months?

Happy reading and happy March!