Our Ramadan Kickoff Meeting 2015

Last night, we had our Ramadan kickoff meeting and it went better than expected, maa shaa Allah, considering that I was putting together what we were going to talk about in the hour or so right before.

I wanted to share what we did here, not only to help me in coming years (bi-ithnillah), but also in case someone else found it useful.

We prayed salaatul maghrib and then had the meeting afterward.

Opening
I went over the basics: that Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar (I then quizzed the kids on the order/names of the Islamic months).  For my younger children, I briefly went over what a day of fasting was like (mostly talking about suhoor and breaking the fast).

Why Do We Fast the Month of Ramadan?
Then I asked my younger son how did we know that we were supposed to fast. He said that it told us in the Quraan. Perfect, alhamdulillah! Because what I had planned next was for us to read the ayaat that contain the command to fast (2:183-185). I read them in Arabic first, and then one of my daughters read it in English.

Umar's Instructions on the First Night of Ramadan
As I mentioned, I was putting together our "agenda" at the last minute and I jumped on FB before I got started and a friend of mine had posted this gem and I read it to the kids.

It is reported that on the first night of Ramad�n, �Umar � All�h be pleased with him � would pray Maghrib, then say (to the people):Sit down. Then he would give a small address: Verily the fasting of this month has been made a duty upon you, and standing in night prayer has not been made a duty upon you, but those amongst you who can stand in prayer should do so, for it is from the extra good deeds about which All�h told us: so whoever cannot stand in prayer, let him sleep on his bed.And beware of saying: I will fast if so and so fasts and I will stand in night prayer if so and so stands in prayer. Whoever fasts or stands in night prayer, he must make this for All�h. And you should know that you are in prayer as long as you are waiting for a prayer.Minimize any vain or false speech in the houses of All�h (mosques; he said this two or three times). Let none of you fast a few days before the month (in order to avoid missing the beginning of the month; he said this three times). And do not fast until you see [the crescent of the new month] unless it is overcast. If it is overcast, count [the previous month] as 30 days. Then do not break your fasts until you see the night upon the mountain (i.e. you are sure the sun has set).�Abd Al-Razz�q Al-San��n�, Al-Musannaf article 7748.

Source: https://www.sayingsofthesalaf.net/umars-instructions-on-the-first-night-of-ramadan/  

We also briefly discussed the night prayer after reading the above selection and I encouraged everyone to try to pray it and that it was an odd number of rakaat.


In addition, my friend had also posted this and we read this next:

Sulaym�n b. M�s� [d119H] � Allah have mercy on him � said:When you fast, your hearing and sight should also fast, and your tongue should fast by keeping away from lies; and do not harm your servant. Don�t let the day you fast be the same as the day you don�t fast.T�r�kh Dimishq Vol. 22 p389.

This one was perfect because I really did want to stress that we needed to make our Ramadan days different than our regular days.

Beginning and Ending the Fast
Next, we talked about suhoor and breaking the fast:

• What time Fajr comes in (so we could determine what time to get up for suhoor) and I instructed every one to make sure they set alarms on their phones or whatnot.
• We also talked about what was available for them to prepare for suhoor (most of my kids are old enough to prepare their own). We also talked about getting enough water before the fast begins. In addition we talked about how we must stop eating when the adhaan of Fajr is called.
• I reminded them that it is from the sunnah to hasten breaking the fast (next  year I would find and read the hadith pertaining to this, in shaa Allah). 
• What to break the fast with - dates and water is from the sunnah (again, I would provide them with a hadith on this next time around, in shaa Allah).

Our Fasting Day

Next we talked about what our day should be like and I gave examples of some activities we could do:

• memorize a new surah
• read quraan (independently and also as a group, sitting in a circle)
• read Islamic stories (such as those of the prophets)
• read Islamic scholarly articles
• Listen to Islamic lectures (a sister turned me onto Troid.ca Radio's Ramadan Shuffle where Islamic lectures are played 24 hours a day during the whole month of Ramadan!
• Memorize other ayaat from the Quraan (such as the command to fast :2183-185)
• Have an Islamic studies class/lesson
• Memorize an hadith or hadiths
• Memorize a duaa
• Learn the meaning of a thikr in the prayer
• Increase in ibaadah such as praying voluntary prayers
• Write in a Ramadan journal, or write to a Ramadan themed writing prompt

We didn't get around to it, but I also thought it would be a good idea to make up a schedule at that time (but in shaa Allah, we'll do one later as we see what our Ramadan days will be like. Sometimes it is hard to make out a schedule in advance and we just play it by ear until we get into a rhythm.

Ramadan Goals

After going over different things that we could do in the day, I gave them an assignment to choose some Ramadan goals and that they should be prepared to share them with me at our meeting the next day, in shaa Allah. 

Last year, I made up some paper medal ribbons and had everyone write some goals on their own ribbon and then we posted the medals on the wall. We also made up some family goals:

I printed them out on neon colored cardstock and we made a little display on the wall.

This year, I told them that I wanted us all to set three goals:

1. a goal to memorize a surah or some ayaat of the quraan (i.e. command to fast ayaat)
2. a goal to increase in worship (such as choosing a voluntary prayer or prayers to make)
3. a goal to memorize a duaa or, if needed, a thikr that is said in the prayer (tashahhud, sending salaat, seeking refuge in 4 things). If they know the thikr of the prayer already, they could make sure that they know the meaning of it.

What Breaks the Fast

Then, we discussed what breaks the fast. I would have loved to go through my Does it Break the Fast worksheet for the older kids or my Does it Break the Fast sorting activity for the younger kids, but I didn't want to stretch out things to long, so we briefly went over DuSunnah's Important Questions About Fasting in Ramadan/Does it Break the Fast printable.  

Sighting the Moon

At this point, we broke up our meeting and a few of us went outside to sight the moon. Well, it was well before Ishaa and the moon was not visible so we planned on going out later to try again and if we saw it we would recite the duaa for sighting the crescent moon. (Iman's Homeschool blog has an adorable coloring page with the duaa on it). We went out a second time, but did not see the moon. 

So that was our meeting and despite me putting it together virtually minutes before, it went really well, the kids seemed to enjoy it and for me, it really got us more into the Ramadan mood, alhamdulillah.