Ramadan 2013: Keeping Track of How Much I've Read

Hello All! Before I get into my project just wanted to give a shout out to Egypt. If you haven't discovered it by now, I am a first generation Egyptain American, and with the events that unfolded yesterday in Egypt I am dedicating this post to the people of Egypt along with all the Middle Eastern countries that are currently suffering political plight. Praying for a speedy and safe development of just governments around the world!!!

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Ramadan is coming to a speedy end and unfortunately, like every year, since I've had kid's, I find myself not able to finish reading the entire Quran. )o: Ramadan is such a special month because it is the month in which the Quran was FIRST reveled by Angel Gabriel. Don't confuse the first revelation with the complete revelation, which actually took place over a span of about 23 years. The very first verse recited was... 

 

                             Recite in the name of your Lord who created ...(96:1)

So it is befitting and highly encouraged to read, and if possible, finish the entire Quran in the month of Ramadan. Reading is the key to life. With reading, hopefully (o: comes knowledge and understanding. What brings us closer to God and understanding Him is reading his text. 

So every Ramadan, since I've had kids, what usually happens with me is that I'm off to a good start and then quickly slow down and ultimately giving up because I've fallen behind in reading. This year I thought I'll just keep at it regardless while moving forward instead of halting at one chapter. I used this calendar I made for my kids last year to motivate me. I didn't want it to be so plain so I first printed this image....

I couldn't find where I got this pic, but here are others.

My husband lightened the image, blew it up and then I printed the calendar above it. 

"Quran: # of pages read"

It's hard to see in this pic, but for each day I wrote the Juz' number that should be read for that day, so I don't lose track. For everyday I wrote down how much I read for that particular Juz'. If I couldn't finish the Juz', the next day I would move on to the next Juz'. I just want to get through to the end and after Ramadan go back and read what I hadn't finished. Either way we are encouraged to read throughout the year not just in Ramadan, so it's a good reference for me to look back at and cover what I hadn't before. 

I stuck it on the door to the kitchen so it's always up as a reminder and it looks cute and festive for Ramadan. :o) 

There you have it, a festive calendar to track how much Quran I've read this month. It's a simple craft and makes it more enjoyable to monitor how much, or little :-O, I've read :o) You can personalize your calendars in this way anytime of year. It makes it more fun for kids and adults to track goals for reading, assignments, project deadlines, fasting, whatever it is you want to keep track of. Hope you'll give it a try. Thanks for stopping by!!

-Debora

P.s. Please Keep Egypt and the Mid East in your prayers!!!!