Today was the first day of our new homeschooling timetable. As many of you know, I was close to quitting home ed but alhamdulillah saw sense as a result of most of your replies! What I did do was ask myself: why am I homeschooling? Really answering this question brought me back to my true goals and thus I had to re-evaluate everything that I do with my daughter. What I teach her, how I teach her, the organisation aspect etc etc. And so a new timetable was born! One in which there is a lot more flexibility, fun, and games with priorities being focussed on. So here is an example from that timetable – our day today!! (I really enjoyed our home ed day today and so did she – surely a happy mother and child on the homeschooling journey is what home ed truly is about!)
SURAH REVIEW – surah nas to Zalzalah – these are surahs she has already memorised – alhamdulillah.
NEW SURAH – we then learnt 2 more ayats of the new surah we are working on in her hifdh which is bayyinah. She only has two ayats left to go inshaAllah.
QAEEDA – Not the ‘terrorist organisation’ but two books that we are using to teach her how to read the Qu’ranic script. I am supporting lessons that she is taking with a tajweed teacher once a week.
DUA OF THE WEEK – I use the Learning Roots Dua cards for this. They are bright, colourful and fun. And whatever the dua is we place it at the place. So, for example we are revisiting the long dua that one should say after eating. So, right now the card is sitting on our table so that after breakfast, lunch and dinner we say the dua.
ISLAMIC READING – Every day I have decided that we will read at least one Islamic book. She has many fit for her age, alhamdulillah and I allowed her to choose one and she chose this book. We are on to the story of Ibrahim (AS)
ISLAMIC ACTIVITY – This was a HUGE success. All praise is due to Allah (swt) This product comes from Learning Roots and they are cards with manners on them such as removing harm from others, visiting the sick etc. I divided the cards into two piles and we played SNAP. Whenever either myself or my daughter ‘SNAPPED’, we would discuss the Islamic manner on the card in detail. She not only loved the game, squealing and rushing to ‘SNAP’ first but she enjoyed asking questions about the manner being discussed. If you can’t buy these, then you could definitely make some at home.
READING – I allowed her to choose two books of her choice and I read them to her. I am trying to read her books with a higher vocabulary level which I hope will improve her literacy.
NEWS BOOK JOURNAL – Normally, I would ask her to choose one of the books I read to her and draw a picture of what it was about. But on Sunday, she visited the Childhood Museum with her father and due to the fact that I was unable to go with them, I asked her to draw a picture of their day. Whilst she was drawing, I asked her how they travelled to the museum, what they wore, what they ate and she would fill these details in her drawing. This is very different to me saying “Draw what you ate.” By merely asking her, she instinctively drew what she ate. I then asked her to describe in her own words what the picture was all about. I wrote down EXACTLY what she said and HOW she said it. The reason for this is purely because I would like to see the grammatical mistakes she is making, tackle those and see if and how she improves as we continue with the journal. After she dictated it to me, I read back her own words to her but this time I used correct grammatical sentences. I didn’t tell her I was doing this, but my hope was that she would then pick up the right way to say something.
READING WORKSHEETS – I allowed her to do as many reading worksheets as she wished. She did 6 and spent ages colouring in four of the pages! Normally, I would have been rushing to get through my list of ‘TO DOs’, but this time I was more flexible and let her do what she wanted to do. And alhamdulillah it was an enjoyable experience. The other thing I have changed is that even if she is just colouring, I sit with her not doing anything else (except tend to her baby brother if he is awake). In our other timetable, whilst she would be working, I would get on with ‘things’ but this time I gave her my complete attention which I could see had a huge effect on her learning – even in one day! Alhamdulillah.
PRACTICE READING – We then practiced her reading skills and I asked her to read these three books to me. She made a few mistakes but did read them all on her own to me. Alhamdulillah. These books are just excellent and I really recommend purchasing them.
WRITING – Letter formation – plenty of practice is needed for this.
As I write this, we have not finished our homeschooling day, she still has some writing practice to do as well as copy work (which she loves), and we are still to make some words with the following Chad Valley puzzles and then off to Wing Chun in the evening.
A tip: In Ramadan, I really made dua for Allah (Swt) to aid me in my homeschooling and He (Swt) has aided me in the best of ways. Alhamdulillah. So dear sisters, make dua because the dua of the mother for her child is never rejected.
Posted by ummraiyaan 
Posted by ummraiyaan 
Posted by ummraiyaan 
