I am under shock and my hands are slightly shaking as I type this.
My little 25 year old brother announced today that he has become a Muslim and is getting married in a few weeks! Am totally under shock. I can’t believe it. I always said I would shout it from the rooftops if someone in my family embraced Islam.
Well, here I am SHOUUUUUUUUUUTING it! lol
Takbeer! Allah Akbar!
Assalamu alaikum,
Ummihomeschoolsme has been closed for some time. I can’t go into details but I had to make it private for some time. I apologise for not replying to everyone individually who emailed to ask for access or to ask that it be reopened etc. I ask Allah (Swt) to accept this blog as a means to attain nearness to Him, to help others along this home ed journey and to protect, guide and nurture myself and my family along the way. Ameen.
We’re back! 🙂
During Ramadan, I have been planning for next year inshaAllah and we are going to be trying out some new methods, curricula and so stay tuned for more ummihomeschoolsme posts.
A request please: I hope that I will not have to make this blog private again and so I ask you all to make dua for me and my family.
JazakhaAllahu khairan,
Umm Raiyaan
Please support this email to your contacts – especially those that want to gain some reward from Allah and volunteer for the project. And revert sisters in difficulty who would benefit (it doesn’t matter how small or big the difficulty is).
As Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,
May this meet you in the best of health, happiness and imaan.
Here is some really exciting news, Masha’Allah.
SOLACE, a new voluntary organisation has been set up to help revert sisters in difficulty. www.solaceuk.org
At some point, you have most likely received a forward in your inbox or a text asking you if you know of anyone who can house a revert sister who has been thrown out of their home or asking you to donate money for a revert single mother who is unable to pay the rent and has been threatened with eviction.
How often do you think that these sisters get the help they need? And after their immediate problem is solved, who is there to follow up with the sister on a regular basis, just to see if she is okay?
What most people forget is that many revert sisters may have been rejected by their families and don’t always receive the support they need from the Muslim community either. Sadly, we are not in a position where mosques or Muslim community centres can offer lasting assistance to these sisters and they are often left to fend for themselves.
SOLACE, with the help of Allah, aims to provide comfort, companionship and practical assistance to these revert sisters.
Here is a taster of the kinds of support SOLACE will provide, bi idhnillah;
By the grace of Allah, we have the support and full backing of Sheikh Haitham Al Haddad, who has given us his time and advice to help establish SOLACE. May Allah reward him for his generosity.
However, SOLACE needs YOUR help.
Here’s what you can do…
1. First of all, please spread the word to revert sisters you know who may be facing difficulties. They may be coping alone with health problems, suffering depression, isolation or loneliness. Or suffering marital problems or physical/emotional abuse, or needing help dealing with non-Muslim relatives? They may even be considering leaving their Deen.
If so, please pass on the SOLACE website address to them: http://www.solaceuk.org
2. SOLACE is a voluntary organisation that relies solely on fundraising and donations. It is still in urgent need of an extra £5000 funding.
– If you would like to host a fundraising event in your area please contact info@solaceuk.org
– If you would like to make a donation, then visit the website where donations can be made via Paypal or direct bank transfer, (to be safe and secure.)
– If you know of any companies that would like to sponsor SOLACE, forward this email to them and ask them to contact donations@solaceuk.org
100% DONATION PROMISE
You can be confident that 100% of the money you donate goes towards assisting reverts in difficulty. No money is taken from your donation for our administration costs.
Do you know of any sisters based in London who have 1-2 hours a week to spare, to listen and provide support to a revert sister in difficulty? (full training will be provided free of charge).
Do you, or anyone you know have skills that you think SOLACE could benefit from?
eg. administrative, fundraising, counselling skills etc
SOLACE needs your support to make this a beneficial service for revert sisters in difficulty.
Please make du’a for this project.
JazakAllahu Khairun
Wasalamu alaikum
SOLACE Team
(Solace is supported by MRDF: Muslim Research and Development Foundation)
Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
This is just absolutely brilliant. I would really recommend that everyone watches this short video about education. Its why I and many others home educate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded#!
Wasalamuu alaikum
Umm Raiyaan xx
For those who are not familiar with the Quran curriculum that we started this year, please read the following post: https://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/planning-for-20102011-part-2/ (the part about the Quran curriculum is towards the end of the post)
Okay, so here is the Surah Naas Project:
These are the front covers of some of the minibooks.
Inside the mini books.
We mainly used the internet to get information about Saudi Arabia as we couldn’t find a library book on the country. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/country_lapbook.php
Here are some of the blog posts which feature some of the activities we did for the surah naas project: https://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com/?s=naas
Hope you find it beneficial and if you do do it with your children, do let me know how it goes inshaAllah.
In a week we do tend to complete a lot of bookwork as there are lessons that need bookwork in order for the child to learn and practise such as Handwriting, Comprehension etc etc.
I really want R to have a rich and varied way of learning. So, this year I really am trying hard to let her do more hands on learning activities in conjunction with her textbook/workbook stuff. The week that has just gone saw a lot of hands on activities take place. Here is some of what we did:
MATH
For Math, R is working her way through Year 1 of the Hungarian MEP programme. She has been working on < and > (greater/less than) and adding numbers, subtracting and has had to complete quite complex sums using <,>,+,-, = sometimes all in one sum! Anyway, I found some ready made number sheets in different colours. I made a long strip of paper from sugar paper and gave her the pack and told her to complete a long sum using the above signs. She enjoyed it.
SCIENCE
We were finally able to record results for our fungi experiment. Basically, the bread that was left outside took a long time to grow fungi. I explained to R that I think thats because its getting colder and so the garden air acts like a fridge. The bread that had water added to it kind of just became a ‘puree’ but then the bacteria started to grow. The bread that was just placed in the container grew fungi very quickly. Green and just yucky! These pots were living in my kitchen and really it did make me feel sick having to cook with them there on the kitchen top. Glad we’ve got that out of the way. I think its made R a bit paranoid as now she seems to be turning over fruit, bread and cheest to make sure there is no fungi!
GEOGRAPHY
As part of our Surah Naas project, we were still working on cardinal directions. R made a compass rose. The instructions said that she had to make salt dough to make it. But she protested saying that we can’t waste flour like that when people are starving in the world. Gotta say that I was very embarassed when she said this and quickly put the plain flour back into the cupboard. So, instead she decided to use playdough (isn’t playdough from the shops made of flour too??!) The blue triangle is North. The orange are east, west and south. And the green are NE, SE, SW, and NW. We’ve almost come to the end of our Surah Naas project. So keep an eye on the blog for my post where I will be posting PDFs, instructions etc of how to do your own Surah Naas project inshaAllah. We just have one more thing to do this coming week and then we’re done and will be moving on to Surah Falaq.
ART
R keeps on asking me to teach her how to sew. I really don’t have the time at the moment. So, instead a really quick and easy sewing project was making a leaf and flower from felt. Drew a leaf shape on A4 felt folded into 2. R cut it out and sewed around it. She then drew a flower shape in purple, then one in red and a middle yellow circle. Placed a pipe cleaner between the two layers. Placed the circle on top and sewed around the circle part to keep the whole thing together. Really simple to do and she really enjoyed it.
Another bit of art was painting an Islamic Art Tile that she made when we went to the Eid Festival in Dunstable Downs in September. We discussed geometry, shapes and symmetry. She was really into this some months ago and her interest has started up again. But I don’t know where or how to direct this interest. Any ideas???
ISLAMIC STUDIES
Okay, so basically, here R put the sequence down for the prayer times, how to make wudu, the positions of the prayer and what to say at each part of the prayer. This lovely pack comes from http://www.learningroots.com
A close up of the above picture.
This is a picture of all the cards from the first picture above turned over. So, on the back of the salah times is a description of when the time begins and ends. On the back of the wudu cards are explanations of each part of wudu and how to do it. On the back of the position for prayer cards are instructions of how to make ruku, or sujood or the other actions properly. And on the back of the speech in the salah cards is the position that comes next and what to say. These are just fantastic and I think a definite must have for kids in every muslim home.
A close up of the above picture.
NATURE STUDY
I love Autumn colours.
When I was planning R’s home ed for this year, I really wanted to do more nature studies and am using the following website as a guide: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2008/02/green-hour-challenge-1-lets-get-started.html
So, we went out and we observed Allah’s beautiful creation. We looked at huge trees, and the smallest leaf and nuts and berries. R want to collect quite a lot and put a lot into her bag to take home with us. This is what she picked up in a London city park!
That big green oval shape is a pine nut (I think) which actually hasn't opened yet. It's quite heavy! Can you imagine if that fell on your head as you walked under a tree!
This week, I will try and find some time to investigate two of the things that she either observed or picked up in more detail inshaAllah (this is suggested in the Outdoor Challenge #1). Really enjoyed this and I hope to keep this up. You don’t have to go far to do this. Even a walk up your own street will suffice.
So, you see, home ed doesn’t just have to be about workbooks. Learning can and in my humble opinion should be conducted in a variety of fun ways.
I saw another homeschooling blogger do this and I thought I would have a shot (more for myself so as to see how I use my time).
Basically took a piece of paper and recorded everything I did in one day! Here we go:
As part of our work on surah naas. We have been working on 'mankind'. So, we have been learning about continents and maps. Here R drew a map which will lead to some treasure. She then ripped the edges. I made myself a cup of tea. She then dragged the used tea bag over her map. The crumpled the map into a ball and left it to dry overnight.
R used addition and subtraction to make this 'train'. I left her to it and then checked once she had finished. She basically had a pile of numbers and some + and - signs and just had to carry on.
R's Abi following the map
R made a treasure box in the morning from a recycled tissue box and she put her Abi's 'treasure': his beloved pumpkin seeds!
What have I learnt? Need to seriously make dua to have more sabr with Z and really work on my anger management!
Wow! Ramadan flew by (as usual!) And eid was nice. MashAllah, this year’s eid salah has to be my absolute favourite!
We drove about 30 mins away which took us to the outskirts of London and prayed in a large park with 500 other Muslims. This is actually the sunnah and mashaAllah it really did feel like Eid. All the sisters were hugging and greeting each other. And the khutbah was really meaningful. The Imam talked about the fact that celebrations amongst non-Muslims are always linked to either colonisation, independence from a country or someone dying on a cross (!), etc. But the day of Eid is all about celebrating the oneness of Allah (Swt). Never ever thought about it in that way. What was really amazing was an almost 80 year old revert that had only taken his shahaadah days prior to eid.
Where we prayed the eid prayer
Bouncy castle, balloons, ice cream and tea and breakfast provided by the masjid!
After that we spent a nice day out and came back home to a few gifts for the children. Was a nice eid alhamdulillah.
On the Saturday, we were invited by one of our home ed sisters to a party which was absolutely brilliant! The games were great and there were so many prizes for each child in each game. It was really planned very well mashaAllah. You did a great job sis! MashAllah! On Sunday, we spent the day in East London at the East London festival. It was a nice day but oh my gosh was it packed! I bumped into so many sisters that I haven’t seen in years including one that I went to primary school with (she already knew that I had become a Muslim so it wasn’t a shock seeing me donned in a big black hijab lol) So, after such a crazy hectic weekend, I didn’t have time to get myself ready to start back our HE routine on Monday. So, instead used that time to do some last minute prep and R amused herself with educationcity.com, making a family from wooden spoons, an arts and crafts jungle that is currently a work in progress, reading and some Quran. I realised that even if we don’t stick to our timetable, she still manages to do a lot of stuff which is still educational and she’s still learning which is the main thing. I have promised myself this year that if I can’t keep to schedule that I will try to relax because learning really does happen in different ways and not necessarily only per the timetable I set her!
For example, making cupcakes and decorating them (math, art, language skills can all be taught in this really easy informal activity).
R decorating cupcakes.
Z decorating his cupcakes too.
Today was our first day back to schedule. R completed Quran, handwriting, math (which ended up in tears because her father thought it would be nice to make a joke about her Math ability!), grammar, read to me, I read to her, and we started on our Quran curriculum by discussing surah naas in detail and she completed the Ad Duha Mini Tafseer book. Although I did plan for some stuff for Z to do, I didn’t get around to doing it with him as baby Y had his injection and so we had to rush out to that. Z has come down with another cold (he only had one a few weeks ago and so is just quite content playing around with his cars and toy sword and gun). Strangely, with Z being ill today he has actually been easier. The last few weeks have been so hard with him. He is so different to his sister. Its been Tantrum Central over here with on average 6-7 serious tantrums per day. I’ve been told he’ll grow out of it. But it seems to be getting worse. R didn’t have any tantrums when she was his age, so this is very VERY different for me. I just hope that I can deal with HE and his very different character at the same time! Anyway, it is now 5pm and everything on today’s checklist has been completed and R is over the moon that ‘school’ has started again. lol
How has your first day gone?
Okay, so here is part 2 of my planning for next year. In my last post, I talked about how I’ve organised myself in terms of resources and accessibility to those resources.
Here is the detailed plan for next year inshaAllah:
Handwriting
Spelling
Math
She reads to me
I read to her
Islamic Studies
Quran Curriculum
KICKBOXING
TUESDAY
MUSLIM PLAYGROUP
Quran
Handwriting
Grammar and Punctuation
Math
She reads to me
I read to her
Quran Curriculum
WEDNESDAY
Quran
Handwriting
Comprehension
Math
She reads to me
I read to her
Islamic Studies
Quran Curriclum
QURAN CLASS
THURSDAY
HOME ED GROUP
Quran
Sketch Tuesday
QURAN CLASS
FRIDAY
Quran
Handwriting
Creative Writing
Math
She reads to me
I read to her
Nature Detectives
Arabic
SATURDAY
Quran
Art/Baking/Science Experiment/Subscription
ARABIC CLASS
SUNDAY
Quran
1 hour Nature Study
Library
As for resources, here is what we will be doing inshaAllah:
QURAN – My aim is for her to memorise 2 juz this year inshaAllah. So, Quran time will be a mixture of revision of 5-10 pages of what she has already memorised by reading the surahs before hand from the mushaf (this should improve her Quran reading skills inshaAllah) and then being tested on them by memory. She will then work on an average of 5 new ayat to memorise every day inshaAllah.
ENGLISH
Handwriting – I have a mixture of resources for this. My aim is that she starts to write in cursive and that her handwriting becomes neater.
Spelling – For this, we will be using Test Phonic Spelling by Ladybird and a series of books called Word Perfect Spelling (these are very old books that my husband found at work – I think they were used in 70s or 80s) but I like them as they are quite thorough.
Grammar – First Language Lessons from The Well Trained Mind – we have finished grade 1, we will be working on grade 2 inshaAllah. We will also be using Jolly Grammar along side this. Every so often I will also give her a test from the Letts Literacy 10 minute test book.
Comprehension – CGP The Study Book for Key Stage 1 and CGP Advanced Practice Book
Creative Writing – Letts, CGP, Reasons for Writing Early Stages and Brain Waves Early Writing ( these last two books are old books from the 90s but again I prefer them as it seems that they are of a higher standard than current creative writing books).
Reading – She tends to read quite a lot independently mashaAllah. But I am going to ask her to read a chapter a day to me of a book which is slightly more difficult for her. I shall also be reading a chapter of a book which is above her level to improver her vocabulary etc.
MATH – We’ll be carrying on with Year 1 of the MEP.
ISLAMIC STUDIES – The ICO curriculum that I posted a review about a few months ago.
ARABIC – Madinah Arabic Books and Al Tilmeedh as well as a number of other resources in Arabic. My goal is for her to become as fluent as she is in reading in English, but this time in Arabic. Also, to improve in her handwriting in Arabic. Alhamdulillah, she understands the Arabic language but her reading and writing is not at the level I want it to be.
SKETCH TUESDAY – This is a weekly art submission to a blog run by a home educating mother.
NATURE DETECTIVES – We have been receiving their pack for the last two years. And there is great stuff in there as well as weekly challenges. When she completes a weekly challenge that I receive in my email inbox, she can put a sticker on to a poster that they send to you. I believe it costs £12 for the year.
ART/BAKING/SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS – This will alternate and it is her choice which of these we do on a Saturday inshaAllah. I have various materials, ideas, and books for this.
All of the above will include other hands on resources, games etc to emphasise what it is we are studying from the books. I DO NOT want this year to be workbooks only. This is why I made the index cards as mentioned in my previous post. We will follow the order of the textbooks/workbooks but I will slip in other resources to support what is being learnt inshaAllah.
And then we have classes, kickboxing, home ed groups etc.
SO, WHAT IS THIS QURAN CURRICULUM??
This is something that I am sooo excited about! As you can see, there isn’t really other subjects like History, Geography, Science in our weekly schedule. This is because this year we are going to work on a Quran Curriculum that I and my dear sister Oum Loubabah have decided to start! We will be doing this separately with our children but Oum Loubabah and I will compare and share our ideas for each surah.
Basically, we are going to work our way through the Quran starting from the back at Surah Nas. The Quran Curriculum will involve going through the meaning and tafseer of each surah but also bringing in history, geography and science studies as part of the study of that surah. We decided to do this because we want the Quran to come alive for our children. We want them to live it, to really understand it and for it to be something they refer back to when learning about subjects such as science, history and geography. We did not want to teach these subjects exclusive of Islam. Rather, we wanted to teach these subjects based on the Quran. The National Curriclum for these subjects really is so dull and the child studies and understands these subjects as secular subjects. By teaching it this way, the child learns history, geography and science from an Islamic understanding which is always derived from the Quran.
So, here is what I did:
I took a pen and paper and listed all the surahs in Juz Amma. As she has memorised this juz already, I felt that this was the best place to start. Also, if I start here then I can use my planning for future children inshaAllah. I took my Quran and read the surah in English as well as reading the tafseer. I then made notes of what could be studied under the heading of that surah. So, as an example:
In surah Abasa:
Aside from the actual events that took place in the seerah which relate to this surah, we will be studying about the blind and their script, food and healthy eating, water, plants, trees and family.
Once my list for juz amma was complete, I then planned for each surah in detail. Here is an example:
SURAH NAS
-Recite the surah and read the translation in English or ask her father to go through the tafseer in Arabic with her. Discuss the meanings and lessons from the surah with her.
-Complete the Ad-Duha Mini Tafseer Book.
-History of Shaytaan using Learning Roots Book and talibiddeen junior website.
-Project on Mankind – I have a wonderful saved project on continents and map work which we will work on for this. She will also use an interactive geography website which will explore the different countries and continents aimed at children.
-The Heart – British Heart Foundation resources
When studying the different subjects, it will always be related back to the understanding of the surah being studied inshaAllah. So, in Surah Nas alone, we have Islamic Studies, History, Geography and Science.
Sorry, to reiterate this. But had I not made my index cards, when it came to planning this in detail, I would have been stuck in where to look for what resources.
I have not put a time limit on how long each surah will take. When Oum Loubabah and I were discussing this, we thought we would be able to complete the Juz Amma part of this Quran curriculum in 1 year. But subhanAllah, after going through our list, it will take a lot longer. But that is okay because we would just plan for higher levels in Science geography etc but still based on the surah.
I hope all of this has made sense. Thanks for reading if you have made it this far! lol
Look out for part 3, when I discuss my plans for Z.
Ummi Homeschools Me 