Moms Make Great Teachers

You may not have a Ph.d , or have been a teacher in a school before, but you are a mom and this should give us some confidence when it comes to homeschooling.

Why?

Alhamdulilah We know our children, and homeschooling is more than just cracking open a book and timing test. It’s about caring, understanding and commitment. Just the tools many mothers have! As mothers, we have a relationship with our children that makes us care more, care about if they are truly understanding the subject, care about our children succeeding. That is a blessing when we are educating our children. Our heart is in it more, because we want the best for our children. Sadly sometimes our children are in school, and they may be neglected in their learning, there’s many students to one teacher and it is not always easy to give each child a lot of attention. Whether we are homeschooling or not, part of our duty as parents is to educate our children and do it with love and care.

We understand our children, hey we are moms. We know when Dawud needs a break, or that Sakinah learns better visually. Alhamdulilah we live with our children, we study them, we know them pretty well mashaAllah and this gives us a great advantage in our homeschooling. I understood that my children worked better when the subjects appealed to their interest. I learned that one child needed more time to understand his lessons and he needed to learn differently than his brothers. The mommy in me, wanted him to get the lesson, and the teacher in me was ready to figure out the best ways for him to understand it. Not everyone is willing to go the distance for our children and we will alhamdulilah.

Moms make great teachers mashaAllah. We are committed. This is not a school semester we are talking about. Moving them on to the next grade and wait for the new kids to come in. This is a life commitment alhamdulilah. It is part of our duty to educate our children. It seems like hard work, and some days it feels tiring, but the rewards are worth it. The results are a blessing. It makes it all worth the wile alhamdulilah. With our children our commitment is much stronger, we are more determined to raise children who love Allah, who are good Muslims, with a good head on their shoulders alhamdulilah. I pray Allah guides and helps us in this mission ameen, because it is through His guidance it is possible. We know that with the permission of Allah we are capable of helping our children grow into intelligent, kind, human beings. It starts at home.

Some of you may say “I can’t be with my child all day long.” “I don’t have enough patience to homeschool my child.” subhanAllah, I say try a co-op homeschooling, team homeschooling may be good for you. Please do not rule out homeschooling completely. There are many ways to homeschool, alhamdulilah. We are not bound to the same rules as schools outside of homeschooling, we do not have to homeschool the same hours every day, we can take learning outside the doors of our home and really embrace the joy of homeschooling, it’s very rewarding to be a part of your child’s learning and it’s a joy inside to have first hand in that. MashaAllah mothers… may Allah bless us all ameen!

- Ameera Rahim is the mom of 5 blessings. When she is not homeschooling she can be found homemaking and baking bread. She is an avid blogger and loves to spend time with her family.

Explanation of the Creed (Kitaab Sharh us-Sunnah) Imaam al-Barbahaaree

Reblogged from AshabulHadeeth.com:

Download
(Right click then save target as)

Explanation of the Creed
(Kitaab Sharh us-Sunnah) (Abridged: 140 of 169 Points)
by Abu Muhammad Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alee ibn Khalaf Al-Barbahaaree (d. 329H) rahimahullaah
The Imaaam of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah of his time
Translation: Abu Talhah Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah

FREE download of the book Explanation of the Creed by Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn 'Alee ibn Khalf Al-Barbahaaree over on the Ahl-al-Hadeeth Blog MashaAllah

Helpful surahs and verses to aid you in teaching ( or learning it) history of creation

 

Asalaamu alaikum waramatulahi wabarakatahu I just wanted to share some of the helpful suras and ayas in the Qur’an that speak of Allah’s creation( or of His making of the Earth and all in it). These can be used alongside Islamic studies as well as “creation/History” studies. We must remember though that the descriptions of creation in the Qu’ran are not intended as cut and dry historical accounts, but rather to engage the reader in contemplating the lessons to be learned from it. For “History” I recommend the books from THIS POST alongside with any history curriculum you are patient enough to tweak and use.

I hope these are helpful to you. Please make dua for my family that Allah continues to bestow His mercy and guidance or may He guide us, JazakAllah Khayer

Allah is Al Khaliq (The Creator)

Surah 41:11, Surah 2:21,22 and 29, Surah 7:54, Surah 10:5, Surah 14: ayas 10-17, Surah 22:verse 18

Surah 25:61, 62, Surah 36:39,40, Surah 71: ayas 15-19, Surah 91:2 and 3, Surah 7:54

Surah 21:30, Surah 21:33, Surah 51:47, Surah 15:16 Surah 22:47, Surah 71:14-19 Surah 21:31

Surah 21:30, Surah 24:45, Surah 2:30, Surah  Ghafir, verse 57, Surah 39:62 Surah 51:56

Surah 18:7

(Please share some surahs or ayas I may have missed with us here as well InshaAllah)

History lessons, FUN and Interesting amazing facts and Creationism

Asalaamu alaikum (peace be upon you), hola hermanas y amistades (hey sisters & friends)

I just want to say to anyone who loves to read, to anyone who wonders why, how, or what did Muslims contribute to the world or what we believe or should we know.

History lovers, parents, students, Muslims, homeschoolers and people who go to school I completely recommend,

HANDS DOWN the following books : “Deeper Roots Muslims in The Americas and the Caribbean from BEFORE Columbus to the Present” –

Amazing book, writen by Br Dr Abdullah Hakim Quick. Learn the Truth of “3rd world” and learn the amazing facts. Learn the reality of the Size and immense donations to civilization from Africa to the world from the “Muslims” to the world.

I also recommend the book series “Stories of the World” by Sister M.A. Safia Iqbal. Geared more towards people who don’t have a passion for history yet, don’t know they love it, students, children, and/or children. It teaches REAL world History along with creationism.

Free Curriculum and resources you can use

Late, late but worth the wait!!

As promised, I FINALLY got around to updating this post!! I know, I know, but Hey I ACTUALLY homeschool more than I blog about it and that’s what matters =)

ENJOY the free education sites and have fun making your curriculums or just adding to your child’s educational experience.

 

Here I am including some FREE internet curriculum for you all.
My favorite, especially if you’re an Eclectic Homeschooler (meaning you don’t stick to only one method and you pick different things that work) is this link which tells you EVERYTHING they should be learning at that “grade”

http://www.worldbook.com/typical-course-of-study.html

Just click on the “grade” your child is in and work on those subjects with them!!

Arabic- Learning the Alphabet and it’s sounds

BusmiAllah

Asalamau alaikum waramatulahi wabarakatahu about 2 weeks ago I decided to take Arabic and reading the Quran transliteration more serious. It was a bit problematic the first 3 days with wasting time getting started, feelings of inadequacy and thinking it would be too hard and worthless time-wasting on my facebook acount. However, day 4 I said KHALAS! (stop, enough, no more in Arabic) to being my own enemy and got started.

I homeschool my daughter as well as am a convert to Islam of almost 3 years. I am bilingual which gives me the advantage of knowing FIRST HAND that translations and transliterations can NEVER sound, feel, or be the same as the loving, to the point messages are in their original message. Hence I know how EXTREMELY important it is to take on the task of trying to learn the letters to so I can read the Arabic so later I can learn the spoken word and not only repeat, recite or read but InshaAllah understand and implement.

I made a free makeshift “memory” game up with my daughter. We used the Arabic Alphabet book and used index cards to write the letters on then we faced them down and tried to find it’s match.

I also got started on learning/memorizing the letters, their sounds and how they looked. This was and is very beneficial. I’m using an older program of cassettes (remember those? lol) and a book. The program is called “Learn To Read The Qur’an on your own by IQRA  and reproduced with permission Islamic Information Foundation.

The program uses a reciter to say the letter, it’s sound and encourage you to follow visually with the book. I’m proud to say Al-HamduliAllah by Allah’s permission my daughter and I both have learned half the Alphabet and still learning inshaAllah.

We’ve used an older hands on activity of molding Arabic letters out of molding clay and play dough.

Today after reviewing I wanted to do something a bit more hands on and fun for her, finding myself bored with our index cards )I have a SHORT attention span) I remembered the site http://yemenlinks.com MashaAllah may Allah reward that sister for all the time, hard work, and sharing she does on her site ameen.

I decided to check out her Arabic materials…MashaAllah!! All I can say if someone does it better why try just use theirs! Therefore, I’m sharing her lovely link here. Please check her out MashaAllah she has a lot of resources over there MashaAllah.

Here is the link~>  http://yemenlinks.com/Theme/ALM

The five pillars of Islam and recycling stuff around the home

Finally only 2 and a half months later I’m posting the picture here of one of the assignments we did for the beginning of Ramadan. Hey just call me Mrs. Slacker

We learned about how basements, architecture, and pillars give structures a solid foundation. We than learned about the 5 pillars of Islam and how these are the foundation of the Muslim.

We also learned the dua for seeking and increasing in beneficial knowledge.

I decided to put that art work under her “Tree of growth”. The tree of growth is another project for another post. That (the tree) is basically where we post new hadith, dua, surahs, and ayas she learns. My husband told me about that idea may Allah reward him Ameen.

I guess he saw it at his sons islamic school last year or something

Basically after the explanation of the 5 pillars of islam. We took her toilet paper rolls from the saving bin (where we save toilet and paper napkin rolls) and proceeded to cut them straight across .

Once we had the toilet paper rolls it was time for fun. I will write out and add pictures of the details in case you’d like to do this assignment with your little one as well.

She took some glue sticks and glued construction paper to them.

Then it was time for mommy to help.

I took some scissors and cut it vertically. (up, the long way)

We did these to five different toilet paper rolls.

Some tips of advice for you all is if and when you are gluing these, especially with glue sticks; you have to be quick and add the construction paper. If you do not hurry it will dry up and the paper will not stick.

Another tip for you as well is measure (or guesstimate) how much construction paper you will need and write the words on there BEFORE gluing it to the toilet paper roll. I made the mistake of writing on the paper AFTER she had glued it to the roll.

Tip number three is make sure you have strong tape so you can glue these rolls to the poster board.

In my home- culture, language and religion are all VERY important! I am trying to teach and carry out all 3 into our everyday lives therefore these are the pillars of Islam with the Religious terms and Spanish/English transliterations on there as well.

What we did to make sure that the pillars stuck is I folded over a small flap on both sides and stuck tape on them to the board see picture ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Notice all three languages?

Also, notice the messy writing? That is what I meant about writing before gluing it to the rolls

After she glued all of the rolls to the board I let her play with play dough, write and paint out the dua Rabbi zidni ’Ilma (OH my Lord increase me in Knowledge)

Once painted it out, we let it dry outside on the back balcony.

After it dried up, I then let her tape it to the poster board above the five pillars

Sorry about the bad picture quality it was semi dark and I used my cell phone camera but you get the general idea.

After that, we just transferred the tree of growth above it all because I thought it looked good together.

How to Homeschool while having morning sickness!

I am very honored to have the lovely Mrs. Talented MashaAllah homeschooling Mommy of three Mrs. UmmSuhailah of Ummi’s Circle be a guest blogger here! May Allah reward her for all her work Ameen!

Bismillaah

“All praise and thanks belongs to Allaah. Lord & Creator of all the worlds. May Allaah bestow His mercy upon the Prophet, his family, his companions, and on all of those who follow them in truth until The Last Day” Ameen

As Salaamu Alaikum

Baraka’Allaahu’Feekum

So you look at your EPT (early pregnancy test) or your First Response Pregnancy test and you see that little + sign that says what you already expected. “Your prego!” If your like me you think: “Woo hoo” and then later on you think: “Ouch ouch ouch contractions” lol!

Next thing you know, you’re experiencing morning, afternoon, evening, and daily sickness. You can’t keep your lunch, breakfast, and thoughts down just for a second! You have one child (or more already) and your homeschooling all of them.

The anxiety  can creep in fast when you think about your responsibilities as a: Muslimah, wife, mother, teacher, cleaner, potty training instructor, and the like.

Today let’s just focus on one job- the job of the home teacher.

First, in all things lets keep Allaah first. Make your intentions and make dua. Allaah says in the Qur’aan that He does not put on a believer a burden that they cannot handle.

Find ease in knowing this. That this is a fact and the haqq.

Know that various forms and methods to teaching exist- don’t be afraid to venture into methods that seem unconventional and simply different.

The current method I am using is the  Glenn Doman method- to me this method is very easy for me- and if I was pregnant and home schooling- I would be able to handle this and know that my children are still learning- even though it is merely just flashing cards.

Technology IS your friend! If your pregnant and working with small or older children- use technology- especially when your overcome with nausea so much so that you cannot function-

What do I mean by “cannot function”: ex: you cannot prepare your worksheets and have your materials together because of your morning sickness

So prop  up some pillows- find websites that you and your children can go over that teaches the subject you need your children to learn.

Workbooks- workbooks are a mercy from Allaah- they have all the things that you need – I find rather nice ones at Walmart or my local Target- such as Brainquest-  I use this with my girls- my children love work books.

However if you cannot afford workbooks- then I stress creating small packets that you can use – you can make these packets when you have a surge of energy.

Homeschool co-op Find a parent that can help you teach your children until you can. There are many Muslimahs that may be in your community who are open to teaching others- find them, network and  make it work!

Finally, give yourself a break! Know that it’s ok to get some rest! This is one of the joys of homeschooling- give yourself a much needed break to bounce back! You can redo weeks at a later date . Your body has rights over you- so get some rest and treat yourself right! It takes a lot to have morning sickness, run a house, home school and handle everyday responsibilities so give in……..slow down……………….and rest.

As a mother of 3- I know rest is important and double the importance when your pregnant! So take a break!

It will probably be a break most welcome by the children as well!

And remember this morning sickness business will pass! Inshaa’Allaah

Umm Suhailah

I was nominated for a blog award =)

Oh my goodness!!! =)

I was nominated for a blog award from Ameera R,  from Habeebee Homeschooling! This was created to recognize other bloggers and she and her blogs are awesome enough to have been awarded herself MashaAllah!

This was unexpected as I didn’t even know about it until I clicked on the original person’s post who nominated her; and than read her blog post about it. I really don’t even know where to begin! There are SO many bloggers whom I love Muslim, non Muslim, religious, non Religious who are simply so much more amazing bloggers and much more resourceful than I am! I read everything from homeschooling to cooking, Politics, religion, life, parenting to do it yourself posts! I really would feel bad to accidentally hurt someone’s feelings by not posting them. Here is what I’ll do InshaAllah, I will post the ones off of the top of my head that are mostly related to homeschooling and being Muslim since, well, that’s my angle

Okay, here we go-BismiAllah!!! I have to list the rules as I saw them…..

How the award process works: 
1. Thank the person who nominated you- Thank you- JazakAllahu Khayer Ameera- you are amazing and VERY Creative!!
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award on to 10 other bloggers
4. Contact the other bloggers to let them know they have been nominated

Ok, so here are 7 things about me: 
1. I grew up all over!! Literally! I was born in Joliet, Illinois but have lived in Texas (5 different places) and Mexico before coming back to Illinois.
2. I am of Mexican, Native American heritage and my culture is a mixture of Mexican and American-with a muslim lifestyle InshaAllah. A lot of my close friends are Puerto rican, Dominican, from Africa, here (USA) and Mexico so it’s anybodies guess what kind of “accent” when and if I have when one from time to time!
3. I worked in a head start as an early childhood educator for 6 + years before  what I thought was quitting the field and leaving education now I homeschool!!
4. I love reading, homeschooling and being online. Literally, I could get lost in it for hours!
5. I try to be down to earth and try not to let my ignorance, growth, learning, or lack-there-of to make me boastful and mean. I am, but a human though, so My apologies if I’ve ever come across rude, full of mistakes or judgmental. I truly apologize I never intend to be that way.
6. I love Mexican food and cook it okay too if I say so myself
7. I don’t have enough hours in the week to do all the activities I’d like to do.

Here are the bloggers I am nominating:

• American Muslim Mom
• Talibiddeen Jr
•Diary of a Muslim Homeschool
• Ummi’s Circle
• Homeschool 4 Muslims
• Habeebee Homeschooling
• Muslim Homeschool Blog
• Islamic unit Studies
•Yemen links, a Wonderful and very resourceful site
• A muslim child is born

I wish I could list 50!! I have so many blogs I read that are so great, and full of wonderful tips, Ummi’s, homeschooling ideas, children, Muslims and great websites. I might just post blogs like this one from time to time to lis them all!!

I love the internet!!!

Please feel free to share your early childhood blog or a blog that you know of here … so we can continue to expand our network!

Second Grade language Arts Curriculum (via Talibiddeen Jr. Companion Blog)

I just hit re blog because nothing I can say right now is better than what she has so willingly shared already!

I discovered her some time ago, but I am TRULY now reading and using some of her stuff and she is pretty amazing!

May Allah reward you for homeschooling and for sharing ameen.

Before we moved internationally this summer, I had made up my second grade language arts curriculum in advance for this year (and what I hope will be useable for up and coming second graders in our family, insha Allah). Yeay!  Then, Nay. Our move threw us off and I am only just now trying to get back to trying to use the outline. I thought it might be helpful if you are trying to put your own program together. You’ll have to pull together th … Read More

via Talibiddeen Jr. Companion Blog