Queen Maryam's Reading Journey

Bismillah

Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullah!

My little Maryam (6) is what I would call a 'reluctant reader', masha Allah. In order to build her confidence, I made her a reading chart based on a character I created to share the 4 maths processes with her: Queen Maryam the First.

This is how it works: for every book that she reads on her own (it can be anything at all, even board books), she moves up one step on the path through the forest, on her way to the castle. Every ten steps earns her a treat or a gift and, when she finally reaches the castle (after 50 books), she gets a party for her and her friends.

She was thrilled when she saw the poster and was so stoked that she read 10 books in the first week! Alhamdulillah! Now I need to get with the programme and get her her gift!

What techniques have you used to encourage your children to read? Do share with us!

Wasalaam
Na'ima

One week in...

Bismillah

Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,

So, we are on the doorstep of our second week of 'official' homeschooling. We made it through the first week, alhamdulillah!
We started with a fixed hourly schedule, painstakingly created to ensure that we were covering the curriculum we are using, as well as leaving space for the necessary settling in after a hectic time away, Qur'an practice, and time to just... be.
I don't think we followed it to the letter even once this week.
And I'm not stressing about it. At all.

I think having daily Qur'an and Arabic with a tutor from 10 to 12 is working well and the Boy is enthusiastic and dedicated, masha Allah. He can see the progress he is making and that makes him want to try harder. May Allah grant him tawfeeq.
Aside from Qur'an hifdh, his main passions at the moment are mastering cursive (which he is now practicing all the time!) and French (he is self-teaching via an app called Duolingo - www.duolingo.com - the same one I am using to learn Spanish). His other passion is football so a lot of time was spent outside, playing with the children who now have their winter break from school. He is also reviewing times tables. His reading is sporadic at the moment so we are building up to a regular reading time. I have decided to go back to reading aloud to the all the children, the older ones and the younger ones (thank you to all the wonderful parents and educators who reminded me of this special way to bond, share values and adventures and explore language!).

The Girl had a very sleepy week. Shame, she is still recovering from all the travel upheaval. Spelling, reading and writing were her lot this week. Introduced the 4 Madams of maths: Little Miss Adding, Little Miss Sadaqah (subtraction), Little Miss Barakah (multiplication) and Little Miss Zakat (division). Hey, Oak Meadow said to make it into a story! So, I hope it makes as much sense to her as it does to me - while introducing Islamic concepts at the same time :) And lots of playing with her little sister, drawing and colouring.

The Islamic buzzword this week was Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah for all three of them. I am still figuring out my wished-for multi-layered approach to teaching my children their deen, encouraging them to know and love their Lord and their Prophet and learning the ways of the believer. I hope to transcend the lecture format and also go beyond the workbook, question and answer method, bi'idhnillah, because Islam is not a school subject, only to be taught and studied and tested; it is a way of life to be LIVED.
Any suggestions welcome!

We celebrated a fairly calm and productive week by being even more social than usual from Wednesday afternoon onwards (you know those homeschoolers have to have their 'socialisation'!): dinner with friends on Tuesday, homeschool playdate and dinner on Wednesday (our Learning Roots floor puzzles were a big hit!), sleepover on Thursday with an epic football group project, Jumu'ah, lunch at a sister's and guests for dinner on Friday. Manic!!

Alhamdulillah, we had a calm day today to round off the weekend. Just a walk to the shops to stock up on stationary supplies, bread and milk, and foraging for seed pods (and getting wet through in the process) and leaves to paint and print with. Then some stories, cutting, sticking, emailing family, cooking and the usual hijinks.

We have OUTINGS planned for this week, alhamdulillah! Will let you know how we go, insha Allah...

May Allah bless all our efforts, ameen!
Na'ima

Links
www.oakmeadow.com
www.learningroots.com
www.duolingo.com

Books read this week
The Silver Swan by Michael Morpurgo - My daughter and I cry when reading this book every time. Beautiful language, gorgeous illustrations and poignant story. I read it to her for a bedtime story, she narrated it back to me the next morning and we did some copywork from pages she chose. And we talked about the sounds of the words, alliteration, repetition, etc, because she has a real ear for language, masha Allah.

Chapter 1 of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder - read aloud to the boys that were staying over at my house this weekend

Ex Voto by Geraldine McCaughrean in 'War - Stories of Conflict' This seems to have sparked an interest in the Boy in the Crusades and Salahuddin and, since his great citadel is here in Cairo, I am looking at exploring this further with him as part of his History studies. Where's my Book of Centuries when I need it???

The Secret Garden - Ladybird abridged version. The Boy read this one on his own.

Selections from the Oak Meadow story book for Grade 1

Not great but not too bad, eh? Alhamdulillah...

Hajj Aftershocks

Bismillah

Our decision to homeschool two of our children came like a bolt from the blue. I have had an ambiguous relationship with homeschooling for many years, due to two things:

1) My long-held belief, rooted in my own experience and upbringing, in the value of traditional British public school-style education, complete with extra-curricular activities, prefects and the house system. It made me the woman I am (I was one of the fortunate ones!) and I wanted this experience for my own children. However, I hadn't thought of how much my own priorities would change as I matured, as my iman increased and my knowledge of the world and its varied ways expanded.

2) Having known many, many sisters who decided to homeschool their children for a variety of reasons with varied rates of success, I had come to believe that homeschooling should not consist merely of keeping your children at home because you don't want them in school; it should be a lifestyle, a lifestyle of natural, hands-on, adventurous family learning.

There was no space for such homeschooling in the framework I have inhabited for the last few years: that of a busy working mother of five who always has loads of projects on the go; a soccer mom whose children attended one of the most prestigious schools in Cairo; a believer in the school system.

But one Hajj can change your life forever.

As something I have come to term a 'Hajj aftershock', my ideas about my children's education and our priorities for them have had a radical overhaul since coming back from Hajj.

This conversation with a dear friend who has always homeschooled, Umm Raiyyaan of http://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com, was one of the catalysts for this decision:

UR: You considering HomeEd?
Me: Don't push me! I have been leary of home ed forever. But I'm softening my stance.
UR: Hajj has really changed you, lol.
Me: Realpolitik, my dear. You know, sometimes, when you're in a mindset, you accept certain things as inevitable: the fatigue from homework, the classroom politics, bullying, unIslamic practises, compromises we all make because everyone in the world is making them. Well, why? Why do we have to conform and settle? Especially if we have options, which we do, alhamdulillah. We're so tied to this narrow model of how 'everyone does things'. But education, true education, is more than tests and stress. It should be joyful and lifelong. But it's also a huuuuuuuge commitment and responsibility - and that is the stressful part...
My children would be different children, for sure, if we made such a radical decision. It is one of those fork in the road decisions. But I think we're making it...

And, alhamdulillah, we have. We've informed the children's schools. We've consulted a Muslim homeschooling specialist to find the right programme (accredited, flexible, Waldorf-inspired). We've enrolled in the distance school of our choice. And we've switched on the family learning mindset.

Weekends are different since we switched into homeschooling gear. Even though the children are still at school until after the December holidays, there is a palpable shift in the family dynamic.
Now, learning isn't something you expect to happen in school; you realise that you are the guide, you are the teacher, you are the facilitator of your child's learning and I am finding that so empowering. Every moment is a teaching moment to be shared between parent and child. We talk more. We read more books. We draw more. We cook and wash dishes together. We go for walks and gather leaves and make displays when we get home. We talk about Allah ta'ala and the seasons and the migration of birds and the circle of life. We connect.

Alhamdulillah, both children are eager to get started with their homeschooling programme and I am so stoked for them. I pray that this is the start of something beautiful.

May Allah ta'ala bless us on this journey, ameen.
N.

Who we are

Bismillah.

My name is Adam and I am 8 years old. My mum is an author and my dad is an online marketer. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My sisters are called Amani and Mariam. Mariam is 5 years old and Amani is 2 years old. My two brothers are called Ibrahim and Ubaid. Ibrahim is 14 years old and Ubaid is 11 years old and we live in Cairo. Im very excited about being homeschooled but my mum is forcing me to do it after the winter break.

On this blog , we are going to be talking about our homeschooling journey.             

                    SALAM ALAYKUM!

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