Some Questions Answered!

Assalaamu Alaikum Ya Akhawaat,

This is a long awaiting post. Many sisters have asked me few questions on my schedules, Qura'aan memorization, teaching Maimoonah the Names of the Prophets, etc etc. And I replied to all of them I will write a post with details to their questions, but delayed it due to all sorts of things : ) So finally decided today to write something Insha Allaah!

Qur'aan Memorization

I have never asked Maimoonah to repeat any soorahs after me. I started reciting to her the Qul Soorahs and the Aayathul Kursi from the day she was born before she goes to sleep. When she was 1 and a half years old she recited the 3 Qul Soorahs Independantly. Then She heard her Abi reciting Soorah Fatihah while he lead the prayer and one fine day she recited that on her own. I officially started memorization with her when she was 3 years. This is what I did and still do..

• I recite the Soorah at least 3 times during 3 sessions every day.
• 3 days later I can hear her reciting it while she is playing.
• we listen to the audio of the Imam reciting
• And she corrects her pronunciation
• If the Soorah is long the time taken is also long
• And if I do not know the soorah by heart, she listens to the audio of the Imaam reciting at least 3 times 3 sessions a day and she will learn the soorah.
• I do not correct any pronunciation all the time. If I know she is able to pronounce then I correct or else I leave it because I find when I correct her she looses interest and does not want to go ahead. But most of the time she corrects the pronounciation on her own after listening to the Imam.
• We listen to Shaikh Hudaifi as I feel he is very clear and slow enough for a toddler, hafidahullaah
• As for revision she use to recite on her own all the soorahs she knows before going to sleep or while playing. But now she knows a bit more soorahs we do revision of few soorahs each day during our circle time.

Lately as all of you know Maimoonah has been going through a phase of emotions with memorization and we had to go slow. She is still struggling to overcome this. But Insha Allaah she is doing pretty ok these days. And I have raised my hands all the time and asked Allaah to help me when I face such events and He has always helped me. So I hope to go slow a bit now and catch up later when she settles Insha Allaah!

Learning the Names of the Prophets, Wives of the Prophet ,Etc.

This I take a print out of the list put it on the board, read it to her every now and then I pass the board and she will repeat after few days all in order. Then go on to the next and next. But to keep all of this fresh in her mind every now and then I ask her to tell me the list. My way with Maimoonah is never ask her to repeat anything. I just read and she will do it on her own. I learnt this from Glenn Doman : )

Dua

From the time she was born we said all the dua to be said in all situations. And she learnt only from us. After sometime she told on her own. She first said bismillaah when she was 11 months I think. And then when she was 1 year she said the dua after eating and so on.

Our Schedule

We learn Sunday to Thursday. But if we had missed some days in between due to some reason we catch up on weekends too. As for timings I actually do not stick to any time. I plan the schedules for a week and I have in my mind each day what I would do. Here is a rough schedule Insha Allaah!

• She wakes up at 7.30 am
• By the time she has her wash, change, milk and breakfast it's about 8.30am
• We start our circle time at that time and finish by 9 am (this will include changing the date, Quraan listening, Revising the Qur'aan, Aqeedah etc etc)
• Then we do the topic related activities for the day till 10.30 am
• At 10.30 am I start cooking and by the time I finish it's Luhar. While I cook Maimoonah will be cooking with her toys or will look at a book or make a puzzle or eat my head in the kitchen lol
• Then after salaah I feed her lunch and at 1.30 pm she will have her afternoon nap till about 3.30 pm. Some days she wakes up late if she had had some sleep issues that night. For example she might wake up at 9 am. Then no afternoon nap. We will continue to study after lunch.
• After the nap and after Asr we go out to the graden and play till Magrib, that is about 6 pm during summer. And for some reason if we do not go out then we will learn during the evening as well. Or she will be online on Star fall or any other power point presentation.
• Then after Magrib we will read a little and have dinner and she will talk and talk and go to bed by around 9 pm

The Morning Learning includes, reading encyclopedia or theme related books some days, and worksheets some days and MEP maths some days. These I do with her according to her moods and some days we do not do anything much like today because she was very crochety. So we leave that day and do the next day. And there are some days we only do just one thing and there are some days we have actually finished half the work for the week.

So basically we are very flexible and do not follow a cut and right time table. But Alhamdulillaah work gets done for the week. Blessing of hoe schooling!

As for getting the resources and materials ready then I do all this during the weekends and keep everything ready for the whole week. Searching, browsing, cutting etc etc take lot of time and children get bored. So best is to keep everything ready and supply activities for them Insha Allaah!

I hope this would have answered your questions in detail. And please do remember sisters every child is different and every house hold is different. And the best thing to do is to do your own schedules according to the capability of your child and according to your house holds Insha Allaah! I know the ones who newly enter into HE have many many questions in all these issues. Please start from some where and you will eventually know your schedules Insha Allaah!

May Allaah guide us through this path of Cultivating and Educating our children to please Him alone!