Wednesday 9 November 2011

Reading Progress!

Insha Allaah I would like to share with all of you Maimoonah's reading progress so far. As you know I teach her to read using Glenn Doman's Method. And it has been about one and half years since I started using this program.  Please read my post here about the Program Insha Allaah!

Innal Hamdalillaah! Indeed All praise is due to Allaah alone and Allaahu Baarik lahaa now Maimoonah can read well!  I stopped flashing or writing words when we have completed around 9 months of doing this program and from that time onwards up until now she learns to read new words through books.

Since you all know we have no libraries here we have managed to collect some books for our small Home Library, by the Mercy of Allaah. Now that she has learnt to read the thirst of reading new books is developing and its best that she is exposed to lot of reading materials. So these are some of the books that we have in our Home Library.











  

Alhamdulillaah she can now read cyclopaedia such as this.




Also story books such as this..

 

And reads even the Tafseer of the Qur'aan every now and then Alhamdulillaah! I need to get the Tafseer with big letters to make it easy for her Insha Allaah!. Of course as she is only 4 years old she would love to read a small book and finish it fast as the attention span is limited. But she would read bigger books with me, meaning if I read one page she would opt to read one page, so we take turns and finish reading the book.

During circle time I put a small book something like the picture below everyday in the basket for her to read. And while she is eating she would ask me to read aloud the book she likes.



Just a note on how she reads entirely new words, is that she would try to read that  just as someone who knows phonics, I really do not know how. Then when I correct her she would remember that and read that word when it occurs somewhere else. This is how the reading progresses.

She reads only English fluently like this, as for Arabic since I was not competent enough I did not follow this program with her. But we started learning Arabic with usual letter by letter method and she is catching up but slow, the reason for slowness is that she is a visual learner and even now the Learning Roots Word flow flash card words she reads faster than the letter by letter reading method. So for Arabic its a mix so far. She can read fatha and kasra and dhamma words even though she gets confused with different forms of letters when joined together. But I do not want to stress her and we would go slow Insha Allaah!

As for me this method has worked well so far and Alhamdulillaah enabled me to teach her Islaam with ease. Since she already knows to read Allaah has made it easier for me to teach her the basics. If you see the Islaamic Studies worksheets I make for her you would sometimes wonder isn't it too much for a 4 year old. But it is made because she could read and answer independently with comprehension masha Allaah!. I feel more than anything learning to read at a young age has helped her in her dheen and she loves reading the stories of the Prophets by her self and every day she has questions to ask the famous question being "Why is Ibraheem's alaihissalaam father a Mushrik, why did Muhammad's sallaahu alaihiwasallam's Father and Mother die as Mushrik"? All these questions are asked with tears in the eyes. And you can see her reading these parts whenever she remembers this matter.

So far I do not see any disadvantage in this method, but having said this each child is different and I do not say that this is the best method for reading, rather this method worked well with Maimoonah and all what is stated is my opinion and my experience so far. 

12 comments:

Umm Suhailah said...

Bismillaah

As Salaamu Alaikum!

Baraka'Allaahu'Feekum for sharing and writing this post!

Because of your progress with Maimoonah (my new found skype friend lol) it really inspired me to use this method with my girls.

I really like the fact that to me- is a stress free method. Suhailah doesn't like to repeat- and it use to stress me and her when I would ask her to repeat- she would not- or she would get easily frustrated-

It was very stressful to do school with her- because I did not know how to deal with it- then as I learn more about the method- and as I apply with her and her sisters...they have done well- and have not been stressed Al- Hamdu lillaah- and they have each shown me that they can read- by just watching them play with my flashcards- they pretend to be teachers- and read the cards to each other- and i was amazed that they can read- even though i don't have them repeat- and i go very fast flashing.

Like you said each child is different- and I appreciate you sharing what you have done in hopes that this will give someone an idea/starting place with their own child(ren)

Tell Maimoonah I am proud of her :)

Homeschool Diary said...

Asalamualaikum wa rahmatullah,

It feels like such a long time since I’ve visited your blog- it’s great to hear about Maimoonah’s progress mashAllah. I can’t wait for the day my kids can read the secret garden…one of my favourite children’s classic- and I would love to share it with my kids. Wow mashAllah- Maimoonah seems to have instilled in her deep conncention to Islam that reading has opened up for her…I am amazed that she is willingly reading tafsir anf prophet stories and I pray that Allah increases her in beneficial knowledge and may she grow up serveing Allah with that knowledge- amen.

Anonymous said...

MashAllah such an inspiring post. Well done Maimoonah and ummMaimoonah :).
My daughter is the same age as Maimoonah and alhamdulillah reading well. What a joy and like you said being able to read opens ways to so many other activities, alhamdulillah.
Re teaching how to read, I have used combination of Doman, Montessori and phonics methods, subhanAllah, what a way of teaching :). I was trying to do the sort of the things she is interested at a time. We started off with MTS 3 set picture cards, then used some ELC flashcards. She was showing more and more interest in reading. At times I would find her in her room reading to herself, she would read the words she recognized and skip the ones she didnt know lol. But when asked to read to mommy/daddy a book she was not brave enough or would get shy n reserved. Then slowly we started reading together, i.e at story time, bed time, she picks up a book I would read one line and she would volunteer to read the second line. But it is after we have finished the Jolly Phonics workbooks she has started to read independently. I got the workbooks to practise her handwriting originally. But the effect was different to my original plan alhamdulillah. Sisters, check out these books. They are beautifully pictured phonics workbooks (7 in a set) full of colouring, reading n writing activities, based on phonics method.
The only thing is, after your post I realized she is exposed to non-islamic books more. And she loves encyclopedias too lol. InshaAllah after reading your post, I will encourage her to read more Islamic stories. JazakAllah for beneficial post again.
ps: will share our experience in Arabic reading/writing tmrw inshaAllah. btw, UmmSumayya :)

Imaan said...

as salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh

Ma shaa Allah! Mabrook Maimoonah! Well done and may Allah continue to bless you with `ilm ameen.

Umm Maimoonah, I am so happy to hear this. It is SUCH a lovely lightbulb moment when the kids' learning just takes off like this, isn't it? You have a gorgeous collection of books - I can tell you book lovers will need more shelves soon hehe! In shaa Allah it will be of benefit to you and your community :)

More, more, more as always!

UmmMuhammad said...

MashaAllah mabrook Maimoonah! That is so great that you can read so well alhamdulillah. Muhammad is doing really well in writing, before he used to take up half a page to write his name where as now he writes very small and neat on the line alhamdulillah :) Keep up the great work habibti!

سمــا Samaa said...

Masha'Allah! Thank you SO much for sharing, lately I've been trying in many ways to encourage my 6 year old to read more... I'm finding it a bit hard!! "^^ Will be checking Glenn Doman's method now.

Umm Maimoonah said...

Wa Alaikum salaam warahmathullaahi wa barakaatuhu Ya Akhawaat and Jazzakumullaah Khayr for all your encouragement. We really do appreciate it!

Umm Suhailah, I am so happy to hear that your little ones are progressing well and that this has eased your stress! I am sure you will soon come out with a similar post as your girls will surprise you within no time Insha Allaah!

Amatullaah, Aameen for your dua. Yeah I missed you around! Hope things are ok on your side and so not worry your kids will start reading soon Insha Allah!

Imaan, yes indeed such a joy to see it happening masha Allaah! Oh yes, I am short of space and the picture is just one small cupboard we have there are 2 more like that and got to seriously think of finding alternatives, since we live in furnished apartments and keep shifting do not like to buy furniture lol! But I guess we need to make some compromise. I love your shelves though as it is easy access to kids and everything is visible and they will not forget that they have some books lol! Thanks for all your kind words!

Umm Sumayya, Jazzakillaah Khayr for sharing your experience with all of us. Really enjoyed reading your comment. Masha Allaah so nice to hear that sumayya reads with passion Ahamdulillaah! I hope you wouls get hold of some nice authentic Islaamic books for her to read Insha Allaah! Awaiting to hear from you how you went about with Arabic Insha Allaah!

Umm Muhammad, so nice to have you hear after a long time. And great masha Allaah he can write well now. Hope and pray the little girl is doing well too by the Mercy of Allaah! Take Care

Samaa, Jazzakillaah Khayr. I hope you find the right method for her Insha Allaah! Are you teaching her Arabic or English or both! Please remember Glenn Doman's method works best for kids birth to 4 years, if you want fast result. But it will work for kids older than that also Insha Allaah but the progress will be slow so please do not get stressed read the method well and adopt Insha Allaah!

UmmSara said...

MashaAllah you have lovely books, now wonder why Maimoonah wants to read all the time : )
As far as I know you always use English right?
We used to do everything exclusively in Uzbek, this year I started using some English since we were learning how to read/phonics etc. I give some instructions in English but sometime kids don't want me to speak in English :)
Ibrahim is able to read MTS 3-part cards (pink, blue and green ones) and does not have any difficulty with starfall's phonics worksheets but he does not show much interest in readying story books. Sometimes I let him read smaller words whereas I read the longer ones. And as I said we used to read English story books in our language too lol. Now I'm trying to read them more in English. I guess one of reasons why he does not really show interest in reading story books is that he does not know the meanings of many words in English and if he sees some unknown words he just gives up. Some kids like to learn and speak in English but my kids are different : )And I don't want to push him, mainly because at his age he does not really have know how to read. Also I was telling Umm Sumayya how they can find the right time to learn something and it take less time and effort from their side. Last year learning different forms of Arabic letters was not really making sense to them, but this year after Ramadan Ibrahim showed interest in reading Arabic words by himself, so within a short period of time he was able to learn the different forms of letters, harakat and combining everything together to make a word. So I guess he as well as Sarah will eventually find the right time and start reading books by themselves : ) inshaAllah.
May Allah make this journey easy for us all!.

UmmSara said...

BTW, Umm Sumayya I was also asking Umm Maimoonah about Jolly phonics books whether or not it is worth to get them for Sarah.
She does like reading, she sits hours reading (from her memory), maybe it could help her inshaAllah. I'll look and see if I can find the books from nearby stores ( I don't really want to print all these books because my printers in running out of ink fast : )

Homeschool Diary said...

Things are ok on my side. It's just blogging and surfing the net is the first thing to cut back on when we're really busy. I've got lots of catching up to do!

Umm Maimoonah said...

Alaikum salaaam Umm Sara

Jazzakillaah Khayr for your kind words as always!

Yes sis we only speak and use English with Maimoonah and that is her first language. She does not know any other language except or Arabic.

Yes I agree. each child will take off at their own pace when it is the right time Insha Allaah. Please do not worry too much.

But sis now if you are teaching Uzbek then you want that to be only for sometime right? Since you live in the US the kids will have to know and do all subjects in English right? So how do you teach Maths - MEP? In Uzbek or English? I remember you told me some time back that you used to flash Glenn Doman method for Ibraheem and he learnt to read but you stopped it for sometime and he forgot, correct?

So when they read with Uzbek and English do they get confused? Or they know the difference?

Yes not knowing the meanings could be one reason. but do they like to listen to you reading aloud English Books?

As for Jolly Phonics, I think Umm Summaiya would be able to tell you more as for as I told you before it is not making a big difference cos she already knows to read, but I feel it will help her with spellings and since I had bought the book sometime back I thought I will use it anyway : )

Amatullaah, glad to know all are ok , yes I agree shutting the computer gives you sometime to attend to the mostimporatant stuff : ) Hope to see you around soon Insha Allaah!

Masha Allaah great Ibrahim can read Arabic! Allaahu Baarik lahu. Yes sis the age matters a lot for certain milestones and things fall into place and we have to keep reassuring ourselves that it will all happen when it is right time Insha Allaah!: )

Anonymous said...

Umm Sara,
I do most of our homeschooling in Uzbek too. I want their comprehensive skills develop fully in their 1-st language. Re reading, if I am in no hurry I always read in English aloud and translate into Uzbek. But when things are rushing and I have baking or some other plan after bed time I only read in Uzbek (books are still in English tho).
Not being able to understand might be one reason why a child is no interested in reading. Our girls went to 3 hour nursery since they were very little and plays with neighbours all the time. Fortunately, we have muslim next-door neighbours on both side and both families have two girls each. The ones on the left speaks Urdu, on the right Algerian Arabs. But they play a lot together and they speak English when they are together. Sumayya reads story books in English and understands well alhamdulillah. Sofiyya doesnt understand that well but tries to speak more English and pretends she knows everything better than her sister (the thing is Sumayya is very shy person and Sofiyya is more social).Even then I still feel our kids might have some kind of language barrier when socializing with children whose 1st language is English. At least the first 6-7 years of their lives this might be the case, and Allah knows best.
But we dont worry about their English to be honest, it is the language they will pick up soon enough. The minute they go outside of your house, they are exposed to English and I am sure they will learn it quickly inshaAllah.
Re jolly phonics, I used it for handwriting and spelling. The words were easy to read but encouraged Sumayya to read more. It will work out cheaper if you buy them I think, I got the whole set-7 books for £10. It might be good for Sarah inshaAllah.

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