Art Classes - Homeschool Co-op

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah we have started a couple of Co ops for the girls and one of them is the much enjoyed Art Classes. 

The sister is teaching the girls from the basics and I always wanted Maimoonah to learn this the right way. She is enjoying the classes so far Alhamdulillaah.

They have been learning the primary and secondary colours, water colour techniques and how to use the brushes and much more. Since we do scrapbooking for other subjects and Maimoonah forever writes journals, she is very pleased that she is able to use these art techniques for scrapbooking and journalling! 

PS: As a side note, art also keeps away kids from overusing technology! 

These are some of the art work done by Maimoonah! Enjoy!

KS3 - Grammar Bytes

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

We are continuing with KS3 this year and the resources we are using are almost the same as last year since we were unable to get on with it full time. So inshaa Allaah we hope we can complete the KS3 year 7 work this year with Maimoonah.

KS3 is, what shall I say, a bit more challenging than previous years more for me than for Maimoonah. I need to recap, look into information to teach her certain concepts.

When I looked at the Grammar book we are using, I realized there are a lot more to learn, and these Grammar terms and rules have not been the ones that stay in your head for long years.

So make it easier for me as well as for Maimoonah we started a "Grammar Byte" Notebook. 

We use the internet or other reference books and note down each of the grammar rules that we study. The textbook does talk about the grammar rules but the explanation is very short and I found this site for grammar bytes which gives a clear explanation with examples. This way Maimoonah is able to understand and remember as I keep saying a sentence to her and ask her to identify the subject, object transitive verb, intransitive verb etc, 

This notebook will be handy for quick reference as well to check something.

 

So as we go on we will look for the "bytes" and stick them or write them and continue the activities in the Grammar workbook Inshaa Allaah.

How do you go about your Grammar Lessons? 

Travel and Happenings!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

This space has been quiet for a long time due to many things happening over here. Alhamdulillaah!

We are slowly building up resources for our Homeschool Support Program and by the mercy of Allaah the venture is reaping benefits. Alhamdulillaah. Watch out the blog for more information on this and for full review of our products available so far. I thank the many families around the world who are using our resources and giving us feedback. I also thank my good friend Umm Aisha for partnering with me and helping me with this venture and a big thank you to brother Abu Sukhailah at www.taalib.com for his naseehah, checking and for patiently guiding us through this project. May Allaah make his scale heavy with multiplying the rewards for him and his family. Aameen. 

 

 

I am also very grateful to sisters in Doha who have come forward to contribute to our "Love for Growth" project which helps the less fortunate but eager families around the world to use our materials and learn the correct aqeedah and manhaj. May Allaah reward all of them with the best in this world and the next. Aameen

Little Ramlah is growing up and almost one year now. She does not stop to fascinate and entertain us with all her stunts and achievements , baarakallaah Feehah.

Maimoonah is growing up too, mostly learning survival skills than academics, Alhamdulillaah due to circumstances. 

Her homeschooling with regard to academics is happening very little as we had to move places many times and get ready for travel to relocate temporarily. At the moment we are visiting family and enjoying the extended family and surroundings which we have missed for the last four years. 

Maimoonah is keeping herself occupied with enjoying my mum's garden and capturing nature and special moments. She is enhancing her photography skills too. These are some of the pics captured by her through her Canon Camera.

While academics have taken a backseat, Alhamdulillaah learning and exploring still continues. Children are learning to adopt a different lifestyle, they are learning to live without complaining, they are learning to be thankful for the blessings, they are learning to appreciate what they took for granted, they are learning hosting etiquettes, they are learning manners and they are learning to build relationships and they are learning to uphold the ties of kinship with extended family. So Alhamdulillaah homeschooling travels with you wherever you go! Indeed a great blessing,

Technology Headache!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

"Ummi, can I have the computer today?", "Ummi can I just check out the blog now"?. "Ummi, will you promise today, that if I finish all the work I could use the computer?". "Ummi, can I quickly check something on the computer and then start reciting, please Ummi". 

Subhanallaah, yes, technology is indeed giving me a headache! I am just longing for a "No technology Zone", especially with Maimoonah these days!

While we introduced computers and screentime for her only after she turned three for educational purposes and even till now she uses only for educational activities, I am still not comfortable with the amount of addiction to it.

Over the past few years, she used the computer during weekends and she did not have anything much in it as there were only limited activities she could do. But as she has grown now, and with preteen syndromes and moods coming her way she has sooooooo many things to do on the computer that it has come to a point that she is unable to draw a line in usage. 

Some of you may say, so what she is not watching movies, she is not playing games, she is not into chatting with strangers, She writes stories, she does coding, she is learning her communication skills through emailing her friends, she is doing her independent learning, she is reading books online, she is doing research, she is learning new things every day, all this is, in fact, learning anyway, so what is the big deal? 

Well the point for me is, I notice that technology is killing creativity, it is killing human touch, it is killing the natural inclination that every child has within himself or herself which allows the child to do things naturally, it is making the body and mind lazy, it is a barrier for thinking out of the box, it can make the child dumb, and it is undoubtedly an awful addiction which can be a means to disobey our Lord and parents. 

I can support all of the above with evidence and what I am experiencing right now! The day there is no internet or for that matter no access to computer or technology, I find Maimoonah coming out with wonderful creativity. She would use her best handwriting and do a journal page, she would construct something solid, she would play with lego, she would make her snack or a mug of milk, take a book and go outside and sit in the sun, observe the birds, make a note on the bird log book, use the encyclopedias and come out with a small notebook with facts and theories, she would use the Qur'aan to find out an aayah or the tafseer to include in her facts book, I can go on and on and on... all this will not be looked at if the computer is in front of her.

Having said all this, I really do not want her to miss the benefits of the technology as well. I know how much of a help it is and being ignorant of technology these days is not a good idea either. Every subject is connected to technology and the facts and figures and skills learned through technology is also vast. And I clearly do not want her to misunderstand Islaam and some to the conclusion that technology is restricted because of it and thus create any hatred towards the dheen.

So how do we strike a balance?

I tried many things. I have taken away the computer and not returned until she get's her schedules right. I have also tried the usual "Finish your work, and you get the computer" attitude. I have even lost my temper and disconnected the internet on the computer. I have told my husband to deal with it. Even though some of the above seemed to work, I realised that was only very temporary.

Eventually, I took some time to rethink. Who am I dealing with? She is not a very young toddler anymore. She is growing up. She is developing her own desires. She has her weaknesses. She is struggling to draw a line. She is easily falling prey to her likeness and addiction. So I need to help her. I need to make sure she gets her priorities right. I need to make alternatives. I need to listen to her. I need to sit down and discuss with her. I need to find a solution along with her. 

So we sat and we listened to each other. I asked her to list what she needs to do every day on the computer. Then we allocated the time she needs for all of that. We agreed that she gets to use the computer morning and evening each day but for a certain number of hours, And depending on her performance of the week she gets to use it during weekends. The Agreement was made in front of her father and he made it clear that I report to him if and when the agreement is not adhered to and that he will decide the next step in case of any violations! 

Did it work? We are still to fully put into action. But Alhamdulillaah, there is a change, And I hope it will bring about a positive change overall inshaa Allaah. But I am also anticipating that it will take time, and I need to be calm but firm. She needs constant reminders. I need to pick her up when she is falling, I need to give her that attention and love when she needs it most, she needs challenging activities and interesting distractions, I need to give her motivation and I just need to give her my time! Inshaa Allaah. 

How do you deal with technology and kids? What are your thoughts? What is your strategy? 

What is Geography - Starting KS3!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah we started off Secondary level for geography with Maimoonah. The textbook we have chosen is maashaa Allaah very nice and very easy to use, There is a lot of information but all of them are concise and interesting. 

The first chapter of the book is What is Geography. We discussed the definitions and talked about how learning geography would help us as Muslims. And here is what Maimoonah came up with, She also wanted to do a scene with felts for this notebooking. 

Then we used this beautiful pack about Landforms to learn more about physical geography and different landforms. 

Landform Layer Book

To remember at a glance about different types of geographies Maimoonah did this note booking with simple definitions and added examples for each type of geography to make it easy. 

Next, we learnt about finding out places and how to use GPS Locations.

We learnt in details about longitude and latitudes and how to find them for each location. 

We used the Mapping Skills with Google Earth and read more about GPS Location on google and talked about real time scenarios as we are so accustomed to using pin locations to go to places over here and many times easily get lost otherwise, Alhamdulillaah! 

Then we learnt about using graphs in geography and the different graphs used for different purposes. And the use of bar graph, line graph, pie graph, and scatter graph. 

 

Finally, the chapter ends with value and use of all the different types of geographies.

 At the co-op, the kids were asked to do Landform Diorama. Maimoonah chose to do rain forest, but she has not been able to complete it yet. Inshaa Allaah she hopes to do it soon and we can update with the image. Other kids have done their diorama maashaa Allaah. Will update with their pics as well later.

So Alhamdulillaah KS3 geography seems interesting and Maimoonah likes it too. We have been using lot of other books for geography over the years and Maashaa Allaah this textbook is in the format that I was looking for , for a very long time. Finally, something nice to work with especially at this level.