Making a Change!

Well as you all know everyone of us need a change at some stage! And  homeschoolers, especially the kids need a change too! I have had few sisters mailing me saying that the kids refuse to learn any more and they are pretty upset about it.

But believe me this is pretty normal for any child regardless of the age. So how do we attend to this issue?

Daily routine can be boring at some stage and children need a change! This need not be an expensive change, every little thing can make a big impact.

These are few things that had worked for us in every stage of our homeschooling journey.

Take a Break!

Stop all formal homeschooling for a week and enjoy the outdoors! Or just let the kids do all what they want to do. May be except for Quraan let them play. If the weather is good take them to the beach, park or any other place that will give them full satisfaction. This is part of learning too, so do not worry about  your routine! You will also feel relaxed Inshaa Allaah!

New Books!

If your child is a reader, just get some new books for them and they will enjoy this. Try to surprise them by getting books of their choice. For example if they are amused with horses and ponies get few books on that subject matter. You will see a big change in their attitude towards their normal routine. (you might get irritated sometimes as they will be only reading and nothing else, nevertheless it is still learning, so be happy!)

Get some new Toys/ Activities/ Arts and Craft Meterials

This is the next best thing. If they are boys get some construction activities or something they like to engage in, like electrical kits and an exploring activity. If they are girls arts and crafts stuff would make a big difference. stickers play a big part as this also brings out their creative writing talents!

New Stationery!

Pinterest

Few new pencils alone will make a difference. Try few varieties of different looking pens, colour pencils, sharpeners, erasers etc etc, and give them a small recycled or any cute looking holders and you will see how much they would like to write and write!!! 

Make a Change in the Workspace!

Google Image

Make a change. Add few posters! Get a new chair or a desk or a shelf. Get a floor carpet, a whiteboard or anything. Need not be expensive but just few things make them want to do their work. 

Start a Project!

Umm Abdul Basir's Blog

Do a Lapbook, or an exploring Project where all are involved. This is a great way of learning and you can get rid of the boring routine in the classroom!! Get the kids to choose a topic, get all the reference books or google to find out things. This will make everyone energetic and laziness will go off Inshaa Allaah. Its indeed a great way of learning as it will include all skills. I personally like to choose projects that involve information that we need to look for like Battles of Islaam, or any Islamic History related topics for older kids, and may be for younger kids too with arts and crafts included.

I hope these few things have helped you. What do you do when you need a change?

Authentic Islaamic Books in Qatar!

Alhamdulillaah, authentic Islaamic Books are available now in Doha. A sister is selling some fantastic collections of Books from the Scholars of Islaam. If you are in Doha and would like to purchase them have a look at her blog here.

And the good news is all Darul Kitab Learn About Series are also available to purchase. Those sisters who are in Doha and wanted the Darul Kitab Children's books can now purchase directly from the same sister in Doha.

These are wonderful collections of books take advantage of this Inshaa Allaah.

QMuslimah Children's Library - Doha

Assalaamu Alaikum warahmathullaah. Here is an update of our community Project in Doha - The Children's Library.

Alhamdulillaah now we have about 800 books both in English and Arabic(400 Arabic Books and 400 English Books). Since we are careful about what we are exposing our children to, we are at the moment checking all the books word by word to the best of our ability to see that nothing includes any unislaamic issues. This has taken sometime but Alhamdulillaah we have almost finished checking all books.

Most of the Books if not all are wonderful nonfiction, realistic books that I am sure indeed very very rare to find in any other few Libraries around Doha. So it is indeed a worthwhile Project and a much needed one for everyone, especially for the homeschoolers. Inshaa Allaah this will be a start for our kids and await many more activities to come up.

I sincerely thank the very few sisters who took the trouble to email me and contribute towards the Library responding to my earlier post as well of all those lovely sisters who generously donated books for the Library. May Allaah bless you all for your kindness and generosity.  We are still in need of funds and would really appreciate if each one of you could contribute something very small towards this project as of now we are in debt but bi idhnillaah we will go on by the Grace and Mercy of Allaah. You can make an online donation. Here is how you can do this.

1. Go to this link https://load.payoneer.com/LoadToPage.aspx 
2. On the Select Card section enter this Email Address "payments@leafwriter.com" and you will see the last 4 digits of our Card Number.
3. Then mention the amount you would like to donate
4. In the "reason for Loading" space mention "Gift"
5. There is Fee charged by the payment Gateway, you can choose if you want to pay that fee or if you want that to be deducted from your donation.
6. Finally process the payment.
7. You will be sent a confirmation email after the cash gets deposited.

We hope to have a soft opening soon Inshaa Allaah. If you are in Doha and would like your kids to become members then the mothers have to be part of the QMuslimah Online Group to become members of the Children's Library. If you are not part of the group yet and want to be, please email me and we can send you an invitation to join the group Inshaa Allaah.

Baarakallaah Feekum

Companion Quest!

Companion Quest is a wonderful way to get familiar with the best generation, the heroes of Islaam and  the role models for our kids (radhiyallaahu anhuma) from an early age. Lot of work and effort has been put into this and I really think its a great investment for many many years for kids as well as adults.

There are many different facts about 100 companions of the Messenger of Allaah sallaahu alaihiwasallam. Instructions to play the game is also included. One Companion Card consists of 5 facts about the same companion but each fact has different points. The first clue or fact about the Companion carries the most amount of points. This can be used for Family Time too where all the members of the family would benefit bi idhnillaah.

You also get some blank cards for you to do some research about other companions and fill in. 

The most important thing that I was worried about is the source or reference that they have used for this collection and Alhamdulillaah it is mentioned in the pack that the reference is Imaam Dhahabi's well known Book Siyar Al Aalam An Nubalaa. This was a relief as you can see many people putting out children's books these days and only handful of them take care in making the contents authentic. 

Overall the product is nice and we use it everyday during our Fun Activity Time these days. The only drawback is that I would have preferred it to be in the third person narrative rather than the first person narrative as I really feel odd to say "I am , Who am I" referring to  a Sahabah of the 

Messenger of Allaah, as we know that we can never match them no matter what as the Messenger of Allaah himself said:

 "“Do not curse the Sahaabah, for by the One in Whose hand is my soul, if any one of you spent the equivalent of Mount Uhud in gold, he would not attain the level of any one of them, or even come half way.” (Saheehayn)

All about Materials!

We completed the topic of "Materials" few days ago. We covered the following:

• Atoms and Molecules - Basic
• Natural Materials / Man made Materials
• Different kinds of things made of different kinds of Materials
• Properties of Materials
• Rocks - Basic
• Magnets - Basic

We used the Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science and read about Atoms and Molecules. Did not go into details but gave her a basic introduction as to how Allaah has created all things. Talking about atoms also paved the way for the discussion of the meaning of the last aayaahs of Soorah Zalzalah

 "So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it." (Az-Zalzalah 99:7)

"And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it." (Az-Zalzalah 99:8)

The good thing about using this encyclopedia is that you get many online activities to go along with each page here.

We learnt about Natural and Man made Materials and did the activities on the CGP Science Work Book

I asked her to get some things in the house that is made from each different materials and told her to label them. She enjoyed this.

When we learnt the properties of the Materials, I asked her to check each material she has labelled and told her to tick or put a cross for each property of the Material. This way she understood what it really means, the only things she is still confused is about "Waterproof or not"!

The Properties of the Materials we learnt:

• Bendy
• Rigid
• Stretchy
• Transparent
• Opaque
• Shiny
• Dull
• Smooth 
• Rough
• Squashy
• Magnetic
• Waterproof

 

 

We also learnt about Rocks. I had planned to give a detail introduction to Rocks this year as I got down a Rock Activity Set to do some hands on Activities while teaching, but due to relocations I do not have the set with me right now. So Inshaa Allaah we will do in detail next year. For now we used the Raintree book on Rocks and did a colouring worksheet on this. (the worksheets are from Great School website. All links for the worksheets are here )

As for Magnets, experimented with north and south poles and learnt the basics of Magnets along with attraction and repulsion and the uses of Magnets.

 

Here are some online activities that we did on Materials. (some links are suitable for older kids)

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/material_matters/index.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/grouping_materials.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/characteristics_materials.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/chemical_material_behaviour/atoms_elements/activity/

http://www.nyscience.org/marvelousmolecules/index.html