Overcoming the Struggles of Homeschooling

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Homeschooling is not a bed of roses! You may know it by now, as many social media posts you see these days are trying to indicate this pretty often! Have you ever wondered why suddenly homeschoolers are opening out and trying their best to convey the message that it is not a rosy affair?

When I first embarked on our homeschool journey ten years ago all I could see on the internet was blog posts and images showing how much work homeschoolers do and everything seemed so effortless. The flow of their work portrayed no bumps in their school year. It all looked perfectly planned and implemented work. I could only see how happy the homeschooling families are. Subhanallah! No doubt this did give me motivation, courage and determination to go ahead with my homeschooling journey! 

However, when I started homeschooling I began to sense the coming struggles ahead! I used to wonder why I never saw the other side of the picture before. I used to feel maybe I am doing the wrong thing somewhere down the line, as the blog posts I read did not have anything that I am experiencing nor did I understand that the reason why no one ever spoke about these struggles in their homeschooling blogs. I even met few of the homeschooling mums in person and they never indicated to me of such struggles. I was confused why? 

Then I figured out the reasons people did not want to talk about the backend struggles of homeschooling! It was mainly because they did not want the dark side of the story to influence the rest of the homeschoolers to give up this already cloudy concept in many of their societies. And they did not want to portray themselves as failures to their readers. And some refuse to accept that such struggles affect them. Additionally, many homeschoolers blogged their journey so that the homeschooling children will one day read their records when they are older and they did not want them to go down the not so great memory lane. It made sense to me.

Now the next question was, how am I going to overcome these struggles that no one is talking about? Alhamdulillaah as always I turned to Allaah to guide me! And He did not leave me alone. I put my trust in Allaah, as I knew He has a plan and He is the best of planners. I started this journey after consulting Him, so I knew whatever comes He would guide me right along. So what really helped me was to understand all of these homeschool struggles and connect back to the purpose of our creation. I tried and still try to find the solution in Islaam, in the commands of Allaah. Alhamdulillaah.

And the reason why so many homeschoolers are talking about the struggles these days is something to worry! Mainly because the amount of emails I receive from our sisters is alarming. They are going through severe depression because of these struggles. They are experiencing anxiety. They are unable to control their anger. They are doubting themselves and losing self-esteem and self-confidence. When calamity strikes such as some illness, Sihr or divorce they are unable to cope with the homeschooling struggles. They are crying within them just because the family or society is questioning their decision and action. The victim no doubt in all of this situation is the homeschooled child primarily who does not understand the reasons for the victimization. And of course, the mother itself is someone who needs to be guided and protected and helped to come out of this situation.

I am happy to receive emails from sisters opening up their struggles to ask naseehah as this helps me to help them Inshaa Allaah. Even though my time is extremely restricted I have not let one email pass by without replying Alhamdulillaah and I ask Allaah to help me to keep to this. This is because I FEEL what is going through at the other end. And I wish for the sister what I wish for myself. 

However, I know there are many more sisters who are not reaching out. Suppressing all of their feelings and struggles and in fact suffering within them. Sometimes not even accepting that they are struggling. This has led to extreme outcomes and we seek refuge with Allaah alone. Moreover, sisters are reaching out to Muslims or non-Muslims looking solutions not knowing that some of such materials and ideas are in fact alien to Islaam and can lead them to further disaster. May Allaah protect our sisters. Ideologies and solutions to homeschooling struggles are presented so innocently that unknowingly and cleverly the very concepts and theories that we do not want our homeschool to be influenced begin to creep in. The scholars have advised us that if you have not acquired firm knowledge of the religion then NOT TO Study the famous subject "Psychology". This is because if you do not know your religion you will fall prey to the man-made concepts and theories and this will turn you away from the fundamental beliefs of Islaam. 

All of the above made me realise the need for a Homeschooling workshop on "Overcoming the Struggles of Homeschooling". Alhamdulillaah Nurture Islaam Mums Workshops have always reached its full maximum capacity of participants by the Mercy of Allaah alone. And I thought this time to deal with the struggles of homeschooling with a difference.

We would not only be identifying the unique struggles of each one of us individually but we would most importantly work on setting a work in progress to overcome these struggles. This will not be a workshop to just listen and take notes rather it would be something to assist you to accept and go forward and make you come out of the struggles eventually bi idhnillaah. How are we intending to do this?

• We will give you reasons and examples to understand that YOU are not alone.
• We will help you to realize and motivate you linking back to the purpose of your creation and the Mercy of Allaah and eventually understand our struggles in the light of the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah "" Indeed amazing are the affairs of a believer! They are all for his benefit; If he is granted ease of living he is thankful; and this is best for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he perseveres; and this is best for him."  [ Muslim ]
• We will give you real-life stories of homeschooling mums who are overcoming their struggles as a single mum, as a single mum and a businesswoman, as mums of active boys, as mums of special needs children, as mums who are caring for their sick husbands, as mums afflicted with illness or Sihr, as mums who are working fulltime, as mums who are having babies one after the other, as mums who have no support or having severe social pressure and much more.
• We will take from their lives tips, hacks and advice as well as acceptable theoretical and practical solutions from the point of secular industry experts and workaround an action plan for YOUR struggle.
• We will share with you the struggles and success stories from homeschooled children told by themselves. We will use their advice and make a yet another course of action to get your kids to achieve success inshaa Allaah. 
• Do you know that accepting certain things and understanding tiny concepts can make a huge change in you and your children struggling while homeschooling? For example, the most common thing we hear from mums is that the children refuse to learn at home especially after a break or a vacation or when they are taught a grade higher or sometimes even most of the days during the whole year as we expect them to study and complete a certain amount of work. So basically getting the work done is a huge struggle which in return causes anger and stress. However, if we understand that there is something called " Listening to Children in order to Support Transitions" then we would know a simple act from us can solve a mega issue faced every day by most of us. Children, as well as adults, need some kind of social continuity, physical continuity and Philosophical continuity in order to function well and blend into the environment. When they are expereincing discontinuity they are unable to be productive. Therefore instead of yelling, screaming and showing anger, we need to address the root issue. This workshop is all about this. Inshaa Allaah. I gave you an example so that you get the idea this is not going be the same old boring theories and experiences told and leaves you to accept that this is a phase and it will be fine. Rather we are going to look at changing our homeschool to a better healthier homeschool by overcoming the struggles one by one by the Mercy of Allaah. 
• All of this from the comfort of your homes and from any part of the world Inshaa Allaah. Fostering the sisterhood and coming together to cultivate our children to please Allaah alone. 

We hope you all would join us and benefit Inshaa Allaah. We have scheduled the workshop for 3 Tuesdays Inshaa Allaah. It will be live and will also be available to complete at your own schedule through access to Nurture Islaam Learning Zone. Details below.

   Nurture Islaam Online Workshop for Mums

Join Umm Maimoonah for a Three Day Online Workshop

Overcoming the Struggles of Homeschooling


Topics Include
Anxiety and Anger
Overwhelm
Financial
Illness & Loneliness
Misconceptions
Aspirations
Comparisons
Consistency
Social Pressure
Socialization
Discussions
Action Plan
Q&A Session and much more


Interactive and engaging with an audiovisual presentation with access to the recording!

Who can Attend: Mums or Mums to be

Where: Online

When: (Tuesdays) 23rd, 30th July and 6th August 2019/ Sign up for Access to the Learning Zone at your own timings. All live participants will also receive access to the recordings Inshaa Allaah.

Time: 4pm to 5.30pm KSA/Qatar Time

Cost: US $ 28 (QR 102/GBP 22)
(Inclusive of digital materials and Notes)

Payments to be made online via Payoneer with Debit/Credit Visa/Master Card in USD only

Registration: Email ummmaimoonah@gmail.com or WhatsApp +974 66132058
or register online on my website by clicking at the images of the poster.