Guest Post - Review - Stories of the Prophets Workbooks

  بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah, we have had many families benefitting from our Ramadhaan and Eid Offer - Stories of the Prophets Packs. Read the honest review of our sister Umm Aa'isha Dara, who has been benefitting from the packs with her 2 girls from New Jersey, USA. We thank sister Dara for her time and effort and for taking the initiative to send us this review so that others could benefit. May Allaah bless her and her family. 

Read on Inshaa Allaah.

"Educating and nurturing our children correctly, upon the Perfect Religion of Allaah, can often feel like an enormous and sometimes, insurmountable challenge.  We want to make sure that we teach them what is correct, and that it goes past their ears and reaches into their hearts. 

Notwithstanding that everyone's situation is different, I still believe we each want for them, what we want and love for ourselves; correct, beneficial knowledge that we can explain easily to them in a way that they understand.  Correct knowledge that they will build on, review over and again, and that they enjoy learning.

Allah is the Most Generous Provider.  Alhamdulillah, He has enabled Umm Maimoonah to simplify and present a variety of important lesson benefits, Islamic history, amazing miracles of Allah, strong and admirable biographies of the best of creation, practical applications in Language Arts-Reading, Copywriting, Comprehension, etc, Geography, Science, and so much more, all weaved into and explained within The Lessons From the Stories of the Prophets Junior Level Workbooks.  

The easy to read, colorful, yet simple illustrations and authentically referenced texts to the Book of Allah and Ahadeeth are accompanied by activity sheets, extension research crafts and lapbooks related to each Prophet Story.

The Workbooks alone have been so beneficial as bedtime stories and daytime independent readers for my 6 and 9-year-olds; over and again.  We continue to revise our understanding, reflecting on the beautiful manners, character, and strength of the Prophets, their families, and learning about ourselves as Muslims, in our own day and time, from looking at the historical lessons and experiences of the nations and their people to whom the Prophets and Messengers were sent; without becoming bored with them. 

The full, comprehensive course with the live instruction of Umm Maimoonah explaining the workbook, of course, added even more value to having them because of the additional points of benefit she provides within the slide presentation, walhamdulillah.  However, even now, months later, the workbooks in themselves, still provide so much detail and information for discussion, reflection, and review with my children.  They are such a blessing to have.  Additionally, the worksheets can be reprinted as often as I need them, inshaa'Allah, or want to do the activities again to reinforce and retain what they learned, walhamdulillah.

May Allah place blessings in the time each parent spends with their children learning the priceless lessons to be gained from Allah's Noble Prophets and Messengers.  Aameen. "

Sincerely,

Umm Aa'isha Dara

To order email to info@umm-maimoonah.com or  WhatsApp/Telegram  +974 66132058 with the following details: 

Mother's Full Name: 

Current City: 

Current Country: (Card Issues Country)

Email Address: 

How to Teach Aqeedah (Creed) to little Children?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah, with many parents realising the importance of teaching children the Aqeedah or the Creed from an early age, I get questions from sisters how exactly they could teach this to their children without making them imagine things. 

Aqeedah is the core of the religion of Islaam. Aqeedah is the foundation upon which the deen is built and by which actions of a Muslim become sound and correct. 

Some of us may have the thought that this is such a complex concept and little children are unable to absorb and understand this concept at an early age. therefore it is best to wait till they grow and reach an age they are able to distinguish important criteria in order to explain Aqeedah to them. 

This thought is natural because sadly,  many of us learnt the right Aqeedah when we were older. 

However, children are like sponges, especially when they are young. And parents and teachers rush to give them every other knowledge in order to develop their language, motor and social skills from a very young age, and of course, put off Aqeedah for later. 

My advice is to let the teaching of Aqeedah be the first thing that you teach your children. If that is the case, the next question is how exactly we should be teaching little children Aqeedah?

Yes I agree Aqeedah is not something you can do like teaching mathematics, language and science. We do have limitations as many of the aspects of the Aqeedah are from the unseen (Ghaib), and we have Islaamic restrictions and boundaries to adhere to. 

So here are some simple tips and ways to consider teaching Aqeedah for little children.

Use the Books of the Scholars

Get your information from the works of our scholars. Subhanallaah we do not have to look elsewhere. They have left a legacy behind with authentic rich text and information. Invest in the books of the Ulama from the right publishers and authors. 

They gave importance to Aqeedah and they taught just as the Prophet sallaahu alaihiwasallam taught his companions. When you use information from the correct authentic sources it becomes very easy to teach these aspects to your children. All you need to do is simplify it and feed in the information little at a time with some creativity as per age and ability. You cannot teach something you do not know. So it is best that you equip yourself with knowledge first.

Integrate Aqeedah into Academics and Day to Day Learning

Children learn well when they see relevance to their own lives and surroundings.  So the best way to teach Aqeedah is to INTEGRATE it into what they explore and learn every day. If you separate Aqeedah or Islaam from academics and their surroundings they will see no relevance to it and it would become something boring for them. If you expose them to learning other subjects with engaging resources and enthusiasm and leave off Aqeedah for other than that, they will not be keen to learn the Aqeedah.

NOTE: We covered an extensive workshop on how to integrate Aqeedah and Islaam into academics a year ago and you can see the details of the workshop here and sign up and benefit.

Get the Right Resources

If you stick to the serious rich information the child will be receptive and imagination can be limited. This largely depends on your approach and the resources you use. So be mindful of choosing the correct resources. Check if the resources that you choose are from the right authors and right sources. Remember, Aqeedah is the core if you take this lightly and use anything and everything it will be really difficult to take out the wrong or incorrect information fed into little minds.

Authentic Resources to Teach Aqeedah

Here are some authentic child-friendly resources to teach little children Aqeedah.

 

1. Who is Allaah? - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
2. Where is Allaah? - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
3. Who Created You? - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
4. Allah Gave us a Special Book - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
5. Knowing Allaah Activity Pack - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
6. Ibaadah Junior Activity Pack - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
7. Tawheed Junior Activity Pack - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
8. Pillars of Eemaan Junior Workbooks - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
9. Al Qur'aan - The Book of Allaah - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah
10. Pillars of Islaam Junior Workbooks - Nurture Islaam Series - Umm Maimoonah

11. Allaah is My Lord  - Umm Assad Publications
12. Allaah alone we Worship - Umm Assad Publication
13. 99 Names of Allaah - Umm Assad Publications

  

14. Where is Allaah?  - Tarbiyah Outside the Box
15. There is Nothing like Allaah - Tarbiyah Outside the Box

16. Angels are Real - DK Learn About Series
17. Let's Protect Ourselves from Shaitan - DK Learn About Series
18. My Little Book of Jahannam - DK Learn About Series
19. My Little Book of Jannah - DK Learn About Series
20. Our Creator - DK Learn About Series
21. Shaitan is not our friend - DK Learn About Series

 

22. The Beautiful Names Of Allah  - Fitra Beginnings  
23. Allah Knows All About Me  - Learning Roots


24. Aqeedah Lessons for Children Audio Series - Brother Moosa Richardson
25. Questions and Answers Related Creed  - Rasael Emaratia
25. Teach your Child the Sound Creed - Rasael Emaratia
26. What is Magic - Rasael Emaratia
27. It is not from the Manhaj - Rasael Emaratia
28. Islam the Basics Aqeedah Series for Children

These are some of the authentic resources we have compiled. As and when we find more we will update the list Inshaa Allaah.

We hope it benefits everyone to cultivate their children upon authentic information.

Review - Online Science Video Courses

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

If you read my post on our Road Map to IGCSE, then I promised to share some of the resources we are using. 

Just managed to get some time to do a brief review of one of the resources we are using for science.

Read till the end to get your special discount on this program Inshaa Allaah. 

I used to really enjoy teaching science for the preschool and kindergarten age, but as Maimoonah was growing the most challenging subjects for me as a homeschooler were Mathematics and Science especially the KS3 level and now IGCSE. Therefore I was looking for some alternatives and we settled with using Science Video Courses created by Graham Bray. 

Sister Umm Khadeejah at A Muslim Homeschool was the first to share with me this awesome science resource a few years ago, however, it was during our relocation and we were not settled, hence we did not go forward with it. 

Since we started our road map to IGCSE, we have chosen to use this online course for KS3. We have decided that Maimoonah will not be doing any of the science subjects for IGCSE Examinations as her interest is not sciences. But she wants to learn and study science for learning purposes.

 We have been using many textbooks and I realized that we are not reaching our goals completing those textbooks either because there is too much information or very less information. We have always done science with a lot of projects and using encyclopedias from pre-kinder level and of course using some attractive little workbooks. KS3 seems very different and I found myself halting with overwhelmed information to cover and not knowing exactly how to get about it.

Alhamdulillah Science Video Courses solved our problem. The courses are designed and delivered by Graham Bray a retired teacher with over 30 years of experience. You can read more about him here

This website contains three different courses.

1. KS2  - Key Stage 2 - Ages 7 to 11 years (Year 3, 4, 5, 6)

2. KS3 - Kay Stage 3 - Ages 11 - 14 years  (Year 7, 8, 9 )

3. IGCSE  - International General Certificate of Secondary Education  - Ages 14 - 16 (Year 10, 11)

We are currently using the KS3 Course. These are the printouts from the first few units.

The good thing about these courses is that each stage covers everything you need to know, this means you do not have to fetch for other resources and waste your time.

I asked a few questions for Graham and he was more than pleased to answer. I think the below answers shared by Graham answers your questions too. Read on..

1. Do all courses cover the entire curriculum for each respective course?

Yes, the videos are complete courses for Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 and IGCSE.


2. Will you be adding more videos and content?

The courses are complete, so no more content is required (unless the specifications change), but I am looking to record some videos in a 'Kitchen Sink Science' series, showing parents how they can carry out practical experiments with their children just using materials available in the home.  These videos will be recorded soon.


3. What particular Exam board/boards are the courses based on?

The Key Stage 2 course follows the National Curriculum.  Key Stage 3 also follows the National Curriculum, although AQA has organized the content into ten 'big topics' that I found it easier to work with.  The IGCSE videos were originally intended for the Edexcel International GCSE, but it is also very relevant to the Cambridge IGCSE.


4. Do you get any progress report or monitoring access for the courses?

The KS2 and KS3 courses both have the end of video questions that allow assessment of progress.  The IGCSE courses have examples of exam questions with mark schemes, and also 'Talking papers'.


6. Do these courses include Past papers or question papers? If not will you be including later?

I am updating the KS3 resources, and these will include some past SATs papers (although this age group, like KS2, no longer has any formal exams). IGCSE video courses have past papers and mark schemes.


7. It is a one time fee for each course and accessible for life. And the fee is for one family and NOT per child in the family, is this correct?

The payment is one-off.  No further payments are necessary (but obviously subscriptions to new courses, such as the Kitchen Sink Science, will be extra) and the payment is for a family, so it doesn't matter how many access the videos.  There is no time limit on access.


8. What exactly does a course contain?

Each course contains videos, powerpoints, schemes of work, worksheets (where available), links to other resources.


9. What is the difference between any other online science courses and your courses?

As far as I am aware, nobody else has produced complete video courses for KS2, KS3, and IGCSE.  There are other courses available, particularly at GCSE level, but most of these do not contain videos, and mine are very (very!) reasonably priced compared to others.  I have not produced the videos to generate my own wealth, but to help others - particularly the homeschooled communities.  The courses are not free because I do have to cover costs, and also I have two students in the family who require University fees!


How are we using it?

• I print all the relevant notes and worksheets for the unit and Maimoonah pastes the pages on her science notebook.
• She will go through the videos for that unit.
• Complete the worksheets
• Do further experiments if there are any

What we like about the KS3 Course so far?

• The explanations are to the point and not too chatty or fancy. 
• The fee is so affordable and it is only one time with access to download and save all content. 
• This includes notes, worksheets, answers for the worksheets, and schemes work.
• We can schedule as per our homeschool schedules and use it at our own pace. 
• Graham is so easy to approach and understands the homeschooling community well.

What we do not like about the KS3 Course So far?

• The music. Only at the beginning of each video, you will hear music for about few seconds and then it fades. You can easily mute the few seconds as there is no voice during the music. 

You may check the courses out by watching the sample videos on the Science Video Courses website and get more information on their Facebook Page. 

And now here is the gift from Science Video Courses exclusively for my blog readers.

If you are purchasing  KS2, KS3 or IGCSE courses (not the separate Biology, Chemistry or Physics courses though), you will get a 40% discount.

 Email me at ummmaimoonah@gmail.com to get the discount code.

Actual cost is £59.99

With the discount code, the cost would be around £36. Alhamdulillaah it is a big saving and take advantage of this and benefit. Enjoy

Disclaimer: Please note I was not paid by anyone to do this post neither did I receive my subscription free of charge. I received the same discount and I am happy to share with my readers the same. Additionally, when you purchase these courses I DO NOT receive any monetary benefits from the program owners. I have no affiliation with Science Video Courses in any way and I am not in any way responsible for the content. I am just an ordinary user of this program. And as I always stress all unislaamic contents that go against the beliefs and morals of Islaam should be avoided, and disregarded and should not be used.   Baarakallaah Feekum.

Origami Fun!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Picture Courtesy of Origami Qatar

Alhamdulillaah last Saturday our kids and mums had a blast at the Origami Workshop which we organized for the QMuslimah kids with the talented sister Afsheen here in Doha. Maashaa Allaah she was just wonderful and the kids loved the whole session from the very start! She is known as Origami Addict Qatar and you can read her sweet story here

Afsheen was very clear with her step by step instructions from the beginning till the end and the kids easily followed her and started folding the sheets of papers. She was also helping the kids and looking into each and everyone until they all could get every step right! Mums were around making Origami with the kids too and we all enjoyed the session.

The kids learnt to make an Origami Ice Cream, a Sail Boat, Little Origami Notebooks, Flower and stem on a Card, Sun Glasses and cute little dresses and Abayahs. 

 

 

Maimoonah just loved the whole session. And loved making the notebooks. As she came home she could just make few more simple but cute little notebooks without any assistance,

 

If you are in Doha and if Maimoonah knows you do not be surprised to get few of her handmade origami notebooks as gifts Inshaa Allaah as I see her making them for different people by saying w m, w m!(that's a part of making the notebook!) 

Maimoonah is also trying to remember how to make little dresses as she once heard Umm Mujahid from Taalib.com talking about her kids drawing dresses to indicate little girls and little boys while doing Art work, thus avoiding the drawing of figures with souls. Alhamdulillaah! These little Abayahs the kids made with little help are a bit complicated but with practice the kids would get a hang of it soon Inshaa Allaah!

This was a much needed change and a boost for homeschooling kids Maashaa Allaah and they really enjoyed the out of home activity. Maimoonah loved the company of the fellow homeschoolers and the other kids and the group session with Origami was something ideal for a change! 

 

If you are in Doha your kids must enjoy this session with Afsheen. Head over to Katara Arts Studio every Saturdays 2 to 6 until June 2015, register before that and enjoy and learn. Do not forget to find out what is this w m, w m is all about! You can contact Afsheen via her Facebook Page

Our sincere thanks to Afsheen for the fabulous workshop. Jazzaakillaah Khayr, We hope we could have another one soon Inshaa Allaah if time permits! 

Basic Silk Painting Workshop!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah we had a special workshop for our girls homeschoolers and non homeschoolers today and it was such a wonderful experience Maashaa Allaah! We got to know  from here,  a professional Art Community called MAPS in Doha was offering some nice casual classes. We approached them and asked them to do a special class for us and they readily accepted.

The girls learnt the very basics of silk painting, techniques, methods, and they also did a craft to take home. 

First they selected a design on a frame and sprayed water and started off by painting the background.


 Then they all were taught how to use the stone salt on the panting. 

They were taught step by step how to paint the design, dry them and also how to remove the masterpiece at the end. They also provide the girls with notes on the techniques and steps of silk painting.

The girls got a small snack during a break and also had a draw and one of the girls won a silk painted cushion. 

These are the final products of the kids,

Maimoonah was happy and liked her work. This is her's and we are planning of making a cushion for her using her silk painting Inshaa Allaah!

All in all the workshop was conducted in a very professional manner, all materials were provided and they catered to our needs like not drawing or painting figures with souls and provided a very comfortable environment for the girls. We thank Rashmi Agrawal the president of the art community and Natasa the instructor for a job well done with the girls. Looking forward to many more classes inshaa Allaah!

They are ever ready to arrange any such classes for any group of kids or adults. So contact Rashmi if you need to arrange a class or or course on Tel: +974 5560 3845,  

e-mail: info@mapsqatar.org, rashmigold@yahoo.com 

These out of home classes are making a big difference for Maimoonah these days as she is growing and needs some challenging changes I guess. To be able to participate in something like Enhancing a skill out of home in a proper environment is indeed a blessing for us homeschoolers! There are many arts and crafts classes and workshops happening around Doha, if you are living in Qatar, keep checking this page for updates on Arts and Crafts Classes and Workshops and choose a suitable one for your kids!

Everyday Arabic Book 8 - Camping

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah we have come to the final book review today. This is the review of Book 8 in the Everyday Arabic Series by Taalib Al-Ilm Educational Resources.

This Question & Answer Sentence book has images of camping gear along with their colors in both English and Arabic in color coded sentences.

The first page has the chart of camping items for revision and to keep track of the vocabulary.

The is yet again a very informative book as it talks about camping items and their use in the form of questions and answers. Camping is interesting and talking about it is fun too! This book includes items such as fish basket, compass, skinning knife, multi tools, rope, camp stove, etc. 

Actually great to learn English vocabulary too as it have a comprehensive list of camping items.

At the end of the book you get few activities for the kids to test their learning. 

This book could be purchased here for a reasonable price

To enhance the learning and make it fun you can use this Camping theme activities with the kids. (please avoid using any un islamic materials from the above link). If you live in a place where camping is possible the best thing to do would be taking the kids on a camping adventure. Maimoonah has never gone camping yet, and I would love her to experience this Inshaa Allaah.

If your kids are enrolled in islamic scout programs or girls club this book could be very handy where the kids learn the items in Arabic. We were actually thinking to have some camping fun in our Tarbiyah Class at least get the girls to camp just outside in backyard and give them that experience. If we do so then this book will help us as well Inshaa Allaah.

How else could you use this book with your kids? Share your ideas Inshaa Allaah.

This ends the review of all 8 books Alhamdulillaah. The Giveaway will start tomorrow and end on Wednesday. Please look out for the next post and enter the Giveaway! Share it with others too Inshaa Allaah!