At the Library - Arabic Story Time

Alhamdulillaah we had a nice Arabic Story time at the QMuslimah Children's Library today.

The sister read the Arabic Book about Fruits and Colours.

 

The kids listened to the story, then answered the questions in Arabic. They were also made to identify the fruits by choosing the correct play fruit.

Then they coloured the fruits, cut and pasted them.

This was a simple activity but the kids really enjoyed and learnt to ask " ماذا لون تفاح" and so on! This is a good learning through play activity to practice vocabulary Inshaa Allaah and also to get the children experienced in group learning.

We hope to continue this Arabic Story Time Inshaa Allaah at the Library on Sundays. Those of you who are in Doha and would like to be members of this Library please do contact me and we would send you an invitation to join the QMuslimah online Library Forum Inshaa Allaah.

QMuslmah Children's Library is now Open!

Innalhamdalillaah, The QMuslimah Children's Library opened its door for the kids in Doha today! May Allaah bless the sister and her family who is accommodating this Library at her home,  until we find a suitable place.

The sister has also done a great job organizing all what it needs with two toddlers around and the little Library just looked nice with a very nice collection of Books in English and Arabic.

May Allaah reward all the sisters who generously contributed towards this Library and the sisters who helped with ordering and purchasing the books and checking the contents, helping with covering the books  and all those who helped in every little way to make this Project a reality. Aameen.

 

 

There is a lot more to do for this Library and we hope to gradually put things in place as we go on Inshaa Allaah.

Maashaa Allaah Maimoonah enjoyed the visit and loved the borrowing of the books. This is what we missed so much in Doha and now Allaah has blessed us with this Children's Library.

If you are in Doha and would like to be a member of this Library then please do contact us (ummmaimoonah@gmail.com) and become a member of QMuslimah and the Children's Library Forum and then you can come along and fill in the application form for the Library and register by paying the Registration and the Membership Fee on any Sunday 10 am to 12 noon to borrow books Inshaa Allaah.

Starting from next week we are also trying to organize a small story telling or reading aloud session in Arabic followed with some simple activities for the kids to encourage the study of Arabic Language Inshaa Allaah. This would be something to look forward to bi idhnillaah.

Once again we thank all of you for all your efforts and May Allaah make this a success and bless this noble project. Aameen.

Progress of Geography

I just realised I had not posted anything about our Geography Studies for this whole year. So this is an update and a record with all what we have done so far.

The books were are using for this year and also for the Primary years Inshaa Allaah could be found in detail here. We were unable to take full advantage of all the books mentioned there due to relocation and we hope to take the best out of them next year bi idhnillaah.

The Curriculum Guideline that we are using could be found here, even though we are not sticking to it 100%, this is just a guideline for us Inshaa Allaah.

So the main books we are using so far are the Developing Map Skills and Evan Moors Daily Geography Practice Grade 1.

Evan Moors Daily Geography is too easy for Maimoonah but it is a good practice anyway and she likes the format of it and she finishes each chapter pretty fast and she likes the colouring part of it. Also this book made her Familiar with the all the States of the United States of America.

Few of the things we have covered from this book so far includes

• What is a Map
• Using A Map to Find Places
• Map Keys
• Picturing a Map
• Maps of Different Places like the Farm, Stree, Town, City, State, Fun Park, Zoo Maps
• Introduction to the Globe
• Oceans and Continents

 

The Map Skills book is also a very good book for instilling the basics of Map Skills.It starts from the basics like learning the position words, direction and slowly gets on to real map skills.

Some important skills we have covered so far includes the following:

• A Compass Rose
• Using a Ruler
• Measuring Distances on a Map
• Using a Map Grid
• Mapping a Grid
• Map Symbols
• Reading a Road Map
• Cardinal Directions

Each Chapter has some hands on activities to be done by the students which makes it easy to understand the concepts. For Example Maimoonah made a city following directions. Also she made cardboard house. It also encourages the students to draw their own maps using map keys and based upon the contents of each chapter they have studied.

 

 

Here are some of the other activities on the Map Skills Book.

 

 I like the emphasis on the UK National Geography Curriculum to do field work on the topics to be covered. And I hope to do more field work with Maimoonah next year after the basic skills are learnt, even though she uses Google Maps to guide us when we are lost we need to make it more interesting with field work Inshaa Allaah.

Continents and Oceans Study what we did last year could be found at the below links.
http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.com/2011/12/continents-and-nations.html
http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.com/2012/01/continents-and-nations-study-south.html
http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.com/2012/01/continents-and-nations-europe-review.html

Homeschoolers Art and Craft Session

Alhamdulillaah, thanks to few homeschooling sisters we were able to get started with having an Art and Craft session with some homeschooling kids here in Doha.

We have been homeschooling in Doha for 3 years now and never had a Muslim Homeschooling Network. But now Alhamdulillaah we have many interested homeschoolers and we hope to do many more activities in the future for the Muslim Homeschoolers Inshaa Allaah!

This time we had fun with buttons. Here are the creativities of the kids with buttons.

And this is what Maimoonah came up with independently! (one button fell off on our way home as she has not glued it well!)

Things used for this are Buttons, Popsicle Sticks, ribbons and Glue. Simple but elegant craft Maashaa Allaah. Jazzakillaah Khayr to the Creative Sister who organized this event here in Doha. Children had good fun and mothers got an opportunity to have a chit chat with regard to homeschooling experiences.

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