New Venture - Home School Support Program

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalaamu Alaikum

Our Past

Alhamdulillaah it has been 6 years now since we began our homeschooling officially. With the grace and mercy of Allaah we have been sharing our noble journey with all of you since our inception by recording our adventures, ideas and offering resources for downloading. I love for your kids what I love for my children and this has been the main reason for continuing my blog throughout the years with all different circumstances that we have gone through. And I ask Allaah to enable me to do the same until I am able to. 

Blogging opened the doors to get to know some lovely like minded sisters and families, students of knowledge, publishers, educational product manufactures, educationists and organizations all over the world and of course enhanced my skills in every aspect by the mercy of Allaah. More and more sisters and children started benefiting from our journey and resources and since then I have been receiving emails almost every week asking for help and advice with regard to homeschooling from many sisters from different backgrounds and places. While I try my best to allocate time for each of those emails and to date have replied to each and every one of them as far as I know, it is indeed time consuming plus I am not too sure if those replies really help them in a larger scale to benefit there kids throughout.

New Venture

Alhamdulillaah with all of the above in mind and after making Isthikhaarah (Seeking Guidance from my Lord) and consulting the believers we have entered into another bigger adventure! 

I invite you to have a look at our new website www.umm-maimoonah.com 

Homeschool Support Programs

This is our new venture. We will be supporting the homeschooling moms with different cost effective packages and online help. 

You can click on our various Support Packs and view the details and send us an email with your interest.

 

We will send you a questionnaire to understand you and your household better to cater accordingly and after discussing with you to assess your need we can agree on the package options and the cost. And upon payment we will begin preparing your customised package and when completed would be posting the package to your physical  mailing address,  Due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to post the packs to your physical mailing address. The packs will be sent to you via a downloadable link.  We will continue to provide you online support with any concerns you may have in implementing the pack Inshaa Allaah. 

Benefits

This way I hope the moms especially the mom's who are new to homeschooling as well as busy mom's with many kids or with work would benefit Inshaa Allaah. And remember our aim is to link back all beneficial secular subjects kids learn to Islaam and this is why our packages are unique as we would always make sure that the sources are authentic and get our materials checked by students of knowledge Inshaa Allaah. Additionally many homeschoolers spend so much money on resources without actually knowing if those could be used with their kids or not. Aren't we all guilty of stacking up at least some stuff that are still on our shelves unused, purchased long ago and at times still continue to buy thinking it will be of use one day! This is something that I look forward to work on with sisters in order to help them choose resources that they can make use of for the right purpose during the right stages and avoid wastage. 

Moms who are new to homeschooling overwhelmed with the new concept and deal with lot of stress and anxiety wondering from where to start and what to look for. We were also there once and we know exactly what you feel. We hope to build your confidence by the permission of Allaah by directing you towards the right steps to take and sharing our experiences and educating you all about a rather new concept.

There are sisters who send kids to schools and are searching for guidance in teaching Islaamic Studies at home. I firmly believe Islaam should be taught like how the early generation of Muslims were taught, yes some may call it the classical way! Islaam is not a subject that is confined to worksheets and textbooks, It is a way of life and indeed "knowledge comes before actions", and there is so much to learn. Therefore our approach has always been taking that knowledge from the books of the scholars, simplifying it according to the level of the child and presenting in an interactive manner.

Many Islaamic Schools and organizations also write to me asking for help and it would be a pleasure to workout Interactive Activity Packs integrating Islaam into their curriculum and themes. 

We also want to benefit the publishers and small businesses that are putting out quality authentic Islaamic products and other beneficial educational kits and materials by collaborating with them to review and include their products into our packs so that many would make use of them.

Support Us

We look forward to working with many families, schools and organizations inshaa Allaah. You can follows us on facebook , Instagram and Google Plus for beneficial reminders, ideas with regards to cultivating and educating the children and latest updates on our homeschool support programs. Spread the word and support all of us who are involved in this noble program. We are ask Allaah to make our tasks easy and accept our deeds and grant us success in this project. Aameen

Please be free to contact me at ummmaimoonah@gmail.com for any clarifications. 

Baarakallaah Feekum

Ramadhaan and Eidul Fitr - 2016

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah, Allaah blessed us to complete another Ramadhaan. We ask Allaah to enable us to reach the next Ramadhaan inshaa Allaah. This was our first Ramadhaan with Ramlah and by the Mercy of Allaah it was smooth even though we could not do 100% we were still able to fast, Maimoonah could go to the Masjid for Taraweeh and Qiyaam with her Abi and I could pray at home keeping Ramlah. 

Benefits from the Sittings

Alhamdulillaah we managed to almost complete the 30 sittings and Maashaa Allaah it is indeed a must read even before entering the month of Ramadhaan. Subhanallaah every chapter has such immense benefits and sometimes it is so sad we did not have enough time to go into details. Nevertheless we read and discussed almost all sittings even though we could not journal the last 10 sittings.

Most of the time Maimoonah was tired so I helped her a lot with writing while she took care of the crafting part. I really enjoyed journalling after a very long time and personally could extract many benefits pertaining to manners of a facilitator as well as rulings related to dheen matters.

I really loved the way Shaykh Uthaimeen begin each sittings with lots of lots of praise and gratitude to Allaah and each day he intelligently uses different attributes of Allaah and different descriptions along with, while sending salutations to the Messenger of Allaah and the Khulaafur Raashideen, during each sittings he wisely describes each of them with what they were known for always giving more and more information about them in the easiest manner for the student to remember. Indeed so much to learn from our Ulama. May Allaah have mercy upon Shaykh Uthaimeen and join him with the companionship of the Prophets and the Messengers and grant him the highest position in Jannah. Aameen. 

His compassion, the way of addressing the students, sincerity in imparting the knowledge, honestly seeking the rewards only from Allaah in teaching the people and the very concise manner of dealing each topic without making it overwhelming or boring are some of the characteristics we as facilitators and teachers of our kids could surely adopt for a better productivity and success. No doubt this really helped me to rectify and refresh myself for the next academic year! 

These are some of the pages from our Journal of Benfits from the Sittings during the blessed month of Ramadhaan.

 

 

The day of Eid was good. We were able to take Ramlah and go to the Eid Musalla early in the morning and Maimoonah was extremely happy with her Eid gifts from family and firends. We had some friends for lunch and it was an enjoyable Eid Maashaa Allaah.

   

Ramlah is 3 months now Alhamdulillaah and pretty attentive when we talk, recite and read. We took her out to the park for the first time early in the morning and she enjoyed the green and chirping of the birds. Waiting for the weather to cool down to take her out and enjoy the nature inshaa Allaah. 

At the moment we are getting ready for the next academic year and this time I want to get back to structure and organizing just like the good old days inshaa Allaah. After almost two years of sort of unstructured work I think it is time to get a bit serious as Maimoonah is growing and need to cater according to her needs plus need to inculcate more in order to prepare her for what shall I say, may be adulthood! Yes time is passing by so soon. She is already nine subhanallaah I cannot believe it really, and with Ramlah around it is best that I am organized and prepared for a stress free, shouting free and disappoitnment free atmosphere inshaa Allaah. More on our plannings coming soon, inshaa Allaah.

Ramadhaan Plans 2016 /1437 AH

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah another Ramadhaan is here and may Allaah make it a blessing for us and enable us to make the most of it. Aameen.

We have been doing many Ramadhaan activities each year in the past. Alhamdulillaah. All Ramadhaan related posts can be viewed here if anyone wants ideas and resources for different ages.

This will be our first Ramadhaan with little Ramlah who will be 2 months when Ramadhaan begins Inshaa Allaah. So we have kept our plans realistic and made it easy on us as we know we will have sleepless nights and it would be very tiring during Ramadhaan. 

Maimoonah will turn 9 this Ramadhaan inshaa Allaah and this year we are hoping to do the well known beneficial book Sittings During the Blessed Month of Ramadhaan with Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih Al Uthaimeen Raheemahullaah. The E Book in English could be downloaded here. 

Alhamdulillaah these sittings with Shaykh Uthaimeen has lot more than the issues of Ramadhaan. His love for the people, his kindness, his methodology of praising Allaah all the time, his way of thanking Allaah and his beautiful way of conveying the message are some beneficial things to highlight to the kids. May Allaah have mercy upon him and grant him the highest position in Jannah along with the Prophets and the Companions. Aameen. 

We sometimes try to make things fun and attractive for the kids and may fall short in actually reaching our important goal which is making our kids truly understand that Fasting in the month of Ramadhaan is such a valuable opportunity and that each day of it MUST be spent in obedience to Allaah willingly and this worship must be done sincerely for His sake alone to get the rewards. May Allaah help us convey this core message to our kids. Aameen.

Since Maimoonah's interest these days are into arts and crafts, we have taken a 40 pages science notebook where one page is ruled and the other page is blank, so that on one side she can write the benefits  and on the other she can do some decor with arts and crafts This is the cover page and the inside page.

 

The book has 30 days of sittings, so each day she will be doing each sitting Inshaa Allaah.

What we plan to do:

• Read each sitting every day together
• Discuss the content
• Take Notes
• Write the important benefits for each day
• Decorate, paint, or craft the journal page with the benefits

Arts and Crafts Techniques we want to explore:

• Chalk Art
• Snow Flakes
• Origami
• Marble Painting
• Masjid Art
• Painting with Toilet roll Tubes
• Paper Towel Painting'
• Finger Painting
• Puzzle Pieces Art
• Foil Art
• Splash art
• Feather Art
• Felt Decor
• Match Stick Decor
• Yarn Art
• Random Painting
• And More....

Maimoonah will also try to recite the Qur'aan and finish once or twice during the month of Ramadhaan Inshaa Allaah.

If you are someone who has been following our journey from the time Maimoonah was 2 years old, you can see the gradual change each year. As she grows we have tried to incorporate activities for Ramadhaan based upon her interest and ability also according the situation and circumstances in our household. Now that she is growing I hope writing down benefits is something that needs to be given priority as it will enhance the skills of understanding the important points when reading or listening and of course develop the art of taking notes and writing down. Further more it will serve as a reminder for her even later, as any way just before each Ramadhaan she does go through all her previous journals.

Finally I would like to remind myself first and the other sisters, sometimes we take lots of efforts to see that our kids are occupied in Ramadhaan and we make sure that they stick to Ibaadah, but what about us? 

Allaah, the Most High, said:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ

O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? [As-Saff: 61]

Remember we have to be a good example and a role model for our children. They follow us and will try to emulate us no matter how old they are. So if they see us preparing and planning to squeeze in Ibaadah with all our other duties, they are going to try and do the same, Inshaa Allaah. So let us also have some goals to get closer to Allaah and not contradict that which we say with our action as this is indeed from the necessities of good Tarbiyah. 

May Allaah accept our intentions and deeds and may He grant us the best during this Ramadhaan and help us to get closer to him and give us the ability to help our children reap the benefits of this blessed month. Aameen

What are your Ramadhaan plans?

Baby Diary - Beautiful way of Bonding!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Alhamdulillaah it has been over a month now since little Ramlah arrived and she has been keeping us busy, Maashaa Allaah. 

Maimoonah started a cute Baby Diary, where she records all about her little sister Ramlah from day one. Since her birth itself was an adventure and a pleasant surprise for Maimoonah as she was able to witness it, she was eager to have a journal ready for Ramlah to read when she is grown up Inshaa Allaah with all her different phases of growth and memories recorded. Journalling in general is delightful.           I have always encouraged free writing and I do not interfere in her journalling and writings. Making mistakes is fine, in the sense that kids must be confident, in order to boost this confidence it is best not to edit or correct their journalling. It should always remain as an enjoyable activity which is stress free. Even a toddler will for sure love just a small folded book with pictures to paste and colour, inshaa Allaah.

At times I see Maimoonah reading her old journals with a smile on her face, which in fact brings back all of us lot of memories. She loves that we read her journals and feels happy in sharing her writings.

I usually read her journals while she is asleep and the whole house is quiet. Reading her entries with a cup of coffee makes me understand her feelings, her thoughts and her interests as well. This in turns gives me an opportunity to change certain ways within me in order to benefit her more. Plus it helps me evaluate her strengths and weaknesses in grammar, language and writing skills. No doubt this is far better than exams and worksheets to improve a child's skills. Inshaa Allaah will share more facts and ideas about journalling and how to get started in a separate post later. 

As for this baby diary, I noticed that she is writing with passion and love. She decorated the cover pages using some crafty ideas including origami, Popsicle sticks and stickers. I like the point that she remembered to put knowledge into action by beginning the diary with "Basmalah" knowing the reasons of starting something with it. (In the name of Allaah, in order to receive blessings and benefits - Learnt in Usooluth Thalaathah - The Three Fundamental Principles). 

Her introduction and the first chapter reflects that this baby diary is another means of beautiful bonding among the siblings. Maashaa Allaah! Maimoonah adores Ramlah. May Allaah bless both of them and increase their love for each other for His sake and protect them both. Aameen.

 

Inshaa Allaah Maimoonah will continue this diary and we hope Ramlah will appreciate her big sister's efforts in keeping a sweet diary full of her adventures for her to read when she is older. 

Alhamdulillaah - New addition!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم 

Innal Hamdalillaah! Allaah blessed us with a baby girl and we have named her Ramlah after the name of of the wife of the Messenger of Allaah sallaahu alaihiwasallam,  Umm Habeebah Ramlah bint Abee Sufyaan radhiyallaahu anhuma. She is indeed a bundle of joy to all of us and Maimoonah is thrilled to have a little sister. She has been whispering throughout last Ramadhaan during the last ten nights asking duaa for a brother or a sister and Alhamdulillaah, Allaah granted her just that. May Allaah make little Ramlah the coolness of our eyes and source of good for us in this world and the hereafter and protect her from every evil and make her firm upon the right path. Aameen.

I have been taking a long break from blogging due to my rather difficult pregnancy, Alhamdulillaah. Maimoonah has been a great help throughout, May Allaah bless her and we as a team have been learning a lot of life skills during this period even though homeschooling with regard to academics have not been achieved fully. Maimoonah has been completing most of the subjects for the year. This period also helped her to enhance her skills in writing and spent most of her time reading. She has been taking care of the laundry, cleaning and at times even making food while I was unable to do anything much. And now she helps me with the baby as well. And most of all the lovely sisters in Doha were always there to help us throughout the pregnancy and even now after delivery. May Allaah reward them and bless their families abundantly for all the help and support rendered to us. Aameen.

The delivery of Ramlah is indeed very special as it so happened that Maimoonah was able to witness her birth, another experience blessed by Allaah, Alhamdulillaah. It is indeed a story to tell and remember the Mercy of Allaah. Maimoonah has started a baby diary for Ramlah where she is recording the happenings of her sister from day one and would like Ramlah to read the diary when she is old enough to read Inshaa Allaah. More on that later Inshaa Allaah!

Homeschooling altogether from now on will be having a change I guess as this would mean homeschooling two little personalities with different ages. Alhamdlillaah Maimoonah is able to do work independently but needs some challenging or interesting projects and change of methodology to work on which I was unable to provide during the last whole year. We need to get organized and start up fresh after Ramadhaan Inshaa Allaah where Maimoonah will also leap into Secondary level as we have completed the Primary Curriculum for most of the subjects. Islaamic Studies needs to be put into focus again as we could not do much except for reading the books and Maimoonah has been working on her Tajweed with a dear sister and memorizing the soorahs which she likes. 

So till we embark on some structured schedules during the next school year after Ramadhaan Inshaa Allaah Maimoonah is hoping to do some craft projects and note booking as well as some activity packs to keep herself occupied along with writing her journals. We will be sharing her work and ideas as she completed Inshaa Allaah. 

She has her own blog now and would be sharing her blogging skills as well. Once she is done with her designing and content will share the link .

I also could not continue with the classes and workshops for the kids, we hope we could resume most of them Inshaa Allaah after few months.

So a lot of changes, challenges, adventures and achievements to look forward to by the permission of Allaah. We ask Allaah for His Mercy, guidance and blessings throughout. 

Making a Bird Feeder

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم

Masha Allaah, we got a Bird Feeder Kit and made this wooden Bird Feeder. It was really fun making this and hanging outside our rooftop.

So a bird feeder is something like a tray of food or anything like that kept outside to give food for birds. Our bird feeder is a wooden one looks like a cute house, 

Bird feeders are kept outdoors to attract birds, so that they eat and give us reward. We keep the bird feeder out to invite more birds, and observe and identify them. And we could also help the migrating birds to survive during their flight. You may also see rare and uncommon birds at the bird feeder! 

Islaam encourages us to be kind and merciful to the birds and animals in this world.  Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) was on a journey with his companions. Some of his companions saw a nest with a bird and its two chicks. They took the chicks from the nest which made the bird swivel around in anxiety. When the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) saw this he said: “Who has caused distress to her regarding her children? Return her children to her”. (Authentic – Reported by Hakim)

Muslim will increase obedience to Allaah by leaving out bread and biscuits for the birds that visit the garden, because, The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:

“Any Muslim who plants a tree gains the reward of giving in charity. What is eaten from it is charity, what is stolen from it, what the animals eat and what the birds eat is all charity….” (Reported by Muslim – Eng. Trans Vol.3, p818, No.3764).

We followed the instructions (we made without glue) and nailed a firm wooden bird feeder by using pieces of wood, a screwdriver, and nails. First we took two plastic square pieces, clear and safe, and we put one nailed in the inside of a wood piece. We did the same with the other one. 

Next, we nailed the sides together, put the bottom on, and then we screwed the top on. Then we hand-screwed two handle-like things, on the top. Lastly, we added the rope to the handles.This is how it looks when it is done.

Abi helped me to hang the bird feeder at our roof top and he asked me to keep a bowl of water too. Then we put some bird food (we used budgie food for the bird feeder)! Now the beautiful bird feeder is hanging outside. I have still not seen any birds eating from it but I have noticed that the food does reduce. I clean the feeder and add new food often along with changing the water in the water bowl. Tomorrow Insha Allaah, we are going to put dahl out and see if more birds would come as I read when you keep changing food birds would come by to try them.   

I hope lots of birds would come to my bird feeder and keep eating the food and give us rewards Inshaa Allaah. I am waiting to see the birds eat from the bird feeder soon!

السلام عليكم

Maimoonah

My Latest Poems!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم

I love writing poems. The following poems are my latest and all of them are done by me without any help. Enjoy!

Fish

Cat fish long and floppy,

Goldfish small and happy,

cod fish in the wild,

Tuna fish in the wild,

Huge sea bass,

fighting with a Goliath Groper,

Who will win,

of course the Groper,

Sword fish playing hide and seek,

with a baby shark

Pollocks eating,

And OH, hark

a big baby Whale! 

Oh help,

the whale is eating some fish,

like sun fish, and rainbow trout,

the fish that i wanted to see was gone,

and that was a MAHI MAHI. 

So I'll go home now!

Bird

Laughing dove in the morning,

Laughing dove eating in the road

Laughing dove tricking cars,

Bicycles with heavy load.

Bubbling soft bubbly cooing,

Doo,Boo, Do,Booh.

In hidden corners,

Still cooing.

Glorifying its Lord,

Giving us reward, 

Eating from our garden, 

Without a burden. 

Flying at the last minute,

flapping at the lovely country,

In peace to lie,

Right down at the farm!

Flowers

Coloured poppy in the field,

Creeper on the farm,

Jack in the Pulpit at the wood,

And in the meadow calm,

Is the lovely violet blossom,

And the very useful plants,

The beautiful tulip,

Which gives comfort,

And the black moss,

that is often used for a cushion,

Never are flowers at loss,

Cat faced pansies say good bye!

Meadow Mouse

Sweet little Master Meadow Mouse in play,

At spring time when the Farmer starts the corn growing,

Master Meadow Mouse will soon be at the corn field,

And won't the Farmer be angry to start again the field sowing!

Mice

Toothy little house mouse,

Nimble dormouse,

Squeaky Field Mouse,

Cousin to the Meadow Mouse,

Water rats,

Trying to eat mice,

Gobbling up like dice,

At last the Farmer,

Kills the Rats

The mice think he is a nice harmer,

And they are HAPPY!

For the Farmer,

Doesn't harm them,

The Mice are Omnivores

because they eat plants and meat,

And even oars.

DEER

Baby deer,

Sweet fawn,

playing with it's mother,

in the dawn.

Munching leaves,

Timidly looking,

At last,

Running nimbly.   

السلام عليكم

Maimoonah