Tuesday, 13 August 2013

School Year 2013/2014




Islaamic Studies

1. Usooluth Thalaathah
We will continue with Usooluth Thalaathah the last two Principles.


2. Essential Lessons for Every Muslim - Lessons by TJ
Now that Maimoonah is 6 years old I think, its kind of  right time to know these Important lessons that Shaikh Abdul Azeez bin Baaz raheemahullaah put together and our dear sister Umm Ibraheem has done all the necessary lessons to go along with this book Maashaa Allaah. So this year we will be doing this with hands on activities Inshaa Allaah.




3. Prophets Sent by Allaah
We started the Prophets Sent by Allaah scrap book two years ago but were unable to do anything last year due to relocation. Inshaa Allaah now that she is grown and knows almost all the stories of the Prophets it would be more meaningful to continue this book. So we will be using Ibn Katheer's Stories of the Prophets for this.




4. Our Role Models
Maimoonah has been reading the Golden Series of the Prophet's Companions along with the Companion Quest. So we thought we would start on  a "Our Role Models" Scrap Book which could be continued in the future as well. So we plan to learn about each sahabah and to have a master scrap book with brief details about each of them Inshaa Allaah.




5. The Inheritors of the Prophets




Maimoonah has come to understand that referring back to the Ulama is an important part of our lives and that The True Ulama or the scholars of Islaam are truly the inheritors of the Prophets and help us worship Allaah as He should be worshipped. She also knows that the Ulama differ in Fiqh rulings and they are united upon the Aqeedah and Manhaj. To further strengthen this and to give her the glimpse of their upbringing and their lifestyle, I thought of making them familiar through a scrap book just like the above (Prophets and Sahabah). This would be continued as we go on in the later years as well Inshaa Allaah.

6. Seerah of the Messenger of Allaah
We almost finished the Makkan period year before last, but could not do more last year except reading the Seerah. This year we would continue with the Madeenah Period and will be using the book "When the Moon Split". This book is concise for kids more than the Sealed Nectar - Raheeq Al Makhthoom, and at the end of each chapter you get questions too. We will try to continue with our custom made worksheets for our seerah study Inshaa Allaah. (for my worksheets of the Makkan Period please click here in case you have missed them)

7. ICO Islaamic Studies Books 2
I am not for sticking only to a specific text book when it comes to Islaamic Studies. But when I had a look at the ICO Islaamic Studies series I felt it does give a very comprehensive curriculum throughout. And there are many activities in them that I felt these books could be actually used for enhancing English Language and other secular subjects along with the Islaamic Perspective. As you know in almost all English Language text books you get unislaamic contents and we had had to avoid many comprehension passages and activities due to it. So I found these books a good alternative for that as well. We would do these books when we get hold of them Inshaa Allaah. 





Qur'aan / Hifdl

1. Iqraa Books and The Noble Qur'aan
We will continue with the Hifdhl and the practising of Reading the Quraan


Arabic

1. Madeenah Arabic Book 1
We could not complete the lessons we planned last year, so we would continue this year with customised worksheets for Madeenah Arabic Book 1.


2. Gateway to Arabic Book 1 and Book 2
Few more pages to finish in Book 1 after which we will start Book 2 Inshaa Allaah. I hope to improve her writing skills with this book.





English

1. Nelson Thornes Developing Non Fictions Skills Book 1 and Book 2





2. Nelson Thornes Developing Fiction Skills Book 1 and Book 2





3. Nelson English Workbook 2





Over all as I said before I am happy to continue with the Nelson Books as my primary Text Books for English Language as they cover all aspects comprehensively and its stress free to use them. Of course they do contain unislaamic contents and we avoid using most of the comprehension passages due to it.



As a side note those of you who are able to get hold of these new text books from Oxford, then its worth looking at it for Cambridge Curriculum. The books will be available in September and January next year. They look much richer than Nelson but not really sure of the contents.


4. Ronald Ridout Workbook 1
These books were recommended by my sister in law who is a professional elocution English teacher and she says they really give a good practice for kids. I remember using all of these books when I did Elocution during my school days. It did really help us especially as students studying English as the second language. It has activities that looks as if its repeating but actually by doing them it makes the child master the concept. So we would be using this book as a complementary practice book Inshaa Allaah.





5. Spelling workout  level B and Level C

Maimoonah finds this book interesting and infact had learnt spelling in the traditional way to my surprise. She is enjoying the use of this book and likes the concept of having a spelling notebook and writing the dictated words at the end of each lesson.








Mathematics

1. Nelson International Mathematics Books 2C and 3
We will be getting into the next stage of Nelson Maths this year. Year 3 has a separate text book and a workbook. (the books I have are the old Edition, but this year Nelson Thornes have put out the nd Edition)

   



2. MEP Year 2
Will continue with MEP Year 2.


Science

1. CGP Science Book 2 and Work Book 2

 


2. Junior Science Book 1


3. Usborne First Encyclopedia Series

4. Rainbow Resources




Geography


1. Oxford Geography Success Starter and  Book 1

I chose these books for this year as it goes along with the UK National Curriculum and it has some hands on geography activities to do. It has some field work as well which I think would make things a little more interesting Inshaa Allaah.


  


With this we will use our Geography resource books this year Inshaa Allaah which we were unable to use last year.


2. Hayes Developing Map Skills Book 1 and 2

Map skills book really gave Maimoonah a good basic understanding of Maps and we will continue with the next level.





ICT


1. CGP ICT Book Year 3

I found this book in the bookstore and my husband was saying to teach her ICT (as he is into IT) just to make her familiar with technological terms and might be useful for her Inshaa Allaah. This will not be priority subject but we will squeeze in every now and then Inshaa Allaah.


Fun Activities/Arts and Crafts/Sewing/Cooking

As I mentioned last year we got some fun activity packs from Rainbow Resources and did not use them all. Fun activity is something that she really looks forward to every day in her work box and this drives her to complete her work for the day. So each day there will be something for her to do. This year we would include sewing and cooking for fun activities as well Inshaa Allaah as she is now a 6 year old Maashaa Allaah.


So that's about it. Looks very stressful for a 6 year old? Yes, it might give you that feeling but as I keep telling each subject lasts only maximum 15 to 25 minutes per day this includes my explaining and her work. And some days each subject would last only 5 to 10 minutes. This way she is not stressed and all the work gets done for that day. 


Next will post the flexible schedule that we would be following this year Inshaa Allaah.




Saturday, 3 August 2013

Ramadhaan 1434 - Notebooking Pages

Alhamdulillaah we have completed the the first part of the Ramadhaan Notebooking pages.(second part is of Ramadhaan Memories so that will come later Inshaa Allaah after Ramadhaan) It was a stress free beneficial learning experience and I wish to thank the sister at Iman's Home School for the Ramadhaan Notebooking pages.

Maimoonah loved decorating the pages, copywriting (she is not a big fan of this but managed to get it done with less fussing), researching Alhamdulillaah.

Here are the pics.

Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Diary of a Muslim homeschool: Ramadan note booking pages

Diary of a Muslim homeschool: Ramadan note booking pages: To help your child's study of Ramadan, try out these note-booking pages, with free download Alhamdulillah!!!   Download this 20 ...

Friday, 5 July 2013

Ramadhaan Plans 2013




Assalaamu Alaikum!

Alhamdulillaah another Ramadhaan round the corner and kids are growing! Maimoonah would be 6 years this Ramadhaan according to the Islaamic Calendar. This year we have not planned anything much as we are still living like travellers(and this is how we should really live : ) and do not have the resources we used to have right now. Alhamdulillaah for everything. So to make it simple I am thinking of doing a scrapbook on Ramadhaan with  some of the following included and will also touch through the rest Inshaa Allaah!

Here are some other resources 
Hope and pray all of you would also have a wonderful Ramadhaan with your kids this year and May Allaah accept our fasts and deeds and forgive us our sins and guide us towards good in this world and the hereafter. Aameen. 


End of Another School Year

Alhamdulillaah we have reached the end of another school year. With relocations and other issues we were unable to finish all as we planned but qadarallaah maashaa Allaah, since we have been doing work a little higher than for Maimoonah's age we have still managed to cover a lot alhamdulillaah. Blessing of homeschooling bi idhnillaah.

I did not have enough time to blog about each subject. So I am just recording a summary here for all subjects inshaa Allaah.

Usooluth Thalaathah
Alhamdulillaah we have covered up to the first Principle both in Arabic and English. We used Umm Saffiyah's work book and completed it and now waiting for her to release the next book to cover the rest inshaa Allaah. So we will continue the rest next year and hopefully finish the book next Inshaa Allaah.

Qur'aan/Hifdhl
After finishing Juzz Amma, Maimoonah is memorizing Soorahs what she likes from the whole of the Qur'aan, so I am not fussing about it and letting her do what interests her. She chooses soorahs from here and there and tries to learn them. She also reads the Tafseer.

Alhamdulillaah she will start reading or reciting the Qur'aan this Ramadhaan from the Mushaf Inshaa Allaah.

Arabic
She is reading the last Iqraa book now and alhamdulillaah learnt to read Arabic. We will start reading the Qur'aan and this would the best to practice her reading inshaa Allaah.

We also completed up to lesson four in Madeenah Book 1. She knows to read so things are much easier now on Madeenah book.

 
We also used the Gateway to Arabic Book 1 and her writing has improved along with vocabulary alhamdulillaah. Few more chapters to go and we should start with book 2 next year inshaa Allaah. 


English
We finished 6 units each from both the books. Nelson Developing Fiction and Non Fiction Skills Books 1. Each book has 12 units. The rest we would finish up next year inshaa Allaah.  So we covered
  • Alphabetical order
  • A thesaurus
  • Using a dictionary
  • Suffixes
  • Contractions
  • Different letter patterns
  • Nouns
  • Proper nouns
  • Verb families
  • Adjectives
  • Speech and speech marks
  • Ending sentences
  • Key words
  • Simple reports
  • Capital Letters
  • For and against
  • Instructions
  • Synonyms and antonyms
  • Past tense
  • Commas and lists
  • Settings and play scripts
  • Poems on the same subjects
  • Compound nouns
  • Collective nouns
  • Comparing words
  • Silent letters
  • Story beginnings and story planning 
I am pleased with these books alhamdulillaah. We avoided all magic and myths and did not do any comprehension activities on these topics. Each unit covers, grammar, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary and writing skills. So it's comprehensive in that sense and even though the ages recommended for these books are 7 and 8 Maimoonah finds them challenging and interesting. I help her with copying the sentences on to the notebook as sometimes she feels bored to write the same thing all over again. We will try to finish the books next year and get on to book 2 inshaa Allaah. 


 

She also reads chapter books now and checks for new words and their meanings in the dictionary. Alhamdulillaah only by the mercy and guidance of Allaah she is able to read and comprehend well and I think overall she has a good command of the English language for her age, alhamdulillaah. Early reading has helped her a lot I should say to achieve all this at this age with less stress alhamdulillaah.

Spelling
We have completed three quarter of the Spelling Workout Level B. few more units to complete. Inshaa Allaah we would finish it next year. This book is also very easy and interesting for the kids and good to learn spelling along with grammar and comprehension. We use a spelling notebook in which she writes when I dictate the list words after we complete each unit.



Mathematics
We have completed Nelson Maths 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, and 2B. Book 2C we will start next year inshaa Allaah. We have also completed the MEP Maths Year 1a and in 1b we have few pages to complete. We may complete before the next year or else we will continue next year inshaa Allaah. We have covered many important concepts this year and Maimoonah is enjoying Maths alhamdulillaah. Some of them are

  • Telling the time
  • Symmetry
  • The calendar
  • Tens and Units/ place values
  • Organizing data, graphing
  • Halves and quarters
  • Grouping
  • Rounding up numbers
  • Measurements
  • Measuring length and mass
  • Odd and even numbers
  • Skip counting
  • Multiplication Tables
  • Adding and subtraction with two digit numbers
  • Adding and subtracting 3 or more numbers
  • Shapes and patterns
  • Mental Maths
  • More than less than equal to

  


This is a game she did on her own and wanted me to play with her  with remaining sticker paper. I was so surprised as to how she has displayed her understanding of Multiplication, Maashaa Allaah!

The Nelson Maths books are interesting and covers the concept well while MEP has been a tool for the development of critical thinking and alhamdulillaah it was a good move to continue using both the curriculums so far. 


Science
We have completed the the CGP Science book 1. Also completed as planned for this year alhamdulillaah. I did not blog in detail as I was pressed for time. We covered electricity, light, shadow, forces, sounds, floating and sinking.

     

 


Most of the topics were covered last year in more detail with hands on so this time we just stuck to the text books, work books and the encyclopedia along with the Internet activities as we did not have all the resources we needed. We ended our science lesson with the interesting project the compiling of the Star Book. 

Maimoonah also got some fun science kits as gift from another fellow homeschooling family here in Doha who are very close to us Maashaa Allaah! This was a pack of test tubes with different experiments to do.

 

 


Geography
We completed the Evan Moor Daily Geography Practice Book for Grade 1. Also we have few more chapters to do in our Maps Skills Book 1. We covered the following other than mentioned in this post.

  • Intermediate Directions
  • Direction connections
  • The USA
  • Symbols makes a map
  • Natural resources
  • Population
  • Community helpers
  • Neighborhood Plan
 


Seerah
We have  been revising our seerah study on the makkan period. And this year we used the book " When the Moon Split" this is easier than the sealed nectar for kids and Maimoonah uses this book to read aloud to me. It helps her with advanced vocabulary and helps her know the seerah of the Messenger of Allaah. We have not done any activities but will do more next year inshaa Allaah.


So I think I have covered all the subjects here. And as for my evaluation I feel even though we missed many months this school year we did well to cover up a lot. Since I am using the Cambridge Primary curriculum it does not matter in which year the child finishes which stage. It is designed in such a way that you can go according to the pace of your child and of course your situations. So alhamdulillaah I am pleased with what we have done with permission of Allaah.

As for Maimoonah she has improved in her writing both Arabic and English. Reading skills have developed. Comprehension is much more. And understands many things than before. Since motor skills are also developed alhamdulillaah she is able to do lot of independent work. And enjoys finishing the work when I am not around.

As for weaknesses and shortcomings I feel she gets distracted fast especially when she is with a group of kids. And gets bored with lessons that are too easy or too cumbersome. Also does not like when she has to do copywork and hates doing that. She reads well within herself but does not read aloud with confidence. So need to work on this. Same goes for the reciting of the Qur'aan, need to boost her confidence to recite aloud inshaa Allaah. 

Alhamdulillaah for everything and Allaah has blessed us to continue this journey and we look forward to have another exciting school year which would help us know our Lord more and make us closer to Him bi idhnillaah.



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...