Umamah Learning Academy: 2011

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Surprise and a Push

Yup..... surprise is what I got when I saw my name listed with so many veteran homecshool blogs for the 7th annual Homeschool Blog awards by Homeschool Post...... I really wonder how I got on the list. With all the name son the list, I don't at all expect to get any votes but I will admit it does feel good :)

But before my human nature gets the better of me, I realized that I had better get my act straight and start publishing so many of my draft posts and the to be posts that have been piling up, for all the exciting stuff we have been doing the past couple of months.

Like always. I truly appreciate these reminders from Allah to keep my intentions in all I do purely for Him and
may He accept my efforts in sharing my ideas and resources to help others and learn from them too. Ameen

You can find your own favorite blogs there and vote for them here. The voting ends on November 18th 2011.

To better understand the project, how it works and the categories click here.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Being Autistic

Here's a recent lesson I shared with my Lil Muallims on empathy, understanding, appreciation and gratefulness.

We can be quite ignorant at times, but it is not an excuse when our ignorance effects our behavior towards understanding those who may be different from us in any way.

I have always felt very strongly about how people, think, react and behave towards anyone who may have any kind of special needs. That's the way I was brought up! Alhumdolillah!

I want to pass on the same compassion into my kids Beidhnillah. As a homeschooler and being a part of many homeschool groups physical and online ones, I have been able to learn so many things from parent of children with special needs. Their dilemma, their courage, their struggles, their passion, their strength and their vulnerability.

So much can be said on this topic and already is on so many blogs, I wanted to play my part in sharing the following in the hope that it helps others in some or the other way.

Carlita Boyles, the author of Math on the Level who specializes in special needs education mentions in one of her talks about how she learnt a lot more from hearing an autistic child speak for ten minutes than what she did while getting her Master's degree. Please hear her lecture Overcoming the fear of failure on the MOTL website.

I was further touched to the core of my heart when she recently actually shared the video too upon request.

Love the brilliance of his presentation.... what could be more realistic than that ! Another beautiful reminder of why, we should hear out our children and their feelings patiently. Their insight into their world and thoughts can be a mind opener for us. That's why I like calling my kids Lil Muallims (little teachers).

Children can also teach us so much Subhanallah! But we have to listen first!

I am sharing here, three Muslim Mom blogs about their life with their autistic children that I have come across. They courageously share many of their personal stories, educating others along the way. I have shared some stories and discussed them with my children so as to help them relate and better understand.

Stranded Mom ( thanks for following me :))
Abes Sez
My Autistic Muslim Child

there are so many more........

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Homeschool Mom Dilemma

Assalamoa laikum warahamatullahi wabarakaruhu,

Recently I received an email from a dear homeschooling friend asking how I would react is she told me that she put her 8 year old daughter in public school because she couldn't teach her to write ?

My reaction....

"Don't be hard on yourself ! Qadrallah........We think, we wish we plan......He Wrote, He knows, He is the Best of Planners. Knowing our limitations vs Qadr is the humility of a momin.

More than often we try to control everything, increasing our own stress levels. In the end what
is true success? Isn't what truly matters is how we are in the eyes of Allah. An advice from another wonderful homeschooling friend keeps me going... she said......

"We have to remember our children are not our projects they are Allah's projects. We can only try and achieve but what really happens is entirely in Allah's hands.... Our job is only to do our best and then trust Allah and leave it to Him."

Such simple and beautiful wisdom.

All you wonderful homeschooling moms out there please share your wisdom... I would love to hear from you all. There is so much we can learn from each other for the sake of Allah.

Barakallaho feeki

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Ramadan Activities Day # 19-23

Note: These posts were written in Ramadan but are being posted now.... Some pictures and explanations are missing, I hope to put them in sometime soon Inshallah

ALLAH'S PROPHETS

Giant Journey Puzzle

(A Joint Activity)

Lil Muallimah and I made the Giant Journey Puzzle with Lil Muallim # 2 helping out with the inserts. He literally ran o the other room to double check on the Giant journey poster to see if we were doing it right. :) Mashallah! We talked about some of the Prophets stories.

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Teaching Lil Muallimah

Lil Muallim read out Prophet Nuh's, Prophet Yunus's and Prophet Salih's stories from his story books and told them wonderfully too Mashallah! Later in teh day I gave them a hand made worksheet to color to review the stories discussed earlier in the day.

Lil Muallimah's Activity

RAMADAN DAY 20

FINISHING UP THE
EID CARDS

Where is the time flying ? It's always like this once 15 days of Ramadan have passed it seems like the days just start to whiz by. Subhanallah! What to say .... you do what you can ..... :)

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

Eid Cards Part 2

Today Lil Muallimah put together her Eid cards by gluing the inserts all by herself. She did a very neat job Mashallah. I was quite impressed to see every time that I tried to double check that she had placed the insert right side up and not upside down in any of the cards. Showed that she id put thought into what she was doing and recognized and understood how the letters should show. Alhumdolillah!

She also made a pop up card seeng Lil Muallim # 2's card for their Grandfathers brother who is a sailor.

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Pop up Eid Card Part 2

Lil Muallim # 2 finihsed up his pop up card that he was making for his Grandfathers brother who is a sailor. Almost every other card that he makes for him has to have a boat. Hence the boat pop up card........

RAMADAN DAY 21

SEEKING LAYLATUL QADR

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Lil Muallim #2's craft was actually done staying up all night with the whole family (accept Lil Muallimah) seeking Laylatul Qadr in the first odd night of the last ten days .

We continued our family tradition of encouraging the children to stay up at night for as long as they like and can hoping to catch the Night of Qadr and spend it in Glorifying Allah.

I have mentioned about this in an earlier post heres how I explained it:

"A common practice in our household to encourage kids to stay up on Layla tul Qadr is that they are allowed to stay up and make Lego on the condition that they will do adhkaar with every piece they put on. With the blessings of Allah they look forward to those nights every Ramadan and remember them as special days through out the year Alhumdolillah."

You can see their past Ramadan Lego work here.

RAMADN DAY 22

ALLAH HAS MADE

AND

HAS TAUGHT US TO MAKE

LESSON

I read out a story to my Lil Muallims on how Allah has made everything for us and we should say Subhanallah (Glory be to Allah) in wonder and amazement at His creations. On the other hand there are also many things that man makes, but we have to realize that they have only been made possible by the materials Allah has provided for us and the skill and intelligence he has enabled us to use, so we should say Alhumdoillah!

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

Sorting with Dhikr

I put together this activity for Lil Muallimah in her Ramadan activity bag # 19. After I had read out a related story to her and Lil Muallim # 2 from a book I have. I took out the cards from the bag and told her how she had to sort the things in the bag......

Alhumdolillah this activity was thought provoking and an interesting Logical thinking game. Loved that fact that the element of dhikr (remembrance of Allah and and praising Him was prevalent in this activity. Got to love that....:):):):)

I hope to do more of it Inshallah by changing the objects from time to time. Inshallah.

I had actually printed this last year but never got around doing with him. Umm ... post reminded me of it and out it came. Jazakaallah khair ukhti :)

Lil Muallim pasted and cut the mini book, but surprisingly he didn't want bind it to gether as a flip book. He wanted to keep it as cards to play that he could put in order on his own.......! Well the activity was for him to enjoy so I let him chose how he wanted to use them.... I have found him playing with them again and again over the past few days Alhumdolillah

RAMADAN DAY 23

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

I drew out the Kalimah for Lil Muallimah on marble effect construction paper and she colored it in.

Mashallah!

Memorizing the names of Allah Part 3

We continued on to doing the next 9 names. We are going in any particular order but doing the ones he is familiar with first.

Here's his third sheet.

We hope to continue a more detailed discussion on the meanings of Allah's beautiful names and their attributes through Ad-Duha books. Which I will be posting about as our lessons progess Inshallah.

Lil Muallim # 2 played with his self designed Lego toys while doing dhikr.......

Ramadan Activities Day # 18

Note: These posts were written in Ramadan but are being posted now

EID CARDS

With me not feeling well I am finding it harder and harder to manage my kids daily Ramadan crafts Qadrallah ! We did manage to do these though.

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

Lil Mualliamh made these cards for her grand parents and aunts all by herself. I gave her the folded papers of colors combination she chose . Then I showed her how to punch out the stars and wrote the text she wanted on each with pencil . From there on she did the punching and tracing all by herself. Mashallah.

(pics will be added soon beidhnillah!)

Quran Opposites Puzzle

Lil Muallimah played with and made.....

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Lil Muallim # 2 seemed to be loosing his steam too by now and was not interested in doing anything.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ramadan Activities Day # 17

Note: These posts were written in Ramadan but are being posted now

GETTING A MOSQUE IN JANNAH

As our activities are getting simpler and my Ramadan routine tighter I am finding wonderful opportunities to discusss what we have learnt /covered, up til now with my Lil ones. Alhumdoillah. I find them discussing and doing good deeds, collecting money for Sadaqah Jar and so many other tiny lessons that I really can't mention the all here.

Just a beautiful reminder that we need to keep on doing our job of their tarbiyah and tasfiyah in the best manner possible and see them bloom. May Allah protect and preserve our children Ameen.

Today was a very busy day so we literally just managed to slip in an activity. I asked my lil ones. I discussed the following hadith and discussed how we in our community collect money for our local mosque and how even the tiniest portion that you put in entitles you to a Sadqah e Jariah..... Lil Muallim # 2's eyes just opened wide at the possibilities gaining hasanat.......:):):) Alhumdolillah. Then we did the following activity.

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

I remember tracing this page from an Iqra coloring book at one time. Lil Mualliamh choose to paint.... (pic mssing!)

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

I didn't want to give Lil muallim #2 the exact same sheet so I asked him to draw a masjid. He first drew it with a marker and then painted it too.

Ramadan Activities Day # 16

Note: These posts were written in Ramadan but are being posted now

Continuing the Simple Activities

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

Continuing our discussion on mosques I made a simple lacing activity for Lil Muallimah. I simply drew a mosque with markers (onto a piece of cardboard cut off from a carton) and punched holes around it with a hole puncher. For ease I tied a knot with a lace at the first hole, so she could always start from the same point.

She thoroughly enjoyed it and her brothers kept asking for their turn.... Subhanallah!

This simple home made activity came in very handy in keeping her and her friend captivated and sit quietly during taraweeh too Mashallah!

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Continued with Allah's names.

This time Lil Muallim didn't do rainbow coloring :) But still did it very neatly. Mashallah!

Ramadan Activities Day # 15

Note: These posts were written in Ramadan but are being posted now

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

For the coming two weeks I want to keep our activities more simple, as Ramadan is coming to an end. I am still not feeling very fit which has is also now affecting my tempo. Subhanallah! Guess Allah also wants me to slow down :)

THE HOLY MOSQUES

I did a very simple activity......I pulled out a worksheet I made made years ago to introduce the 3 Holy Mosques with Arabic number 3 (thalatah)

Lil Muallaimah's Activity

THE MOST IMPORTANT MOSQUES OF ALLAH

I showed Lil Muallimah the number 3 (thalathat) on teh sheet and then toldher that these are Allah's favourite Mosques. The I took her tp teh Seerah Trail poster from learning roots and showed her the location of each. The poster doesn't show Masjidul Aqsa in Jerusalem but Masjidul Sakhra. I talked about that fact with her too. Next she did the following art activity

Thalatah (three): The most important mosques of Allah are three .....

Masjid ul Haram
Masjid un Nabwi
Masjid ul Aqsa

Lil Muallaim # 2's Activity

Memorizing the names of Allah

We have been working on learning Allah's names from time to time. Lil Muallim was very excited to learn the hadith......

So I thought we could try and memorize most with meaning in the spirit of Ramadan and do detailed lessons on each in our coming school year Beidhnillah....

I told Lil Muallim # 2 that if he did 9 names at a time he might be able cover all in 10 days. We'll see how that goes...

Here's his first sheet.......

He colored all of them in very carefully Mashallah!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I'm Back

Assalamo alaikum Warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu ,

I know many of you had been wondering where I had vanished to soem even contacted me through the blog or personally to inquire about me. Jazakallaho khairin toa ll you wonderful sisters for showing your concern and duas.

Alhumdolillah I am well. I was just VERY BUSY sorting out my priorities........ my health, my kids needs as they are growing, our new homeschool year and homeschool room. my crazy number of printouts, resources, and all the regular stuff......you name it. Alhumdolillah I seem to have things quite under control now. Still sorting the last bits of things but have covered the major stuff Alhumdolillah! Phew......... seemed like forever!

Having said that. You might get a bombardment of posts.. The first of which will be the "missing Ramadan activities posts."

Next I want to start posting a lot of math activities we are exploring with our new approach to math with the Math on the Level Program we are enjoying so much. You can read the intro of that in this previous post.

I also got some Montessori material at a very good price from a dear friend, so really enjoying those Alhumdolillah. Jazakallaho khairun Umm Yusuf.

There's just so much to share .. May Allah put barakah in my time to deal with my priorities as well share our adventures on the blog, because I love to share learn and share with others. :)

Wassalam,
Umm Umamah

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Our Week # 2 Entries for Ummi's Circle Ramadan Craft Challenge

WEEK # 2 ENTRIES FOR

We are late in submitting our 2nd weeks entry. It's so frustrating to have all your day to day work and pictures ready but not have the time to post them... well Qadrallah!

Our Ramadan Craft Wall