Muslim Home Educators Magazine

HOME WORKS

As cliche is the term 'homework' is, the magazine Home Works is any thing but that. I just LOVE the term Home Works...in our homeschooling journey with all the difficult and the fun days we find so many moments that make us thank Allah to give us this opportunity to spend this precious time with our kids learning together.

A muslim magazine for homeschoolers does just that..... promote the beauty of homeschooling, and remind and motivate us to continue this journey with all the hurdles we may face

INTRODUCING.....

HOME WORKS MAGAZINE

I am really looking forward to getting my hands on these Inshallah...

Do check out their website, it has loads on informative articles and blog links and MUCH MUCH MORE.

You can take a peek inside the 1st issue through ummisubhanas blog

Planting our Earth

PLANET EARTH 

GROW A WORLD

A few years ago Abi had bought this kit for Lil Muallim #2 we have used this kit twice and looking forward to grow it again. The Chia seeds that come with the kit are enough to "Grow Our World" quite a few times :)

What am I talking about ?

Click on the image to buy 

Set up the Earth pieces

Fill water inside 

There are short hanging ropes behind the sponges that absorb the water from withing the globe and keep the sponges moist

Here you can see most of Asia moist, with water slowly spreading towards Africa.

Just soak the seeds overnight and then......

Spread the soaked seeds on the land areas (green sponge)

And wait for the world to grow......

 And grow......

And grow...... till the stems are too long :):)

You have to maintain the water level every day, keep the world in a well lit room and keep rotating the world for the light to reach evenly around the world.

It's a fun kit with lots of learning  about germination of seeds, conditions for plants to grow, the planet earth, land masses, continents, responsibility (watering every day). 

It can easily be turned into a unit study to cover more topics... may be we'll do it next time we grow our world :)

Oh.. I just spoke too soon. These pictures are from last year... Lil Muallim #2 just saw me writing this post and said he wanted to grow it again TOMORROW!

Earth Unit Study here we come !!!!

Want to succeed ?

Assalamo alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,

Ramadan is almost coming to an end. It's just a matter of hours that we will be standing in the Masjid praying Eid Salah. The last few days are always makes me wonder where time flew and wishing that Ramadan doesn't finish so soon. May we live to see another Ramadan Ameen.

 May Allah accept all our fasting and ibadah and keep us steadfast on His path Ameen.

HOW TO ACHIEVE TRUE SUCCESS

 When the Sahabahs, stood up from a gathering they used to recite Surah tul Asr to remind themselves of not wasting their time in useless activities and never giving up striving in the path of Allah.

The following prtesentation really highlights why it is such an important Surah of the Quran and how crucial it's message is

Success in this life and the Hereafter

A 4 step process very simply said, eloquently described and effectively depicted in less the 8 minutes....... Mashallah !

Please share your reflections

What's our Excuse ?

SOMETIMES WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS 

WHAT ONE FEELS THIS VIDEO DOES THAT! 

I HOPE IT DOES THAT FOR YOU TOO

May Allah bless this child in this world and th3 Hereafter, May He protect and preserve this boy in this Dunya and the Hereafter, May he reach the highest levels of Jannah.......Ameen

May we strive hard to purify our hearts and not deviate from teh straight path  Ameen

Best Ramadan Ayah

HE IS WAITING TO RESPOND 

ARE WE CALLING ON TO HIM ?

The beauty of Allah's words Subhanallah !

Bonus Reward From Allah

 RAMADAN LESSON # 7

UNIMAGINABLE REWARDS FROM ALLAH

Subhanallah ...We can never praise and Exalt Allah enough, He not only promises rewards multiplied  by ten  or 70 times in Ramadan, but also tells us that .........

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle Sallallaho alaihiwasallam  said, 

“Allah said, ‘All the deeds of Adam’s sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.’ Sahih Bukhari

ALLAHO AKBAR

Copywork: print or cursive

The magnitude of the rewards from Allah are simply unimaginable 
Subhanallah !

Allah loves the "Saim" (faster) so much that He has built a special gate in Jannah through which only those shall enter who were diligent and keen on fasting.

By that it means not only the fasting in Ramadan but also who fasted on days other than Ramadan.

What days are those ?

• 6 days of Shawwal
• Ayyam ul Beed 
• Mondays and Thursdays
• Day of Ashura
• Day of Arafat

Here's our Ramadan Lapbook Flap showing them.

We made this with this printable from TJ Ramadan

HADITH

There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord; then he will be pleased because of his fasting.”

Sahih Bukhari

Copywork: print or cursive

Narrated Sahl: The Prophet said, 

“There is a gate in Paradise called Ar-Raiyan, and those who observe fasts will enter through it on the Day of Resurrection and none except them will enter through it. It will be said, ‘Where are those who used to observe fasts?’ They will get up, and none except them will enter through it. After their entry the gate will be closed and nobody will enter through it.”

Copywork: print or cursive 

We illustrated this fact through the following activity.

All depiction is through our imagination. Only Allah knows what it's going to be like.

The shining golden Bab ur Rayyan and people standing outside hoping to enter. The lego people with yellow heads are Saim whose faces are glowing :)

The light glowing from inside, spreading as the doors open 

Only the Saim are allowed to enter with their faces glowing Subhanallah

Once all the Saim have entered, the doors close again

My Lil Muallims LOVED this activity Alhumdillah. The whole process of making the gate and the set up got them very excited Mashllah ! I hope this will be a long lasting memory for them, and it will serve the purpose of instilling the desire to strive to enter through Bab ur Rayyan INSHALLAH

Print your own Bab ur Rayyan 

A Fasting DaY

RAMADAN MINI LESSON

FOR THE LITTLEST ONES

FASTING DAY CYCLE WHEEL

This is a wonderful activity we got from Umm Abdul Basir's Blog Mashallah......It's so cute that it still generates interest in it's 3rd year of use in our home Mashallah. Infact it is now passing over  to the younger siblings Mashallah. May Allah reward the sister abundantly Ameen.

We printed it out in black and white and colored it in by hand..:)

Mashallah!...... And if that wasn`t cute enough she even made a memory sequencing card game tooo....!

Here`s Lil Maullim # 2 guiding Lil Muallimah after I showed her the Fasting Cycle Wheel. 

Cute isn't it ? 

Here's the link if you want to download it too Inshallah

Fasting Day Cycle wheel

Fasting Day Sequence Cards

Ramadan Action Plan

HAVE A PRODUCTIVE RAMADAN

An awesome poster from Productive Muslims

Mashallah !

Suggested Activity

Have the older kids redraw this poster or make one of their own...... customizing it to their own routines!

Hmmm...... sounds like a plan for tomorrow Inshallah :)

Levels of Fasting

RAMADAN LESSON # 6

LEVELS OF FASTING

What are the thoughts on my mind ?

Does the  time seem to go slow ?

Can I not stop thinking about food cause that's not what fasting is about ? 

Do I avoid arguments and fights ?

Am I mindful of Allah ?

Do make extra efforts to do more dhikr and tilawah ?

 May Allah help us to keep maqbool fasts Ameen.

We get many chances to discuss the do's and don'ts of fasting during the day. These reminders (as frustrating as the can get at times) are a blessing, as these are the building blocks of understanding the essence of fasting.

The meaning of Saum can be reviewed from Ramadan Lesson # 1

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink (i.e. Allah will not accept his fasting.)”

Sahih Bukhari:  Book# 31  Hadith# 127

Copywork (Use the blank space under the text to write reflections): print or cursive

RAMADAN HIGHWAY CODE



source: Islamic Posters

After discussing todays lesson in the lights of different ahadith and every day examples, Lil Muallims made their own Levels of Fasting posters, like the one below.

The levels of fasting poster was inspired by a small diagram in this amazing book

Click on the image to buy this book

Extended Activity

Make a list of things that come under each level. 

• Observe the difference
• make an goal for yourself 
• make an action plan for yourself

Download

Levels of Fasting Poster Colored
 Levels of Fasting Poster Blank 
Levels of Fasting Extended Activity
Levels of Fasting Goal Setting

1st Revelation

RAMADAN LESSON # 6

For this lesson we concentrate only on the:

The very 1st Command of ALLAH

IQRA - READ

Allah's 1st Command

One really needs to contemplate why Allah chose this word to be the first word of Divine revelation ? It is actually a VERY IMPORATNT COMMAND to always seek and pursue knowledge, cause not doing so causes stagnation and downfall.

This can be further illustrated by the following points:

• The life of Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho alaihi wasallam's life was spent teaching and spreading Allah's message
• The Shabah's looked up to each other and respected the more on the basis of their understanding of the Quran, sunnah and the deen. 
• We are expected to follow the example of the people of knowledge from the Sahabah, the Ta'abi'een and Ta'aba ta'baeen based on their exemplary and profound understanding in the matters of the deen.
• Cordoba, Isfanah, Kufa, Baghdada and so many other cities of the Muslim Empiure were considered as high seats of learning. Peopel would travel thousands of miles to be in company of men of knowledge of deen, fiqh, sciences (astronomy, botoany, engineering, mathematics etc )
• When the Muslims ruled for almost a 1000 years, those years are considered as the golden age. The European Renaissance has it's roots in the knowledge the got from the works of the Muslim scholars and Scientists
• We are expected to seek the company of the people of knowledge.

What gave all the above mentioned people an edge ........ their KNOWLEDGE which only comes by seeking it and learning which in turn comes by READING !



The knowledge from which no benefit is derived is like a treasure out of which nothing is spent in the cause of Allah. Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 108

Copywork : print or cursive

REFLECTION: imporatnce  is  not only of READing but also of reading what is Beneficial Inshallah

This was our drive for  our :

  

Beidhniallah, we hope to continue seek knowledge with our Ramadan Readathon Reading baskets from this Ramadan to the next.

INSHALLAH

Downloads:

The 1st word of revelation shown above can be printed from here. To make it decorative we cut it out and stuck it on construction paper. 

Other related activities and printable (jeem-jabal, ghain-ghar, waw-wahi) can be seen here

Our 1st Wahi activity from last year can be seen here 

Zaky's Learning Club

RAMADAN RESOURCE

RAMADAN ADVICE FOR CHILDREN

I just found these cute downloads and printables on Zaky's website yesterday. It's called Zaky's Learning Club. There are several issues from previous years, full of word searches, mazes, activities, posters etc. Six out of the seven issues are  on Ramadan. Most are quite color intensive, but worth having Mashallah ! I have found it.... now I have to figure out a way to get them color printed too Inshallah :)  

Do check them out........ ZAKY'S LEARNING CLUB

Quran was Revealed in Ramadan

RAMADAN LESSON # 5

ALLAH SAYS IN THE QURAN

" Shahro Ramadan allaazi Unzila feehil Quran"

(Surah Tul Baqarah - Verse 185)

Translation

"The month of Ramadân in which was revealed the Qur'ân,....."

Copywork: print or cursive

I gave Lil Muallim # 2 the picture of an open mushaf to color and then asked him to write numbers in Arabic in a grid just like they would be in a calendar. I did write down the numbers in sequence for him to copy from. Next we pasted the papers on bristol board. I traced out the words Ramadn (for the name of the month on top of the calendar dates) which Lil Muallim # 2 traced.

 Finally we glued thin craft sticks to connect the two cut outs to depict 'unzila' (revealed/sent down). To make sure the sicks didn't move while the glue dried we taped them to the table, and weighed it down with a thick book. When done we also taped the sticks from the back (just in case :))

The final craft on our Ramadan craft wall......Mashallah!

Later we reviewed the craft a couple of times during the day, with me pointing to each part of the craft and Lil Mualim # 2 reciting the Ayah. Mashallah!

Download:

You can find the printable for this craft here and here.

IMPORATNT NOTE


Every single Book of Allah was revealed in Ramadan as we know from Ahadith

The Suhuf of Ibrahim (A) was revealed on the 3rd day of Ramadan

The Torah was revealed to Musa (A) on the 6th day of Ramadan

The Zabur was revealed to Dawud (A) on the 18th day of Ramadan

The Injeel was revealed to Eesa (A) on the 13th of Ramadan


The Quran was revealed to Muhammad (SAW) on the 24th of Ramadan

ALLAHO AKBAR.......How divine is this Month !