Blog going through a change...

This blog begun at the start of our homeschooling journey, as a means to benefit others inshaAllah. However as time has passed, I have been sharing less and less of our own personal experiences, and instead I have been focusing more on sharing resources.

I have gone through the blog and deleted all posts which share personal experiences or thoughts, I may have missed one or two so if I become aware I have left anything they too will be removed inshaAllah.

All other posts with resources should still be up and downloads still available bi'ithnillAllah.

All posts regarding fictional story writing have also been removed, as I recently learnt that the writing of fiction is not permissible, as the Ulema say that the fiction is a lie.

The direction of this blog is to continue as a means of sharing resources and homeschool articles inshaAllah, which I hope will serve as a benefit to others inshaAllah.

May Allah rectify all our affairs and guide us to that which pleases Him.

Quick lunch.....pitta-pizza's!

Need lunch in a hurry? This pitta-pizza idea is something I'd seen from a couple of friends and the kids loved them alhamdulillah!

All you need are pitta bread (alhamdulillah pitta's are great to store in the freezer ready on standby!), tomato puree, and any melting cheese.

I usually lightly toast the pittas in the toaster before just spreading a very small amount of puree, finish with cheese and any other topping that might be in the fridge!

Put under the grill to melt then cut into quarters and serve on a big sharing plate!

Lunch in 5 minutes....done!

Snack time...Date & Pecan bites!

Need a quick sweet yummy snack in a hurry? Try these bite size treats with only 2 ingredients...yes only 2 ingredients!

What you need:
Dates
Pecan nuts (or any other nut of your choice)

What to do:
I don't think it is rocket science working out what you need to do... looking at the picture, its pretty self explanatory!
Simply take out the date stone by pressing a knife into the side of the date to open, insert the nut in place of the stone, and close up leaving the nut popping out the top.

I plated them in a circle with a mini box of raisins in the centre. Tuck in and enjoy!

Journal writing postcard!

Wanted to think of something a little more interesting to use for a journal writing activity, and thought a postcard could be abit quirky!
Write on one side, design a stamp and illustrate a nice picture on the back!

Simple... but hopefully, making a little writing seem a little more interesting inshallah!

Its yours to download HERE inshallah!

Another version for pre-writing children, a blank space postcard so that they can just draw a picture of something they did (after explaining we don't draw people or animals first!!!).

You can download it HERE inshallah!

The Searching Angels! - free printable story!

"The Searching Angels" is hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurairah reporting the Messenger of Allah telling how the Angels go out in search of groups of people engaged in the remembrance of Allah, and when they find them the discussion between the Angels and Allah about these people.......presented as a story book"

Taken directly from the English Translation to help young readers become accustomed to the language of ahadeeth.

The narration is broken down into a few lines per page to help make it digestible to younger readers inshallah.

It is available free, to read online or download and print inshallah.

Read online FREE HERE using a virtual flipbook inshallah!

Download and print HERE inshallah! (the page setting is aligned so that it can be printed 2 pages to 1A4 sheet of paper...and folded in half to make stronger doubled page...see previous post for full explanation here)
Download and print HERE  inshallah! (the page setting is aligned central)

The example below has been printed using the first download option, which has the pages aligned to the side to allow the A4 sheet to be folded over in half before binding. Once bound, pages are central.
Its also been printed on 130gsm paper, which gives a sturdier page.

Little book of Fractions workbook!

I'm playing around with the idea to not use a maths curriculum and instead mush a load of things together to make our own, I want to focus more on practical rather than feeling duty bound to school workbooks...I'm trialing this idea for the next couple of months and see how we go bi'ithnillah!
Thought I'd introduce fractions, so a very basic and simple workbook....
which can be downloaded inshallah here

I used a wooden fraction board and the Learning Resources fraction cubes to help explain and demonstrate fractions. To explain fractions as in groups, we grabbed whatever we had to hand, pencils and shells etc.

Didn't have a stapler to hand (broken!) so punched and used some ribbon instead!

20 shells which were divided into quarters. Asked simple questions such as, how many shells are in 1 quarter, 3 quarters etc. etc.

Told to put one quarter back, and say how many (as a fraction) are left.



Design a game worksheet

A simple worksheet to design a playground style game. This lesson was done with my 6 year old and a couple of her friends, so they had opportunity to talk about ideas first and to try out one anothers games after they finished.

Download here

Jolly Phonics Lapbook with a Montessori twist!

What do you get when you mix Jolly Phonics with Montessori???? Jolly Montessori! :) Okay only kidding! But here is a lapbook I put together using the Jolly Phonics method of learning letters, and combined that with Montessori techniques to practise.   

This is the first lapbook following the JP series, so I hope to complete and upload them as I go along teaching my 4 year old inshallah.

The Montessori moveable alphabet uses red for consonants and blue for vowels, however I purchased from Learning Resources something pretty similar (as was alot cheaper...altho the Montessori letters do look way better and easier to use in their box) but the colours are reversed.

The lapbook is available to download inshallah with 2 options:
1) with consonants in blue and vowels in red HERE!!!!!
2) with consonants in red and vowels in blue (as used in Montessori)  HERE!!!!

Front cover (here cut into 2 parts to open up)

Inside folder

Each letter mini book opens out to show 3 different nouns beginning with that letter, as well as a letter tracing page to practise writing.

Same as previous pic above.

Activity page which includes colouring, letter matching, sounding out words and pencil control practise.

Once the lapbook was completed, we used the sounding out words on the activity page with the movable alphabet. My 4 year old copied the words and we sounded them out together to try to read.

magnetic moveable alphabet from Learning Resources with magnetic whiteboard

(excuse the capital "S"'s....I swapped them over for the small letters after pic taken!!!!)

Great online Arabic reading series!

If you are looking for an Arabic reading series to help your children read and learn the Arabic language inshallah, then be sure to check out Omar and Maryam!

Alhamdulillah I found out about this site through an email and although I haven't checked the whole site back to back, what I have seen looks pretty good subhanAllah.....and it is totally free!!!!

As you can see though, it does contain pictures - so we should be cautious and explain to our children that the picture making is haram.

The series is just like any English reading book set, in that the first books are very basic, with only a few words which are repeated often! As the books go up in levels, so does the number of words and difficulty.

It includes an audio feature to help with pronunciation, and each time new vocab is introduced it has its full vowelation markings (harakat), the markings are then dropped after a couple of uses.

At the end of each book are a couple of quizzes which help to solidify vocab understanding!

A really useful site for children and adults of all ages...just start at your reading / vocab level!

To help my children develop their reading and master the vocab inshallah, I've started to put together flashcards using the vocab in each book.

Canvas craft!

A cute and very simple activity which keeps any little girl amused! Very simple to make, and all you need is a canvas, regular kids poster paint, some ribbon, some heart shape cut outs and some cheap glitter glue!

Paint the canvas

Wrap ribbon round a few times, and stick the hearts on. We folded the hearts in half so that they could flap up a little once the glue dried.

Use the glitter glue to write name!