A gift for you.... Home School Planner!

We are approaching that time of year again, Ramadan is around the corner, and many of us will be breaking... or at least, slowing down over the summer period. For those of us who are getting that itch, ready to start thinking about our next home school year,  a welcomed help is on hand to add abit of organisation to our chaos....or at least try to anyway!  

                                                                

Introducing "My Home School Planner"....an organisation tool to help get your home education planning in order....if you are somebody who likes to plan!

 

If you are looking for something to help you make sense of  how to facilitate your children's education, then try My Home School Planner!

 

Whether you are new to home education or are an old home schooling pro, My Home School Planner has been beautifully designed to help you map out educational plans for your family, with inspirational quotes and reminders.

 

....And did I tell you? ......It is free to download Alhamdulillah!

 

 

Click below to view sample pages from  My Home School Planner...

 

Use the organiser to gather your thoughts....dump the chaos from your mind and offload it onto paper. Once its on paper you don't need to keep your subconscious buzzing with reminders and mental planning! Ink your thoughts and then forget about them, reassured its all there for when you need them later inshaAllah!

My Home School Planner, will walk you through some basic tips for successful planning inshaAllah. Print off as many planning pages as you need for each of your children and their subjects of study.











 How will I keep my planner together?

Its up to you how you bind your Planner.

You could calculate how many of each of the planning pages you need for one year and print off the lot in one go so you can put together using a spiral binder.

Another suggestion would be to print of the Planner onto good quality photo paper or card, and bind, keeping the organiser as a master copy to photocopy as needed throughout the year.

Or the most easiest method, would be to store in a ring binder, that way you can just print off new planning sheets as you go along, and it would also make it easy to separate between children with dividers.

Get your copy today with a free download!

Click link below to download inshaAllah!
My Home School Planner...


Update: If you have problems with the above link, please try this link (I'm not sure if outside the UK there appears to be a different link required)
Try this link here!




 

Jolly Phonics - Montessori fusion lapbook 3

Again long overdue, the 3rd in the Jolly-Montessori fusion style lapbooking series, covering letters  g, o, u l, f, b
As with all the previous lapbooks in the series, 2 download options are available for whatever preference you have for your consonant and vowel colours.

Blue consonants and red vowels (as used with the Learning resources alphabet)
download HERE!

Red Consonants and blue vowels (as used with the Montessori movable alphabet)
download HERE!




Activity after completing the lapbook:

Use a movable alphabet to copy and spell the simple CVC words in the middle of the folder. Help child to sound out the letters  to put together the full word, for example,

taking the word "sip"...
Child copy the word, finding the letters from the movable alphabet to spell. Then ask the child to read each letter sound "s" "i" "p". (make sure the letter sound is sounded out and not the letter name).
Help child to blend the letters to say the word, or ask what word can you hear, and you sound out the letters.

Continue making new words with all letters used from past lapbooks.

child led learning......giving children freedom to educate themselves!

Child-led learning....helping your children study something they are interested in or have a passion for!
It sounds like it would be something which would end with good results right, I mean, if a kid actually wants to do something, he is going do it well with enthusiasm and pleasure...surely!

Since home educating my own family, I have read home schooling articles and books here and there, and it has always resonated with me that if a child is interested, then he will benefit more as appose to finding something mind-numbingly dull and forgetting before the lesson is even over!

Having been raised in a society which accepts the public school arena as an entity which knows best, it can be difficult to break away from what is customarily accepted as the right way and instead opt for something a little more outlandish....like allowing a child to choose for himself what he wishes to study and trusting him in that!
 Over the short 2 and a half years we have been home educating, I have always tried to provide my children with areas of study they are interested in, however, I have still maintained the control and decided what and how they should learn about their topic of interest.

However recently I have been looking more seriously at how children effectively learn and project based schooling or child-interest led education.
Now, I'm running a sort of semi-unschooling experiment, I've told the children they will produce a project of their own choosing and present it however they so desire. All I will do is facilitate them in finding the required information they decide they need and maybe give a few helping prods or nudges if they tell me they need it!
The only bit of "structure" I have given to this project, was asking them to produce a spider diagram of all their project ideas, topics they think they'd like to study, before selecting one and completing a project planner. The purpose of the project planner was to help get their own minds thinking about what they want to do.....to understand Mum isn't going to decide for me, also to let me know what they think they will need so that I can make arrangements to get them what they require, such as books, visits, meetings with people in subject fields, material supplies etc.

I have to say, they are so excited Alhamdulillah, and have never seen them so eager to get on with something mashaAllah!
I tend to steer away from mentioning personal accounts on the blog, however I think there could be a benefit to vaguely sharing our experiences with this as we go with this project inshaAllah, so will update with our progress and experience of child-led learning!

 

Use the project planner to help you to facilitate your children's research needs by knowing what they want....this will probably change as they continue through their project, but this will help to get them (and you!) started!

Download for free inshaAllah HERE!

 

Number towers!

A really great tool in mastering numeracy basics has to be the good old unifix cubes!
There are tonnes of ways these simple little blocks can be utilised to help develop mathematical understanding Alhamdulillah!

A quick lesson which can be pulled together with no planning or prep (always a bonus!) is to use the cubes to help demonstrate number size.

Take some flashcards and face them down on your workspace. Allow the child to select a card at random and read the number, then build a tower with the unifix cubes.
The height of the tower helps to demonstrate the numerical size!

You can extend on this activity by sorting the numbers into order or sorting the towers from largest to smallest. Try muddling up the towers and matching to the cards! ......Maybe you can match them incorrectly and allow your child to spot your "mistake"!
Whatever you do, encourage your child and have fun!

Fruity summer ices!

Alhamdulillah we're enjoying some beautiful warm whether over here in the UK at the moment!
To cool down the temperature as the kiddos sweat it out in the garden, try one of these all-natural home made lollys!

Take some sweet local market fruit... stick them in a juicer....pour into lolly moulds.... freeze....and after a couple of hours you have some yummy 100% natural fruit juice lollys to cool down the kids (and maybe you!) on a lovely hot summers day!

If you don't have a juicer, throw them into a blender, they'll taste just as great inshaAllah!
No preservatives, no e-numbers, no artificial colours or flavouring....just 100% all natural fruit juice!
                                                                                     And what tastes better than that alhamdulillah!

Facilitate an education - don't teach it

Many of us, when we embark on our home education journey, begin with the school-at-home model....you know what I'm saying!

 We ourselves don't know any different. We went to school. School is what we know. We know how to sit at our desk, whilst the teacher provides the information they tell us is needed. We know if the teacher doesn't tell us that we will be tested on something, then we don't need to bother ourselves learning it. We know that the student knows nothing important and the teacher knows everything.

So that's what many of us, when we start teaching our own children at home do.....we do home-school.
We stand at the front of our children and dictate the ABC's and 123's, whilst they protest at our teaching attempts, because they don't want to copy out sentences or write about what the Victorians used to wear!
Later when they are in bed we sob ourselves to sleep, in a panic, questioning, whats wrong with my child and why he is not wanting to learn. If he was at school he would have to sit there all day doing as he is told...

Shoe box marble game!

Take one ordinary shoe-box....and 15 minutes later its transformed into a marble throw game!

You can use these to make maths more fun too....adding the points together makes great addition practise without the drama!

You can make these as simple or as magnificent as you like.....whatever you do, the kids will enjoy the fun of it!

Kids often love seeing ordinary every day objects.....junk....revamped into something they can use. Its exciting! More exciting than a brand new toy from the shop...and lets face it, whether its a new toy or a transformed box the novelty will wear off after a day or so, so why spend all that money!


Use your imagination and encourage the children to use theirs! Give them a box and some craft materials and see what game they can come up with!.... Give siblings a box each so they can all design their own game then all play at the end! Trust me, they'll have fun, and you'll have a couple of hours to put your feet up with a nice cupper.....or catch up on the laundry!

The "I can't homeschool" niggles

So, you have been home educating for a while, and out of nowhere, you start getting the heebie-geebies! Panic is running through your viens as you start looking at your kids and questioning, am I doing the right thing?

Home schooling little preschoolers seemed easy enough, getting out the playdoh to make letter shaped sausages, counting ladybird spots to ten, even learning the times tables up to twelve was a piece of cake once the art of memorisation was mastered.

But now, the world of essay writing, algebra  and Bunsen burners draws ever closer and it seems more than just a little intimidating....and you are the one who is supposed to teach this stuff!

You're looking at the neighbours kids who attend the local Islamic school and are thinking, well they seem to all be doing alright mashaAllah... as you start daydreaming about how you could fill your day without your little chicks scurrying after you everywhere you go.

Maybe the kids are not getting enough stimulation with me at home, you start to doubt as you nervously think about imaginary socially backward teenagers who can't adapt to the society outside their own four walls.

Am I doing the right thing?

If allowing your children to grow up worshipping Allah Alone is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If taking responsibility for your children's welfare and upbringing is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If protecting them from negative influences that can potentially damage their character and Islam is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If helping and guiding them through each of their milestones and being there to share and celebrate with them is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If encouraging your children to think for themselves and nurture an inquisitive mind them is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If giving your children the right to progress at their own level with encouragement and support is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If helping to implant a love of learning and a love of seeking knowledge as they grow into adulthood is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If allowing your children to study the Qur'an and Islamic Sciences freely is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If giving your children confidence and a strong sense of self worth and belief without fear of rejection is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If helping your children grow into independent, responsible adults who can motivate themselves and benefit the society at large is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If helping your children to find good friends who make good companions is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If being able to keep the bonds of family together with strength and unity is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If taking responsibility of what your children learn is appropriate for their age, ability and values is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If stepping up to the plate and being a parent is doing the right thing, then yes you are.

If raising your children in the best way to please Allah, so that when the Angels are sent to start taking them to account they know how to enjoin the good and forbid the evil is doing the right thing, then yes you are!

Take a deep breath, and say Alhamdulillah.
Trust the process.
May Allah rectify all our affairs and make it easy for us and our children.

Home School Mission Statement Planner....

Following the last article regarding writing a mission statement for your home school, this next post seeks to offer abit of a helping hand if you are not quite sure where to start.

The first thing to realise, is there is no right or wrong in this....your home school mission statement is just that...yours. Perhaps it will even change from time to time as your family grows and changes over the months and years.

To aid your drafting process why not try this planner to help organise your thoughts before inking your final statement!
Its just a rough plan to help start your thoughts rolling, to get you thinking about what is important to you.
Once you start, you will probably find some important factors not included in this planner...that's great! You are thinking about what is important to you and your family. This planner hopes to just get the ball rolling in your mind....you do the rest!

Click here to get your FREE download inshaAllah!

Whats your Home Schooling Mission Statement?

mis·sion state·ment

Noun:

A summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual.

Mission statement... sounds like something a high profile business executive would write to keep his desire for global consumer domination, on focus, not something you would find in a home school classroom...right!?

What exactly is a mission statement anyway? Its quite simple actually, it basically sets out the goals of an organisation, its intent.

As "Head Principle" of your own homeschool, every one of us whether consciously or subconsciously have desired goals for our children and their education.

By putting these goals and desires in black and white, we can bring to the forefront of our mind, important points which can help us to keep focused and inspired, especially on those days when we need that inspiration!

Think about your aspirations and goals for your family. What do you want for them Islamicly, academically, emotionally, socially...whatever important factors you have in mind, list them.

Think about both the short term goals as well as the long term.

How can you help your family, after Allah's Help and Guidance, to achieve those objectives?

Your mission statement doesn't need to be a PHD theses, it doesn't even need to be an A4 page long!

 All it needs, is to document what is important to your homeschooling family.

What do you do with your mission statement once its written? Well, keep it somewhere you can find it! Put it in your diary, stick it on the fridge, file it, decorate it and hang it up in your classroom...put it anywhere you know you will find it when you need it!

Having something written in slate, can help to keep you on track, but most importantly, serve as a good reminder to help you through those dark times when home ed doesn't seem to be going so well, those days when you are asking yourself "what do I think I am doing?" or questioning if the kids would be better in school?!

Everyone gets those niggles, and those who say they don't....they are one in a few alhamdulillah. Use your mission statement to inspire and remind you just why you decided to home educate in the first place.

...Most of us need that reminder some time or other...and often the best reminder is your own!


Need help writing a mission statement? Read the second part to this article HERE!