My 11 year old is such a smart little guy, masha Allah, but not the studying/school type. So its hard to get him interested in studying.

Lately though, he’s been doing better (better being relative here, lol) and though not perfect, he has been cooperating more. So I am  trying to be more accommodating.

Yesterday, I called him for spelling. To my surprise, he had a good attitude. He asked me could he type the words on the computer. My first instinct was to say no, get a pencil and paper, but since he was cooperating, I thought, why sour the punch?

But………………….. I was at my desk and he was way over on the other side of the room (ok, well it wasn’t that far) and I couldn’t see the words that he typed…….ok, he could have come closer but we had just fooled around earlier getting Yahoo Messenger on his computer so that popped into my head.

And boy what a winner that was!

So I IM’d him and called out the spelling word. He typed it in and sent it. Boy did he get a kick out of that (no writing!) and he said, you know, this can help my typing skills too!

If he misspelled a word, I typed it in correctly. I even had him type misspelled words several times in a row.

He didn’t want to stop when it was time to break for lunch!

Ok, I’m so not posting EVERYDAY on our 100 Easy Lessons progress  (smile)

but just wanted to share a few printables that I have made to go along with our studies.Yesterday was day 3 for us.

I need to establish a regular time everyday with the little guy, but its just so hard to juggle homeschooling so many, he makes student # 7.  So insha Allah, I’ll work on paying more attention to this.  Yesterday we didn’t get to the lesson until the afternoon but I was trying hard to make sure that we did do it.

Our progress thus far:

Day 1 -Lesson 1 and 2

Day 2 – Lessons 3 and 4

Day 3 – Lessons 4 (for review) and 5

My intent was to just do one lesson a day, but well, we just play it by ear and see what he’s up for. He’s a smart little thing, masha Allah but cannot sit still. Ok, that’s nothing new for moms but its just so funny because I still see him as my baby and so I am trying hard not too be too strict, but let him know that its time to settle down for a few minutes and learn. Its just hard to believe that he’s on the brink of “official homeschooling.”

Daily Log

100Easy Lessons Daily Log – My pal Umm Samyrah gave me this idea (ok, its not a new earth shattering idea, but I hadn’t really thought of doing it). You just log in the lessons you did each day and note any problems. That version is my printer saver where the columns are smaller so I can fit in two columns of dates as opposed to one.  For the original one column worth of dates, see this 100 Easy Lessons daily log – version 1

The Handwriting Portion of the Lessons

Each lesson has a handwriting portion.  On one review I read that someone said they just skip this section.  We include it as its kind of fun for my little guy.  He only likes to trace though, not write on his own as its “too hard” (the book says give some for tracing and then some to write on his own…so I don’t push.  Donna Young has some handwriting worksheets specifically for 100 Easy Lessons, but to save on printing paper, I just make dots (tracing and starting dot) for him.  One thing I do that I learned from somewhere else, is that after he writes/trace, he picks which letter he thinks he wrote the best and then he circles it. He LOVES that part. If time permits, I may make up my own worksheets (as those who know me would expect), but for right now, the old fashioned method of handwriting it for him works………

What supplements are you using, if any?

The great thing about this program is that you really don’t need supplements……but sometimes you feel like you just got to have them (see my printables above, lol). I think Donna Young has flashcards to use with this book.  With the little dots and lines under them.  I was thinking about the flashcards, but for right now, simplicity is the key for me  (time and energy wise), so I am trying hard to resist making anything else to use (other than what I have made).

If you are using the program, do you just use it as is or use/make any supplements?

Our goal to finish by: March 18, 2010, insha Allah……………………………

Want to Try 100 Easy Lessons…..?

If you are considering purchasing it, you can help support TJ, by buying from Amazon with the link below

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Umm Ibrahim

You’ve probably heard of this book by Siegfried Engelman.  If not, well, the title’s pretty self explanatory, lol.

Well, a friend of mine recently gave me a copy of the book and  last week,  I embarked on the journey of  using it with my four year old.  (I say embark as the dictionary defines it: “Proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers” —-the danger being that we won’t finish. I am notorious about changing books midstream……..but that’s a whole other post……)

Anyway, the book is highly rated….I’ve only read a few negative comments about it out of dozens of positive ones…(you can see 516 reviews of it at Amazon–of course you  probably won’t want to sift through them ALL , lol).  But they are useful. The most important thing is to use them only if your child is ready, and that goes with any curriculum/book.

Trying it Again

Ok, I have to confess I have tried to use this book before….eons ago with my first homeschooler. But, I had borrowed it from the library and it was on hold so I had to return it before I could finish it.  Now, I remember back then, also that I probably hit a snag early on and wouldn’t have been patient enough to continue with it but I’ll never know……maybe that’s good for this time around?  All kids are different, so it may  not work with one, but it may work with another.

I try to keep in mind what some of the reviews say…..don’t start if your kids aren’t ready…..it may start slow, but it picks up and is so worth it….

Scripted Lessons

So for new homeschoolers or those who like everything laid out, this book has scripted lessons. It tells you EXACTLY what to say.  Sounds great, but after having homeschooled for 11 years, I’ve learned to put my own spin on things and this is what the author suggests you not do…free lance, unless you have gone through the program once or twice. The danger, he says is that you may try to become too fancy the first time around and find out that you probably should not have modified some of the things you did earlier.

Well, that may be a hard one for me, as I am finding that I am already putting my spin on things and I do find scripted lessons a little confining. They seem like a great concept and I will admit, I did not practice using the lessons beforehand (he suggests making a dry run before you start the book).  He says that if you follow the program religiously the first time you present it, “the outcome is guaranteed.”  Well, we’ll see. I know that I will not follow it religiously, ok being honest here, but I really do like having something structured and will try to stick to it as best as I can, Allahu ilm. But I still believe that with everything, you have to put your  own spin on it for YOUR child.

Our Progress

As I know that I have a hard time sticking with things, I thought I would do a series here at the TJ blog about our progress.  (Hoping it will help me be more accountable by posting it publicly, lol)…..Maybe it would help others who are using it but having trouble staying with it? So anyway, that’s the thinking. So, I hope that I can record some progress to you, maybe weekly (but won’t promise, lol….we’ll see how it goes).

100 Easy Lessons Blog Ring?

Ok, maybe not a ring, but are you a blogger using 100 Easy Lessons or thinking about it?  Why not write about it on your blog (if you haven’t already?)

If you are considering writing or writing about it, please leave a comment with your link. As I (hopefully) post our progress, I’ll include your blog link as well, insha Allah.

My pal, Umm Samyrah over at The HomeschoolinUmmi is using 100 Easy Lessons as well and writing about her progress….stop by and see how she’s doing at her  The Homeschoolin’ Ummi blog.

*******

Please make duaa for us.  My little guy, 4, has been asking for “school” work and so this book really helps me because I don’t have to plan. Wish they had 100 easy lessons for math, lol (or do they?) smile……………………….

Want to Try 100 Easy Lessons…..?

If you are considering purchasing it, you can help support TJ, by buying from Amazon with the link below

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Goal Tracker:

Our tentative date for completion is March 18, 2010,insha Allah.

Gave myself a goal to try to help stay on track.

(It’s over 100 days as we won’t do lessons on the weekends and I added some cushion in…..)

There’s supposed to be a nice little countdown widget here, but me and Word Press and widgets just do NOT get along lol.

Have you used/do you use 100 Easy Lessons?

Earlier this month I mentioned that we had worked on a lesson for duaa. This was an informal lesson for us where I just read from an article and came up with the activities as we went along.

After the lesson, I put together some ideas for a more formal unit on duaas, but didn’t get around to finishing it.  Recently I teamed up with Umm Abdul Basir to get together Islamic Bulletin Boards and that gave me the motivation to finally finish knocking out the lesson, masha Allah.

So, you can download this 37 page unit (16 mini lessons) here, insha Allah.

Duaa Unit

I hope you find it  helpful…….

And don’t forget to stop by Islamic Bulletin Board’s Duaa Bulletin Board page for free files to create your own Duaa Bulletin Board to go with your studies!

Several weeks ago, we did an impromptu lesson on Jinns.  Through one of my homeschooling groups, I learned about a great site with authentic articles and treatises which I think is perfect to use as source material for your homemade homeschooling lessons: http://abdurrahman.org/character/index-shytaan.html (this is the main page for works regarding Jinns/Shayateen.

As I said, this wasn’t a planned lesson that we did, so I just got some of the articles from the site and started reading them to the kids.  As I went through, I jotted down points that I made (so that I could go back and review them). I am learning more and more, insha Allah that sometimes you just have to forego the fancy lesson plans and worksheets that you don’t have the time to make and tell yourself just do it,  just pick up a book, article and read it and see where it takes you.

After the lesson, I decided to make up some more structured lessons and insha Allah, the next time around we’ll use those.  I took some of the things that we had gone over, some of the impromptu activities that we had done and added some ideas that I thought would have been great to do as well.

One thing I have learned is that the longer I homeschool, better I get at giving impromptu lessons, masha Allah.  Instead of just reading the article, I may stop and think, hey, we can make up a little chart or brainstorm more on this and we go at it, so its not just me reading. Another helpful thing, which I am sure most of us do anyway, is to stop and make sure that they comprehend what’s just been said.  When we get to a little break in the material, before going on to the next section, I take a few seconds to review concepts from not just the last section, but preceeding sections.

So if you are feeling that you have to have everything planned out, and yes that’s a great thing to do, don’t panic if you are unprepared, make the best of it, but do try to do something.  I look back at all the times I could have at least done something, but didn’t because I wasn’t prepared.  My advice to others, and myself, is that even if its just reviewing something from previous sessions, just do something.  Even if you are just reading an article to your kids, just do something.

Saying all that, lol, here is my lesson on Jinns for elementary students.  I like to keep away from explaining things in my own words as I feel its better to leave it up to the scholars, so most of the text is straight from articles. Of course, at times, a lower level  explanation must be made.

There are 8 lessons in total and activities to go along with them.

Lesson 1: What is a Jinn?

Lesson 2: Why Were Jinn Created?

Lesson 3: Everyone Has a Jinn

Lesson 4: Types of Jinn

Lesson 5: Do Jinns Eat and Drink?

Lesson 6: Do Jinns Have Powers?

Lesson 7: Where Do Jinns Live?

Lesson 8: Protection from Jinn

Creations of Allah Lessons: Jinns

You may have noticed I’ve caught the bug for writing E How articles.  I am a process oriented person and am always writing processes for my kids to follow from  morning routines to how to do an algebra problem. So I guess I am just naturally a “How To” person, so E How fits in perfectly.

On the blog, I’ve written many how to’s (though not generally labeled as such) as well.

So, I thought that I would create a place to keep the articles handy for my use as well as for visitor browsing.

So here is a collection of the How To’s that I have written so far for E How.

Every now and then, insha Allah, once I get a handful or so, I’ll post them in this category.  If you get bored and are ever looking for some quick tips to read or if you want to see if there’s a better way (or just a plain way to) do something homeschool related, you can look in that handy spot.

If you see a tip that looks interesting, I would really appreciate you popping over to E How to check it out as I am in the Writer’s Compensation Program and get compensated for them   And if you feel the tip might help someone else, again, I’d appreciate if you’d pass the link on………………..

How to Help Your Child Write Numbers Correctly While Doing Work

How to Review Multiplication Daily With Your Child

How to Review Subtraction With Your Child Daily

How to Teach Children to Write 3 Digit Numbers in Expanded Form

How to Teach Children to Write 2 Digit Numbers in Expanded Form

How to Establish a Daily Islamic Studies Review Time for Your Family

How to Teach Arabic Bathroom Vocabulary to Your Preschooler

How to Review Addition Daily with Your Child

How to Check the Reading Level of a Text in Word 2007

How to Make a Homemade Mini Whiteboard

How to Make an Educational Wall Calendar

How to Teach Kids to Read Arabic

How to Teach the Arabic Alphabet to Kids

How to Set Up A Kids’ Virtual Practice Center

and my very first article: How to Teach ‘How To’ Paragraph Mini Lessons

By the way, if you see any typos in the articles, I would be grateful if you’d let me know. 

Umm Ibrahim

In a previous post from two years ago, I wrote about the dilemma of whether or not to teach grammar in 1st grade.

I’m still up in the air, but some of my kids were ready for grammar in first grade and some were not.  So with the last one that was, we did grammar. I came up with a set of grammar review questions to use in our weekly or daily grammar review sessions (at the beginning of class or elsewhere in the day.

Grammar Review

First Grade

What kind of sentence is this? ______________________ With what mark does it end?

Give me an example of a (telling, question, command) sentence.

What is the telling part (predicate) of this sentence?

What is the naming part (subject) of this sentence?

Give me a word that means about the same as (synonym of)  __________________

What is a (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun)? (Give definition of) and give an example.

What part of speech is the word _____________?

Tell the part of speech of each word in the sentence ____________________.

Show how a (object) belongs to (person, thing).

Capitalize this sentence correctly.

Is this a now or past verb?

This is a now verb, make it a past verb.

This is a past verb, make it a now verb.

What does plural mean?

How do we make the word ____________ plural. Why (what is the rule?) (give a word ending in  ay, Cy, x, sh, ch, s; a regular plural, an irregular plural.

What two words make up the contraction ___________________?

What is the contraction for __________ and ____________?

Give an adjective to describe the noun ____________________.

Compare these two objects. (er ending) Compare three objects. (est ending)

Put these three words in ABC order.

What is the opposite of ____________________?

I basically just go through the list and ask as many questions as time allows. Sometimes its just a few questions, sometimes the mood is right for going through them all.  I compiled this from the subjects in our grammar book, so of course for future kids, we’ll just start with the beginning and only go over those concepts covered so far and then add on with what’s on the list as we go.

If you’ve seen the Salaat/thikr Bulletin board post, you’ve seen the little books that I made up for after salaat atkhaar (plural of thikr, remembrance) for each salaat. While handy, I found that it was hard for us to keep up with the books and share them (we’d all need them after the prayers) and they were a little overwhelming as there were a lot of athkaar.

So, I made up some “cards”  (they are kind of huge), with a checklist format so that we can remember to make certain athkaar after salaat.

I left them in Word so that you can change the athkaar if you wish. These are just the ones I wanted my kids (and myself) to say at the very least after every salaat, insha Allah.

I taped these cards under our Salaat Bulletin Board clocks (the Fajr card under the Fajr clock, etc.) for quick reference.  Our board is near the area where we pray so its handy.

Download:

After Salaat Athkaar Cards

Today we had an EXCELLENT lesson on making duaas, masha Allah.  Several weeks ago, an excellent article by Shaykh Fawzaan on the Manners of Duaa was posted in one of my E Groups. I was excited about using this to review duaas with the kids. 

If there’s one thing that I think I have done right by my kids, Allah knows best, is to stay up on our daily duaas and encourage them to consistently ask Allah for aid and things they want/need.

I had wanted to make up a little lesson on this topic using this article, but never got around to it.

Today, I finally said, just do it. I didn’t have any fancy lessons prepared, I just decided to read the article.  Sometimes I find that I put off doing a lot of stuff because I want it presented in a nice, engaging manner. While this is honorable, I find that I miss out on so many great opportunities to impart some knowledge (Islamic or otherwise)either searching on the net or making up my own stuff. So today was the day I had decided to just plow through it, sans worksheets and fluff.

Well,  because I don’t like to do anything totally blind, I wrote down a few starter questions to lead into reading the article. I kept it simple.  That worked great. My intro (of questions that I posed to the kids) was a great lead in and then we just went through the article. I had to do some in head editing here and there as all things were not needed at that time, so the lessons didn’t flow 100% as you might like them to, but it still worked.

As we read the article, I added some commentary in and used examples that the kids could relate to (of things they might ask duaa for). Here and there I stopped to ask questions to make sure they remembered what we had gone over. I took notes of good points (ones to pat myself on the back for, lol), that came up as well as questions the kids asked so that I could do a write up later.  I figure, as I have different grade levels, we’ll want to go over this again.

So, I am in the process of preparing a teaching guide/lesson of what we did , as well as things we didn’t do, but after reflecting upon what we did, things that would be great to emphasize/do.

Look for it over the next week, insha Allah, as I am putting on the finishing touches.

I hope you find it helpful and hope that you not only benefit from the actual materials but also from my little candor that shows that although planning is a key to successful homeschooling, sometimes you just gotta get in there and give what you got (and that it can be pretty good as well).  But if  you are like me and procrastinate a bit too much to make it “perfect,” don’t wait for my lessons, jump into today with the article!

Umm Ibrahim