Here at Our Muslim Homeschool, we believe that the most important thing homeschooling parents need to hold onto is their intention. In others words, always remember why you homeschool your children. In order to understand how to homeschool with purpose, Nusaibah Kofar-Naisa also advises keeping your intentions in mind every day.
Nusaibah is a mother of 2 from Nigeria. Her intention to homeschool was to raise children of taqwa. This means ensuring your homeschooling is Allah (SWT) centered, connecting with your children, and remembering the purpose for which we were created.
In Episode 86 of the Raising Mums podcast, I talk to Nusaibah Kofar-Naisa from That Muslim Homeschool Family.
CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON above to find find out more!
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to choose the right subjects for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Islamic Art is a subject that is often overlooked when developing our curriculum, especially with today’s focus on technology. The arts are really essential for growing minds to help our children engage with their personal and cultural understanding. I can help build key skills such as critical and creative thinking as well as developing their fine and gross motor skills. Above all, taking some time to create something from the heart is a wonderful way to glorify Allah (SWT) who created us.
In Episode 85 of the Raising Mums podcast, I talk to Wajiha Khalil, creator, and teacher at Sacred Art Workshops.
Wajiha Khalil is a mother of three boys, a multidisciplinary artist, and a student of sacred knowledge. Through Sacred Art Workshops, she conveys Islamic knowledge to children through visual art and creative discovery. Her process strives to bring an integrated sense of understanding through engaging projects that create a memorable experience, not only beautiful art – but an inspired and curious heart.
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to choose the right subjects for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Taking the plunge into homeschooling your children for some reason seems frightening and you still haven’t been able to bring yourself to make that move to get started because you are afraid to homeschool. There is always a certain amount of risk in anything we do in this life, and homeschooling is no different. Being successful in homeschooling means coming face to face with your biggest fears. However, there are ways you can stop these worries from holding you back from what you know is right. Don’t let fear stop you from homeschooling your children.
In Episode 84 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share three practices you can do to manage your fear around homeschooling!
Remember your intention. Remind yourself why you chose to home-educate your children and why you believe it’s the right thing to do.
Ask yourself,” What is the worst thing that could happen?” and “How likely is that?” Reframe your decision to homeschool as a commitment for the next year or two.
You don’t need to rely upon yourself, only upon Allah.
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to choose the right subjects for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Perhaps you’re just thinking about how to start homeschooling. Maybe you’re in your first year or so and are still figuring out the ropes. It’s really easy these days to get overwhelmed with everything you have to know about homeschooling successfully.
In Episode 83 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share 3 essential truths on how to start your homeschool year strong!
Three Homeschooling Truths
You don’t need to do it all. You don’t need to do all the subjects, all the curriculum, all the things!
There is no rush. Instead of racing ahead, focus on making consistent progress with your child.
You will not regret this time that you spend with your children. The only thing you might regret is all the time and energy you wasted worrying. You are enough. You were made for this moment.
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to choose the right subjects for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Homeschooling has so many benefits! But despite this, homeschool stress occurs in even the most ideal situations! Balancing home and education has its own unique variety of pitfalls. Yes, it’s completely normal to feel stressed, uncertain and overwhelmed sometimes. But is it possible to eliminate homeschool stress and it’s impact on our children? Let’s talk about it!
In Episode 81 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share how to deal with homeschool stress.
“Salam sister I have a bad habit of overthinking and then getting stressed about almost anything and this is reflecting now on my children as they are being homeschooled and are all the time with me. I have tried very hard to be a good mom set routines trying hard to teach them up to their level and keeping the house clean but my stress levels are always high, I get panicky and angry and I keep telling myself if your children were at school they won’t have to witness me being like this. I love your podcast that’s the only thing that keep me going right now! Lots of love”
Listen to my answer by clicking the play button above!
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to craft a curriculum for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Are you running out of ideas, or have a lack of ideas to begin or challenge your young students? Let us help, we share our favourite homeschooling resources of the year from our Muslim homeschool!
In Episode 80 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share our favourite homeschool resources of the year!
If you would like to see the resources I mention in this homeschooling podcast episode…
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to choose the right subjects for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Sometimes we get in a rut in our homeschools and do not make the changes that are necessary for our children to succeed. It takes courage to make big changes in your homeschool – and generally when you have a nagging feeling that something isn’t right it’s time to make a change. In our Homeschool podcast, you’ll learn how to navigate change in your home by placing yourself at the helm of your homeschool, whilst also trusting in Allah and your instincts.
(Affiliate Links may be included. See Disclaimer for more information.)
In Episode 79 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share how we can manage to navigate change in our homeschool and positively move through transitional phases.
This Homeschool Podcast episode discusses:
Embrace the emotions you and your children feel during these periods of transition. Do not feel shame or guilt for a feeling.
According to the author William Bridges, there are three stages to managing a transition: 1. Letting go, 2. Uncertainty 3. Acceptance
Change is a time when we “remember”. Imam Al-Hadad says that remembrance is, “the pillar of the Path, the key to realization, the weapon of the seekers, and the unfolding of sainthood.” – The Book of Assistance.
Trust that whilst you may not understand it, or want it, Allah has a plan. Don’t hold your plans too tightly. This is not the end, but a new beginning.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Allah the Almighty said: I am as My servant thinks I am” (Hadith Qudsi 15) Related by al-Buhkari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn-Majah).
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to craft a curriculum for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
Homeschooling brings its own set of unique challenges. But when life hits you hard, homeschooling is even tougher. When you are having one of those days when everything seems to be falling apart, it’s easy to let the rest of the day go in a downward spiral, some days it’s hard to maintain a sense of hope and gratitude and get back on track to homeschooling better.
In Episode 78 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share how to homeschool better when having a difficult day.
Key Points:
There are times when making something other than homeschooling a priority, is the right thing to do.
And there are times when it’s not!
To determine if you need to take a break, look at your reasons. Do you like them?
Resources Mentioned
Hadith on Waking Up: Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “During your sleep, Satan ties three knots at the back of the head of each one of you, and he seals each knot with the following words: ‘The night is long, so keep on sleeping.’ When that person wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone; when he makes ablution the second knot is undone; and when he prays, all his knots are undone, and he gets up in the morning active and in good spirits, otherwise he gets up in bad spirits and sluggish.” [Al-Bukhāri and Muslim]
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to craft a curriculum for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources, and plan out your year. Create a homeschool experience that aligns with your values and beliefs! Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or anywhere else in the world, this programme will help you to give your children an incredible education at home!
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
At one time or another in our home education journey, many of us deal with a well-known doubt in ourselves that we call imposter syndrome. It can come in many forms, and it usually hits you when you’re discouraged, stressed, or on the way to burnout. It’s that constant feeling that you might be doing something wrong when home educating. How do we overcome homeschool Imposter syndrome especially when it is causing unnecessary stress in an already stressful world?
In Episode 77 of the Raising Mums podcast, I share how to change your negative mindset about home education.
Key Points:
The way we speak to ourselves informs the actions we take.
Negative thinking such as, “You don’t know what you’re doing,” “You’re not good enough,” and “Those mums are so much better than you,” causes you to make poor decisions about the education of your children.
Feeling like a fraud leads you to compromise your values and what is true to you, so try to be someone else or please the people around you.
You do not need to wait until an imaginary day in the future when you’ve got it “all figured out” to feel like a homeschooler. You can enjoy home education TODAY!
Because the way you think about home education directly correlates with how you feel.
If you want to feel better then change the way you think.
Launch Your Homeschool is an online course that will hold your hand and walk you through the beginning stages of homeschooling, built upon the framework of the Charlotte Mason philosophy.
I teach you how to craft a curriculum for your homeschool, how to choose the right resources and plan out your year to create a homeschool experience that aligns with the values and beliefs of your family. Whether you are homeschooling in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, this programme will help you give your children an incredible education at home.
I show you the essential teaching techniques that you’ll need to know to get started. There’s even an entire module on how to manage your time so you can still cook, keep the house tidy and take care of yourself, all whilst homeschooling your children!
As homeschooling mamas, we often have a love-hate relationship with art and crafts. But understanding the value of the activity can help motivate us to not only find more crafts for our children, but to even enjoy them ourselves. When teaching history the Charlotte Mason way, craft activities can be a wonderfully creative way to change up your homeschool history lessons.
(This Blog Post contains affiliate link. Please see Disclaimer for more information.)
Scroll down for 10 crafts for you to usewith your children.
Homeschool history and Charlotte Mason
One of the main aims of the Charlotte Mason philosophy is to help children develop relationships – both with the topic they are studying and those around them. Craft activities are an incredible way to achieve this.
By enjoying a hands-on activity in your homeschool history lessons, your children will have something tangible to experiment with and explore. They have a chance to put their own slant on a history project and express their understanding in a fun and practical way. Additionally, children will build their own memories and visualise historical events and figures as they work their way through each project.
Another key aspect of Charlotte Mason philosophy is nurturing children’s ability to express their learning. Whether this is through an oral narration where they repeat back what they have learnt or through a written narration where they summarise the points they felt were important from their reading. But a history craft, and the discussion it inspires, is also a perfect way to have your child narrate what they understand in a natural, organic way.
10 Homeschool History Crafts
1. Timeline
Having a history timeline is an ideal way to visualise the order of historical events. Children can be their own historian as they record the dates and events of different periods.
A fun way to do this is to create a history timeline on the wall or large poster board, like this one. Children add their own items or images to each historical period. They can add whatever they like: paintings, collages, photos, or little facts.
For the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, you can use some free Seerah timeline images by signing up here.
Masjid al-Aqsa is a place so rich in history that people dedicate their lives to it without ever knowing everything. As Muslims we have a special connection to this place and it makes a valuable addition to any homeschool history curriculum.
Help your children bring the site of al-Aqsa alive by building their own 3D model. Using cereal boxes, plastic bottles and any other junk materials from around the house, children can get hands on with this activity. Use this diagram to get an accurate idea of the layout of the building and its surroundings.
This is a chance to talk about some fantastic moments in Islamic history such as Isra and Miraj, the Crusades and Salahuddin Ayoubi.
In history, there are numerous people for children to remember. Turn this challenge into a fun game by making “Who’s Who?” cards.
How to Play:
Firstly, create individual cards for each important person you are studying.
Secondly, include physical descriptions, achievements and general clues explaining who they are.
Then, one person picks a card at random and keeps it hidden.
The other players have to ask questions to guess who is on the card.
The beauty of this game is it can be replicated for any time period, whether the Wars of the Roses during the time of the Tudors, or the Civil Rights Movement in the US.
As mentioned, Charlotte Mason stresses the importance of children building relationships with the information they are learning. What better topic to relate to than that of your own family history. Life has changed so significantly over the past few decades that you wouldn’t have to research that far back to find interesting things for your children.
Use the instructions hereto make your very own family history journal. It’s important to allow children the freedom to express what they have learnt in their own way. Over time, let them draw, write, paint, or stick in photos and collages.
5. Shoebox Time Periods
This craft is extremely versatile and can be applied to whichever time period you’re studying. Use materials and items from around your house and grab a shoebox. Inside the shoebox, build a scene that represents a scene or location from your history lesson.
Here are some examples:
If studying Ancient Egypt, you can build a pyramid, add the river Nile, and draw hieroglyphs around the side.
For the Victorians, you could fashion a traditional Victorian street in London, complete with small toy models that children used to play with.
If studying the American Civil War, you can build a depiction of the Battle of Gettysburg from 1863.
Using model clay or playdough, you and your children can help each other to recreate famous historical buildings. Look at photos or documentaries, and discuss the history of the buildings as you work. You could build:
The Great Wall of China
The Colosseum in Rome
Pyramids
The Ka’ba
The Lincoln Memorial, etc.
7. Time Travelling Homeschool History Passport
As you go through your various history projects, help children feel connected to and excited by the many different cultures and ways of life you are discovering. A great way to do this is to encourage children to keep their own record.
Using the notebook tutorial for the Family History Journal,create a Time Travelling Passport. Children can draw things they discover about different time periods, stick in images they find during research, or note down their narrations. This craft can go alongside your Book of Centuries [insert purchase link here] and together they will make a wonderful record of your child’s historical discoveries and learning journey.
Another great addition to this activity would be the Magic Treehouse books [insert Amazon link here]. This series features two children who travel back to different time periods in a magical treehouse. Your children can use their passport to document their own time-travelling adventures!
If there is one thing the internet has an abundance of, it’s recipes! What’s more, some recipes are child-friendly and will make a lovely addition to your homeschool history curriculum. Using different time periods and cultures, you can have themed cooking sessions. Try some of these to start off with:
The next time you venture to the park or a local nature walk set your children a DIY tools challenge. During the Stone Age prehistoric people utilised stone, trees and leaves to craft basic tools. See what your children can create and bring home as a prehistoric souvenir. They could even draw their creations in their Time Travelling Passport!
Artistic expression has changed significantly. From cave paintings of mammoths to Michelangelo’s depictions of the Book of Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A great way for children to connect and relate to these works of art is to try and replicate them for themselves.
Because of the wide range of art projects to choose from, this project is perfect for children of different ages. They can pick any image they feel comfortable with, whether it’s a cave sketching, Egyptian drawings from tombs or complete Tudor paintings.
Don’t forget to add the dates of the original works of art in yourBook of Centuries!
As you can see, homeschool history lessons don’t have to mean reading long biographies and composing written narrations. Craft activities are a creative form of narration and an opportunity for your child to spend time with the information they have encountered. Therein lies the beauty of the Charlotte Mason philosophy – you can mould the lessons to suit you and your children!
