TJ’s Homeschool Center

I’ve been busy updating and reorganizing the TJ Homeschool Center site and here’s a look at some of the new/updated offerings:

Recent Posts:

• Schooling vs. Education
• Homeschool Laws & Regulations
• Homeschool Rules & Expectations
• School Year Caleandars
• Transcripts
• Course of Study Forms
• Typical Courses of Study for US Students
• Getting Started – Useful Homeschool Sites
• Time4Learning’s Welcome to Homeschooling Guide
• Back to Homeschool Activity Book
• Homeschooling Your Child
• Homeschool.com’s Homeschool Planning & Organizatio…
• Brief Introduction to Homeschooling
• 101 Questions Every Homeschooling Parent Should As…
• Back to Homeschool Coloring Page
• TJ’s Back to Homeschool Resource Kit
• Getting Started Preparing for Back to School (Home…
• Student School Supply List
• Master School Supply List

Hope you’ll stop by!

 

PREPARING FOR BACK TO SCHOOL HOMESCHOOL

Here are a few tips for organizing for a new school year.

Create/Find and Organize Administrative Papers

Set up a binder or other storage system and make/gather all administrative papers and plans

1. Create school year calendar with breaks and quarters/semesters, etc.
2. Create a course of study (list of classes and books/resources)for each student for the year
3. Plan out each class for each student for the school year against the school year calendar(i.e. make a syllabus/schedule of lessons)
4. Collect/make needed teacher admin papers such as attendance logs, grading sheets, etc and file; keep master copies in a designated place such as a binder.
5. Set up student organizers (weekly or daily assignment sheets, calendars, reference papers, charts, checklists, reading logs, etc); make/find necessary papers for organizer

(I currently use presentation books –books with page protectors preattached)

Set Procedures/Routines

1. Create a daily household schedule and post it in study area
2. Set up a school schedule routine:
   1. Set school start and end times
   2. Designate breaks times (bathroom, water, snacks etc)
3. Set up guidelines for work to be submitted:
   1. Headings on papers (establish a format)
   2. Expected format of work itself (i.e. fold paper in half, don’t write in margins, number the pages, neatness, how to show final math answers, etc.)
4. Set up procedure for submission and return of “homework”/Class work
   1. When  and where should homework/classwork be turned in
   2. Where to pick up after graded/reviewed
5. Establish Make-up work policies
6. Set consequences for not completing work 

Set Up Classroom/study area

1. Set expectations/rules for study/class time (Make poster to hang in study area) and review with student(s)
2. Post daily class schedule in classroom
3. Set up study/class area (let kids help)

                                         i.    student desks or personal study areas

                                       ii.    walls/bulletin board displays

                                      iii.    supply area

1. Obtain student’s personal supplies and distribute
2. Set up any centers (stationary or portable (file folder center, for example or a science center)

Shopping

To build enthusiasm for the new year, take kids shopping for clothes and school supplies and let them set up their backpacks/school supply pouches, etc.

 

 

 

Scheduling the Islamic Homeschooling Day

Scheduling the Islamic homeschooling day

Responsibilities and needs vary from family to family, of course, but here is a general step by step plan you can use to schedule your homeschool day. This plan is more so geared toward the homeschoolers who have few outside activities (like us).

1. Start with the PRAYER times

Go back roughly 30 minutes before the call of the Adhaan and set this as your chore/clean up/prayer prep time until the Adhaan.

Go up 30 minutes from the call of the Adhaan to allot for time for prayer, thikr, and Quraan reading/reciting after the call of the Athaan.

1. Schedule BEDTIMES AND WAKE UP times

For older kids, you may decide to allot bed preparation and free time after ishaa to come up with a realistic bed time. (Also establish mom’s bedtime and wake up times)

1. Schedule in MEAL PREP, EATING, AND MEAL CLEAN UP times (main meals and snacks)

 

1. Schedule blocks of time for different SCHOOL sessions/classes. 

 

For older kids, you might schedule 1 hour blocks of time, planning for 45 minutes of instruction/studying and 15 minutes for transition/bathroom, etc.

For younger kids, you may want to schedule 30 minute blocks, planning for 20 minutes of actual instruction.

And of course, this all depends upon the number of classes you will conducting each day and how much time  needed for each class/study period as well as other household duties.

1. Factor in any other duties such as OUTSIDE ENGAGEMENTS, grocery shopping, etc. or things that depend on other people. You may need to move this step up higher in the plan (most likely step 4) if you have considerable outside duties. We have very few outside activities and so this was not as great of a priority for me.

 

  SAMPLE DAILY ISLAMIC HOMESCHOOL SCHEDULE

 

4-5 am                  Prayer prep/pray/Quraan

5-6                         Quraan memorization/review; Mom free time or daily planning

6-7                         Mom chores; wake up younger kids who aren’t obligated to pray;

                              morning routine

7-8                         Breakfast prep/eat/clean up

8-9                         AM Chores/School Prep

9-10                       Class Period I    (core classes) (Quraan/Arabic are good to start with)

10-10:15                AM Snack/bathroom break

10:15-11                Class Period II    (core classes)

11-12                     Class Period III (core classes)

12:00 – 12:30        Dhuhr chores; lunch prep

12:30-1:30             Pray/Thikr; Quraan; lunch     

1:30 – 2:15            Class Period IV (core or elective classes or study hall/homework)

2:15-3:00               Class Period V (core or elective classes or study hall/homework)

3:00 – 3:30            Asr Chores; snack time

3:30-4:00               Pray/Quraan

4-6:30                    Meal prep and eating/clean up

6:30-7:00               Maghrib Chores

7:00-7:30               Pray/Quraan

7:30-8:00               Free time or daily review of subjects

8:00-8:30               Ishaa chores

8:30-9:00               Pray Ishaa/Quraan

9:00-9:30               Prepare for Bed (bedtime routine)

9:30-10:00             Bedtime I or free time for older

10:00                     Bedtime II for middle kids

11:00                     Bedtime III for oldest of kids

 

 

Improving Your Homeschool

I’ve just put together a little section at TJ about ways you can improve your homeschooling. It is just a miscellaneous selection of things to help, in sha’ Allah and I hope to add to it from time to time

Improving Your Homeschool

Bloom’s Taxonomy
Learning Styles
Lose the School in Homeschool
Seven Laws of Teaching
You can access this section at http://talibiddeenjr.blogspot.com, TJ’s Homeschool Center.

You can find these links in the left navigation menu area or just check the very bottom left for the TJ archive under February.

 

Wellness Wheels: Models for Homeschooling (and parenting)?

 

I was Googling life skills resources one day and came across some graphics which I thought were interesting.

I’m sure there are many terms for them, but one term for them was a “wellness wheel:”

 

Source

 

Another variation:

Source

 

Source

 

The Wellness Wheel demonstrates how the dimensions come together to promote a more complete well-being.
When all six dimensions come together equally, the wheel is balanced. Lack of any of the six produces an unbalanced whole – this is normal!
Effort should be balanced among the dimensions in order for overall well-being to improve.

Source: http://www.sa.usf.edu/wellness/about/wheel.htm

As I looked over them, I thought, what a great model not just for life skills but for homeschooling as well. As homeschoolers, it is easy to fall into the rut of focusing heavily on the secular subjects. As can be seen from the wheel, wellness, by Allah, comes from attempting to make sure that individuals are more well balanced (not just book smart, but street smart, money smart, has adequate social skills, knowledgeable about the deen (religion) as well as the ability to apply it to life, etc).

In addition, you can take this model into your secular courses to create a more enriched learning experience as well as one which is more hands on and related to real life (as opposed to knowledge for the sake of knowledge) by incorporating activities from among the different components (add physical exercise to a math drill or create more critical thinking opportunities in math instead of just doing math problems; learn about how a particular math concept is used in a particular occupational field, show real life applications for concepts studied).

If you are interested in learning more about the wellness wheel and its components, scroll back up to the “Source” links or Google “wellness wheel.”