A Ramadan Journal for Little Muslims - Ihsaan Home Academy

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I made a Ramadan journal for Muslim children titled 'My Mini Ramadan Journal' last year. I wanted to share it on my blog, but I got carried away with other things until days into Ramadan. Here comes another Ramadan, so I decided to take the opportunity to share it now. I hope it's not too late.

This is a simple, yet informative journal that children between the ages of 3 - 10 will enjoy in shaa Allah. Actually, it could be for children of any age. The little writing part can be done by the parent/educator when the child is too young to write. 

Here is what the journal consists of:

1. Ayah about Ramadan

Before officially beginning using the journal, children are introduced to an ayah (verse) from the Qur'an that mentions the revelation of the Qur'an and more. 

2. Countdown page

The countdown is for children to color-in each day of Ramadan that passes. It helps them keep track of their progress in the journal and of the days of Ramadan. It's also fun to look forward to coloring a box every day.

3. Thirty (30) pages of activities

There are thirty pages of activities, each dedicated to a day in the month of Ramadan. Each page has an empty box at the top, an image of what the activity is about below, a fun fact after that, and two lines for writing. 

The first line is where children (or their parents) would write what they are grateful for. The next line is where they would make a du'a. The purpose of adding this part is to encourage Muslim children to actively think about the blessings in their lives, be grateful, and to practice turning to Allah first for everything they want in life.

4. Thirty (30) Ayat cards

I got this part of the activity from a blog called Parenthood Muslim Style. Click the name to be taken to the blog. You can download this part of the activity there. I use it in my activity a bit differently than the sister uses it. 

Related Posts:

FREE Ramadhan 1439 (2018) Simple Planner

Ramadhan + Eid 1438/2017 Lapbook (FREE)

Ramadhan Qur'an Reading Challenge

Free Ramadhan 1438/2017 Recipe & Meal Planner

The cards basically have an Ayah on each and an image representing the Ayah. Each day of Ramadan, children search for the verse in the Qur'an. These cards can be used in many ways. It was a perfect fit for my activity and I didn't have to make new cards. May Allah reward the sister with the best of rewards for making these cards!

5. Laylatul Qadr section

After 20 days, there is a section with Ayat and ahadith about Laylatul Qadr. Children get to learn about this blessed night found in the last ten nights of Ramadan.

6. Eid Page

The last part of the activity is a page about the celebration of Eid.

It has Eid Mubarak and a du'a of Eid. Below, there's a space for children to write what they got for Eid as gifts and a place to write the gifts they plan on giving others. 

How to Use this Activity

1. Prepare the activity by printing it and binding it into a book. Next, print out the 30-Ayat cards after downloading it from the blog, then cut them out into cards. Get coloring pencils, a pencil, and glue. 

2. Start the journal by generally talking to your children about Ramadan. You can also read verses from the Qur'an, read ahadith, watch videos, etc.

3. One day at a time, mark the Ramadan day on the countdown page by coloring the corresponding box/number. 

4. Glue the first Ayah card on the page for the activity of the day. It should be glued in the empty box. Search for the Ayah in the Quran (audio or book). Read it or listen to it, then read the meaning (translation, if needed).

5. Talk about the word of the day mentioned on the card. 

6. Read the fun fact of the day and discuss. 

7. Next, children should write about things they are grateful for and ask Allah for something through a du'a. 

8. Once you reach the last ten days of Ramadan, read the information about Laylatul Qadr. Feel free to expand by doing many other things related to the specific topic. 

9. After the 29 or 30 days of Ramadan, go to the Eid page and write the gifts received and the ones to be given.

10. Enjoy EID!

Goals

• To learn about Ramadan
• To practice searching for verses in the Qur'an
• To listen to the Qur'an and build a bond
• To learn new Arabic vocabularies from the Qur'an
• To learn fun facts and be informed
• To practice gratitude
• To practice remembering Allah and asking Him for everything
• To look forward to doing something productive every day of the month of Ramadan
• To make learning easy, straight forward, and FUN

DOWNLOAD JOURNAL HERE

I truly hope this mini journal will benefit everyone who downloads and uses it. Please, share this post with others so they too could benefit in shaa Allah. May Allah forgive us all for our sins, guide us, help us catch Laylatul Qadr, and make Ramadan successful for us. 

Ramadan Mubarak!

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Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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Our Updated Full Kindergarten Curriculum - Ihsaan Home Academy

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If you regularly follow this blog, then you've most likely come across the post where I detailed our Kindergarten curriculum. Well, guess what? There's an update! I intended to write about this months ago, but as you probably already know, I was away for a while. Now I'm back, so let me update you on our curriculum.

One of the reasons why I like sharing our homeschooling journey on this blog is to give ideas to other homeschoolers or aspiring homeschoolers. It is to also to encourage others to not be afraid to explore, make plans, change plans, take a break if needed, and know that each family experiences home education differently. 

In the previous full Kindergarten curriculum, the daily plan was to go through a list of subject curricula that I authored, each one taking no more than a few minutes at a time. Although that was all nice and easy because it took almost no time, it did get a bit stressful for me to constantly keep track of the next subject to cover and where we had previously stopped. It seemed too rigid for me, especially for Kindergarten!  

So, I decided to make it more flexible and fun!

Here's what we ended up doing instead and still continue to do...

We now start the day by going over the weekly Surah of our choice and learn the meaning.

Next, I let my daughter choose at least 1 or 2 subjects she would like to do after making sure that we do something in Math and Language Arts. But, here's another major change, I allow her to choose whatever page she prefers. She could literally choose the first page today and go to the last page tomorrow. 

What I find fascinating about this new method is that it keeps us both stress-free and allows my daughter to feel in charge of what she's learning. She enjoys it more and is excited about the new lesson. Another interesting observation was seeing her more focused and willing to do more pages than required. I literally have to sometimes force her to stop. It's now a 'game of learning' for her. She always says, "I want to do more!" She even cries sometimes when I stop her. 

Since I created each subject curriculum keeping in mind what I believe she should know or be familiar with by the end of Kindergarten, I'm not stressed about what she learns first or last. By the end of the school year, we would most likely cover all pages and even go over many of them multiple times, in shaa Allah. 

At the end of our homeschooling day, I read aloud from her preferred book and we do Arts and Crafts if she wants to. We go out to the garden or park as often as possible for Nature Walks or to enjoy the fresh air. I also allow her to help me with Cooking and Baking at least once a week (still working on it). We do homeschooling 3 to 4 days a week and remember to keep it fun!

Don't be afraid to make changes along your homeschooling journey. Try different things and see what works best for you, and most importantly, your children. I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and got some tips out of it. Until next time in shaa Allah, assalaam 'alaikum!

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Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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Our Kindergarten Curriculum plus Free Printables - Ihsaan Home Academy

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Check out our updated version!

Kindergarten is one of the easiest and most fun grade levels to teach and a good start for anyone new to home educating. Depending on where you live, Kindergarten may not be a requirement for your child. Even if it isn't, I believe this is the best time to practice and get ready for First Grade. I've put together a simple curriculum that my daughter and I will be using throughout the year in shaa Allah.




Before going through the curriculum, let me first outline some important aspects that may help you.

Days of School in the Year
As you can see, it's almost November, and it's now that I'm sharing our KG curriculum. That's because I don't have to follow the exact conventional school-year; neither do you. Unless there's an exception in your country or state, you can make your own school calendar.

We plan on having 200 days of school even though the average conventional school covers about 180 days. Instead of having specific days that we must do school work, I went ahead and planned it by the number of days. What I mean is that we will have Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. If we miss a day, we'd just catch up on the following day without stressing out. We'll check each day as we go in shaa Allah.

After every four weeks of school, we'll have a week of break. That's the general plan, but there will also be times (i.e. Ramadhan) with more than a week of school break.

We'll also leave room for change in our weekly schedule. At first, I wanted to have specific school days (i.e. Saturday to Wednesday), but I'm now leaning towards allowing varieties in case we want to do something new as a family, go out, spend quality time, etc. So some weeks, it may be Saturday to Wednesday, and other weeks, it may be different. As long as we put in the number of days in the week, that's all that'll matter.

Hours of Education in a Day
During preschool, it barely took us an hour to do everything. Now for Kindergarten, since we'll be doing a little more, the plan is to go for a maximum or 2.5 hours. If we do less, great, but definitely not more than 2.5 hours. And even during that time, my daughter will not be sitting the whole time. I may need her attention for a little while, but I wouldn't mind her jumping around if she chooses to do so at any given time.
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Curriculum
Subjects
We'll be covering lots of subjects, but that's only because I categorized them in a way that makes it easy for me to check as we go along. It won't take my daughter long to go through them at all.

Preschool was full of hands-on activities, workbooks, reading, we took a break, changed the method of teaching, and tried different ways. My daughter had a lot of fun, which is the most important thing, but it did require a lot of work from my part.

This year, I'm planning on making it simple, to the point, and effective in shaa Allah. Instead of the unit studies approach I previously wanted to go for, I've decided to leave that for another year. Kindergarten is the year where students are introduced to various concepts for general understanding. So, I've decided to cover the basics by making each individual curriculum along with read-out-loud. My daughter loves when I read to her, so she would definitely enjoy that part in shaa Allah.




Now on to the curriculum.

Qur'an: We'll go through Juz' 'Amma just for familiarization purpose, although, she does tend to memorize most of the time. We'll listen to the recitation, talk about the meaning, and repeat the same Surah as many times as we want. How many times we repeat always depends on how much she enjoys reciting the Surah. She usually finds some challenging, so we don't spend too much time on them, and go for the ones she loves better. Check out this post I made about how I teach my daughter the Qur'an. We used to go through any Surah from the Qur'an (long or short), but this year, we'll focus on Juz' 'Amma in shaa Allah. Click here to download the checklist printable.

Nature Walk/Exercise: The plan is to go out to the garden every morning before starting 'school' or exercise at home. We've started the morning nature walks and it's been wonderful so for! What we do is observe, relax, enjoy, and appreciate the beautiful creation of Allah. Stay tuned for a full description of what we do on an upcoming post in shaa Allah.

Language Arts: Check out the Language Arts curriculum I recently made. It requires no preparation from the educator except to download and put the pages in sheet protectors. It also doesn't require any writing from the student. Students would only need to use dry-erase markers to circle or trace the answers. Another option can be to select by using manipulatives.

Math and Logic: Check out the Math and Logic curriculum here. It is similar to the above.

Phonics and Reading: Learn to Read with 52 Easy Lessons.

Science and Social Studies: Check out the Science and Social Studies curriculum here.

Health and Safety: Check out the Health and Safety curriculum here.

Writing: Writing is not a big focus this year. But since my daughter loves pretending to write, I think it would be a good idea to make sure she learns at least the basics. So, I made a short writing curriculum that we'll cover this year. After that, I'll give her a notebook to write whatever she wants and date it to see her improvement over time. Click here to see the printable.

Islamic Studies: Although Islam will pretty much be part of our overall KG curriculum, there are some basic Islamic concepts that I would like us to go over as many times as possible. Check out My First Islamic Binder free printable.

Arabic: Since I'm not a native speaker of Arabic, making or following a curriculum with basic concepts is the easiest way I can teach. The focus this year will be spoken Arabic only, not written. Check out Kindergarten Arabic Curriculum.

Mandinka: We'll cover basic concepts. A this is my language, I think speaking directly to her would be more effective. But, I still plan on dedicating specific time to go through some things that I would have otherwise not think of teaching her.

Read Out-Loud: The main books we'll be reading everyday are: 365 Days with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), My First Quran Storybook, 101 Sahabiyat Stories and Dua, Our Wonderful World by Emery Lewis Howe (a living and nature studies book, I'll replace some words that talk about 'God' as we read because it seems to have been written by a Christian), and any good geography book we find at the library that talks about people around the world.

Arts and Crafts: This will only be drawing and craft-making. She loves drawing, so that may be what we'll do the most. For crafts, we'll just find random ones online as we go. They may or may not be related to the weekly lessons.

Cooking and Baking: My daughter always tells me that she want to help me cook, but sadly, I'm most of the time in a hurry and not patient enough to cook with her. This year, I'll dedicate a day in the week to cook or bake something together, step by step, in shaa Allah. It could be something related to what we'd be studying or anything she wants to cook. I'll try to get inspiration from cooking books and Pinterest.

Here's our weekly plan:

As you can see, most of our learning will be in four days. The first will just be cooking or baking and her weekly outing (i.e. meet-ups, sports, etc).

Planner: I made a weekly planner, a daily countdown, and a very simple weekly planner to record what we do each week. I also made an assessment sheet to record what's working and what we need to work on if needed. This isn't required especially this early on, but it helps me know if the plan I put in place is good for my daughter or if there needs to be a change. Remember, this is about the child and what works for him/her, not about coming to a conclusion of how "incapable" we think they may be.

I hope this outline of our curriculum will be helpful to you and hopefully give you ideas on how to plan your homeschooling year in shaa Allah. If you know anyone it may benefit, please share it. I wish you all the best on your homeschooling journey. May Allah make us all successful.
Have fun.

Some of the links may include affiliate links, check out my disclosure for more info.
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Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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All about Me Free Printable for Kindergarten - Ihsaan Home Academy

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As we're starting Kindergarten soon in shaa Allah, the All about Me notebooking activity is what I'm planning on starting with my daughter in shaa Allah. This is an activity that can cover every subject  while also helping students learn about themselves.

It's very important for children to be aware of who they are, where they live, and where they come from. This activity is good for studying Geography, History, Math, and other subjects.

There's a part of the printable named 'Where I live' with extra pages to create a fun and visual activity showing the difference between a continent, a country, all the way to 'My Home.'
It helps the child understand that a planet is bigger than a continent, a country is bigger than a city, and so forth.

It is most suitable for children ages 4 to 8 (but can be used with any age).

Total number of pages: 10
Print: A4 sheets

Enjoy!

Click HERE to DOWNLOAD

__________________________
Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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You Can Homeschool by Just Reading Books Out Loud! - Ihsaan Home Academy

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Yep, you read that right. You can homeschool your children by just reading books to them out loud. I think we make the idea of homeschooling complicated when we think we have to follow certain rules, replicate the school system, or do exactly like everyone else.

You don't have to follow strict rules
Homeschooling should be your way and the way you believe is better for your children. This is one of the reasons why I believe it's important to start early to allow yourself and your child to experiment different methods. Not everyone wants to teach with activities and workbooks, and that's okay! Some children respond better whenbn they are read to, and others may hate it. How would you know if you don't try it?

Trying different methods
When I first started my blog to record my journey and to share homeschooling information, I was ready to try different ways of educating. I'm still experimenting and taking notes of what works best. I made a whole preschool curriculum that I used with my daughter, tried reading-only, tried hands-on activities-only, tried interactive notebooks, and even mixed it all up. I've never felt like I had to follow one way and stick to it! Even with the curriculum I made, there was a point when I felt like some parts of it were too much for my daughter at the time. And guess what? We took a break from it and intend to use some of it for Kindergarten, in shaa Allah.




That's to tell you that it's not about finishing whatever it is you're using, it's about finding out what works best at each step.

Getting books from the library
Now, how exactly can you homeschool with just reading books?
Simple; you just read books! Reading is a huge part of our schooling journey. We visit the library often and get as many interesting books as we can. My daughter is literally obsessed with books and I love that! But, I can't keep up with her most of the time, which is a reason why I've decided to start teaching her how to read. Sometimes I feel bad for delaying it when I see her pretending to read books or getting upset when I'm not reading one more book, even after reading ten!

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Learning through non-fiction books
As I've said before, a lot of our learning has been through books. We focus mainly on the non-fiction ones because that's where real learning happens. Fiction has its place, but if you want to use reading as a way of homeschooling, then non-fiction would have to be your main genre of selected books. At least that's what I believe.

Making the books come alive
What makes reading fun for us is the fact that I allow myself to go above and beyond to make it interactive, welcome her questions, give examples and make sure she understands as much as possible. If I have to get up and make funny movements to make her understand, well, that's exactly what I would do. When I want to make her visualize certain concepts, we go straight to youtube. She learned a lot about animals through videos while reading books. By reading, we also get ideas of hands-on activities that we are happy to try.

Discussing topics
Another way we've been using reading to make learning effective has been by having conversations about the topic at hand. We literally talk like two old women interested about a topic. I remember my daughter asking one day "how do vegetables grow if they don't have seeds, and plants are supposed to grow from seeds?" You want me to be honest with you? I hadn't thought of it before, so as you can imagine, I was stuck for a few seconds. First, I was surprised by her well-thought-of question when she was just 3 years old, and second, I didn't know the answer. So what did we do? Research! It's actually simplier than I thought. Now here's your homework; find the answer if you don't already know it.

I've found that reading makes learning long-term and increases critical thinking. Because of our conversations, she remembers the most detailed information that even I forget, and she's very curious, Allahumma baarik 'alayha (may Allah bless her). Remember, a child's brain is like a sponge. Take advantage of these moments.

Not limiting learning to age-level books
One thing I had realized from the beginning was that if I had only focused on age-level books, her learning would have been limited. I knew that it was up to me to take the reading to her level of understanding while still allowing growth.




Making books
Making our own books using papers and coloring markers/pencils was another fun way of reading. Not only did we write ourselves, we also drew and colored the books together.  We haven't done this in a while. We need to get back to it in shaa Allah.

Reading by theme
If it's easier for you to teach by focusing on a specific theme at a time, you can try that. Using the concept of unit studies here may help you. Make a list of the things your child wants to learn, get the appropriete books for those themes and start reading. It would help you stay more organized and know what's coming next.

I don't have a list of books to share with you now because our reading has been randomly choosing any and every book that we found interesting and educational. Since we're starting Kindergarten in shaa Allah, I will try to make it more organized and theme-based. I plan on sharing whatever I can on this blog and may even upload weekly lesson plans, in shaa Allah. So be on a look-out for that.


This method may work best with early learning. Now I haven't tried it with higher grade-levels, but it doesn't hurt to try if you fancy the idea. Listen, don't overwhelm yourself; try different methods. If you find that one doesn't work, try another. Reading may be fun for my daughter, but it may not be for your child. If it is, good; if not, move on. Just don't be afraid to focus on what works rather than what everyone else is doing.

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Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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6 Steps to Creating Unit Studies + 110 Unit Studies Ideas for Homeschooling + Free Printables

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In the previous blog post, we talked about what unit studies are along with other methods of homeschooling. So hopefully, you now have an idea of how you may want to start your homeschool journey if you're totally new. I'd like to delve a little more into unit studies because I believe it's one of the most effective and fun ways of homeschooling.

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Before listing the ideas for unit studies, let's first talk about some ways to gather all the information needed to plan your unit study.

1. Get a planner to record everything
Find a planner, notebook, or a digital notebook/planner to write down everything you'd be doing to form your unit study. Make sure it's something you can easily understand and is visually clear for you.

2. Write down your goals
Before deciding on a unit study, think about what exactly you want out of the subject. What are your objectives? What do you want your child to gain from it? It could be a theme that your child chose. Maybe he/she wants to learn about butterflies, horses, thunder, whatever it may be.

3. Decide what subjects the unit study will incorporate
If your chosen theme is 'Mauritania' for example, figure out how it would cover Geography, Science, Math, Literature/Language Arts, etc. Will is cover all subjects or only a few? How would you tackle the remaining subjects if the unit study doesn't include them?

In this example, the main unit is 'countries', and the sub-unit is 'Mauritania.' For Geography, you can talk about the location, map, bodies of water around or in it, etc. For History, you can talk about the history of Mauritania, how it was formed, the ancient languages, early immigration, and more. For Literature, you can read a book about the country; whatever the topic is. For Social Studies, you can talk about the everyday life of the people, neighborhood, cultures and languages. For Economics, you could cover money and consumerism in the country and various other things.
I hope you get the point.

4. Figure out how long it would last
Decide on the duration of the unit. It could be a week, a month, a few months, or even the whole year if you want. Unit studies may focus on one main topic, but they do cover many other things.

5. Gather resources
Where do you plan on taking your resources? You can borrow books from the library or swap books with friends, get free printables online, buy printables, buy storybooks, get textbooks,  get living books, get ideas from magazines, audiobooks, audio files, videos, and more!




6. Crafts and field trips
It's also useful to incorporate crafts and field trips in your unit studies. This will help your children retain the information even more.

Get DIY ideas from Pinterest, from books or creative children's magazines, or make up your own.
You can also go on community group/family trips to farms, museums, you name it.
Be creative, think, and research!

Now let's get to the unit study list.

Unit Studies Ideas
*Islamic Studies*
1- Qur'an
2- Muslims around the world
3- Ramadhan and Eid
4- Hajj and Eid Al Adha
5- Umrah
6- Islam
7- Righteous Believers
8- Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.)
9- Prophet Musa (a.s.)
10- Prophets
11- Creation
12- Sahabah
13- Names of Allah
14- Love (marriage, friendship, etc)
15- Du'a
16- Hadith

*Character & Manners*
17- Honesty
18- Helping
19- Injustice
20- Kindness
21- Patience
22- Respect
23- Appreciation
24- Sunnah of eating

*Arts*
25- Painting
26- Drawing
27- Crafts
28- DIYs

*Physical Education*
29- Healthy Living
30- Sports
31- Tennis
32- Basketball
34- Football
35- Soccer
36- Health and safety

*Food*
37- Cooking
38- Baking
39- Desserts
40- Chocolate
41- Banana
42- Mango

*Science & Environment*
43- Big cats
44- Land animals
45- 5 senses
46- Habitats
47- Planets
48- Matter
49- Energy
50- Motion
51- Rocks
52- Volcanoes
53- Astronauts
54- Mountains
55- Astronomy (planets, sun, moon)
56- Animals
57- Mammals
58- Cats
59- Bears
60- Vertebrates
61- Sea creatures
62- The human body
63- Insects
64- Bugs
65- Bees
66- Ants
67- Butterflies
68- Moths
69- Reptiles
70- Snakes
71- Lizards
72- Amphibians
73- Frogs
74- Seeds
75- Flowers
76- Dandelions
77- Plants
78- Seasons
79- Nature
80- Earth




*History & Social Studies*
81- Creation of Allah
82- Ancient civilization
83- Lost civilizations
84- African civilizations
85- Heroes around the world
86- Muslim inventors
87- Inventors
88- Technology
89- Transportation
90- Vehicles
91- Wars
92- Slavery
93- Our world
94- People
95- Countries
96- Continents
97- Islands
98- My country
99- Leaders
100- Weather

*Clothing & Textiles*
101- Sewing
102- Crochet

*Economics*
103- Business and Money
104- Consumerism
105- Social marketing
106- Digital marketing

*Other*
107- Writing books
108- Poetry
109- Colors
110- Shapes

Click below for printable downloads

Unit Studies Checklist DOWNLOAD 
Unit Studies Planner DOWNLOAD

 Activity Checklist DOWNLOAD

Book list Checklist DOWNLOAD

Have fun with your unit studies!
If you liked what you just read and believe it could benefit someone else, please share it.
I wish you all the best. May Allah make it beneficial for us all.
__________________________
Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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5 Reasons Why You Probably Should Start Homeschooling Early

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If you're reading this, it's most likely because you're either trying to learn more about homeschooling or are already homeschooling and want to see what other home educators are doing (for inspirations or ideas).

Home education is becoming very popular now as parents try to look for a better alternative to the conventional school for their children. However, the thought of educating their own children sometimes intimidates many parents; especially if they don't have an education background.




I believe that one of the best ways to get rid of that fear is by starting early. Of course, not every parent took the homeschooling route when their children were 2, 3, 4, or 5. Those with younger children often wonder if they should start homeschooling that early. Let me give you five reasons why I think it may help to start early.

1. Starting early can help you get rid of the initial fear because there's less to do
Teaching preschool is not complicated; at least not the way it's sometimes made to seem. Once you actually start homeschooling, you'd know that. Since the requirements are less at this age group, you won't feel overwhelmed once you start. Besides, you really do NOT have to use printables, activity books, and worksheets to homeschool this age if you do not want to or if it doesn't work for your child!

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Simple Ways to Teach Preschool + FREE Printable

2. It helps you figure out the best way to educate your child
 This is the stage when you start doing research and take your own approach. Because there is less pressure at this age, you have a lot of room to test different approaches to learning. You'd feel less guilty if you decide to quit a method that didn't work for your child.




3. It helps your child associate education to everyday life
Who said homeschooling is all about sitting on a chair and writing on a desk? Make home education fun! And when is the best time to have fun learning? The preschool years for sure ...
Parents are educators by nature; we just don't usually claim it. Homeschooling can be counting from 1 to 10 while walking up the stairs, observing the worms and other creatures in the garden and discussing it, walking for half an hour to stay fit, spashing paint on a paper-wall, playing 'I spot' (a game of calling out different objects and figuring out where they are), and much more!

4. It prepares you for what's to come later
As I've said before, this is also the time to do as much research as you can. Once you have an idea of what you want and think is better for your child, you'd be better prepare. It doesn't mean you can't change your approach later, but at least you'd have a general idea.

5. It helps you decide early on if homeschooling is for you
After trying and feeling that homeschooling may not be for you, moving on would be much easier when your children are younger.

You see, just because you're starting 'homeschooling' early doesn't mean it has to look like a "school." Have fun with it and make it fun for your children. And no, you do NOT have to teach for eight hours a day! If it takes you twenty minutes a day to make a point across, great! If it takes you an hour, why not. I just want you to know that homeschooling is what you make it to be. Have fun with it, in shaa Allah.
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Umm Sumayyah is a mother of two and a former teacher who turned into a home educator after becoming a mother. She is also an editor and a researcher who loves collecting and sharing information on social matters, education, career, and entrepreneurship.

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