Along with a national homeschooling program All of my children use MUMTI daily. Here is a clip of my boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckJ9n6RT3kU

MUMTI is the ultimate Muslim digital educator and your #1 tool for Homeschooling.
It is packed with Cartoons in Arabic, a large collection of Quran tools, Arabic lessons, Science, to list a few… It also features numerous speakers collections and much more.
At its foundation MUMTI is a Quran, Arabic, and Islamic Values Digital Educator that is now available to you and especially to your children 24/7.

If you or friends would like to receive your personal licensed copy send your request over a short email to Learn[aatt]MUMTI.com .
For your readers who can afford to purchase/donate visit this link http://mumti.com/purchase/

Evey child is a true gift from Allah, don’t waste it in some “public” classroom

Jazaakum Allahu Khayran
Wa assalamu Alaykum,

So, here I am 2 years later. I continued to homeschool 2 grades for both of my sons. Now they are back in school again.

Homeschooling is a good choice for Muslims, IF they have the dedication and discipline to keep up the workload every day. And IF they are able to teach their children in a manner that doesn’t create a distance with their children as a parent.

I found that I spent so much energy in trying to keep my sons focused and applying themselves (and actually paying attention to my teaching), that by the end of our daily lessons I just wanted a break from them and they wanted a break from me. It was unexpectedly difficult and a little bit disappointing.

With so much struggle in the academic curriculum (I needed to keep them current with thier peers), I found I didn’t have much time or energy to spend on the Islamic subjects, like tafseer, seerah, and adhaab.

I know not every parent/child relationship is the same as mine, but I have to be truthful in admitting that as dedicated and flexible as I am, I found this endeavor extremely challenging.

I made the decision to keep them at the same level as the public school curriculum because if I ever moved to a place that didn’t allow homeschooling, or if something made it unable for me to continue (health, etc.), they wouldn’t be floundering when put back into the school system. They really needed to cover the material (Islamicized), that everyone else has covered so that they could understand the new lessons they would be expected to complete that were based on these foundational materials.

If I had tailored their education to ONLY Islamic subjects, or only taught basic math, language, history, science, etc. they would never be able to catch up later on.

As it happened, my health did begin to make it difficult to keep up to their educational needs, and as we are not financially able to put them into Islamic School anymore, they were put into the public school system for the first time.

Alhamdulillah, with all of the material we covered, and the tools of studying and researching I taught them (though they didn’t pay much attention then, it is helping them now that they are expected to do so independantly), they are doing well. My older son slacked off a bit at first because he didn’t have anyone driving him anymore, but with warnings and showing him what’s at stake, he has pulled himself up very quickly and is now doing meeting his teachers’ expectations and actually excelling in some of his classes.

It’s a very tough responsibility. Know what you are doing and be prepared to complete your task if you make this decision. Don’t set your child back by doing half a job. It’s soooo easy when they’re 3 or 4, even 6 years old. But when they get older, it’s a lot harder than you can imagine.

There are many other blogs and resources available nowadays for Muslim homeschoolers. Please check -

http://www.yemenlinks.com

and

http://www.yemenlinks.com/blog

Asalaam ‘Alaikum,
Sumayyah

I recognise the reasons Muslim parents would prefer to opt for home schooling and this is eloquently expressed in this post. However, I do feel self exclusion through fear of the duniya we are in is not the solution. The problem is fear and the solution is to self include in this most mundane but potent of ways. . . Send your child to a school rather than home school them.

Why? Home schooling is an unhelpful response to the times we live in (in my view!)

We can demonstrate what being a Muslim is by engaging in our local communities and the school is an ideal place to make a contribution and show our desire to live in harmony alongside non-Muslims, by being visible and heard in these educational institutions. Namely, in the interest of your child’s welfare, but the additional value added you can bring is limitless. The responsibility is mine and yours. It’s how we want to promote Islam the minute we wake up and the minute we step foot across the threshold of our homes. It’s a golden opportunity and that’s why this trend for home schooling dispirits me.

People often sound defeated so frequently by the wave of Islamophobia that is the flavour of the zeitgeist, but everyone of us can help to conquer it in a range of ways. I really do appreciate that people are doing so in many ways I just don\’t want this approach to be overlooked or underestimated. This is just one of the most obvious. I am ofcourse biased as an educator myself – I’m certainly not denying it. Make your Islamic presence felt in all its spiritual and practical beauty. Go to the schools…

The following are a few examples of ways you as Muslim parents can have an impact:

• Parents join the ‘Friends of school X’
• Parents join the PTA (Parents and teachers association)
• Parents join the school governing body as a parent governor
• Ask the school for a copy of the academic calendar to get an overview of events the school has planned, decide how you can contribute
• Themed assembly weeks on faith is an opportunity for you to educate staff/students
• RE (Religious Education) departments in schools frequently need help when trying to find someone from the local Muslim community to come and talk about life as a Muslim today
• Staff in-service/training days are an opportunity to talk to teaching/non teaching staff who often have questions relating to faith issues that have arisen in school amongst students and want advice on handling these with sensitivity
• Home school liaison co-ordinators in school are often the lynchpin in accessing communities, one meeting with them can help them be more informed about their role in relation to working with Muslim parents
• Offer a tour of your masjid if you are comfortable doing so. Schools are very respectful and appreciative of this kind of gesture of inclusion into the world of Muslims rather than what they are told by the media masjids are used for
• Pick a topic for example, I’tikaaf and explain to students the spiritual sustenance and empowerment derived from this experience in the masjid. For many students the pressure of duniya is overwhelming and being given a context not only to retreat from it but to return to it more beatified to face the duniya would be quite a surprise for them. ( I have never had the opportunity to do it, but I can’t help thinking about it quite a bit and the stunning inspiration it must be for an individual Muslim.)

The above are just a few ideas from a UK experience that can no doubt be transferred and revsied for the US and elsewhere in accordance with the context you are in but there are innumerable ways to support your child\’s schooling and have a deeper impact on a grassroots level as well. Schools often need ordinary Muslims like you and I to help them understand our faith as a way of life. How we live it on a daily basis and are similar and dissimilar to non Muslims. I know many Muslim parents who are contributing in this way already and you may also, but there has never been a greater moral imperative than now to do so. These Muslim parents make a difference time and again. It’s an obvious way to be part of the solution.

Despite the negative experiences of schools experienced by people, there are equally positive experiences we can recount as well. Over the last decade and more as an educator, I have observed first-hand how educational institutions welcome and are not averse to being educated and who better than yourselves who are constantly striving to be better in your faith for yourselves and your children, to provide an Islamic education to schools. Just by being you ie Muslims actively seeking to improve their knowledge which can then be used to inform others in your communities and schools. My view is we get stuck into the system or feel controlled by it, querulous and cornered. So, please don’t opt out of the system, it’s there for you and yours, embrace and define it by making your contribution. The contribution through engagement you can make as Muslims who show their commitment to their faith is invaluable not only to you but to those that only have the media caricature of who we really are. The reality of us being just like any other decent citizen of the local community/town/city we are in can be shaped and informed by us ourselves through this most obvious and easily overlooked avenue.

If I’m preaching to the converted or teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, apologies and thank you for indulging me this moment. I really don’t think it’s about having the confidence/courage to leave the system for home schooling but about having the confidence and courage to stay in the system for schools. The above is quite clearly common sense but it also makes you a role model to your own children by demonstrating how the Muslims are not just at the heart of the community, they are its heart. May Allah bless, your children and keep all safe and strong in eman.

Jzk

Sobia

Ps If anyone chooses to be offended by this rather lengthy comment, then I can only assume you’ve had one mango lassi too many…

Education has become business and this is destroying our children. We have to be wiser in deciding whats best for them inshaAllah.

I thought Islam was all about treading a middle ground in efforts to become a purely balanced nation. I suppose not.

I have begun homeschooling this year, 2 of my 4 children living at home. They are in Grades 3 and 5. I am using the Independant Learning Center curriculum for their academic material gourndbase, and supplement with a home library of science, geography, grammar and fiction that I began building when my son (Grade 5) was just a baby. I found it easier to accumulate a substantial resource library a little at a ttime, and have built this library from Scholastic Book Services, Scholar’s Choice, Teachers Resource Book Store, public library sales, chance book sales (never walk away from a good book on sale, you’ll never find it again later!).

I also have a crammed shelf of Islamic Curriculums, Islamic instruction books for chidren and fiction written for Muslim children.

From these resources I am able to instruct my sons through the materials I want to teach them. I can teach my Grade 5 son about the beginning of Civilization, from Mesopotamia, through Egypt, Greece and Rome all the while referring to internet maps, atlases and map workbooks I’ve purchased for his grade level and a world map on our hallway wall, a globe on our table to give him a sense of his world and how it has developed over time into what we have today. I can compare Hammurabi’s Code to the Laws of Moses and demonstrate how Moses influenced this set of Laws.

I can show him where each Prophet of Allah appeared in the time period we are learning about, whether it is in Ur, Ninevah, Egypt, or Palestine, and while discussing the beginnings of Government in each nation, I can demonstrate how we came to a Parlimentary Democratic System in Canada today which blends into his Civics curriculum.

While teaching my Grade 3 son, his social studies curriculum is about Pioneer times in Canada. Alot of their lifestyle is similar to what my other son might be learning about the Neolithic Period of the Fertile Crescent; farmers coming together for commerce and protection, the use of mills, blacksmithing, water resevoirs, irrigation, preserving food, energy sources, etc.

Each child is learning along side the other and hearing the lessons of the other, thus enriching their understanding of social evolution and technological evolution from necessity.

It is true, one parent must stay home and be primarily responsible for the teaching and supervising, and that person MUST be dedicated, organized and themselves have some knowledge or desire to learn so that they can teach the subject matter, but when they are not able to, they can supplement by using tutors for specific subjects or trade other homeschooling mothers whose strengths compliment their weaknesses.

There is enough available material and resources today to make homeschooling an enriching education, and promote Islamic values and behaviours in our children.

I am able to send my sons to full time hifz classes throughout the year because I can homeschool on weekends, some weeknights, holidays, etc.

Ontario doesn’t require parents to use the same curriculum nor use the same pace when homeschooling, so the time we have for academics doesn’t present a problem even though they don’t complete each academic year in 10 months.

I find homeschooling the best of both worlds.They receive a full education,in academic subjects, Islamic subjects and in Tajweed and Memorization. They are maintained in an Islamic environment with the best supervision (their parents and their Hifz teachers), and their peers are also good musim BOYS, and I don’t have to worry about bullying, corrupt or immoral influences, drugs or predators.