Our January project has been organizing our homeschool materials. We have been putting our label maker to work alot lately. The art supplies were finished just in time for our Prophet Muhammad, salAllahu alayhu wasalaam Caligraphy art project.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
A Lesson on Controlling Anger ♥
Sometimes I just post our thoughts on the Noor Janan facebook page with no plans to make a blog post on it. However, due to it's popularity, I have decided to share it here also for those who do not use facebook. Anger (patience in aggravated situations) is something that I have been working on as well as other diseases of the heart. So this is not coming from a place, of I got it all together . . . it is just one example of a time I was able to control my nafs (ego).
~ ♥
Z Man sings Qasida Muhammadiyah
Thursday, January 16, 2014
On Montessori
A facebook Reader asked a question about Montessori, Early Education, & Traditional Islamic Education.
The Question (paraphrased): Do you feel it to be better to start early education, like with Montessori or wait until 7 years for formal education? What is your experience?
The Question (paraphrased): Do you feel it to be better to start early education, like with Montessori or wait until 7 years for formal education? What is your experience?
Our Answer: Big A was 1 years old when I began my Montessori Training. My wonderful friend, Halima had the idea of "Let's do Montessori in our Home" Essentially Montessori homeschooling for us began with my friend's idea and us attending the classes together. We were living in Northern California, and the Community Colleges in the Bay Area at that time had Montessori classes for $12 a unit. It wasn't as expensive as many Montessori courses are. It is a shame how expensive Montessori education is because Maria Montessori believed in the principle that Education is the right of the poor. Her first students being children who were from the slums of Italy and children that others had given up on as teachable.
I made different Montessori material for Lil A to make our environment more Montessori by the time she turned 3. The first class I took was Practical Life, essentially home education, what a mother should be training a child and/or letting a child do anyways. Or if they are like my children will find a way to do it. ;)
* Helping to make their own peanut butter & jelly sandwich, rinsing their own dish, using kitchen utensil like an ice cream scooper to pick up puff balls (cotton) or chicken baster to suck up water. Proper hand washing and wudu making, clothes washing and folding, are all ways to teach a young child practical skills, but is also developing their fine motor skills that they will need later for writing.
Montessori is all about encouraging the natural growth of the child, just as the Islamic principle of playing with the child from 0-7, teach them from 7-12, and become their friend after puberty... Montessori and the Islamic Tradition are not opposing views, they compliment each other. Montessori gives the mother or educator a structure of what to do, more than have a structure for the child. It is your job to create a "Prepared Environment", so that the child can naturally progress in it. (*Note: The lack of a structure for the child is why Montessori schools have been criticized by other early childhood educators)
In a traditional Montessori classroom, these Practical Life materials is child's play, there are no workbooks, it is all about manipulating materials that will help with their natural development. At home, we also did not have workbooks for Big A. However, I did go through the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" She was reading by age 4, but she also developed a "lazy eye" and had to wear glasses. This was not a Montessori book, the reading cards in a Montessori classroom were traditionally alot bigger than they are today. Big A reads no better than S Man who learned to read at age 6 or Z Man who began reading at age 8. Here I would suggest learning about the eye development of children, look at the strength of the eye, and the arguments for bigger text for early readers.
So the question comes up if the child wants to progress, wants workbooks, but they are not 7, do you stop them? My answer is no. Children are different and develop differently. Montessori believed in sensitive periods, with a stress on "periods". A Traditional Montessori classroom has children of multiple ages (i.e 3-6 years old) and the learning material corresponds with the natural sensitive periods, producing an enthusiasm for the material. This is so the child can pick up a material within that period when he/she is ready.
**In my experience the problem does not lie in parents holding back a child who wants to progress, but many parents/teachers will push a child towards work they are not ready for. The child becomes defeated and builds insecurity in a subject matter at an early age which many older children and adults have never recovered from.**
InshaAllah, I created a blog post just for this question. And I will list helpful links for Early Montessori Education, but I would first encourage you to read Maria Montessori's books, if you are unable to take a Montessori course.
Two of my favorite books are The Montessori Method & The Absorbent Mind
My absolute favorite Montessori support and blog is Living Montessori Now. Not only because Deb Chitwood was one of the first supporters of my own blog, but because she embodies the spirit of Montessori and the resources she shares is beyond anything you will get anywhere else.
Montessori Blogs:
Living Montessori Now
What did we do all day?
Montessori Beginnings
The Helpful Garden
The Learning Ark
Forkolesburken
Homeschool Den
Montessori Resources:
Alison's Montessori
Montessori Materials
Montessori Curriculum/Albums
Montessori Research & Development
Montessori for Learning Downloads
Montessori Services
I made different Montessori material for Lil A to make our environment more Montessori by the time she turned 3. The first class I took was Practical Life, essentially home education, what a mother should be training a child and/or letting a child do anyways. Or if they are like my children will find a way to do it. ;)
* Helping to make their own peanut butter & jelly sandwich, rinsing their own dish, using kitchen utensil like an ice cream scooper to pick up puff balls (cotton) or chicken baster to suck up water. Proper hand washing and wudu making, clothes washing and folding, are all ways to teach a young child practical skills, but is also developing their fine motor skills that they will need later for writing.
Montessori is all about encouraging the natural growth of the child, just as the Islamic principle of playing with the child from 0-7, teach them from 7-12, and become their friend after puberty... Montessori and the Islamic Tradition are not opposing views, they compliment each other. Montessori gives the mother or educator a structure of what to do, more than have a structure for the child. It is your job to create a "Prepared Environment", so that the child can naturally progress in it. (*Note: The lack of a structure for the child is why Montessori schools have been criticized by other early childhood educators)
In a traditional Montessori classroom, these Practical Life materials is child's play, there are no workbooks, it is all about manipulating materials that will help with their natural development. At home, we also did not have workbooks for Big A. However, I did go through the book "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" She was reading by age 4, but she also developed a "lazy eye" and had to wear glasses. This was not a Montessori book, the reading cards in a Montessori classroom were traditionally alot bigger than they are today. Big A reads no better than S Man who learned to read at age 6 or Z Man who began reading at age 8. Here I would suggest learning about the eye development of children, look at the strength of the eye, and the arguments for bigger text for early readers.
So the question comes up if the child wants to progress, wants workbooks, but they are not 7, do you stop them? My answer is no. Children are different and develop differently. Montessori believed in sensitive periods, with a stress on "periods". A Traditional Montessori classroom has children of multiple ages (i.e 3-6 years old) and the learning material corresponds with the natural sensitive periods, producing an enthusiasm for the material. This is so the child can pick up a material within that period when he/she is ready.
**In my experience the problem does not lie in parents holding back a child who wants to progress, but many parents/teachers will push a child towards work they are not ready for. The child becomes defeated and builds insecurity in a subject matter at an early age which many older children and adults have never recovered from.**
InshaAllah, I created a blog post just for this question. And I will list helpful links for Early Montessori Education, but I would first encourage you to read Maria Montessori's books, if you are unable to take a Montessori course.
Two of my favorite books are The Montessori Method & The Absorbent Mind
My absolute favorite Montessori support and blog is Living Montessori Now. Not only because Deb Chitwood was one of the first supporters of my own blog, but because she embodies the spirit of Montessori and the resources she shares is beyond anything you will get anywhere else.
Montessori Blogs:
Living Montessori Now
What did we do all day?
Montessori Beginnings
The Helpful Garden
The Learning Ark
Forkolesburken
Homeschool Den
Montessori Resources:
Alison's Montessori
Montessori Materials
Montessori Curriculum/Albums
Montessori Research & Development
Montessori for Learning Downloads
Montessori Services
Montessori Tots
Moon 3 Part Cards
Fundamental Needs of Human
♥ Amazon Store: Montessori
♥ Pinterest: Noor Janan Homeschool's Montessori
♥ Check our Progress: Curriculum Checklist
Moon 3 Part Cards
Fundamental Needs of Human
♥ Amazon Store: Montessori
♥ Pinterest: Noor Janan Homeschool's Montessori
♥ Check our Progress: Curriculum Checklist
Monday, January 13, 2014
Prophet Muhammad's Lineage
We listened to a wonderful talk this morning by Amjad Tarsin titled Embodied Light. I couldn't think of a better way to spend this blessed Monday, than learning more about our Noble Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasallam. The great thing about Amjad is he really knows how to captivate his audience, so my Big Beloveds sat their attentive and experienced every emotion described. May Allah reward him with all that is good.
We saw Amjad Tarsin for the first time recently during our trip to Toronto, Canada which made listening and learning from him that more appealing. In this talk, Amjad expressed how important it is to know the Noble Lineage of Prophet Muhammad. We set out to complete the task and MashaAllah, the Big two Beloveds memorized the whole list. The younger two Beloveds progressed through the list well also.
I thought of making a way to make it easy. Because my Montessori thought process is on auto-pilot, I quickly knew I wanted to make a self-correcting material. This stacking lineage was the result.
We saw Amjad Tarsin for the first time recently during our trip to Toronto, Canada which made listening and learning from him that more appealing. In this talk, Amjad expressed how important it is to know the Noble Lineage of Prophet Muhammad. We set out to complete the task and MashaAllah, the Big two Beloveds memorized the whole list. The younger two Beloveds progressed through the list well also.
I thought of making a way to make it easy. Because my Montessori thought process is on auto-pilot, I quickly knew I wanted to make a self-correcting material. This stacking lineage was the result.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Best Sledding Ever
The video of our Best Sledding Ever!
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