Homeschool Unstuck

After over a decade working in our fabulous Muslim homeschool community, answering questions and lending out advice, I’ve noticed something. The vast majority of those questions and challenges are the same. It doesn’t matter where we live in the world or what our cultural background may be, the crux of our difficulties, anxieties and concerns are incredibly similar. 

I wanted to do something more than just offer a few lines of advice in a social media reply, and have produced several free ebooks in an attempt to help provide some support and direction. However, I know that’s not enough. I want to do more. Sometimes you need to physically hear that advice and guidance instead of just reading it. Sometimes the spoken word has a more significant impact because the human voice brings about connection. There is something about hearing a voice that offers a greater sense of understanding.

Find Your Homeschool Confidence

Are you looking for a beginners guide to help you start home educating or are you already deep in the homeschool trenches feeling stuck and in need of a reboot to help you fall back in love with it?

How would it feel to start building the homeschool of your dreams insha'Allah? One inspired by your own unique family; not mine or anyone else's; but yours.

I have BIG NEWS! I've reopened the doors to my signature course Homeschool With Confidence, to welcome the third cohort. And in my usual style, I like to up my game to make it even better than before with new content to add more value to your investment. 

Homeschool With Confidence is a 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝟏𝟔-𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 programme, designed to provide you with detailed information, support and mentorship combined with a little gentle coaching, all in the same place. Allowing you to focus on building a happy thriving homeschool you are confident, excited and passionate about bi'ithnillah. 

What Is Home Education?

Home education can be described as the parents' decision to take on the responsibility for the education of their children instead of handing that responsibility over to a school (although it should be noted that even in sending our children to school, it is still the parents who are ultimately responsible for the education received -not everyone always realises this).

Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that homeschool is to study the same material as schools do but at home. Nor is home education limited to learning in the home in the same way that school is restricted to learning within the school. 

What often comes to mind when people think of homeschoolers, are families sitting around the kitchen table ploughing through dull textbooks, trapped inside all day with no one to talk to. What they imagine is an awful and isolated version of school that no one wants to be a part of, but instead, inside the home. 

The truth could not be further from this poorly imagined narrative. 

While some families certainly do follow school-style curriculum at home, home educators are in fact free to educate according to the needs of their child and this can be done in many different ways...with or without a workbook...and beyond the four walls of a house.

Homeschool Planning For Muslim Mums

One thing I would say when it comes to planning homeschool, is try to make it a pleasurable experience for yourself. Give yourself time to do it, ideally undisturbed while the kids are busy, in bed, or off being entertained by Dad. Having this quietness without distraction is going to help you to focus and enjoy the experience. Grab your favourite drink, resources and planner. Set yourself up so you have everything you need in front of you at hand, and you're set to go. 

But what if you're not too sure on effective methods for homeschool planning? What if you don't know where to start or what you need? 

If you're looking for a homeschool planning 101, I'm your girl. I'm excited to be opening up the planning masterclasses from the Homeschool With Confidence 16-week course, to offer a 2-day workshop if you didn't want to sign up for the whole course series.

When it comes to homeschool, anxiety often flairs up when we feel we are not in control because we don't know what we should be doing. And an anxious mum makes for a stressful homeschool experience. I know myself, when I have everything set in order and ready, the week runs smoothly Alhamdulillah. When I don't, then my anxiety monster cranks his weight heavy upon my shoulders. 

One thing I have learned over a decade of home educating is that planning doesn't have to be hard. Nor does it need to take forever to do. Certainly, you don't want to be spending more time preparing your lessons than it takes the kids to actually get through them. That would be madness! Homeschool planning can even be quite fun....yes, it can. Having a plan gives you a roadmap. It isn't inscribed upon a stone tablet that you're unable to deviate from. If you come across a more scenic route you're free to take it. But having the map helps you to find direction. This is what homeschool planning does. It offers a guide to allow you to move toward your objectives but doesn't need to enslave you. 

Over two weeks, I'll share with you some simple methods for homeschool planning so that you can feel empowered and in control insha'Allah. I'll show you how to plan using my printable planner that you'll receive as an attendee as well as introduce you to how you can create your own custom made planner to meet all your unique needs, using an ordinary notebook.

Let's take a look at what we'll cover over the two masterclasses bi'ithnillah....

10 MORE Homeschool Books You Should Read

I don't know about you, but I'm a big believer in continuing to develop my skills and understanding to help my role as both a mother and an educator. I've read many books over the years and have found them to be invaluable. Right in your hand, you're able to peek inside the brains of experts within the field of education and parenting to take benefit from them without even needing to leave the comfort of your home. 

In my last post I mentioned how important it is for us to continue our own professional development as home educators throughout our whole educating and parenting career not only at the beginning when we first jump in.

Even if you're not a homeschooler, as a parent this idea of professional development is still incredibly important so you can continue to grow as your children do.

In that post I shared ten books you should read if you're a home educator or looking to find out more about homeschool.

Reading is a resourceful way to give yourself almost like a university-level self-education on a budget, by picking out the books written by the experts in various fields.

 Today I want to share ten more that will help to develop an understanding of how children learn, and how we can reach them as parents as we mentor and coach them through their own learning journey. 

Again, like I mentioned in the earlier post, these are all secular books. So be aware of anything that is not aligned with Islamic values that might pop up.

10 Homeschool Books You Should Read

Everyone knows grandma can cook. No one beats grandma's cooking. It is hard to imagine that she has ever burned the rice or dried out the chicken. But once upon a time, she probably did. She has just been cooking for so long now she has mastered the art (and we all enjoy the results!). She has found the recipe hacks and knows all the secrets. But it wasn't always that way.

When you’re learning a new dish for the first time, it helps to have a recipe in front of you. Maybe you’ll try out several alternatives until you find the one that turns out just right.
Once you have mastered this recipe, you’ll start to tweak it and throw in new ingredients, until it transforms into your VERY OWN signature dish that no one else can out-do.

Discovering how to homeschool is like this dish you’re trying to make for the first time...
Go out there and read the recipe books on homeschool, education, and how children learn.
Use tried and tested recommendations from friends and make substitutes to please your palate.
Let those ideas and insights sink in and give yourself time to practice using them, adjusting and adapting to suit your family’s tastes.
What you’ll end up with is your own signature recipe for YOUR own perfect homeschool.

Your Homeschool Questions....Answered

Jumping into homeschool is, for most of us, a huge leap into the unknown. I know how it is....the uncertainty, the doubt, the wanting to know what you're meant to do now you're not using school.

We want to be confident this is the right decision for our family.
We want to be confident we will give our children everything they need.
We want to be confident we know what we should be doing.
We want to be confident we won't mess up our children's education.
We want to be confident that We. Are. Enough.

I look back to the time my family made the decision to home educate when my eldest was 4. I was DESPERATE for someone to answer all my questions and point me in the right direction!

The internet wasn't what it is today when I was a new homeschooling mum. I remember trying to flag down local home educators with older children and more experience to pick their brains and seek advice....but often they were too busy to give me the time I craved. Of course they were - they were with their children.

Alhamdulillah today we can often find answers to many of our uncertainties with a click of a button, and I have been passionate in helping families find their homeschool answers for a decade so you don't have to struggle the same way I and many others like me did.

Last week I hosted an all-day Q&A over on Facebook so you could ask your homeschool questions. I have to confess that by the end of it I was exhausted! There were some interesting qurries posted and I thought it would be beneficial to share some of those here to make them easy to find and reference for anyone seeking the same advice.
What I'm going to do is repost some of them in a series of posts, with an edited response to provide a little more detail than the rapid-fire answers originally given.

If you have a homeschool question, I'm pleased to announce I'm launching a monthly Q&A series here on the blog insha'Allah, so please send yours if you have one (no matter the stage of your homeschool adventure) to info@amuslimhomeschool.com.

Let's kick start this new series with our first question, asking something I think many of us wonder...

Homeschooling With Confidence

EDIT: Before you continue reading, the Homeschool With Confidence course has been relaunched. You can check out the brief overview here on the blog and find the detailed description and enrollment on the course page.

Are you looking for a beginners guide to help you start home educating or are you already in the homeschool trenches and in need of a reboot to help you fall back in love with it?

How would it feel to start building the homeschool of your dreams insha'Allah? One inspired by your own unique family; not mine or anyone else's; but yours (is this sounding too cheesy?).

Alhamdulillah following the success of the beta group who just recently completed this course, I've decided to rerun it after Ramadan and it is going to be BIGGER, better and more supportive than before insha'Allah. 

We have jumped from the original 4 week workshop and grown into a 16 week course that is designed to provide you with detailed information, support and guidance all in the same place so that you can focus on building a happy thriving homeschool you are confident, excited and passionate about bi'ithnillah. 

It is perfect for mums in the early stages of homeschool and mums preparing to start in the future as well as current home educating mums in need of a boot camp reboot and inspiration boost. I have to tell you I went through a massive homeschool reboot myself when putting this course together which makes me even more excited to share with you again second time round.

Temporary School-At-Home During The Coronavirus Outbreak

All the parents who are finding themselves thrust into a sudden school-at-homer position, my heart goes out to you. You are in a difficult position caught somewhere between school and home education.
What you are doing isn’t home educating or homeschooling. Rather what you are doing is school-at-home which is something entirely different…and something most home educators run away from and advise against because we know it brings tears, stress and overwhelm.

I’m not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing. I know many of your schools are providing you with homework assignments for your children that you’ll be expected to carry out.
But what I do want to say, is if you want to find success during this turbulent period and keep all your hair in tact, you have to let go of school expectations for your family. You have to start rethinking how you see education through the lens of your home, rather than through the lens of school.
This is a period that if you are to embrace could provide your family with no end of benefits; far beyond just the academic expectations.

Surviving School-At-Home

With many mums across the UK and around the world finding themselves suddenly thrown into a schooler-at-home position, I want to offer a little guidance to help you settle and adapt to this new role you have been thrust into insha’Allah.

Whilst many of you have been provided with work to carry out at home, it is not an easy task implementing what is meant for school within the home as a parent; because your home simply is not a school and nor is it meant to be.

I want to offer some gentle guidance to show you how you can help unite the demands of school within your home without tearing your hair out insha’Allah!

This time we are facing is one of unease and I want to help lessen the burden and anxiety many mums are feeling during this time.

Next Sunday 29th March at 7:30pm UK time (BST) I invite you to join me for a FREE online workshop designed to help you navigate this unexpected situation insha’Allah.
The replay will be available for 24 hours only.

Advice for the Muslim Homeschooler eBook gift

After first publishing Advice for the Muslim Homeschooler in 2017, I've updated it for 2020 making it bigger and better - and yes it is still free to download! It has truly been a labor of love putting this together.

If you're not a home educating mumma, I think there is still lots in here that you too will find benefit in and resonate with insha'Allah, so don't be deterred by the title. Whilst I passionately offer this to help home educating sisters build their confidence and find support, much of what I share is from the perspective of being a mother that anyone will relate to.

Create your Ramadan Action Plan with this fun family activity guide!

Following the pre-Ramadan prep planner, designed to help mums get organised; this week I'm sharing a set of guided activities for the whole family to come together on. 

This short activity guide has been designed to help you figure out along with your family what is important to you all around Ramadan; giving you time to put things in place so that you can focus on what really matters bi'ithnillah.

Ramadan is the time of year where routines change and focus shifts. We look forward it, and many of us move things around so that our families can take as much benefit as we can from this time bi'ithnillah. 

Yet despite our best intentions, it can be easy to get swept along and find ourselves lost in and amongst all our many responsibilities; struggling to find a balance between what we want to achieve over Ramadan and our everyday ordinary life.

How can we teach our children Islamic Studies at home?

Something I see mummas everywhere always wanting help on, is how to teach Islam at home with family.
This topic was raised by an attendee in my Homeschooling With Confidence course, and I thought it would be beneficial to share my (edited and updated) response here with you too, since it is such a common quest so many of us have.

Certainly it has always been something that I’ve been conscious of. Islam is the central part of our lives and we want to raise our children to love our religion and more than that, act upon it; knowing it is Allah Alone who guides.

My advice here is that of a fellow mum just like you. I am not a student of knowledge rather I have to be clear that I’m a layman, so I will always refer you to the people of knowledge because it is beyond my expertise to instruct you in Islamic matters. So please know that what I am offering here is merely general advice from one mother to another in dealing with children and teaching them Islam at home.

Help entrepreneurial kids start a business

We all know the famous adage that goes "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

Most of us don't think about entrepreneurship. Schools certainly don't. We think about getting good grades and preparing for universities. We think about how we can help our children mold themselves into a person that universities will want and employers seek out. I'm not saying that is a bad thing to do, not at all. But what I am saying, is alongside this academic learning, wouldn't it be beneficial to develop business related skills so that they know how to become employers not only employees? Sure, owning and running a business isn't for everyone, but neither is being a doctor, teacher or manager.