Assalamo alaykum and welcome.
In case anyone is still on the fence on what to do this Ramadan homeschooling wise, or needs a little inspiration or simply would like a peep into our homeschool, this is what I have planned out for this Ramadan, insha’Allah.
Formal homeschooling
None. (Hear my boys whoop!)
Ramadan is our only yearly “school” holiday. We don’t do Summer or Winter holidays, but homeschool throughout the year and take a week off every few months either when we travel to see family or when family travels to us from abroad.
It is a great perk of home education to have complete control over your holidays and arrange your “terms” to suit your family’s schedule.
I considered carrying on with maybe a “lighter” version of our usual homeschooling, due to the fact that sometimes the boys can get bored and turn a bit grumpy if they have too much freedom… but I decided to have some more crafty and recreational activities ready to surprise them with instead (see below).
Islamic studies
Islamic Studies will be pretty much our only subject of study until after Eid. We will insha’Allah read “Sittings in the Month of Ramadan” by shaykh Salih al-Fawzan (hafeedhahullah) and complete the workbook I created to make it easier for my children.
Find out more about our FREE Sittings in the Month of Ramadan workbook and download it HERE.
Ramadan basket
I always wanted to try out a morning basket but out morning are always too full, alhamdulillah.
Morning baskets are essentially a collection of books that are enjoyed together. It doesn’t have to be a basket (ours is an old, battered magazine rack that I revamped a few years ago); it doesn’t have to be in the morning either, which is why it is something high on my list after Eid, insha’Allah.
Much has been written and shared online about “morning baskets”, in a nutshell: someone reads out loud, everybody enjoys it. Some children may like to occupy their hands with colouring or some other similar activity while the reading carries on.
In the past I tried to include only books related to Ramadan, but I ended up disliking most of them and getting rid of them. So we will use the old Ramadan ones that we like, plus some new titles I bought super cheaply off ebay or second hand from my local buy&sell community.
The “basket” will include:
- “Sittings in the Month of Ramadan” by shaykh al-Fawzaan (hafeedhahullah)
- Picture books that Miss3 will enjoy
- colouring/lettering books (I am thinking neon chalk pens or metallic!)
- Pens or colouring equipment and paper
- Our existing Ramadan related picture books
- Some new non fiction titles (we will swap these around over the month, otherwise my poor magazine rack will explode…)
The non fiction books don’t have a specific theme, they are just books I thought it would be nice and educational to read. I bought most a while ago and just hid them to save them for Ramadan. They are: Timelines of Everything , What’s Where in the World , History year by Year, Birds (Eye Wonder), Guide to the Oceans, City (Eye Witness), Castle at War, Illustrated Book of Great Adventures.
PLEASE NOTE: I do not unreservedly agree with, nor do I deem appropriate, every single thing that is inside these books. Insha’Allah, before I present them to my children I will go through them and edit them as I see fit and I recommend you do the same.
Arabic seeds
(Disclaimer: I have just bought my own membership, full price. Arabic seeds doesn’t even know I am writing this.)
As a linguist and a lover of languages, I never had to be told twice that, being a Muslim, I should learn Arabic. In fact I started teaching myself my “alif, baa, taa” even before I embraced Islam. Alhamdulillah.
So this would make teaching Arabic to my children a piece of cake, right? erm… not so much. I have been told by my son that I “like grammar too much.” I have since been looking for ways to make the language more of a fun, “living language” and delve more into its usage than its in depth study.
Arabic Seeds does just that. I was told about it a few months ago, but there was so much going on already in our life and in our homeschool, that I postponed my subscription. But in Ramadan there will be space for it, insha’Allah. I subscribed with Miss3 in mind… but I am sure her older brothers will want to have a good nose about it and will benefit too.
Surprise activities
PLEASE NOTE: These are not Ramadan themed activities. My boys are 11 and 8, and past the age of the DIY moon and stars mobiles and the “good deed trees”… Their connection to Ramadan can – and insha’Allah will – happen through study. I still wanted to give them activities for two reasons:
- To give them a constructive way to entertain themselves during the day of fasting
- To make time to do something fun together (which is not always a given when you homeschool, even if you are around each other practically 24/7…)
In a previous post I explained how I went about choosing 30 fun activities for my children, one for each day of Ramadan. The categories I chose, based on my children’s interests, are: Lego, STEM activities, easy recipes, general crafts (of the slightly laborious kind), origami and board games.
I thought it would not be sustainable to have a completely different set of activities for Miss3, so I picked activities that her brothers would enjoy and I will adapt most of them to allow her to participate, insha’Allah. It is easier than getting an 11 year old boy to get excited about decorating a paper tiara.
Here is our activity list, insha’Allah. We will do most of these and some of the days, we will use a couple of board games/paper and pen games we never played with before. You will find more on my Ramadan 1440 Pinterest board.
- Lego rubber band powered car
- Lego secret codes
- Lego mosaic world map
- Lego guess who? (We don’t to Harry Potter or Star Wars or any of those magic/fantasy books, I just thought asking questions about such weird looking characters would be fun)
- Lego paper crimping and circle drawing machines
- Lego catapult
- Lego endless cube
- Lego disaster island challenge
- Tensile bubbles
- Family fingerprint investigation
- Paper circuit cards
- Stick raft building
- Craft sticks launchers
- Paper tetris
- Simple homemade lemonade
- Watermelon ice
- Ice cream in a bag
- Mesfouf (sweet couscous)
- M&Ms cookies (one for the day before Eid!)
- Dara (3 in a row game with a twist)
- Spider bowl game
- Pictionary words for kids (some won’t apply to our kids)
- Yarn bowls
- Paper plate weaving
- Shaving foam marbled paper
- Geometric Islamic art
- Fibonacci art
- Geode garland (free geode template HERE)
- 3D paper stars
- DIY hairclips
I ask Allah to give us all a blessed Ramadan and shower us with His mercy.
This is Allah from us. What have you got lined up for this Ramadan insha’Allah?
