Islamic homeschoolers

[LadyAberlin]

I'm not Muslim, but someone in my homeschool co-op told me about this curriculum and she really likes it so I'd thought I'd mention it, since I've never seen it mentioned on here before. It is a classical Islamic curriculum. You can get the packages with or without the Islamic component. I just thought this might help someone out.

 

 

http://www.kinzaacademy.com/stcu1.html

Edited May 2, 2009 by LadyAberlin

[Amy in TX]

I used this for our first year homeschooling (five years ago) and really liked it. I follows the classical method as outlined in WTM very closely, but everything is put together for you. Curricula, daily lesson plans, and literature selections are provided.

 

I've recommended it to friends many times. Thanks for posting about it!

 

Amy

:)

[Kate in Arabia]

I've seen some mixed reviews on other boards. Amy, from your post it sounds like you didn't continue with them?

 

I'm too fond of putting together my own materials, I think, to go with a "put together" program, but I'm always interested reading about others' experiences. I had hopes, given Hamza Yusuf's background, that there would be a strong classical Arabic feel to it -- like having source material from classical Arab writers and poets, etc. -- but I didn't get the sense that that was where they were going with it, or at least with the Arabic section. Did you use their Arabic/Islamic materials?

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

I've known a few Muslim families who have used this, although I haven't heard any reviews. I would love help with the Arabic / Islamic Studies, but Kinza doesn't seem to have it. Any input to the contrary? I'm also coming from a slightly different camp than Hamza Yusuf, but that's a big can of worms lol.

 

Ad-Duha Academy has some interesting things going on, not classical, but resources of a type I haven't seen elsewhere. My boys like the Muhammad & Maryam aqeedah books, but nothing else appealed to them. I'd be interested in though in seeing where a student is at coming out of their program, in terms of Arabic and Islamic Studies knowledge.

 

Kate in Arabia -- your tafseer booklets are amaaaazing masha'Allah! You should seriously consider marketing them (and working on a set for the younger crowd insha'Allah). ;)

 

Thanks for the tip, though. I'm actually off to check out the resources Kinza uses, just for a little refresher. :)

[Kate in Arabia]

I would love help with the Arabic / Islamic Studies, but Kinza doesn't seem to have it. Any input to the contrary?

 

My thing with the Arabic, I wanted more, just more lol. It seems like publishers are just now coming out with some truly innovative materials that tap into Islamic heritage. And kind of going off the classical theme, that you learn the best language by reading the masters of that language, I was really hoping to be able to do that in an Arabic context. I wish I had more time to devote to making such materials, because I sure haven't been able to find much. I have found a few things, like graded Arabic readers that are stories from the lives of the classical scholars (like ibn Taymiyyah, Ahmed ibn Hanbal, etc.) and there was a really neat comic book series in Arabic on Islamic history that I saw at a used book fair here. But I was trying to come up with Arabic readers that would be, like, selections from classical Arabic works. Sure, my kids probably wouldn't understand everything at first, but they don't understand everything in Shakespeare either and we still read excerpts from that, kwim?

 

Anyway, when I first heard of Kinza I was really enthused from that standpoint, but I don't think it's turning out like that, lol.

 

Thanks for your kind words about the tafseer; my 7 yr old is surprisingly really enjoying it (which is who I am making them for, so I guess that's a good thing!).

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

What books does Kinza use for Arabic and Islamic Studies? Their website lists the content of their programs but not the titles of any books (except SWO and SOTW). Seems a little strange to me... maybe if I contacted them they would give a list?

[Ummto4]

I'm also curious at what Kinza uses for Islamic and Arabic study. However, it looks like for young children, they suggest to use story books to introduce children to various prophets and companions of prophet Muhammad. Also, it seems that there is workbook to accompany memorization of juz 30 and 29, and there is also an Arabic book and character content copywork (for hadeeth). Kinza suggests not to learn the Islamic science formally until around 6th grade when children are introduced to formal study of Islamic creed using one of Hamza Yusuf's book.

 

I'm curious what you all do for Islamic and Arabic study.

 

I myself try to steer clear from graded Islamic textbooks put out by various publishers since I don't want my children to learn Islam from a textbook. At the moment (ds 7, dd5), we're going through each prophet of Allah, from Adam to Jesus (chronologically :001_smile:) using IQRA books, and read stories of prophet Muhammad. We'll add other stories too in the future. As my children is memorizing juz 30, we also use Ad Duha tafseer material so that they know what they're memorizing. I may use Kate's tafseer workbook though when we get to that (thanks, Kate). We haven't done any Arabic language, but I'm teaching my children to read Quran with a proper tajweed. We're using a popular children tajweed book from Indonesia.

 

We also do a family circle time once a day after prayer, alternating tawheed story book from Ad-Duha and Quran study schedule from The Way to Quran by Khuram Murad (available free, otherwise it's published by UK Islamic foundation).

 

I also have a dream that one day we will be able to read classical Islamic texts in Arabic. I hope that Kinza would one day put out a reading program like that, may be at high school level ?

[stripe]

I've actually posted twice about Kinza in the context of John Taylor Gatto and what he's up to. :)

 

Kinza is very secretive about what it uses! On a previous website, you could access a "bookstore" that listed books by title (but was a bit hard to figure out) -- now, they just sell everything as a group.

 

Kinza has a copybook they've just come out with, but it didn't sound like they have actually published anything in the Islamic studies dept; I heard that they don't think much needs to be learned aside from Quran, and the most basic beliefs, until puberty or something like that, but I wasn't sure what to make of that. I also wasn't sure what's with all the HSLDA trumpeting on their website, but anyway....

 

BTW I bought a very nice book, Concentric Circles: Nurturing Awe and Wonder in Early Childhood aimed at the preschool level but really challenging one to think about Islamic education, as in educating the whole person and incorporating the religious viewpoint into our approach and what we do, not just regular education with Islamic studies on the side.

 

Kate -- is it possible that I can see your tafseer?

Edited May 2, 2009 by stripe

[Amy in TX]

Amy, from your post it sounds like you didn't continue with them?

 

I used them my first year homeschooling because I didn't feel confident and really wanted some direction. I found out about the classical method through their website, and once I discovered WTM, and had a year of experience under my belt, I didn't feel the need for the service any more, and wanted to choose my own materials.

 

At the time, iirc, they were new themselves and didn't have all the grade levels available, didn't have much of a religious program yet, and possibly weren't recommending Quran/Arabic training for my dd's age group.

 

I haven't looked at the website in a long time, but I have recommended them to other moms who were un-confident, new homeschoolers as a "program in a box" that follows the classical method.

 

:)

[ummof3]

I'm feeling a little lost myself. I know I have been in touch with you Kate regarding history but I have not yet thought about how I'm going to tackle it. I think i'm actually putting it off as it appears so daunting. Being a new home schooler I actually want something to pick up and go. It would be great if you ladies could share your work - how have you all been teaching history at elementary level? Did you find SOTW easy to tweak?

 

I did look at Kinza but got put off at the lack of samples etc and the terms 'deluxe' and 'standard' put me off lol. It just seems like the WTM put together - but I'd still like to know more about what they use and why.

 

I have the ad duha Perfecting the Pillars series and can recommend them as great read alouds. I do feel lost not knowing any arabic to make use of the classical texts. Out of interest what arabic programme are you all following?

 

thanks

[Kate in Arabia]

Kate -- is it possible that I can see your tafseer?

Tafseer is a very generous term for these. My kids are in a hifz class at a masjid here that meets four nights a week. My younger ds is weaker in Arabic, so I started making small workbooks for each surah as he's memorizing it, in an effort to help his memorizing and hopefully boost his Arabic as well. I've been averaging one every two weeks or so; I only have a handful done so far, you can see them here:

 

http://www.scribd.com/filfilksq

 

I think i'm actually putting it off as it appears so daunting. Being a new home schooler I actually want something to pick up and go. It would be great if you ladies could share your work - how have you all been teaching history at elementary level? Did you find SOTW easy to tweak?

I have been in your shoes. Rather than feel daunted, I think you should just jump in with whatever you can and adjust things as you go along.

 

I'm not sure where you are in the history sequence. I found SOTW 1 easiest as far as Islamic history is concerned. We spent the year studying the prophets in tandem with SOTW 1. There are 25 prophets mentioned in the Qur'an, I divided these up so that we did an average of one per week. Very simply, say we were studying Noah, I would just find whatever books I could and read to the kids; mine really also liked the maze storybooks from GoodWord, and there is a Yahoo group where people posted lesson plans they had made for different prophets (I'm not sure there is one for each prophet though). Also there are some related computer games and cartoons, etc.

 

With SOTW 2, I "edited" the chapters that talked about the rise of Islam, and at the same time realized we needed to rethink the history sequencing for Islamic history. We ended up spending the next two years on seerah and the period of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun. So we really got off the parallel tracks. In the fall we'll be picking up SOTW 3 in the middle and looking at the 'Umayyads and 'Abbasids and going from there.

 

I found it easy to feel overwhelmed, which in the end was meaning that I was doing nothing. We actually had collected quite a few books over the years, so in the end I just decided to jump in with organizing what we had and just start using it. Now that I have a rough outline in my head I can look for more books and movies, etc. as I browse bookstores or the internet. Even without a spine, if you have an outline I find it easier to then look for source materials and/or supplementary books.

 

hth!

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

If I let myself, I can seriously stress about the whole concept of teaching Islamic history. I'll be starting SOTW 1 with my oldest sometime this fall insha'Allah. The ancients seem easy enough as there are so many resources for stories of the prophets. I'm really tired of the series Quran Stories for Kids/Little Hearts -- the text and the pictures drive me crazy. The kids don't mind though, so I try to reword the worst parts and grit my teeth through the rest. I do like Goodword Kidz's Tell Me About.... series. We've read though Yusuf and Musa, and they're much more indepth, complete, and the pictures are a huge improvement. They also put the prophets in their historical context.

 

Kate, what resources did you use for seerah? I'm not sure if I will try to find kid resources or if I should work through Martin Lings' seerah or When the Moon Split or some such simple adult book.

 

I feel that since ancients are easier to plan, I should work out the next few years. I'd love to stay on a four year schedule, but perhaps it's more realistic to plan two 6-year cycles. I have the three-volume History of Islam -- I think I need to work though that myself so I have a better concept of the history myself.

[Ummto4]

Ummof 3,

 

I'm currently studying using Madinah Arabic Course book. I also watch the DVD and find it very valuable because it explains grammar thoroughly. You can find the whole course free in http://www.kalamullah.com or the website of Lugatul QUran Toronto (lqtoronto). In addition, I have also Access to Quranic Arabic and one Arabic book written by Jack Smart (?).

 

This knowledge really helps me when I read and memorize Quran. I used to struggle a lot when memorizing Quran, but now with my little Arabic knowledge, I can do it more easily. And the nice thing of putting Quran in your heart (plus understand the meaning) is that it becomes a part of you, so whenever you suddenly think , hear or in conversation about the Day of Judgment, for example, your mind will be drawn automatically to the verses you've memorized which describe that day. IT's powerful and makes your heart tremble instantly, KWIM ?

 

As for history ... we may have our own stream of Islamic history. I don't use TWTm history recommendation because we're planning to use Ambleside Online with some SOTW thrown in next year (2nd grade) and in the future. Ambleside Online'cs cycle is 6 years and this enables us to cover America in great details. It's kind of 'stop here and smell the roses' approach to history.

 

For Islamic history, we're doing prophet of Allah right now, but at bedtime, I tell my children stories about prophet Muhammad. Next year will be mainly prophet Muhammad and may be the pious four caliphates, and the year after is more of story of the companions. And then I don't know where to go. I've been eyeing Noura Dourke Islamic History series, but it's not finished yet (only up to Umayyah at this point), and it's for Junior High (although may be, if my dc can tackle AO reading, then they may be ready to tackle Noura Dourke's book earlier). I also would like to get them to read Noura Dourke's Prpophet Companion series (5 books or so).

 

 

Well, I think I'm going to get the MEF book, it looks interesting ...

[stripe]

I found out about these books from the Concentric Circles book: Noura Durkee has a few books about the prophets that are a big step above the Goodwords. They are published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an. You can see a fair number of pages on Google Books; here is The Fall of the Giant.

[Kate in Arabia]

For the Prophets, my kids liked this series of computer cds:

 

http://shop.harf.com/PL/Visitor/Categories/CategoryProducts.aspx?x=QHENA911sKz1VoQbO8gkhAa8ENQD66AiNmMpq%2bgzs4%2bvnuw1wgJwaPxf3HXdhYOYWiK3QNaF57l9AMd97utD4Y7z%2fCFVgZwMs4xrYh6%2fZ950wy5fumNiiKZb83vPKrYmeWk8zO7vzo1yiMiHWNk2J0ab1n2yDcqMjdZWdIIevNYERZ74RDwxUFZsBf%2b7WPJ1zLT6e9EHmhw%3d

 

They have a cartoon version of the story, nasheeds, some games, etc. Not as high a quality as western computer games, but my kids still enjoy them

 

Kate, what resources did you use for seerah?

First, I wrote out my own spine. I wanted something that had Seerah but also included stories of the Sahabah, etc. There are a few collections of children's books (series) that I also use a lot. Two of them are in English:

 

The Life of the Prophet

a simplified version of ibn Hisham

http://www.daralkitabalmasri.com/product.php/السيرة_النبوية_لابن_هشام/627/

 

Life of the Prophet

by Salama Muhammad Salama

http://safeer.com.eg/Products.asp?SerID=1893

(it's showing Arabic here but they also have English)

 

But the best/most in depth series I use is in Arabic:

 

at-Faalnaa fee Dhilaal as-Seerah an-Nabawiyyah

by Muhammad Ali Qutb

Unfortunately they don't have pictures of the book here, but this is the publisher website:

http://darelfikrelarabi.com/newlook/Search_result.asp?Cat=%25&Book_Name=&Writer=%E3%CD%E3%CF+%DA%E1%EC+%DE%D8%C8&Submit=%C7%C8%CD%CB

I scanned a cover of vol 1

 

If anyone wants more info email me and I can scan some of the pages.

 

Also, we have this cartoon movie of the seerah:

 

Muhammad: the Last Prophet

http://www.amazon.com/Muhammad-Last-Prophet-None/dp/B0013LL2TS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1241366697&sr=1-1

 

and we have the movie The Message (the one with Anthony Quinn), which the kids love to watch and shout out the names of people they recognize from reading the stories..

http://www.amazon.com/Message-30th-Anniversary-Anthony-Quinn/dp/B000AQ6A4E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1241366608&sr=8-2

[Kate in Arabia]

I'm really tired of the series Quran Stories for Kids/Little Hearts -- the text and the pictures drive me crazy.

Heh, you're not the only one. My kids didn't really take to them that well, the storybooks or the coloring books.. but they liked the mazes. Oh, and they also liked the Iqra series. We found some books in Arabic, but I don't have a complete set of any of them, it's like we're picking up 3-4 at a book sale here and there.

 

Oh, I did see a new series at Darusalaam last year in Saudi, but they only have four books so far -- these were at a level my beginning reader could handle on his own, which was exciting for him; they are at the bottom of this page:

 

http://www.dar-us-salam.com/store/main.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Dus&Category_Code=CB_Prophets

 

I looked at the books that are listed above them, the 15-book set, but I could not handle the "delightful rhyming"; they looked so great on the outside, but I was really irritated after reading just a couple of pages. Maybe I'm burnt out on children's books, I just couldn't handle the rhyming text...

[stripe]

I just hate when they "rhyme" in English by making the last word of every line in Arabic (or, alternatively, having the last word of every line be "Allah" - which isn't exactly creating a rhyme), something like (putting on my "lame rhyme" hat):

 

Where are you going, Omar Abdullah?

I'm going to London, Inshallah!

What are you getting, Omar Abdullah?

Books, toys, and games, Inshallah!

 

OR

 

You sweet little baby, with heart so swafi,

We all know that you love your akhi!

[Amy in TX]

You might want to look at History Odyssey. I used their elementary and middle school packages for ancient history this year. They use SOTW for the lower grades and Kingfisher for the middle grades. (They also use a couple of other history texts that I didn't care for or couldn't find, but you can easily substitute almost any Usborne/DK type book that you like for those readings.)

 

They completely plan the year's worth of lessons for you. They assign readings, timeline work, map work, outlining, and short writing assignments.

 

It's a secular program, so they didn't use the SOTW chapter on the beginning of Christianity. You could approach that any way you like, and add in other studies of the prophets as you desire.

 

For next year, Medieval/Renaissance, I will use History Odyssey again, although I will not use the SOTW chapter on the origin of Islam. We'll probably use a book called Tell Me About Muhammad published by GoodWord, and several other books I don't have in front of me right now that deal with the Islamic golden age and the crusades.

 

For my eldest dd who will be starting high school, I'm not going with History Odyssey. Instead, we are going to try the Great Books history & literature study outlined in WTM. This seems nice and rigorous to me (although I may or may not use all the texts they recommend for history--have to check those out first). I want my dc to be independent learners, and to be very comfortable with heavy amounts of reading and writing. We'll see how that goes, inshallah.

 

Kate's advice to jump in and start is good--you can always make changes if something isn't working well.

 

:)

[Amy in TX]

I'm printing all of your messages on this topic! Lots here for me to learn from.

 

What we do:

 

Elementary: I've used various Islamic studies texts/workbooks, none of which I have been completely happy with. The one I like best, and it's for upper elementary, is Learning About Islam by Yahiya Emerick. We use a lot of storybooks, many of which others have mentioned in this thread.

 

Middle: My eldest has just finished What Is Islam All About? By Yahiya Emerick, for the middle grades. The Emerick books are very thorough, covering Quran, theology, practice, seerah, Islamic history, and Muslim cultures. The only complaint I have is that they can be a bit dogmatic, presenting some beliefs/practices as wajib that I understand to be sunnah, or that there is scholarly disagreement on. But they are both broad and deep (for their age groups), and I haven't seen anything I like better at this point.

 

High School: This is uncharted territory, but what I would like to do is some combination of online courses such as Zaytuna offers, and independent reading and writing assigned by me.

 

Arabic studies (all grades): We were blessed to find a young man who could come to our house and teach the dc to read and recite. We lost him to medical school this year, but before he left he trained my eldest to listen and correct her younger brother and sister, and help them memorize. I still need to find a teacher to start from scratch with my youngest now.

 

For me... I learned to read and recite in a very rudimentary way early in my marriage, but by the time I had several babies it had sort of fallen by the wayside. I'm just now looking at getting up to speed again. My sil uses quranreading.com, where you work in real time with scholars using skype to learn on the computer, and I'm probably going to try that inshallah.

 

:)

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

My sil uses quranreading.com, where you work in real time with scholars using skype to learn on the computer, and I'm probably going to try that inshallah.:)

 

I've used this, and I LOVE it! I felt like such a little kid because they started me off in the qa'idah, but alhamdulillah I got through that in just a couple sessions. After the qa'idah, we read juz 'amma then started at baqarah. It's great not only for the tajweed instruction, but also for establishing and increasing your reading habits. Plus, they can schedule classes at any time. I highly recommend it.

[Amy in TX]

Thanks, that's good to know! :)

[Kate in Arabia]

Have any of you looked at Bilal Philips' Islamic Studies books for upper grades? I keep seeing them in bookstores but didn't look very closely since my kids are younger.

 

http://www.onlineislamicstore.com/b2740.html

 

We've collected a lot of different Islamic studies curricula over the years, I usually just pull chapters when there's a specific topic I wanted to go over.

 

I was thinking to try and have a theme this Ramadan; years ago we did "Muslims around the world", but I haven't decided on anything yet this year -- anyone thinking of something for Ramadan?

[stripe]

I have been collecting picture books for the past few years that I read during Ramadan (my kids are younger than yours), that I read in tandem with discussion and other activities. Here are some of the books I've got or have read with my kids:

 

The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi and Ned Gannon

(Arab (UAE?) family)

Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story by Hena Khan and Julie Paschkis

(story about an Indian(?)-American girl and her family watching the moon, observing Ramadan, large focus on food and gifts)

Fasting and Dates: A Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr Story (Festival Time) by Jonny Zucker and Jan Barger Cohen

(for the very young)

Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr: With Praying, Fasting, and Charity by Deborah Heiligman

(National Geographic book; nice photographs)

Magid Fasts for Ramadan by Mary Matthews and E. B. Lewis

(shortish chapter book about Egyptian boy's desire to fast before his parents think he's ready; several references to everyday religious activities being "strange" ; about the issue of children fasting)

Ramadan by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi and Omar Rayyan

My First Ramadan by Karen Katz

Ramadan (On My Own Holidays) by Susan L. Douglass and Jeni Reeves

The Best Eid Ever by Asma Mobin-Uddin and Laura Jacobsen

Samira's Eid by Nasreen Aktar and Enebor Attard

Hamza's First Fast by Gauher and Asna Chaudhry (another one of those books where, on the first morning of Ramadan, the parents have to explain everything to the shocked kid who has never even heard of it before; Indian/Pakistani family)

 

Some I haven't read:

The Last Night of Ramadan by Maissa Hamed and Mohamed El Wakil

Under the Ramadan Moon by Sylvia Whitman and Sue Williams

A Party in Ramadan by Asma Mobin-Uddin and Laura Jacobsen

Ramadan (Holidays and Celebrations) by Amy Hackney Blackwel

Ramadan (Celebrations in My World) by Molly Aloian

Ramadan Moon by Na'ima B. Robert and Shirin Adl

Max Celebrates Ramadan (Read-It! Readers) by Worsham, Adria F, Gallagher-Cole, and Mernie

Ramadan: Count and Celebrate! (Holidays-Count and Celebrate!) by Fredrick McKissack and Lisa Beringer Mckissack

 

There are also multiples by Goodword.

 

(It is also a good opportunity to study the phases of the moon for both scientific and religious understanding.)

[Amy in TX]

Have any of you looked at Bilal Philips' Islamic Studies books for upper grades?

 

http://www.onlineislamicstore.com/b2740.html

 

 

 

I haven't looked at high school texts b/c I want to go with online courses and whole-books reading, but these look rather tempting too...

[Rosie_0801]

Oooh. Thanks Stripe.

 

Rosie-taking notes...

[stripe]

I forgot one -- I really like this one, too:

 

Celebrating Ramadan by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith and Lawrence Migdale

[ummof3]

 

I have been in your shoes. Rather than feel daunted, I think you should just jump in with whatever you can and adjust things as you go along.

 

I'm not sure where you are in the history sequence. I found SOTW 1 easiest as far as Islamic history is concerned. We spent the year studying the prophets in tandem with SOTW 1. There are 25 prophets mentioned in the Qur'an, I divided these up so that we did an average of one per week. Very simply, say we were studying Noah, I would just find whatever books I could and read to the kids; mine really also liked the maze storybooks from GoodWord, and there is a Yahoo group where people posted lesson plans they had made for different prophets (I'm not sure there is one for each prophet though). Also there are some related computer games and cartoons, etc.

 

With SOTW 2, I "edited" the chapters that talked about the rise of Islam, and at the same time realized we needed to rethink the history sequencing for Islamic history. We ended up spending the next two years on seerah and the period of the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun. So we really got off the parallel tracks. In the fall we'll be picking up SOTW 3 in the middle and looking at the 'Umayyads and 'Abbasids and going from there.

 

I found it easy to feel overwhelmed, which in the end was meaning that I was doing nothing. We actually had collected quite a few books over the years, so in the end I just decided to jump in with organizing what we had and just start using it. Now that I have a rough outline in my head I can look for more books and movies, etc. as I browse bookstores or the internet. Even without a spine, if you have an outline I find it easier to then look for source materials and/or supplementary books.

 

hth!

 

Kate I do feel overwhelmed that I'm actually doing nothing! That's exactly how I get about things to be honest. I think I might just get SOTW and start with the volume 1 as you say. When and if I get to vol 2 i'll be back with some more questions! I've also been recommended History Odyssey which I haven't yet looked at but will do.

 

A Prophet a week seems like a lot but then again if you are just reading and doing basic activities it might be ok. We have a lot of Goodword Books which I also find I'm tweaking a lot to make sense to the kids but it's something. I have my eyes on the 'Tell me about' series so will check them out.

[ummof3]

Ummof 3,

 

I'm currently studying using Madinah Arabic Course book. I also watch the DVD and find it very valuable because it explains grammar thoroughly. You can find the whole course free in www.kalamullah.com or the website of Lugatul QUran Toronto (lqtoronto). In addition, I have also Access to Quranic Arabic and one Arabic book written by Jack Smart (?).

 

 

I'll look into this thanks. Yes I agree, it's great when you can actually understand the ayahs - it's amazing how just by increasing your vocab you can piece things together.

 

i'm still not sure how to work out this four year cycle thing, it's mind boggling!

[ummof3]

You might want to look at History Odyssey. I used their elementary and middle school packages for ancient history this year. They use SOTW for the lower grades and Kingfisher for the middle grades. (They also use a couple of other history texts that I didn't care for or couldn't find, but you can easily substitute almost any Usborne/DK type book that you like for those readings.)

 

They completely plan the year's worth of lessons for you. They assign readings, timeline work, map work, outlining, and short writing assignments.

 

It's a secular program, so they didn't use the SOTW chapter on the beginning of Christianity. You could approach that any way you like, and add in other studies of the prophets as you desire.

 

For next year, Medieval/Renaissance, I will use History Odyssey again, although I will not use the SOTW chapter on the origin of Islam. We'll probably use a book called Tell Me About Muhammad published by GoodWord, and several other books I don't have in front of me right now that deal with the Islamic golden age and the crusades.

 

For my eldest dd who will be starting high school, I'm not going with History Odyssey. Instead, we are going to try the Great Books history & literature study outlined in WTM. This seems nice and rigorous to me (although I may or may not use all the texts they recommend for history--have to check those out first). I want my dc to be independent learners, and to be very comfortable with heavy amounts of reading and writing. We'll see how that goes, inshallah.

 

Kate's advice to jump in and start is good--you can always make changes if something isn't working well.

 

:)

 

off to look at history odyssey!

[Kate in Arabia]

A Prophet a week seems like a lot but then again if you are just reading and doing basic activities it might be ok.

For us it depended on the prophet. I mean, there's a lot more out there about Ibrahim than Dhu al-Kifl, kwim? When we were doing it my kids were really small, so just to have two days of the week where we read the story and did some small activity was enough, although for some prophets it took more than a week. I actually made like a wall display, my oldest (who was 6 then?) just wrote two or three key words from the story and we put them around the name on the wall.

 

For me, I've found the more complex I make things the less likely I am to stick with it :(

[stripe]

BTW if you're looking for a historical "spine," this might be of interest: Historical Atlas of the Islamic World by David Nicolle. It's just under 200 pages (large sized pages), copiously illustrated, with short articles. Covers many geographical areas, and from pre-Islamic times in Arabia to around 1492AD.

[Rosie_0801]

Thought I'd post this in case someone was interested: http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/35778

I haven't seen it because I can't afford every book I want, but one of the chaps on our local SCA weblist keeps posting such things for us to drool over.

 

Rosie

[stripe]

Thanks, Rosie, for that link. Managed to get it from the library.

 

I have found my handwritten notes from what Kinza's curriculum is before they made it hard to see. The books they read are basically the regular classics (Winnie the Pooh, Andrew Lang's Red fairy book, Peter Pan, Pollyanna, Children's Homer, Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare, and things like Gruelle's Raggedy Ann -- hopefully not the one with the mammy doll).

 

By the way, IslamicBookstore.com has a few pages from Kinza's copybook. It is one hadith at the top (they have one Arabic page and one in English), plus the lines for writing. I've seen another recently that sounds similar (compendium of ahadith, not a consumable workbook): "In the Prophet's Garden" by Fatima D'Oyen, put out by the Islamic Foundation.

[Kate in Arabia]

I found an old email on another group I'm in, someone posted what they had received from Kinza as follows:

 

GRADE 1: Phonics Pathway, Pictorial Primer, Barchowsky Handwriting, Language Lessons 1,Spelling Workout A-B, RightStart Math Level B, History - Story of the World 1, Usborne Illustrated Encylopedia of the Natural World, Iqra Books on the Prophets, Islamic Tales for Children (Islamic Foundation Audio), Classic Literature

GRADE 2: McGuffey First Reader, Language Lessons 2, Spelling Workout C-D, Rightstart Math Level C, History - Story of the World 2, Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of Planet Earth, Seera Book

GRADE 3: McGuffey First Reader, Shurley Grammar 3, Writing Strands 2, Spelling Workout E, Rightstart Math Level D, History - Story of the World 3

Adventures with Atoms and Molecules Book 1, Latin, Stories of the Sahaba (Noura Durkee)

GRADE 4: McGuffey Second Reader, Shurley English 4, Writing Strands 3, Spelling Workout F, Rightstart Math Level E, History - Story of the World 4, Physics Workshop, Latin, Stories of the Sahaba (Noura Durkee)

GRADE 5: Shurley Grammar 5, Writing Strands 4, Spelling Workout G, Saxon 6/5, Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

GRADE 6: Shurley Grammar 6, Writing Strands 5, Spelling Workout H, Saxon 7/6

 

At the time, they didn't offer this person anything for Arabic, and the Islamic materials look a bit "lite". Maybe this has changed, it was a while ago.

 

And since you mentioned Kinza's copybook, in case anyone is interested, I put together a copybook for Arabic using an-Nawawi's Ahadith; basically I just took the text from an online free-use site and made it into a copy book by enlarging the Arabic text and adding lines for copying. I didn't mention here because I didn't know if folks would be interested in religious materials, but in case:

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14820869/Nawawi-copywork

 

I'm thinking of where I want to go with copywork for my older ds next year, maybe I'll stick with source material but include secular as well as religious stuff. His handwriting is getting ok, but still could use practice.

[stripe]

Thanks! I like the idea of generating my own copybook with items of my choosing, so I liked the idea of getting some child-friendly source material for them, for reading/reflection as well as for handwriting practice. The advice you've given here (and on Yahoo groups) re Arabic texts has been informative.

 

I think the Islamic stuff assumes that your family is pretty active and everything comes by osmosis. By the way, Noura Durkee's stories of the Sahaba (I was just looking at this two days ago, otherwise I wouldn't know this) is a 5 vol. set! For the volume I was looking at, I found almost all of it readable on Google Books, but it couldn't be saved/printed, but it gave me a very good idea of what was inside.

 

I personally struggle to find a more well-rounded, but still good quality, literature and non-fiction works that is more inclusive (religiously and culturally) than some of the dead white male classics stuff. Poems like "Foreign Children" by Kipling

("You have curious things to eat,

I am fed on proper meat;

You must dwell upon the foam,

But I am safe and live at home.

Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,

Little frosty Eskimo,

Little Turk or Japanee,

Oh! don't you wish that you were me?"),

or books with (only) little white Victorian children, are just not quite what I want. I am always looking for this.

 

I have also been wanting to generate something akin to the Simply Charlotte Mason resource "Laying Down the Rails." I have only seen the preview, but, as CM was Christian, I think it might be useful to have a good source of personal qualities to aspire to from the Islamic perspective?

 

I should poke around more (or even post!) on the Yahoo groups; I am sure someone more insightful has worked on this.

Edited May 23, 2009 by stripe

[Osmosis Mom]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I did see the copybook you mentioned from Kinza. Basically it has a hadith at the top of each page in Arabic and as I recall then the translation is on the opposite page. Below the hadith is a whole page of big lines to supposedly copy the hadith onto. The book is made on nice paper, but to me it seemed a waste at $14.95 since it just had a hadith and lines. But of course, Hamza Yusuf has translated the ahadith so maybe that's where the attraction is...