Daily Journal Writing

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.
                                                                       

As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters, I pray this blog reaches you all in the best of health and eeman ameen. Today's blog is about "Journal Writing" in which we have incorporated into this month Reading/Writing Assignments. This is something I will continue throughout the year inshaa'Allah, so my children can get into the habit of writing. Inshaa'Allah I will be posting weekly writing assignments in their new personal creative journals.To encourage them we went over "The Etiquettes' of Seeking Knowledge" and taking notes is very important for those who want to seek knowledge. Inshaa'Allah they will be writing in their journal's everyday documenting what they did that day rather it be reading their favorite book, listening to a lecture, what they ate and so on. Inshaa'Allah at the end of the month they will be publishing their first book.

At the end of the week I give them a spelling test. Their test covers the prior weeks and the current week. As of today they have three weeks of spelling words. The reason I choose to test them on the prior weeks along with the current weeks so they are not just remembering the words for the test. They should be able to master their spelling words by knowing them at any given time. I also dictate  sentences for them to write using their spelling words. I have posted some examples.

Spelling List (K, 1st)

all, I , a, here, an, me, go, the, my, is, no, and, be, look, at, like, sat, in, yes, get, are, you, can, to, can, had, am, into, let, see, day.

Spelling List (2nd, 3rd)

able, age, already, arrive,bare, became, between, bone, break, candy, act, ago, among, asleep, bath, become, block, above, alone, answer, bad, been, bell, blow, breakfast, brought, busy, cap, change,  clock, corn, cover, across, along.

Spelling List (8th, 9th)

police, consider, support, exactly, dozen, baseball, industry, they're, rubber, symbol, beneath, laugh, groceries, popular, thank, quarter, climbed, potatoes, continue, receive, auxiliary, design, carburetor, president, bravado, charge, cerebral, mistake, hospital, chasm, absorption, acquiesce, altercation, animosity, austerity,citadel

July 27, 2012 Will Be Their First Spelling Bee Contest! For The One Who Spells All Their Words Correct Will Receive $50. (Inshaa'Allah)

                                                               

Journal Writing

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

The Companions of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallahu 'alayhi was salaam) preserved and conveyed the message with the utmost sincerity and honesty.

As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters, I pray this blog reaches you all in the best of health and eeman ameen. Today's blog is about "Journal Writing" in which we have incorporated into this month Reading/Writing Assignments. This is something I will continue throughout the year inshaa'Allah, so my children can get into the habit of writing. Inshaa'Allah I will be posting weekly writing assignments in their new creative journals.To encourage them we went over "The Etiquettes' of Seeking Knowledge" and taking notes is very important for those who want to seek knowledge. Inshaa'Allah at the end of the month they will be publishing their first book.

 For the younger student I let them know they don't have to be a great writer, perfect speller, or creative thinker to keep a personal journal. Journal writing means that you regularly write down your thoughts and experiences.
 

A journal is a continued series of writings made by a person in response to their life experiences and events. Diaries contain a description of daily events. A journal may include those descriptions, but it also contains reflections on what took place and expresses emotions and understandings about them. It doesn't matter what you call your writing, either a diary or journal, as long as you see the distinction between these two ways of writing.

 

Four Types of Writing:

There are four types of writing or four writing styles that are generally used. Knowing all these four different types of writing and their usages are important for any writer. A writer’s style is a reflection of his personality, his unique style, his voice and his way to approach his audience and readers.

Generally there are four different types or styles of writing. Following are their names and details:

1. Expository Writing:

Expository writing is a subject-oriented writing style, in which the main focus of the author is to tell you about a given topic or subject, and leave out his personal opinions. He furnishes you with relevant facts and figures and does not include his opinions. This is one of the most common type of writing styles, which you always see in text books and usually “How – to” articles, in which the author tells you about a given subject, as how to do something.

Key Points:

• Expository writing usually explains something in a process
• Expository writing is often equipped with facts and figures
• Expository writing is usually in a logical order and sequence

2. Descriptive writing:

Descriptive writing is a style of writing which focuses on describing a character, an event or a place in great details. It is sometimes poetic in nature in which the author is specifying the details of the event rather than just the information of that event happened.

Example:
In descriptive writing, the author will not just say: “The car hit the truck.”
He will change the sentence, focusing on more details and description like: “The  red car with white and black trim hit the truck and caused the truck to flip on its side.”

Key Points:

• It is often poetic in nature
• It describes places, people, events, situations or locations in a highly-detailed manner.
• The author visualizes you what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels.

3. Persuasive Writing:

Persuasive writing, unlike ‘Expository Writing’, contains the opinions, biasness and justification of the author. Persuasive writing is a type of writing which contains justifications and reasons to make someone believe on the point the writer is talking about. Persuasive writing is for persuading and convincing on your point of view. It is often used in complain letters, when you provide reasons and justifications for your complaint; other copywriting texts, T.V commercials, affiliate marketing pitches etc. are all different types of persuasive writing, where author is persuading and convincing you on something he wants you to do and/or believe.

Key Points:

• Persuasive writing is equipped with reasons, arguments and justifications
• In persuasive writing, the author takes a stand and asks you to believe his point of view.
• If often asks for a call or an action from the readers.

4. Narrative Writing:

Narrative writing is a type of writing in which the author places himself as the character and narrates you to the story. Novels, short stories, novellas, poetry, biographies can all fall in the narrative writing style. Simply, narrative writing is an art to describe a story. It answers the question: “What happened then?”

Key Points:

• In narrative writing, a person, being a narrative, tells a story or event.
• Narrative writing has characters and dialogues in it.
• Narrative writing has definite and logical beginnings, intervals and endings.
• Narrative writing often has situations like disputes, conflicts, actions, motivational events, problems and their solutions.

These are the four types of writing, generally used. There are many sub-types of writing which may fall in one of those categories. A writer must know all these styles, so as to identify his very own writing style, in which he feels comfortable, or which his audience likes to read.


http://hunbbel-meer.hubpages.com/hub/Four-Types-of-Writing

Mastery Learning Model

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

Allaah , the Most High says; "And those who disbelieve say: why is the Qur'an not revealed to him all at once? Thus (it is sent down in parts) that We may strengthen your heart thereby and We have revealed it to you gradually". 25:32

From the guidance of the Salaf regarding seeking knowledge

Az-Zuhrī (d. 125H) said: “Whoever searches for knowledge at once, it will slip from him at once, and indeed knowledge is obtained only one or two Hadīth at a time”. Al-Jāmi lil-Akhlāq ir-Rāwī 1/232

As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters, I pray this blog finds you all in the best of health and eeman (ameen). Today's blog is about Mastery Learning applying teaching and learning according to Qur'an and Sunnah. This is a program I use with my children to help them inshaa'Allah retain information. With the Mastery Learning Program children can work at their own pace according to his/her learning styles. For my program I teach one main subject by the month. For example; the month of May is Reading/Writing in which we only focusing on. I find this works better with my family so my children are not so overwhelmed with so many subjects as you will find in today's traditional classroom setting. Using this type of method my children are able to comprehend the materials as needed. As educators we ask ourselves all the time;"How can I teach better? "How can a person learn better? and "How is it possible to remember the learned material all the time?"

The theories of mastery learning resulted in a radical shift in responsibility for teachers; the blame for a student's failure rests with the instruction not a lack of ability on the part of the student. In this type of learning environment, the challenge becomes providing enough time and employing instructional strategies so that all students can achieve the same level of learning (Levine, 1985; Bloom, 1981).

Mastery learning is an instructional strategy based on the principle that all students can learn a set of reasonable objectives with appropriate instruction and sufficient time to learn. Mastery Learning puts the techniques of tutoring and individualized instruction into a group learning situation and brings the learning strategies of successful students to nearly all the students of a given group. In its full form it includes a philosophy, curriculum structure, instructional model, the alignment of student assessment, and a teaching approach. Note: All According To Qur'an And Sunnah

How to instruct for mastery

1. Clearly state the objectives representing the purposes of the course.

2. The curriculum is divided into relatively small learning units, each with their own objectives and assessment.

3.Learning materials and instructional strategies are identified; teaching, modeling, practice, formative, evaluation, re-teaching, reinforcement, and summative evaluation are included.

4. Each unit is preceded by brief diagnostic tests, or formative assessments.

5. The results of formative tests are used to provide supplementary instruction, or corrective activities to help the learner overcome problems.

As a matter of curriculum development, mastery learning does not focus on content, but on the process of mastering it. Curriculum materials can be designed by in-house instructional designers or via a team approach by various professionals in a given setting either in a school or industry. Instructional materials can also be obtained as prepared materials from an outside commercial source. A combination of these is also possible however, the instructional materials are developed or obtained; the teachers must evaluate the materials they plan to use in order to ensure that they match the instructional objectives set up for a given course of instruction.

The great advantage of a mastery approach for catch-up or accelerated work is that, as teachers, we start by finding out what our students know, and then help them learn the things they will need to know in order to demonstrate mastery. Using a mastery approach also provides flexibility for accommodating instruction to individual learning styles, needs and interest.

Advantages

1.Students have prerequisite skills to move to the next unit

2. Requires teachers to do task analysis, thereby becoming better prepared to teach each unit

3. Requires teachers to state objectives before designating activities

4. Can break cycle of failure (especially important for minority and disadvantaged students)

http://www.ifets.info/journals/8_4/21.pdf

Daily Reading Activities Includes:

Islamic Worksheets/Reading Work Book (American Education Publishing)

Surah (of choice)

Arabic Alphabet (write)

Spelling Words (written multiple times)

Spelling Sentences

Journal Writing (Special Project Student Publishing Book)

Note: At the end of the month they would use their spelling word sentences to publish their own book inshaa'Allah.

Math In The Kitchen

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.



As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters, I pray this blog finds you all in the best of health and eeman (ameen). Today's blog is about cooking with your children using Math. In the kitchen you will find all types of Math concepts that could teach your child/children addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The kids are not only having fun cooking their favorite foods, but they are learning as well. Our motto at Ummi Loves 2 Teach is where a Muslim kid can be a Muslim kid. This weeks cooking assignment is fractions. The kids will be making their very own personal pan turkey pepperoni, pineapple, and cheese pizza (umm yummy). Once their pizza's are done the kids will have to cut them into fractions (with adult supervision) using 3/4 of a whole, 2/3's of a whole, 1/2 of a whole, 1/3 of a whole and 1/4 of a whole.

Materials Needed:

 Cathy's almost instant pizza dough (courtesy of GT Xpress)/Flour Tortillas (small)

Pizza Sauce

Shredded Cheese

Pineapples Chucks or Slice

Turkey Peperoni

Oven/GT Express

Pizza Cutter/Knife (with adult supervision)


Pizza Dough Recipe: You will need,  2 cups warm water, 4 cups all purpose flour, 1 envelope yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons), and 1 teaspoon salt.

1. Place warm water (baby bottle warm) too hot kills yeast, yeast and salt in mixing bowl and stir.

2. Add flour, mixing until combined and scraping into ball in bottom of bowl.

3. Cover and let stand 2 hours.

4 Dough is now ready to use or store.

5 Scrape down sides of bowl, dump mixture floured surface, turn to coat with floured surface, turn to coat with flour and flatten for easy measuring.

6. Divide dough into 12 sections.

7. To store, place a ball of dough into a small bag, twist closed and store in refrig. up to 2 weeks.

8. To use: Flatten ball into a 6 inch round place on a pizza pan or the GT Xpress and add toppings as desired. Note: Oven set at 350 degrees and GT Xpress set at 7.

 

                                                            Say  Bismillah Then Eat!

Mental Math

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters, I pray this blog finds you all in the best of health and eeman (ameen). Today's blog is about Mental Math which means-calculations that's done in ones head without the use of pencil, paper,calculators or other aids. I choose this topic because my 8th grader is and has been for sometime struggling with math. It seems no matter how many programs I've tried with her it works for the moment, but soon leaves once she figures out the problem. I finally said enough is enough you can't just keep skating by. Just the other day I was going through my facebook page and put in the search box Muslim homeschooling to see what other sisters was saying about math mashaa'Allah I came across a sisters page where she had posted some information about the abacus. I said to myself why didn't I think of that long time ago. This was one of my favorite tools growing up doing math, but you know what I figure just like everything else time change. I called my daughter in and had her take a look at some YouTube videos on the abacus to see if she would be willing to give it a try and she agree alhumduliliah we are on our way.

The next step was to find a abacus so I searched google and found the Japanese ababus at amazon and we was so excited. As for my two youngest I will be going to Wal-Mart and getting theirs inshaa'Allah the same one I used when I was in school. Inshaa'Allah make dua for me and my family that we become successful in math ameen.

Happy Counting!

Entrepreneurship

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

As'salaamu alaykum my dear sisters. I pray this blog finds you all in the best of health and highest of eeman (ameen). I choose today's topic because I felt there was a need with the growing number Muslim businesses in the community along with the growing number of failing Muslim businesses in the community. In order for our businesses to be successful inshaa'Allah we must first operate them according to Qu'ran and Sunnah.

  Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: Allah's Apostle said, "May Allah's mercy be on him who is lenient in his buying, selling, and in demanding back his money." (Sahih Bukhari)

Narrated Hakim bin Hizam: Allah's Apostle said, "The seller and the buyer have the right to keep or return goods as long as they have not parted or till they part; and if both the parties spoke the truth and described the defects and qualities (of the goods), then they would be blessed in their transaction, and if they told lies or hid something, then the blessings of their transaction would be lost."(Sahih Bukhari)

  Narrated 'Abdullah bin Abu Aufa: A man displayed some goods in the market and swore by Allah that he had been offered so much for that, that which was not offered, and he said so, so as to cheat a Muslim. On that occasion the following Verse was revealed: "Verily! Those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah's covenant and their oaths (They shall have no portion in the Hereafter ..etc.)' (3.77)  (Sahih Bukhari)

The hadiths on sale and trade are numerous and before one opens a business they must look into the laws of Islam seeking knowledge on what's halal and haram according to Qur'an and Sunnah.

"We Help Small Businesses Like Yours" score

SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. We have been doing this for nearly fifty years.

Workshop: Monday May 7, 2012 from 6pm-8pm (EST)

SIMPLE STEPS TO STARTING A BUSINESS

This workshop will acquaint the potential entrepreneur with all the considerations that must be weighed to properly get ready to start a business. The considerations examined will range from personal characteristics to government regulations and legal requirements. This workshop will be presented as a Free Webinar and the attendee will be able to attend using their own computer from any location they chose, including from their own home. Registration is mandatory, however, since a special password that will be obtained through registration will be necessary.

Register Now!

                                               

Time Management For Homeschooling Families According To Qu'ran and Sunnah

In the name of the Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Magnificent. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Universe. We praise Him, and seek His help, and His forgiveness, and we seek His protection from the accursed Satan. Whoever Allaah guides no one can misguide, and whom He allows to be misguided no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah, who is One alone and has no partners. I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. May the blessings of Allaah be upon him and his family and his companions and the righteous who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “The feet of a servant will not move on the Day of Judgment until he has been questioned about four things): his life - how he spent it, his knowledge - how he acted upon it, his wealth - where he earned it and how he spent it, and his body - how he used it.” (Tirmidhi, Kitab sifat al Qiyamah wal Raqa’iq)

The Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "There are two blessings that many people squander; health and time. (Sahih al-Bukhari)

        5 Tips On Time Management (Inshaa'Allah)

1. Build A Plan: Having a planner makes a world of difference when you are homeschooling. As Muslims our daily lives are like no others, considering we must take in account our daily prayers along with other forms of worship to Allah. When describing ones planner some may describe them as activity calendars, schedules or daily assignment sheets which ever one you choose make sure you stay realistic.

2. Learn What You Are Teaching Before You Start To Teach: This is very important when trying to teach in any setting. Having knowledge of what's being taught saves a lot of time and less frustrations on the teacher as well as the student/s.  

3. Come Prepared And Be On Time: When starting the day always start the same time (inshaa'Allah) this helps children get use to a daily routine (note: your child/childen should never have to come and get you out of the bed to start schooling him/her inshaa'Allah). Being prepared is key and I can't stress this enough. Never start the day with going back and forth trying to find the necessary materials to teach your child/children, because children would start to become board, lose interest as well as focus.  

4. Allow Break Time: Don't overload yourself as well as the children. Make every learning experience a pleasant one. Keep in mind they are kids they need time to play and regroup. If your child/children are unable to go outside designate a place inside for them to play.

5. Be Consistent: I can't stress this one enough also being consistent is what helps them learn no matter if you decide to teach them in the morning, evening or night whatever works be consistent insha'Allah.