~ children receive more attention and help;

~ children study in an environment more suitable to Muslim/ home values;

~ flexible place and activities; home-schooling can be done at home or in a group study (such as community center, masjid, etc.) with tutor and other kids; 

~ it is easier for parents to control children's friends and thus unwanted bad influence; 

~ at lower grades, parents do not have to worry about children's confusion (between Islamic and other values);

~ at higher grades, less worries about bad influence _ such as unwanted relationships, drugs, gangs, etc.

~ children need a daily clear schedule - which should be followed as much as possible;

~ parents (usually mother) need to be organized and removed outside distractions for at least 2-3 hours/day (such as telephone, TV watching, etc.)

~ parents need to provide outside activities for kids (such as sports, taking them to the library, socializing with peers of similar interests, etc.) from time to time. 

~ home-schooling is to be done by parents (usually mother) or with tutors - or combining a group of parents with similar knowledge and interest.

TIME

MON –WED

THURS.

FRIDAY

10-10:55 AM

ENGLISH

10am-

12 pm 

SCIENCE

10- 11:30

SOCIAL STUDIES

(various activities)

11 –11:55 AM

MATH

SCIENCE

11:30am-1:30 pm

ISLAMIC STUDIES 

12:05-1:30 PM

Qur’an

(reading)

Includes JUMMA salah

1:45 PM

SALAH & Home Time

·         Curriculum means the kind of information/ knowledge students should study at different grade levels; for example, a kindergarten student should learn counting numbers 1-20 and should be able to recognize the alphabet letters, while a grade 1 student should learn addition and subtraction at least up to 10 and gain basic reading skills for simple words (such as I, go, time, etc.)

·         In short curriculum means “what” info is being taught.

·         Curriculum expectations are defined at each grade level by the school boards, while in Ontario they are to be found publicly at www.curriculum.org  web-site; however, even with the expectations defined, we can see within the public schools students with very different knowledge levels – for example, some kids learn how to read fluently by the end of grade 1 – while other by the end of grade 2, etc. However, this has to do more to do with practice level and how much they were being taught (by parents, educators, community centers, etc.) than with the child learning capacity of the child (which assumes most children are quite capable of learning – although some may have learning difficulties as well).

·         The parents have a choice to home-school themselves (teach the children themselves) or

·         They can hire a teacher/tutor for their kids, especially for the subjects the parent is not much familiar with;

·         They can home-school together with other parents (the parents who are strong in English could teach that subjects, while other parents who are strong with Math or Science could teach those subjects, etc.) – in essence, the home-schooling parents (usually mother) can rotate based on their subject skill strengths.

·         Home-schooling time is flexible (morning, afternoon, etc.) – but the parents should try to keep a constant routine – so that the child is used to/ understands well what he/she is supposed to do.

·         Also, with home-schooling the parents have a few choices on what material they should choose study with their children.            

·         For the beginners, it is good to buy study books at the curriculum grade level – such as for Canadian Ontario curriculum – the following books are recommended (Canadian Complete curriculum or English/Math Smart – gr. 1-8, Frank Shaffer books – more US based curriculum, etc.); however, the parents should read the lessons in advance and make sure to remove/skip any un-Islamic material (Halloween, music, kuffar holidays, etc); these kinds of books can be found in stores such as Chapters, Indigo or some specialty teacher-stores (which are stores that sell teaching-learning materials with teachers in mind).  

·         Also, Islamic knowledge can be incorporated within study themes – for example, while studying Canadian Geography/ population – the children could also study the number and ethnicity (country of origin) of Muslim in different Canadian cities – info available through Statistics Canada; or their contribution to the Canadian society. Other sources of this knowledge could come from local web-sites – such torontomuslims.com, etc.

·         Parents can buy/dowload themes – study units in different subject areas – available on-line or in teacher stores (such as Scholastic,etc.)

·         Parents can create their own study units – gathering research from on-line, books, own experiments, etc. – but this is more time consuming and could be done by those with more teaching experience already.

·         Taking the kids to the library and reading stories could be one of the favourite activities

·         Parents can use on-line materials, audio and video materials or documentaries to teach their kids different subject themes.

·         Outdoor activities (sports and recreation) are also part of the “curriculum” since the activities are vital to the kids life. 

·         If parents own a business – you could take/schedule time to involve the kids in the actual business – so they have practical knowledge of life outside books – or what we call “life-experience”

·         Organizing activities with other kids/parents could be fun for everyone from time-to-time.

·         In the end – there are lots of  choices of what or how to teach the kids, this article explores some of the basic ideas – parents could become really very creative on their own while their experience level with home-schooling increases.

(for  any questions or comments, you can contact sister Mariam – cristinna7@yahoo.com - www.withkidsinmind.net )

HOME-SCHOOLING LINKS:    

parents should be aware that their children can obtain secondary credits on-line, some of the schools being recognized by the Canadian government; some can be done with local high-school school boards where the child lives, while others can be with private on-line high-schools or with the ILC (Independent Learning Center - which gives credits even if you temporarily live overseas - as long as you complete and submit the study package they give you). 

Schools/ High-Schools in Canada

http://ilc.org/index2.html  - Independent Learning Centre - courses through correspondence offered in collaboration with TVO (Television Ontario), in English or French; gives HIGH-SCHOOL CREDITS RECOGNIZED BY ONTARIO GOVERNMENT.
ICS Canada - http://www.icslearn.ca/highschool/index.html  
Virtual High-School - Ontario - http://www.virtualhighschool.com/ - available since 1996

Home-schooling and Curriculum-Related          

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslimsandhomeeducation/  - on-line Muslim home-schooling group; includes numerous links useful to homeschoolers 
http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/default.htm  - British Curriculum On-Line 
http://www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/faq.html  - Flora- Canadian Home Based Learning Resource Page o http://www.homeschooling.com.au/  - Australian Curriculum On-line 
http://www.hslda.ca/default.aspx  - Home School Legal Defense Association o http://www.ontariohomeschool.org/highschool.html  - Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents 
http://talibiddeenjr.amanahwebs.com - Home-schooling page with lots of free Islamic and non-Islamic printables for kids;   

http://torontomuslimhomeschoolers.com/