Assalamo aleykum and Welcome!

Assalamo aleykum everybody,

Alhamdulillah, finally I managed to get this blog started!

 

Given all the inspiration that I have got - and always get - from the blogs of other Muslim home educators (that are very talented masha'Allah!) I decided to share the highlights of my journey as a mother and homeschooler, just to pass around some ideas.

 

I have only recently started home educating, as my elder is only 4 1/2, but I have already learned a couple of important lessons, the first of which is: to be a good home educator you don't need formal teaching qualifications or experience, you need a strong motivation.

 

My motivation, as it is probably true for most Muslim home educators, is that I simply don't want my children to attend state schools. This decision is not motivated by personal experience: as a child growing up in Italy, I loved school and, despite feeling that my eagerness to learn and creativity were somewhat constricted by its rigidity, I thrived in the school environment.

 

It is not the academic side of things that I distrust in the UK education system (I don't know much about it anyway), as much as the ethical side of it. I want my children to be brought up with a distinctivly religious education. In the hours spent on the internet researching about home education, I have come across a number of blogs and websites of practicing Christian parents that had gone the same route for the same reason.

 

While I want my children to discover, enjoy and benefit from what is good in this society, I do not want them to feel "different", a "minority", those who don't celebrate birthdays, those that cannot eat such and such meat product, those who cannot get undressed in front of the other children, those who cannot take part in the nativity play, ... the list goes on.

 

I want my children to learn that God doesn't just say "No." In fact, He has said "Yes" to most things!!!  but, how would a child know, when everything around them screams hedonism and carelessness about God's commands? What I want to instill in my children is the Islamic perspective on things, the perspective that God meant for everybody to have in order to be successful, satisfied and happy.

 

Hence, the foundation of their education, as of that of every Muslim, must be the Qur'an and the Sunnah, according to the understanding of no other than the Prophet himself (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all).

 

I hope that this blog may give some useful ideas to all parents, whether they home educate or not, about activity that can be enjoyed with their children.

 

And may Allah the Most High bless, guide and facilitate all parents in educating their children to Islamic standards, it is He who grants every success.