INSPIRATION

Assalamo aleykum.

I decided to homeschool with little or no knowledge of the various homeschooling philosophies and approaches out there. However, in this post I would like to briefly share one I have recently been reading about that has really sparked my interest: Project Based Homeschooling (PBH).

Jazaki Allahu khayran to the sister that sent me the link to the Project Based Homeschooling website.

In a nutshell, PBH means that the child must be in charge of what he learns and how he learns it.

The beauty of this approach is that it can co-exist with whatever homeschooling method one follows, as it doesn't necessarily have to be applied to everything a child learns and it is not a purist, in-or-out approach with a ret of rigid rules that must be applied. I find this aspect rather liberating, alhamdulillah.

As a novice to homeschooling, I often put "productivity" as a priority. PBH reminded me that we are not homeschooling to "go through" a program. It helped me re-gain focus on what is the true kind of learning, the one that will last, insha'Allah.

When talking about project-based homeschooling, we are moving beyond knowledge and skills and probing underneath for the machinery of learning. 

(Lori Pickert, "Project-Based Homeschooling")

 I always tended to cringe when my children "messed about" with materials, instead of using them for the purpose I had in mind. What I was failing to remember - and PBH is very strong about - is that the exploration of the materials is a vital part of learning.

A practical example. Yusef (5) loves to write. He can't get enough of it. By "writing" I mean to fill whole pages of his many diaries and notebooks with letters, very tightly packed together. Random letters. If you look carefully at one of such pages, you are likely to find some actual words in them (typically "Yusef, Bilal, mummy, abi, Allah..."). Once I used to ask him why he didn't write actual words and sentences. I have now learnt that this is the way Yusef is making himself into a writer, and I respect it. He also writes actual words and sentences in other activities and sometimes spontaneously, so I know he is capable of it.

PBH emphasises the importance of a certain topic being explored time and time again, rather than being a box that we hasten to tick to move on to the next one. A child should be free to delve into his chosen object of study in depth and to return to it. Every time he will increase his understanding and enrich his learning experience. Every time he will produce more and more sophisticated representations, to go hand in hand with the greater degree of his mastery of the topic he is learning about.

I strongly recommend Lori Pickert's book. It is a wonderful read (you may want to underline nearly everything...) N.B. As this is a non-Muslim author, my recommendation of her work is limited to her ideas in the education of children and specifically to what in no way conflicts with the teaching of Islam, which are the primary and only indispensable source of guidance for every Muslim homeschooler.