III. Presenting the
Material
Now at this point,
there are more or less, two approaches: informal lessons, and
formal lessons/sessions.
Informal
Lessons:
For informal lessons,
"just" set aside a regular family time
(as much as possible) where you sit down and discuss/read
about your topics. For example,
over dinner is an excellent time to discuss eating adab, and
at bedtime is an excellent time to read a good seerah book
as they read like bedtime stories in many cases. Ask
questions along the way to gauge your children's comprehension or to
clear up unclear points and events.
The informal approach
really does not require too much advanced preparation.
Sometimes the non-planned sessions are some of the best
ones. You could think of what you have compiled from your
spine, as “conversation starters” and let things take a
natural course. Much of the time, children will have
questions that spark further discussions which I am sure you
have found. You could also have older kids do the
reading sometimes or share the reading with your younger
children, having them read the words they can and you help
on the words they don’t know. (Great way to incorporate
reading) (You may want to read it to them first and then go
back and do a shared reading.
More
Formal Lessons:
In addition, you can use
your spine to make the lessons more formal (academic) and
here are some tips to do that:
(See
Prophet's Prayer Described Lessons
for an example of how I have developed lessons for The
Prophet's Prayer Described)
While many of the
ideas below may seem more for older kids, with
creativity, you can downsize it for your little ones,
insha Allah (e.g. have them do
an exercise orally rather than written)
Based upon the content of the material, after
reading/listening to an ayah/hadith, or
paragraph/chapter of a book, you might have them:
Draw
a picture related to the topic
Color
a picture related to the topic
Compare/Contrast
something (e.g. in a lesson on eating adab, contrast the
way Muslims eat with how the kuffar eat)
Persuade
someone (written/orally) to take an action
Define
terms in the reading; use in a sentence (oral or
written)
Demonstrate
(how to pray, make Wudhu, eat, etc); write a how to
paragraph (my 11 year old loves these)
Make a diagram
(show the steps of Wudhu) (word webs, flow charts, etc)
Learn/memorize
the daleel/proof for something or the ayah/hadith itself
Describe
(e.g what Jannah is like)
Calculate
(how many times you say fatihah in a month, year)
Label
(on a map, where different places mentioned in the
Quraan are/were located)
Name
(e.g name the things that make your Wudhu invalid, name
the pillars of islam)
Classify
(which behaviors are haraam/halal)
Solve Situational
problems
(what should/could you do if…someone insults you while
you are fasting?…)
Other ideas:
crossword puzzles,
word searches, fill in the blank, comprehension
questions.
I have found that presenting material/lessons in
the form of a question: (e.g. Who is your Lord? And having
them memorize the answer and a daleel (proof) is a very
effective and simple method for teaching many concepts, some
authentic texts employ this method of presenting material).
Using this method, prepare flashcards and be sure to “drill”
your children daily. This is very helpful for
having the concepts stick, insha Allah. Sometimes we may
include some kind of physical activity or silliness to
make the daily review time fun.
*******
These are some of the
methods I have used to create Islamic Studies lessons for my
children. I hope you find them helpful. Please feel
free to browse the IS materials at Talibiddeen Jr. as you may
find them helpful and not have to re-invent the wheel, as I
often do.
