Calling All Muslim Kids: Publish Your Work, Views and Jokes!
Although we requested contributions from Muslim Kids since the launch of the new site in July 2009, we didn’t have the necessary system or support in place to actively solicit submissions or publish regularly. Alhumdulilah (Praise be to God), we are presently prepared to compile and publish work by Muslim Kids for Muslim Kids on a regular basis. Alhumdulilah, we have over 2 dozen Muslim Kids Islamic Book Reviews yet to post from our 1st Annual Summer Islamic Reading Program. Subhanallah (Glory be to God), with 3 months until our next kick-off, we feel it’s perfect timing to post them now, inshaAllah, to get all our Muslim Kids excited for the upcoming program. 
Categories for Submission
Muslim Kids Product Review
- A perfect example of how my 9 year old shares one of her favorite educational website, is by showing others how to register since there’s no available how-to guide online. So, if you can answer any of the following questions below, please complete this form.
- Do you have a favorite educational website you visit all the time? Please share it with others.
- Do you have a special toy, game, or program that you can’t live without? Please to tell us what it is and why it’s so great.
- Did you learn the Qur’an or Arabic through a software program that made it fun and easy? We’d love to hear about it.
Muslim Kids Weekly Video
- Every Sunday, inshaAllah, we showcase a Weekly Video in a blogpost, and place it on the right sidebar “Weekly Muslim Kids Video”.
- So, if you want to share your favorite nasheed or a funny Islamic video, please complete this form.
Muslim Kids Recipes
- On Tuesday’s we participate in a Tasty Tuesday meme. We find that recipes by kids for kids are well received by our readers.
- So, if you have a great, simple, healthy or not-so-healthy-but-delicious snack, meal or dessert to share, please complete this form.
Muslim Kids Jokes
- We just published our first funny Islamic joke here.
- So, if have another one to share, please make us laugh! Please complete this form.
Kids Book Review
- Do you love reading books? But, enjoy telling all your friends why he or she should read it even more!? We’ll, that’s called a book review.
- Book reviews are unlike book reports. Professional writers believe that writing book reviews is an ideal way for children to enjoy and improve their writing skills, because it’s an easy, fun, creative and rewarding writing exercise.
- You can even narrate your review to your parents. But, narration is meant for kids too young to write all their great thoughts and opinions down on paper.
- So, if you are ready to recommend your favorite book(s), please complete this form.
Want to be a Kid Blogger?
My 9.5, 8.5 and 6.5 year old daughters are having a blast blogging and vlogging!
We’re learning so much, spending quality family time together, sharing critical Islamic tips and lessons, growing our community, and actually winning prizes and free gifts along the way.
But, nothing is more important to us than receiving the blessings and acceptance of Allah (subhanallah wa’ Tala) as we worship Him and Only Him in all our work and play. Yar Rabb. Ameen.
We’re very interested in showcasing more Muslim kid bloggers here at American Muslim Mom. So, if you’d like to write for us, comment below or contact us with your suggestions and recommendations. Recommendations leading kids away from haram things is highly recommended.
Additional ideas include:
- Do you have an arts and crafts project you want to showcase? Please teach others how to duplicate your work.
- Want to share your favorite poem, du’a, or short story and become a published writer?
- Do you have tips that make your daily tasks easier? Please let other Muslim kids benefit from your wise ways.
- Did your class or homeschool family just figure out a fun way to learn a difficult-to-understand topic or concept? Share your lesson plans with us, like we did here.
- Would like to share your political commentary on breaking news? Innocent kids often say it best!
We look forward to showcasing educational, fun and motivational tips, tools and resources from the wise, innocent, and often humorous mouths of our children, inshaAllah. So, please comment below, contact us directly, or submit your work through one of the category forms above.
Please allow 28 business days for review. If you haven’t heard from us within that time frame, you may re-submit your idea.
*Disclosure: As a family-friendly Muslim Mom online magazine and blog community, healthy submissions in accordance to the Qur’an and Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) are encouraged. Our intention is to support the work of Muslim Kids and publish it accordingly. We reserve the right to edit, amend, delete, stop or ban anything deemed inappropriate or disrespectful.
Journal for our Alice.org Experiences
Our 9 year old’s journey to computer programming.
CT Homeschool Group SixFlags Read to Succeed Six Hour Reading Club
Deadline to Complete Registration: Monday, March 8, 2010 7:00pm EST.
We apologize for the late notice. All families who registered via phone and email during the fall 2009 with me are all registered. This post is made as a courtesy by opening it up to all members of the many CT homeschool groups we belong too, as well as any CT homeschooler who follows American Muslim Mom.
/sixflagsread
2009-2010 Read to Succeed and Six Flags Six Hour Reading Club program
How it works:
Free admissions tickers are given to all children in Grades K – 6 who complete six hours of reading since the inception of the program this past fall. Each participating Teacher/Parent will also receive one free admission ticket.
Tickets are valid at participating Six Flags theme parks from June 14 through August 8, 2010 only. (Note: Valid dates for The Great Escape ONLY: June 28 through August 15, 2010.) Lost, stolen, or damaged tickets cannot be replaced.
What To Do:
Parent Educators must fill our the following form completely by 7:00pm EST tomorrow, March 8, 2010.*
Additional downloads:
If you have any questions or concerns, comment below or email contact<at>americanmuslimmom.com
Science, Techonology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Tips for Kids
My girls and I were so bummed that our tweets were not showing up for our very first participation in a Girls Night Out (twitter hashtag #gno) with dear mommy blogger Jyl at MomItForward.com this past Tuesday because the topic was dear to our hearts: Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM).
We had some short tips ready to share with the mommies, and we tried our best to keep up with the questions only to find that no one can see us 
So, mid-way through we dropped out of the party
But, I couldn’t let our humble tips go unnoticed, so I shared some of our tweets below. [At the time of posting this, we just noticed that Jyl had the awesome idea of sharing wonderful tips shared from that night in this comprehensive post here.]
*Tip: If we have a link in the tweet, just click the image because it’s linked to that site.
1. STEM Homeschooling Parents
Introduction and one reason why this #gno was important so important to us:
2. Getting kids excited about STEM
Q1: Get kids into Inventing/Designing for an Inv Convention *not* just a sci fair: http://bit.ly/3igeh4
Q1: the reaction of testing sugar, warm H20 & yeast is fun http://bit.ly/bYeJdU TipL not boiling hot H20, warm tap
3. Websites to help kids enjoy learning Math and Science:
Q2: Math Another *Great* website: http://www.coolmath-games.com
Q2: Math *Great* website: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ We use in our Math Club
4. What do your kids want to be? What did you want to be when you were growing up?
5. Thoughts about how STEM classes are taught in school Then and Now:
6. Was there a stigma for girls entering STEM when you were growing up?
Remember, we only have 3 girls; so if there’s definitely no stigma in our house May God have mercy on Mommy’s soul–we miss you
We’d love to try all your wonderful STEM tips! Please share them below.
A True Confession from a New Homeschooling Mum
Hope Home Schooling is going on well. Let me make a confession to you:
I am enjoying every bit of homeschooling, including the preschooler’s “drama”, the Kindergartener’s whining and the first grader’s “all-of-a sudden” independence. Besides, I am learning a lot! I never took Geography in Nigeria, never!
I had the option of choosing Geography or English Literature. I chose the latter without qualms. And I enjoyed every bit of Literature.
But it is now, in my old age, that I am beginning to appreciate the beauty in Geography, through reading and activities in my first grader’s books. Subhanallaah.
Through educating my kids at home, I have discovered that I am also re-educating myself and gaining cultural competency about other countries in our world.
Last December, my kids and I attended a kids’ pre-exhibition on Timbuktu in Mali. The pre-exhibition took place at one of the ten public libraries in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was an eye opener not only for my kids but for me.
I knew from the on start that Mali is a Muslim country. But one thing I was ignorant about was the fact that Mali is one of the countries on earth that has a wealth of Islamic scholarship in terms of education and life enriching experiences. Besides their local languages, they also speak French, which is one of my favorite languages. Just in a day, my knowledge about Geography increased and my horizons were definitely expanded.
In life, there are challenges here and there. We cannot hide from there.
It is not the challenge that actually matters though. It is how we see it and tackle it that matters most.
Yes, homeschooling can pose its own challenges, upon the challenges of motherhood and parenthood. However, it can be very successful, refreshing, and enjoyable when it is not seen as a strenuous daily chore but as a privilege and gift that Allah has blessed us with.
What keeps me going is the flexibility in our home, the joy I see in my kids’ eyes, the ability for me and my hubby to do this homeschooling, and most importantly, the legacy my late parents laid down for me and my siblings. The legacy is nothing but education.
So, keep up the good work and stay refreshed.
Past articles by Maryam include:
Maryam Funmilayo is a homeschool mum of four (ages 7, 5, 2.5 years old and an 8 months old), pursuing a Master of Science degree in Nutrition. An accomplished freelance writer, Maryam particularly enjoys writing on-assignment because she loves the challenge of impressing her clients for repeat business. Please comment below to share your views on today’s post, or email her directly at mfunmilayo<at>yahoo.com
Teaching Kids Idioms, Oxymorons, Onomatopoeia & More
Teaching Figurative Language to Kids
This is our first attempt to have a group homeschool project online for our kids, in which we’d like to showcase our kid’s work on one particular topic at a time. This group homeschool project topic is “Figurative Language”. Figurative Language is different sayings that do not express its literal meaning.
Below are some types of figurative language, definitions, examples, websites and pictures we drew to help learn about this topic. We’d like to welcome other children to draw funny figurative languages examples, you can scan and email the picture to us, or post them on your blog and trackback to this original post or comment below.
An idiom is is a combination of words that sound idiotic, but the meanings are typically popular and well-known by native speakers. Non-native speakers (foreigners) find them very difficult to understand.
Examples include: icing on the cake, is there a frog in your throat, dead meat.
An oxymoron is a phrase in which two words that typically contradicts themselves (good & bad, ugly & pretty) are used together to stress the point of the speaker.
Examples include: all alone, wise fool, awfully nice, legal murder.
Onomatopoeia is a word used to make a “sound”.
Examples include: meow, woof, bang, tick-tock.
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Simile
Simile is comparing two things using the words “like” or “as”.
Examples include: his nose is as cold as ice, the girl ran like a cheetah.
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Metaphor
Metaphor is a comparison between two things using descriptive or symbolic words without using the words “like” or “as”.
Examples include: My bike is my magical carpet, Juliet (from “Romeo & Juliet”) is the sun.
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Hyperbole
A Hyperbole is a deliberate and obvious exaggeration to stress your point.
Examples include: The oven must be set at 1000 degrees! I could eat a 100, or 1,000,000 of these!
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Personification
Personification is giving life-like qualities to non-living things; making a something ‘like’ a person.
Examples include: The teapot sang & whistled, the printer ate my paper!
We had a ton of fun working on this project one evening. Please join the fun! Grab your crayons, markers and pencils and send your drawing to us via email, or post on your blog & comment below with the link!
Chelsea Piers Pre-Olympic Amateur Athlete Homeschool Event was a hit!
Everyone had a blast at Chelsea Piers on Friday for our Pre-Olympic Amateur Athlete Homeschool Event.
Photos of our Happy Homeschoolers
To find all our happy homeschoolers playing in the Field House’s gymnasium and rock climbing, check out our Facebook Fan Page here. Please become a fan, and add any pictures you’d like to share as well. Don’t forget to tag “American Muslim Mom” so everyone can find the pictures in one convenient place. 
Videos of our Happy Homeschoolers
Rope Swing
More Rope Swing
Trampoline walk
If you have video clips to share, please share it on Facebook, youtube, on your blog–just please comment below where we can find it. Or, better yet, you can send me the MP4 wave file so I can upload it to our new American Muslim Mom youtube channel.
To the parents who participated, please keep your eyes peeled for our follow-up survey, so we can gauge your interests and desires for future homeschool events and programs.
Want to learn more about our future plans? Please comment below or join our RSS feed today!
The College Application Process for Homeschoolers
The process of applying to college is basically very simple. You get an application from a college, or open one online, and fill in the requested information. However, to do a good job with the application, there are a number of items to keep in mind. This is particularly true for home schooled applicants because their transcript is often not given the weight it might otherwise have. So what does your student have to do to have the best, and strongest, application?
How to apply to college:
- First, the basics. If given the choice between an online application and a hard copy, choose the online application. Colleges prefer these because they are easier to process. You also don’t need to worry about whether your student’s hand writing is legible with an online application.
- Read the instructions carefully and answer each of the questions accurately. This may seem obvious but I have seen many applications, often by very bright students, that don’t follow the instructions.
- Finally, make sure that there are no typo’s or serious grammatical errors in the application.
A college application essay is critical.
Now that we have the basics down, let’s get to the parts of the application that can make the difference between acceptance and rejection. The most important part of the application is the essay. Some colleges, particularly public colleges, don’t require an essay. However, for the more selective colleges, the essay is critical because it is a good way to distinguish all of the great applicants.
Why a college application essay is necessary:
- First, they are looking to see how well the student writes. Since writing in college is important, regardless of the major, colleges consider the ability to write well a critical trait. The application essay is the best opportunity for the home schooled student to show their writing ability.
- Second, colleges ask for an essay is to get a small glimpse into the life of the student that is not otherwise shown on the rest of the application. This is where most applicants fail on the application. Colleges are not looking for a big treatise on how the student will create world peace. Instead, they are looking for one small aspect of their life that communicates something about your student. This might involve one event in your student’s life that changed who they are or how they think about something. I give much more information about writing the college essay on my website.
The importance of a college application’s list of activities:
The second critical area of the application is the list of activities. Again, while basic, this simple activity can be used to strengthen the student’s application. You will want to list the activities in order of importance unless the application directs otherwise. Make sure that your student clarifies any abbreviations that might be used unless there is no question that anyone would know what the abbreviation stands for.
When listing activities, one of the issues you want to keep in mind is what colleges are looking for in the applicant. The less selective colleges like to see a well rounded student. This may be a student who is involved in sports, music and leadership activities.
However, the more selective colleges are looking to put together a well rounded class. Instead of well rounded students, these colleges like to admit students with a particular interest. By putting these student “specialists” together, the college ends up with the well rounded class. This is an area where the home schooled student can really shine because often they are more focused in their interests.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say that your student has a great interest in the trombone. He might play in the high school band and in a local jazz group. He could volunteer his time playing trombone at the local nursing home entertaining the residents. For work, he might work helping teach young students the basics of the trombone.
It doesn’t matter what your student’s interest in as long as they are serious about the interest. This is not to say that student’s shouldn’t explore a variety of interests or might have a variety of interests. Instead, if the student is interested in a highly selective college, they will be a more competitive candidate if they have a particular interest upon which they focus most of their time. Next month we will talk about some of the issues about when to apply to college.
Todd Johnson, the college admissions counselor for College Admissions Partners is our College Admission Adviser for American Muslim Mom.
Previous articles include:
We’re curious to know what topics related to the college admissions process do you want Todd to discuss in the future. Please share your input below.
Invention & Imagination Curriculum – CT Invention Convention is not limited to CT residents
Please note: The curriculum is NOT limited to CT residents, but the CT Invention Convention participants must be CT residents. The CIC (CT Invention Convention) provides a great innovative curriculum for students in Grades K – 8. The major difference between hosting a Science Fair and Invention Convention is that a student researches, reports & displays work of past Scientists for a Science Fair, while they are fostering the love and promotion of creative, outside-of-the-box and forward-thinking, problem solving, innovation, and imagination for an Invention Convention.
Of course, there’s a great benefit for participating a Science Fair and we support them. But, one must choose to participate in one or the other, we recommend participating in an Invention Convention.
You may remember that our eldest daughter invented/designed the Muslim-on-the-Go Portable Prayer Pack. We followed CIC’s whole curriculum, and we held a local invention convention in which the CIC founders/organizers were our judges. Six students were selected to compete at the statewide event, and 3 of the entries were our 3 daughters. Our eldest one 2 awards, Lincoln Financial Presidential Award & the CIC Recognized Student Award.
The full-day event will never be forgotten for our entire family. They had a scavenger hunt-type of activity for students to learn about each Engineering Department at the University of Connecticut. The speakers were motivational. But, the girls gained most from participating in their peer judging circle, something unique to Invention Convention.
Our daughter has been blessed to be mentored by a local handbag designer, Dori of S1Bags. our daughter has a mentor who took her under her wing! Our samples will be sent by the end of November. If all goes well, we plan to host a prize in her honor, as other little inventors did the same, who started humbly off at CIC.
To participate in the CT Invention Convention, registration opens October 19, 2009. All the information is available here, (From the page:)
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
OPTIONAL DOCUMENTS (These are older documents available for free from their website. Please continue reading below…)
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Invention Plan (43 KB DOC) – You may wish to use this form to inform and involve the parents
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School Judging Sheet (43 KB DOC) – If you have a school invention convention to select students for the state convention, you may wish to use this judging sheet
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Student Activity Booklet (67 KB DOC) – This booklet may be useful for getting the kids’ creative juices flowing.
If you are local and available, October 17, 2009, I highly recommend that you participate in the Teacher’s Training. They have additional information not available online. Since I could not participate in-person, we were able to do it over the phone, thought it wasn’t as long nor as good.
UPDATE: Due to high demand, they opened a January 9, 2009 training date. Homeschool parents are more than welcomed to get certified training from them too
Regardless, the CIC staff is available to assist in anyway possible, so register and get the materials sent to you, or
Also, you can just contact them, and let them know that Ponn Sabra recommended you to them. Either Charlie, Honey (Honora) or Helen will answer, and they all know me. I know that they are working with other states and countries, so don’t be shy to contact them even if you don’t live in CT.
My girls and I look forward to hosting a homeschool invention class in the state of CT. So, if you are interested, feel free to comment below.
Climate Quilt Project – Saving the Planet One Patch At A Time
Get your old t-shirts and scraps of fabric ready for a fun and worthwhile project! Kids across the world are now making pledges to save the planet with their participation in the recently launched Climate Quilt Campaign—check-out www.climatequilt.org. This is a perfect art project for homeschoolers to get together for a quick, fun, educational hour! [Yes, I'm going to organize a local one, details below].
The Climate Quilt Campaign, a project co-founded by HabitatHeroes.com and the Green Schools Alliance, is an effort to tangibly connect children worldwide around the issues of Climate Change and what they can do about it. The Campaign is designed to empower youth, raise awareness, build global community, and be the voice of children around the world who are pledging to do their part to help save their planet.
Children in every country and city throughout the world can get involved through their schools or individually to have their pledge patch included. The goal is to have the finished quilt on display in Copenhagen during the UN conference on climate change. Leading up to Copenhagen, the quilt will be celebrated in countries on all six continents including the United Kingdom, the Phillipines, China and Australia on the same day in a grand gesture of solidarity as together, children promise to help protect the Earth they will one day inherit.
The Climate Quilt Campaign officially launched on September 23rd. The Climate Quilt was officially debuted on September 22nd on NBC-TV “Today Show”:
There are many ways for you and your kids to get involved with the project!
- Make Pledge Patches with your kids today, instructions available here,
- Click here for a Sample Lesson Plan (which we’ll be using for a local homeschool art class we’re organizing),
- Assisting with your sewing expertise by becoming a Quilt Volunteer, or
- Help spread the word to family and friends, by sending a ready-made email directly from their site here.
- If you live in CT and want to join us, please comment below & contact me directly for details. If we get at least 14 kids to make patches we can quilt up a “group section”…But, we need our quilters’ help [Hint, hint: ValleyCentralHomeschool moms! ]
This is an on-going process, but if you get your patches sent in soon, the Quilt is going to the Climate Summit in Copenhagen December 7, 2009.
Please share how you’re going to get your family and community involved! Check out this image for more examples (Click here to zoom an enlarge the image):
