Online Learning Resources
Asalaam ‘Alaikum:
I have found that my oldest daughter is really a tactile learner. Essentially, she needs to touch it in order to understand it. This has sometimes made it difficult to teach her – however, I find that using games, videos and manipulatives is an excellent way to help her learn. This morning – while reviewing some concepts in Mathematics, I found a great site with resource links for learning different Math concepts. So, I thought I’d share.
This link takes you to a page that outlines the different courses for each grade (I focused primarily on Math this time). When you choose a certain grade and subject, it will give you excellent links to games and resources laid out by the particular skills they teach.
Since I have finally determined my daughter’s learning style – this type of information will be very important to me. So, expect to see other posts on this topic.
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P L E A S E!!!
If you have any good resources like this
essentially a website that has links related to different skills a child learns for different courses
send them to me! Just write up a comment and share your favorite resources!
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Jazak Allah Khair,
Sumayyah Umm SAA
Thanks for another useful link….. I don’t know if you’ve tried funbrain.com or learningpage.com but those sites are interesting to my daughter….. do you know of more sites that offer printable worksheets, parent resource etc? I’m looking to find a site kinda like a parent support group of some sort. I find it difficult to really get help from other parents that I do actually know. It seems that the conversation always turns into a competition, between their child and mine…… And please keep up the great work!
Thanks ReNita!
I have seen these links in my adventures – but sometimes I have so many bookmarks I can overlook them. I need to spend some time weeding out my bookmarks – but who has
the time?!?
As for parenting groups – I think they are useful. I belong to quite a few – but they are targeting the Muslim audience. However, check out yahoo groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/
Perhaps you can find something there – just do a search. The nice thing is, after you ask to join a group – you can usually look at older messages and see if it is an appropriate fit for you.
I must warn you though – I have belonged to many groups in the past and some of them can have WAY TOO MANY posts. I have found that with children – time is very important and cannot be wasted (it is easy to do!). So, if you get to that point – sit down and look through the messages – if most of them are not helpful or do not concern your current situation – I would suggest leaving the group. That’s just me – but I have spent many an hour deleting out messages and finally I realized that the time spent weeding out the unnecessary posts wasn’t worth the few that were beneficial.
As for parents you know and the issues that come from that. I would strongly suggest limiting any time you spend with friends who use their children as a way to compete with you and your child. Trust me – been there and done that and hated every minute of it. I ended up not being friends with the people as a result. There’s way too much stress out there in the world without people adding to it!
You should not see visiting with friends as something you dislike but do because you have to – all because someone wants to keep asking “Why doesn’t your child read yet? My child was reading in the womb.” Of course, if you don’t know me already (and my writing style) – I actually speak this way in person too – I am being sarcastic – but it is close!
I have had this experience and believe me – it even makes you start to compete although that is not really the way you are. If they always dress their children perfectly – you will find yourself being very particular with your children’s clothes before going to visit them (although onesies are perfect when your child is around anyone else!) I just think this type of struggle is not worth it – it causes a lot of tension and can lead to problems in the end (trust me – I know!)
Try to find other friends who have things in common with you and your child. Also, there are many playgroups out there these days for like-minded parents or activities to do with your child (reading times at the library / reading times at bookstores / etc.) and you can pick and choose. However – WARNING – the same behavior you have seen in your friends can often be rampant in playgroups. If you get along with the parents – then you might have issues where the children don’t get along – and that can cause problems too (perhaps a child that is aggressive with your child and a parent that doesn’t see it as a problem). That’s why I usually don’t participate in them any longer.
Here are a few playgroup related blog entries that might get you thinking:
http://www.parents.com/parents/printableStory.jsp?catref=cat1880273&storyid=/templatedata/ab/story/data/1178116315217.xml
http://playgroupdropout.clubmom.com/playgroup_dropout/2006/07/diary_of_a_play.html
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_playgroup_et.html
Also – as I am getting “older” I am a bit wiser (at least, I hope so!). I used to think I always needed to be surrounded by people. I was social just for the sake of being social and didn’t worry as much about who I was social with. After A LOT of issues . . . I have come to realize that IT DOES MATTER WHO YOU AND YOUR CHILD SPEND TIME WITH – – VERY IMPORTANT!!
While my children may not be surrounded by people every waking moment (as many parents would like to make you think is important) – I am now trying to make sure that the people we spend time with are a good influence on them and me. While this important concept is easy to overlook – and most people think it’s not that big of a deal – we shouldn’t cry when our child exhibits bad behavior that they pick up from their/our friends if we didn’t make sure that the people they are surrounded by are of good behavior and moral character.
The only advice I can give you is:
Make sure it is a good fit between you and the other parent – and make sure it is a good fit between your children and their children. If you don’t take this important step now – you may end up regretting it someday.
Thanks, Sumayyah Umm Sadiqah – Asma – Ayah