I am embarking on a new adventure! Meet ‘Make with Umar’. ‘Make with Umar’ is a free, virtual makers camp I want to start for kids and adults who like to make things. We will experiment with electronics, coding, crafts, STEM and DIY toys, and maybe even cooking, baking and gardening projects. There are any… Continue reading Make with Umar
Grandpa Amu
I have a weakness. I like to watch YouTube videos of old men and women living in mountains, villages, wilderness. Living simple lives. Making simple things. Cooking simple food. I have watched a lot of these. From a granny in a SriLankan village, to grandpa Amu somewhere in far east, to people in Russian mountains.… Continue reading Grandpa Amu
From Sirius to Woolly Mammoths
Living with my kids is like living within an encyclopaedia. At any given time you can be fired with information, on anything from prehistoric civilizations to modern gizmos and everything in between, at dizzying speed. Every day I am served a glorious cocktail of history, politics, sciences, philosophy, tech, languages and more, with an assortment… Continue reading From Sirius to Woolly Mammoths
🔔 Changes to ShiftClick – my side project
I started blogging about the educational resources in 2009 at Homeschool4Muslims. I had found so many cool tools and resources during homeschooling my kids and I wanted to share them with others. I blogged for almost eight years. But as my homeschooling methodology changed (leaning more and more towards unschooling), I felt a need to… Continue reading 🔔 Changes to ShiftClick – my side project
Open your eyes to alFatiha
AlFatiha is the door to Quran. Quran starts with it. But it also has the power to open your eyes, open your heart and open your mind. It can give you a different sight for this world. AlFatiha is a summary of the Quran. Everything you will read in Quran first occurs in alFatiha, in… Continue reading Open your eyes to alFatiha
Resources for Young Unschoolers and Their Parents
UPDATE (August 2021): I now share these kinds of resources regularly on a Telegram channel. When it comes to helping your child to learn, there are a lot of resources available on the web in varying degrees of quality. So, living in this age and time we can’t complain about not having enough resources to… Continue reading Resources for Young Unschoolers and Their Parents
Learning Co-ordinates Geometry
A.K.A. Umar’s recipe on how to be a treasure seeking sailor: Step 1. Make a rectangle with masking tape on floor. Step 2. Make marks along the tape at every 10 cm. Step 3. Join the marks with more tape, eventually making a grid. Step 4. Number your grid. Step 5: Search on the web… Continue reading Learning Co-ordinates Geometry
An unschooler’s guide to reading and writing
So how do children learn to read and write without being taught? The answer is …….. by example!! Create an environment in your home where reading and writing is a big part of every day. Read and write a lot with your kids. Have books and other reading and writing material in ready reach of… Continue reading An unschooler’s guide to reading and writing
Taqwah – The Root of Success
Surah alMaidah and surah anNisaa are complementary surahs. Where Surah alMaidah is the surah of society as a whole, Surah anNisaa on the other hand is the surah of individuals. Allah discusses personal reform in Surah anNisaa and then He discusses social reform in alMaidah.
Documenting Unschooling
I previously wrote about the two kinds of reactions I get when people learn that our kids don’t go to school or do any school like work at home. Turns out there is a third kind of people too. People who are genuinely interested in learning how unschooling works. And how does an unschooling day… Continue reading Documenting Unschooling