Well, we’ve been taking a break from classes (except for her UCMAS abacus homework) since Eid. We hadn’t really taken a formal break the whole school year so I felt it was due.

The kids are trying to get outside as much as possible before it gets super cold here – the leaves are falling and changing colors,they have been for some time actually, so I didn’t do anything productive. It’s time for me to focus, especially Arabic lesson planning,InshaALLAH.

We have plenty of materials,AlhamduLILLAH, so now I need to organize and scan copies of the lessons for everyone.

My daughter knows the Arabic alphabet and my son knows everything except 8 letters, so I think the first thing we need to do is make sure that she can write them all and that he can recognize them all.

I think he needs coloring pages for each letter and I will give her copywork pages.

Then, comes the recognition of the different forms of the letters (for her). We will take it slow for the first couple of letters – maybe one at a time and then I will see if we can do more. With her, I find that if we go slowly, she gets bored. The goal is to build her vocabulary so that she can use the Arabic readers. The Rosetta Stone Arabic should also help with her vocabulary.

There is a blog that I used to read (I think it hasn’t been active for some time but it’s still there),written by an Arabic student.There is some beneficial information there, you might want to check it out.

Also, here is how the Arabic Alphabet is mapped out on the keyboard. We have little stickers on ours to make it easier – you can get them on Ebay for about ninety-nine cents (US). Even with the stickers, I usually forget where the harakat keys are. Here is a list compiled by a participant in this forum:

shift + ~ –> ّ (shaddah)

shift + Q –>َ (fathah)

shift + A –>ِ (kasrah)

shift + E –> ُ (dammah)

shift + W –>ً (tanween – fathah)

shift + S –> ٍ (tanween – kasrah)

shift + R –> ٌ (tanween – dammah)

shift + X –> ْ (sukoon)