Islamic comprehension passages and Islamic comprehension worksheets are so beneficial for your homeschool but you might not realize why….yet! Have you ever been teaching your child to read and had to skip a page because of something inappropriate? It happens all the time, Santa, Halloween, a witch, a lucky charm, tooth fairy, a birthday….the list goes on. When your child grows older, it’s more of the same as textbook pages are scanned over and checked before the lesson. It reminds me of something a wise friend once said, if you spend all your time just trying to avoid harm, when do you actually benefit?
Islamic values throughout your homeschool.
There are so many benefits of using Islamic texts in your reading program. There’s a fundamental difference when the foundation of your curriculum is authentic to your values. Those values then permeate through your entire program of study and you find true benefit in every lesson instead of mainly in Islamic Studies. Islamic comprehension passages combine reading development with Islamic texts, making them perfect for improving both their knowledge of their deen and their reading skills.
Guide your kids to use their reading skills to benefit.
Reading shouldn’t just be about a collection of entertaining words. It’s a chance to learn and benefit. When children are learning to read, they are gaining a powerful fundamental skill and it’s up to us to show them how and when to use that skill. By encouraging them to read and reflect on Islamic texts from the beginning with Islamic Comprehension passages, you are teaching them that this is what they should be using their newfound ability for. When your child is blessed with a gift of money, you don’t just let them spend it all on sweets, you help them choose something appropriate (and fun) and later teach them about charity and saving. Kids can read anything…let’s guide them to the best material!
English lessons double as Islamic Studies.
Time is so precious to us and using Islamic comprehension passages means that English lessons double as Islamic Studies. Alhamdulilah, there are so many different types of Islamic texts to choose from, Seerah, stories from the Qur’an, biographies of the Companions all make engaging reading. If you add in some questions about grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, inference and structure, suddenly you have Islamic comprehension worksheets.
Use reading skills to understand and reflect on Islamic texts.
The exercises used in English lessons are also perfect for really responding and benefitting from Islamic texts. Re-reading to build fluency leads to greater familiarity with the text and close reading questions encourage reflection and examination. These all help your child to understand the texts more. It can be easy for the Islamic texts to be memorized without understanding while fictional stories are pored over and analyzed for weeks or numerous lessons. Combining the two means that reflecting on and understanding Islamic texts becomes natural. Islamic comprehension worksheets include those English close reading exercises to focus on Islamic texts and give them the analysis and reflection they warrant and deserve.
How to get started?
So how to start today? Choose an authentic text that your child would find interesting and engaging to make your Islamic reading comprehension. You may need to retell it and adapt it for younger children. Decide what you want them to understand from the text and use that to formulate questions. Next, find what their English learning objectives are, maybe they are learning about exclamation points or verbs and adjectives. Make questions that incorporate these aims, for example, identify and circle three exclamation points in the text. Gather these questions together to form an Islamic comprehension worksheet. Read an in-depth blog post on this process here.
Relate everything back to them and their life.
That’s it! Almost….the final and most important point, relate any text back to them and their lives and how they can apply it. Reading the story of Ayoub (May Allah grant him peace)? Discuss the importance of patience and how they can be more patient in their life. Reading the biography of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him)? Discuss the qualities that made him such an incredible friend and how we can try to be good friends too. Honestly, I am desperately in need of these reminders and appreciate having them as part of our homeschool.
Download a free Islamic reading comprehension!
If you would like a free example of an Islamic comprehension passage then sign up at teachmeislam.org/freebie to gain access to the FREE resource library. Inside you can download an engaging passage, accompanying worksheets, and answer key titled “The Miracle of Rain” resource.
If you are maybe short on time and would like a set of reading comprehensions that are ready to use you’ll love the following Islamic Reading Comprehension sets:
⭐Comprehension Set 1: The Miracles of the Prophets: TPT or ETSY
⭐Comprehension Set 2: Child Companions: TPT or ETSY
⭐The Child Companions Bundle: TPT or ETSY
