Abdullah Mansoor, PMP, Pgmp, FLL Mentor.

02/20/2021

And I hear the song everyday at 9am… “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday….Sunday. These are the days of the week"

WFH during COVID19 explained to me some mysteries about the schooling system… My son, Esa, who is a kindergartner connects to his online class every day 5 minutes before 9am…

I heard that STEM education in the United States is a big challenge and all high tech companies rely on many foreign students to fulfill their needs… However, the rhythm of the song and engagement of Esa’s teacher in the class makes me wonder what can possibly go wrong with the education with so much engagement and interaction…

Also WFH during COVID19 allows me to focus more on my kids home education. Daily after Esha prayers when I sit with my kids to read a book on etiquettes, I found it hard to produce the rhythm of Esa’s teacher's song… I struggled in producing the perfection that will make him look forward to our daily learning session…

I explained to the kids that I am not a good teacher but I continued the routine… Same routine again and again over months produced a habit of learning and today I am finishing a book on the consequences of actions… On many occasions my kids reminded me about the daily book reading routine if somehow I get occupied by work or other challenges… My father suggested that I read this book to kids and I am seeing a transformation...

It is hard to produce rhythm when teaching kids ethics and STEM education… Our schools have set up a high standard of teaching but is it really helping?? Our kids are eager to learn from cartoons and movies because these mediums are highly engaging… it is certainly creating a barrier in some other aspects of learning. We need a different strategy to handle the challenges of education faced currently!

02/14/2021

What do you do as a parent to make more yes for every no? 🤔🤔

I read this in John Maxwell's book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. I truly believe that every one of us is born to innovate. But hammering of "You, can't," every single day can easily change our innate behavior.

02/06/2021

Are they learning to be brave and courageous? What makes them strong internally? Are they confident about their Islamic identity? Are they learning to think outside the box? Can I rely on schools for their behavioral development?

The above questions were my big concerns and worries until my father taught me a Hadith of Prophet S.A.W. I am a father of six kids and before I learned this Hadith I was not sure about my goals as a Parent.

Knowing your destination doesn’t ensure that you reach it. But it is better than traveling without a direction.

Clarity of goals is the first step towards success. It is easy to measure your progress when your goals are clear.

A close meaning of this Hadith is that: train you kids in three qualities; the love of prophet, the love of the family of prophet and Qiratul Quran.

My father taught me this Hadith in May 2016 during his visit to Portland, US. Alhamdulellah it got stuck in my head ever since. I can easily correlate it to how my parents raised us on these principles. It allows me to focus on the most important things with my kids.

Here are my key takeaways:
- I started more actively participating in my kids education at home. Earlier I was relying more on their schools. Teachers can cover coursework but teaching love requires practical demonstration. Its a more challenging goal!
- I dedicated my personal time to teach kids the life of Prophet S.A.W, his family and his companions. I found it very effective in developing courage and bravery in kids. It gives them their identify and helped in making stronger belief.
- I worked on transforming the activities which distracts them for the three qualities (mentioned in the Hadith above) into more productive usage of time. I have to work hard on establishing their hobbies which are more aligned to our goals.
- This is an on-going work.

02/05/2021

My 9 years home schooled daughter made this video to show her reflections of Hijab using LEGO stop motion 🙂🙂❤️🥳

This video shows how muslim girl covers with Hijab

01/30/2021

"Parents do not underestimate your power!”, this was the response given to me by Shiekh Tariq Ata for question related to kids behavioral development in an online event arranged by Respected Sister Megan Wyatt

Have you wondered this question - Why my kid is not a builder or a maker?

There are common symptoms and possible solution:

1. Symptom: “He is not interested”
Possible solution: He is not interested because he has means to learn things and have fun in a very easy manner. He loves watching cartoon and playing games. While watching cartoons and playing games have their own benefits, limiting their time in above mentioned activities and allowing them to have time for their own creative development will be overpowering in terms of the benefits.

2. Symptom: "It is not his type”
Possible solution: Creative skills require both imagination and craftsmanship. Little of one or both traits exist in humans and it is a matter of sharpening these skills. It may be harder in the beginning but it gets easy as we go.

3. Symptom: "Building supplies are too expensive”
Possible solution: Brick building supplies can be expensive but there are ways to buy them cheaper. However, nurturing makers mindset is not limited to bricks building. Atleast provide them excessive amount of papers and pencils at home. You will be surprised to see how much they use such supplies to reflect themselves, if there are no blockers.

4. Symptom: "I do not have time to guide him”
Possible solution: You may be spending lot of money on kids education or your life is in deep crisis. In either case your future depends on your kids success. We have a tendency to outsource a lot of kids education. However, setting up a good environment in house is parents essential responsibility. Get connected to some mentors who can help in the required mindset shift.

5. Symptom: "I do not have resources to provide education”
Possible solution: The essence of makers lies in the behavioral development of kids. Improving kids speaking and singing skills requires least amount of resources. It is a matter of focus and hardwork. Allow kids to learn what makes you happy and believe me they will do more than what you think to make you happy.

6. Symptom: "He has had a bad experience in building”
Possible solution: Some time DIY do not work in the beginning. Arrange some trainings for kids or yourself.

01/23/2021

A common solution to win against toy chaos is to get rid of toys. I have my own confessions of toy and LEGO organization failure. However, I acted as a stubborn minded person and decided to battle this toy story. I have accepted that creativity is a messy process and organizing the creation process in young builder’s mind is not a small challenge.

Six years back we had accumulated around three thousand pieces from random set purchases. I had many debates with my wife about the fate of toys and money that is being wasted in the name of creativity. However, the first u-turn of toy story happened when I convinced my kid’s mom to start containing toy pieces instead of organizing them. This simple idea turned out to be a breakthrough for the fate of toys.

Fast forward six years, today is Friday and I found my kids going through a process to do a complicated work in a relatively exceptional pace. I took me a while to understand what they did and I interviewed few of them to get the complete picture. I took few pictures at different stages to cover the work.

To give some context, my kids play area has now grown to around 15,000 pieces contained in 6-7 bins. There are 2 bins that carry around 10,000 pieces and rest of them are contained in 5 bins. To search relevant pieces in a lot 15,000 pieces is a very time consuming process. However, I discovered that now they are able to complete a search job for their tree build in just 10 mins and at the end the area was as clean as before. It used to take them half a day or so to do such work earlier. Also, we as a parent are allowing 15,000 pieces in a portion of our living room and they are keeping the toys contained. Blankets are playing a big role to help them keep things contained. Isn’t it amazing?

I will let the pictures speak the process as it is a simple approach motivated by the idea of containment. I appeal to parents that your idea of cleanliness and home organization should not come at the cost of kids creativity.

04/22/2019

Preview of LEGO workshop on Custom Build by the instructor - Blair Archer

12/26/2018

Building 12 ft LEGO Tower in Liberty High School event!

12/26/2018

Marysville Elementary School LEGO Workshop on building Regular structures.

12/26/2018

Abdullah conducting LEGO workshop on Regular Structures Building 2X4 bricks at Rock Creek Elementary School.