Faith and Home Education – My Experience of Islam and Home Education

My Experience of Islam and Home Education

Written by Sumaiya Al-Amoodi

When people ask me why I chose to home educate my children, they often assume it’s purely for religious reasons. And while Islam does play a role in our journey, it’s only one part of a much bigger picture.

I’ve been home educating since my children reached compulsory school age. They’ve never attended school, although they did experience nursery. That early glimpse into a structured setting was helpful—it gave an understanding about my children’s preferences and their learning style at that point, as learning styles and behaviours have definitely changed over time. 

As a qualified primary school teacher, I already understood what would be expected of them in a classroom. And deep down, I knew my first child wasn’t ready for that environment. I also knew what set (ability sets) he’d be in and how that would affect his whole primary school experience. So, I already knew he wouldn’t truly thrive in it.

My decision wasn’t made out of fear, but from a place of knowing. Knowing my children. Knowing how they learn. And knowing that education doesn’t have to look one particular way.

Islam, for me, supports that way of thinking beautifully.

As Muslims, we believe Islam is not just a set of practices—it is a way of life. Every aspect of how we live is connected to our faith. That includes how we learn, how we speak, how we treat others, how we use our time all the way down to even how we trade, a moral life skill that is definitely not taught in schools. Even the way we approach studying has elements of our religion within it.

The buzz word right now is “being present for your kids” but that has already been part of our Islamic teachings. I knew if I wanted the best out of my kids, I had to be “present” with them and for the most part, I have been. As they’ve gotten older, they’ve gotten more of their independence and have slowly developed their own self led learning styles.

Manners, etiquette, behaviour, and respect are not separate lessons—they are part of our daily lives. Whilst being a Primary Teacher, I expected that automatically from the children, but later realised, a lot of the parents were expecting us teachers to instill these into the children but that technically wasn’t my job. No, sadly, I feel, it has become more and more a teacher’s added duties to “teach” children all the morals in life.

In Islam, we are taught the importance of intention, kindness, patience, and using our time wisely. Seeking knowledge, in all its forms, is something that is encouraged and valued deeply in our faith.

Home education gives us the freedom to live this out fully.

It allows us to move beyond a fixed curriculum and follow paths that feel meaningful and relevant to our lives. It gives us the space to explore our religion more deeply and to practise it to the best of our ability without having to request for permission or inconvenience anyone, as I would often feel like I was doing when I had to pop out of another long drawn out teachers meeting to take 5mins to pray. And where and when would the Muslim school children pray if they wanted to pray?

Home education gives us the flexibility to revolve our day around our prayers, celebrations and other important dates throughout the year. Our term time pretty much revolves around the Islamic festivals and important dates and times of the year.

So, I’ve given you a snippet into how my faith plays a role in our home education but I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m living in a bubble. On the contrary. I have the opportunity with home education to broaden my children’s horizons. They have friends from all backgrounds as we know we need to respect all humans and get along with each other. Obviously we don’t live in a Muslim country so they need to be able to mix with a range of diverse children and families, so their activities reflect this and I believe it’s paid off. They are grounded in their beliefs yet are slowly learning to become active participants of the community they live in.

They are not just gaining knowledge—they are building character, understanding their faith, and learning how to live with purpose.

For our family, Islam is not a restriction—it is a foundation. And home education gives us the freedom to build on that foundation in a way that feels intentional, meaningful, and aligned with our values.

Everyone’s journey looks different. This is simply ours. And for us, it feels right.