Sample summer plan for Muslim teenagers | SoundVision.com

Sample summer plan for Muslim teenagers

Sample summer plan for Muslim teenagers

JULY

Week 1

  • Contact a volunteer bank or check out a website to choose a volunteer activity to participate in for the next eight weeks. Remember that volunteering does not necessarily mean leaving your air-conditioned home. You can volunteer to write reports or short articles for an organization's website, make calls on its behalf; compile statistics and facts about your group's cause, etc.
  • Start writing a poem, short story or essay that you will enter in a writing contest in the fall or submit to a website of your interest. Choose a genre you already enjoy (i.e. science fiction).
  • Begin teaching a younger sibling some aspect of Islam every day. This can be Quran, but it can also be simply sitting with him or her and discussing an Adam's World video/DVD, doing some Islamic arts and crafts or praying together.
  • Research a potential college major online and at your local library.

Week 2:

  • Visit a local Masjid and get an unofficial tour. Arrange beforehand to have one of the administrators give not just a tour of the facility, but talk about its history as well. Who helped establish it? When? Why? What were the obstacles they faced? Discuss your visit with family and friends and brainstorm ways to help the Masjid on a monthly basis, whether that's maintaining a message board that is constantly updated in the men and women's sections, setting up a website for the mosque, or simply participating in regular events.
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week
  • Shock your parents by choosing a major household project that's been left aside and completing it. This can be trimming hedges, cleaning out a closet, dropping off unused items to a thrift store, etc.
  • Hold a party to meet friends you haven't seen during the busy school year. But don't just provide great food. Watch an interesting video together and follow this up with a stimulating discussion.

Week 3

  • Go to the beach with friends at Fajr time. Not only will you avoid controversial sights, you'll enjoy praying outside, amid beautiful scenery, remembering God's incredible Power and Creativity. 
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week
  • Visit colleges in your city and its suburbs. Focus on soaking up the atmosphere, checking out the campus, etc. Find out if there are tours offered in the summer and attend one.
  • Take your younger sibling(s) and some of his or her friends to an amusement park. Make sure that when prayer time comes, you all pray together.
  • Plan your visit to the Islamic Society of North America's (ISNA) or other Labor Day conferences and decide which sessions you would be interested in attending. Also read up on Chicago, to get a feel for the city where these events will be taking place.

Week 4

  • Organize an online book club for the month of August with your friends. Pick two books that everyone must read and review. You can choose mainstream books or Islamic ones (see list below for recommendations).
  • Shock your parents for the second time this month by offering to babysit younger siblings, make dinner, and watch the house for one night. During this time, they can have dinner at a nice restaurant and some time alone.
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week.
  • Get together with friends and make food bags for a local food bank. Call the bank beforehand though and tell them about your idea. Ask them what kind of food they're looking for and make the bags accordingly.

AUGUST

Week 1

  • Start your online book club.
  • By now, you should be finished the first draft of your essay, poem or short story for the contest/publication you intend to submit the piece to by the fall. Aim to have it completed by the last week of August.
  • Start emailing a relative abroad who is about your age and the same gender. Make it a habit to keep in touch once a month, even during the school year.
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week.

Week 2

  • Parent shocker #3: thoroughly clean up your room. Not only will this help you start off the school year free of junk and clutter, but your parents will probably relieve you of any household chores for at least a week in gratefulness.
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week.

Week 3

  • Hold a "Back To School Resolutions" party for friends. You provide the food and everyone else brings five resolutions they want to work on during the school year to share with everyone. The resolutions should be both serious and humorous.
  • Organize family pictures into albums. Get siblings and close friends in on this if you need help.
  • Do your volunteer duty for the week.

Week 4

  • Finalize your essay, poem or short story and send it off to your chosen publication or contest.

  • Do your volunteer duty for the week and assess whether or not you can or want to continue during the school year. Consider volunteering only once a month.
  • Call an online meeting of your friends who attended your party in week two of August. Go over your resolutions. Have each person team up with someone else from the group who can help remind them of their goals during the school year.
  • Take out your younger sibling(s) out for ice cream to discuss how they enjoyed their summer and what they hope to achieve during the school year.

Comments

This article has helped me out a lot with our committee at our masjid.

Location

Totowa, NJ

Assalamu alaikumO my God, this is the PERFECT article for me and how I can spend my whole summer, jazakallahu khair

Location

Ajax, ON

Wonderful ideas, thanks!

Location

Riverside, CA

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