Weekend Learning is the Islamic studies series most North American weekend schools end up using, and the most common question about it is the simplest one: which level does my child need?

This is the complete answer — every level, what changes as they go up, and the two places where the series quietly stops supporting you.

The series runs further than most people think

The programme does not stop at ninth grade. It runs from Junior Kindergarten all the way to Level 11 & 12, a combined book covering the final two years of high school.

This matters because schools regularly switch publishers at around Level 9, believing they have run out of series, and change books for their teenagers at exactly the age when continuity is most valuable.

Every level at a glance

Read the age bands carefully — they overlap on purpose

Look down that ages column and something becomes obvious: the bands overlap heavily. Level 5 is 9–11, Level 6 is 10–12, Level 7 is 11–13.

An eleven-year-old therefore falls inside the stated range of three different levels. That is not sloppiness by the publisher — it is a deliberate signal that age does not determine placement, prior knowledge does.

Each book states its expectation directly: it is written for students who have completed the level below or who hold a comparable knowledge base. That second clause is the one that matters for the child joining your school at eleven with no formal background. They belong lower than their age suggests, and putting them there is a kindness, not a demotion.

The practical rule: place by what the student knows, then let a strong student move up after a term. A student placed too high rarely recovers, because they conclude the subject is beyond them rather than that the book was wrong.

Level 7 is the hinge of the whole series

If there is one transition to plan for, it is this one.

Level 7 is written for ages 11–13 who have completed Level 6 or hold comparable knowledge — and, in the publisher's own words, who are able to understand abstract concepts. No earlier level states that condition.

Lessons are presented thematically in distinct units, with the first unit addressing the Creator and His religion: questions about Allah, Islam, faith and the Qur'an. The book asks students to reason about belief rather than recall facts about it.

So the jump from Level 6 to Level 7 is not a jump in difficulty. It is a change in the kind of thinking demanded. A student who can memorise well but has never been asked to explain why will struggle here despite having passed everything before it — and the fix is discussion time, not a lower level.

Where the support stops — check this before you commit

This is the detail that catches schools out, and it is worth knowing before you plan a syllabus rather than in November.

• Teacher manuals exist for Levels 1 through 9. There is none for Level 10, and none for the Level 11 & 12 book.
• Workbooks exist for Levels 1 through 8. They stop a level earlier than the manuals do.
• The books themselves get shorter at the top. Levels 1–8 run 224–240 pages. Levels 9, 10 and 11 & 12 are 176.

Read together, the top of the series is structurally lighter and less supported than the middle. That is not a reason to avoid it — the content is pitched at students who can read independently — but it should change two decisions.

First, who teaches the senior class. Levels 10 upward are taught from the textbook alone. That is comfortable for an experienced teacher and hard for a new volunteer, so assign your most confident staff to the top, not to the cute five-year-olds.

Second, buy the resource that fills the gap. The Question Bank and Teacher's Resource supplements all of the Islamic Studies textbooks and is the single most useful purchase for anyone teaching the upper levels without a manual. Note it is sold to teachers and school principals only.

Manuals for the levels that have them: Level 1, Level 4, Level 7, Level 9. Workbooks: Level 1 through Level 8.

The early years

Two entry points exist for the youngest children, and they are not the same book.

Junior Kindergarten is 112 pages, written for ages 4–5 who are transitioning from toddler to preschooler. Kindergarten is 196 pages for a similar age band — substantially more material.

Since both name the same ages, choose by readiness rather than birthday: a child who sits still for a story and holds a crayon with intent is ready for the Kindergarten book, and a child who is not is better served starting with Junior Kindergarten and enjoying it.

For younger siblings or a pre-school group, the Preschool Activity Book covers ages 3–5 at 224 pages and is activity-led rather than lesson-led.

What to order per level

• Textbook — one per student, or a class set if books stay in the room.
• Workbook — one per student, always. Consumable, so it cannot be shared or reused next year. Available to Level 8.
• Teacher manual — one per teacher per level, not one per school. Available to Level 9.
• Question Bank — once, for the school. Covers all levels.
• Spare textbooks — two or three per class. Schools gain students in October and January, and a child without a book disengages within a fortnight.

Browse the full range in Weekend Learning Middle & High and Weekend Learning PreK & KG.

Common questions

My child is 12 and has never studied Islamic studies. Where do they start? Not Level 7. Somewhere around Level 4 or 5 depending on what they already know from home, then expect them to move faster than one level per year.

Can we skip a level to catch up? Reluctantly, and never across Level 7. Skipping the level where abstract reasoning is introduced produces a student who can recite and cannot explain.

Is the workbook essential? For self-study and homeschooling, yes — it is where the practice and the checking happen. In a class with an active teacher it is valuable but not indispensable.

What comes after Level 11 & 12? That is the end of the series. Students finishing it are ready for adult material rather than another school curriculum.

If you are choosing between series

Weekend Learning is not the only option for teenagers. A school organised strictly by US grade may prefer a series that prints the grade level on the cover, and a school with fewer contact hours may want something lighter than a 240-page book. Our guide to Islamic studies for middle and high school compares the three main choices for ages 11–18.

The Arabic language strand is a separate programme with separate books — see our Arabic curriculum guide. Parents buying for one child rather than a school will find the back-to-school checklist more practical.

Tell us your child's age and what they studied last year, and we will place them.