Prophet’s way of teaching the Qur’an

When we teach our children Surah Al-Ikhlas, teach them قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ — teach them what it means. When the Prophet ﷺ would teach the Qur'an to children, to young Muslims, to his companions, he would never teach it to them without the meanings, never. This is how we run our madaris, our Qur'an schools.

We want children to learn how to read, learn how to memorize. What about the meanings? We don't care about the meanings?

The Prophet's companions said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 23482; also reported in Tafsir Ibn Kathir)

The people — the Prophet's companions — who used to teach the Qur'an, how did they teach the Qur'an? When they would teach the Qur'an, they would teach 10 ayahs at a time. And they would teach its meanings, and what actions we learn from it, and what we need to do because of these ayahs, and then they would move on to the next.

They would not move on from these 10 verses until people truly knew what it means.