BookShark

Category: How To

  • Public School vs. Homeschooling: The Apples and Oranges of Childhood

    Public School vs. Homeschooling: The Apples and Oranges of Childhood

    A psychological assessment I recently filled out for one of my children showed a clear bias towards public schooling with these kinds of queries:

    • “Do they stay seated when asked to remain in their seat?”
    • “Are assignments turned in on time and complete?”
    • “Do they follow directions without additional prompting?”

    As both the parent and teacher, I had a lot of questions to answer. Some were almost impossible because I had no knowledge of my child in a traditional school environment. We’ve always homeschooled, so I was making a guess.

    Would they remain seated if told not to get up? Doubtful. Do I see that as a problem? No, not really.

    It wasn’t long after I completed those questionnaires that I happened upon an article by my favorite psychologist, Peter Gray. Its title, Developmental Psychology’s Marriage to the School System, caught my eye since I was informed that my child tested on the low-normal range of cognitive development and showed other cognitive issues.

    Of course, this is a child who has never had to parrot back information on demand or stay in a seat even though they wanted to get up. That hasn’t been their experience of the world.

    Gray outlines five ways which the school environment creates a distorted view of child development and psychology. Here is his list of school characteristics and how they differ from a homeschool experience.

    1. Adult Direction

    School is a place of constant adult direction. Children are told what time they should arrive, when they are allowed to leave, how long to spend on each task, when they can eat, when to go to the bathroom, and what they must be focused on every moment of the long school day.

    Compare this environment to homeschooling, where a child can sleep if they’re tired, eat when they’re hungry, go to the bathroom when needed, and be interested in the Civil War even if the state standards say they’re to study the American Revolution this year.

    2. Work Versus Play

    School explicitly delineates between work and play. Math class is not play; it’s a time for you to pay attention and stay in your seat. Recess, if you have one, is playtime, but even that can be micro-managed by adults.

    “Play is the work of a child.” ~ Maria Montessori

    Homeschoolers instinctively mix work, life, and play. When there is no artificial separation of work and play, learning can be effortless. Knowledge doesn’t have to be dispensed in the form of a worksheet to “count.” A family game can teach math skills just as well as (maybe better than!) a workbook.

    3. Norms, Rankings, and Measurements

    Measurements and norms are the areas where I think the co-dependent relationship between school and child psychology is most apparent.

    Anecdotes are not a reliable measure for research or public funding; therefore, education and child psychology need each other. Could one exist without the other?

    The schools need the tests and norms provided by the psychologists, and the psychologists need the research subjects. We then use these tests and standards to categorize children into different groups—the labels of which are nearly impossible to escape.

    In homeschooling, a child has the luxury of just being who they are, where they are. They can continue working on a skill until they master it. They aren’t subjected to daily tests and assignments ranking them against every other child. There isn’t a “norm” demanded on a given day in a particular grade. 

    4. Age Segregation

    Age segregation is the most defining element of school. Age determines when they must begin and age determines when they are free of compulsory attendance. Age determines what grade they are expected to be in and what tasks they are expected to perform.

    This age segregation also contributes to bullying and extended adolescence. It creates a vacuum in which peer pressure determines what is acceptable and what is not.

    Homeschooling doesn’t rely on age segregation for its function. Children spend their time with everyone from their grandparents to their newborn sibling, and doesn’t this resemble the “real world” more than a group of thirty 12-year-olds ever will?

    5. Competition

    School is a place of constant competition. From class rankings and grade point averages to being chosen as the lead in the play and making the football team, everything is a competition.

    Now many will say that this is real life and that competing is good, but I find this to be a chicken and the egg argument. Do you believe that because life really is a series of competitions, or because you were conditioned by schooling to view everything as a competition?

    Within a family, of course, there can be some inherent competitiveness, but ultimately cooperation rules. Choices must be made about the allocation of time and resources, and everyone’s desires are considered.

    We don’t pit sibling against sibling and choose a victor each day. We look for ways to help and encourage everyone. Grit can be taught through collaboration and perserverance instead of through winning and losing. 

    The Apples and Oranges of Childhood

    Institutional schooling and child psychology view all children as apples, and they’re treated similarly. Sorted and graded, some are chosen for the holiday gift box, and others are discarded, fit only for juice.

    As homeschoolers, we have apples, but we also have oranges, lemons, peaches, and pineapples. No two are the same, and we don’t value an apple more than an orange.

    So as I hear the conclusions of the psychologist, I trust my own instincts and doubt the “expert.” How can I expect my child, who has never spent a day in school, to be accurately judged based upon studies of children in a place of extremely limited freedom?

    I can’t; they’re apples and oranges.

    About the Author

    Bethany is the mom of six always homeschooled children who one day realized she’d lost herself in the process, probably under a pile of laundry. Her eclectic style of relaxed homeschooling draws upon classical to unschooling methods and everything in between.

    While homeschooling her children, teaching at a Project Based Co-op, and writing about learning outside of school, she still tries to find time to read a book, drink coffee, and pay the bills. Read more from Bethany on her site BethanyIshee.com: Real inspiration for the authentic mom.

  • When Grandparents Disagree with Homeschooling: Tips and Advice

    When Grandparents Disagree with Homeschooling: Tips and Advice

    When you first make the choice to homeschool, what you need and want most is support. And naturally, where do you look first for that support? Family, and almost always, your parents. Now if grandparents have been unsupportive and critical of your parenting decisions from the start, their criticisms of homeschooling probably won’t surprise you. But if, on the other hand, you are used to unwavering support for your parenting choices, opposition to homeschooling may come as a shock.

    Whatever your experience in the past, keep in mind that unless you are a second-generation homeschooler, homeschooling isn’t an obvious choice. As much as it has progressed over the years, homeschooling is far from mainstream. You are choosing an educational option that is far from vetted with no guarantees of a successful outcome—at least in their minds. You are putting their precious grandchildren’s future at risk, and they probably won’t keep quiet about it.

    Personally, my parents are former teachers and administrators in the public school system. They seem to love the fact that my kids aren’t exposed to the (what they call) garbage of public schools, Common Core, and the non-stop standardized testing. But at the same time, they often make comments about homeschooling that seem a bit disparaging of my choice. 

    So what can you do when grandparents voice their criticisms and concerns of your choice to homeschool? For all of you dealing with more extreme opposition, my heart goes out to you. Homeschooling is hard enough without grandparents hating it. While the interactions I’ve experienced haven’t been that extreme, I want to offer you the tips and advice that have helped me thus far. 

    1. Remember Grandparents Want What’s Best for Their Grandkids

    While this isn’t always the case, most grandparents love their grandchildren and want the best possible outcome for them. When they express concerns—directly or indirectly—it comes from a place of love and concern. They probably don’t want to pick a fight.

    2. Resist the Urge to Engage the Negative Comments 

    When the negative comments and questions come, resist the urge to engage in a debate or lengthy conversation. It’s kind of like politics on Facebook: pretty much no one ever has changed their mind because of a political debate in a Facebook thread, right? We share things that reinforce what we believe to be true, and other side does the same.

    You are probably not going to change their mind about homeschooling with a conversation. Hopefully that will happen when they see evidence in the superior outcomes that your style of education provides. Choose to quickly move past the comments and change the subject. If they insist on returning to it, see the next tip.

    3. Devise a Canned Response

    In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to say things we regret. Or worse, in my opinion, to get flustered and look like an idiot just when you want to impress them with your witty response. Instead, choose a predetermined response that leaves no room for debate or discussion. Here are a few I keep handy:

    • Homeschooling is the best choice for our family right now.
    • I’m glad regular school worked best for us growing up. Homeschooling is working really well for us.
    • I appreciate your concern, but right now, homeschooling is working really well for us.
    • Socialization? We’ve got it covered. Thanks!

    I’m sure you can come up with better ones, but make sure they are not baiting, sarcastic, or defensive. Make it short and sweet, polite but firm, with no room for further discussion.

    4. Set Boundaries with Grandparents 

    Depending on how antagonistic—or passive-aggressive—the grandparents actually are, you may need to set firm boundaries about what they can and cannot say to your kids. For example, have you noticed that certain people love quizzing homeschooled kids? They are determined to prove that homeschooling is a poor educational choice.

    While some kids can take that kind of interrogation without batting an eye, some kids will walk away from a Q&A session extremely anxious, wondering if they measure up. Other times, grandparents might suggest to your kids all the fun things about school they are missing out on:

    • “Wouldn’t you love to see other kids every day?”
    • “Buying school supplies is so much fun!”
    • “Putting on the school play was one of my favorite memories from school. Don’t you wish you could be in a play?”

    Whatever grandparents might say to your kids about homeschooling or traditional school, make sure you have a conversation with them to establish guidelines for what is okay and not okay. Those guidelines will likely vary based on how anti-homeschooling they actually are and how confrontational they tend to be. It doesn’t need to a be a long conversation, but you should be clear about a few main points:

    • You hear and understand that they don’t love homeschooling.
    • You are the parent and you will continue to make the best decisions you can for your kids, including the educational ones.
    • You hear and understand that they don’t love homeschooling.
    • They cannot undermine your decision via your kids. And if they persist in their attempts to do so, you will need to set stricter boundaries about how often they interact with your kids alone.

    Surround Yourself with Supporters

    When the people closest to you don’t agree with your choice to homeschool, you can start to doubt your decision. Those first few months of homeschooling can be so tough. You don’t really know what you’re doing yet. You haven’t fully found your footing, and you desperately need to believe that you made the right choice.

    You need to surround yourself with like-minded homeschooling parents—both newbies and veterans. You need cheerleaders, parents who will encourage and support you. Whether you find that those people in person or online, make sure to set aside time to find them. You’re going to need a place to vent, a shoulder to cry on, and a pat on the back to let you know you’re doing great.

    Final Thoughts on When Grandparents Disagree with Homeschooling

    Change is hard. Change is even harder as you get older. When our society has so normalized school that any other choice is taboo, you need to expect questions and stares and criticisms, even from those closest to you. People fear what they don’t know. Grandparents might also have experiences with homeschool families that are less than ideal—the ones who give homeschooling a bad name.

    Either way, remember to stay humble in all of this because honestly, we don’t know our kids’ educational outcomes either! We can do all the right things, but we still cannot guarantee a fantastic educational outcome for our kids, any more than traditional schools can. The schools just happen to already have the benefit of the doubt. As homeschoolers, we are still earning ours.

    Grandparents might eventually come around, when they see homeschooling really working for your kids. But it may take them longer than you’d like. Hang in there while you wait. And whatever you do, don’t let their negativity make you question your choice to homeschool.

    You will always find people who don’t love your parenting choices. You can choose to let the questions cripple you, or you can choose to let them strengthen your parenting muscles and increase your confidence.  The choice is up to you.

    About Our Author

    June loves deep discussions about homeschooling, parenting, and minimalism. When she’s not homeschooling, decluttering, or blogging at This Simple Balance, she loves to enjoy perfect silence while sipping a hot cup of coffee and thinking uninterrupted thoughts—which, of course, with four kids ages eight and under doesn’t happen very often!

  • Keeping a Homeschool Bullet Journal: A Beginner’s Guide

    Keeping a Homeschool Bullet Journal: A Beginner’s Guide

    Homeschoolers are record keepers! Depending on our state’s requirements and personal preference we fill folders and boxes, create portfolios and transcripts, write lesson plans, make charts, take hundreds of pictures, maybe even blog.

    Here in Indiana, even though I’m not required to turn records into the state, I keep my children’s projects, encourage their goals, and document their learning. I want to capture our time together. I want my children to see and remember their progress. And when doubt sets in as to whether or not I’m doing enough with them, my records remind me that yes! Yes, I am.

    A number of years ago I came across the work of Ryder Carroll. The creator of The Bullet Journal, Carroll offers an analog method to, “track the past, order the present, design the future.”

    I love journals and organizing, so I immediately took to bullet journaling my grocery lists, to-do lists, goals, the books I read, the books I wanted to read . . . When I found that many of my pages included bits and pieces of our homeschooling days, I realized we needed a homeschool bullet journal.

    I won’t go into specifics as to how to bullet journal, since you can find out everything you need to here. But remember that the point of bullet journaling is to make life easier, not harder. I have not found that keeping my calendar in my bullet journal is especially helpful.

    I prefer an actual calendar and don’t have time to write our daily comings and goings multiple times. Instead, our homeschool bullet journal captures our past, present, and future more thematically.

    Your BookShark Instructor’s Guide could serve as a basis for your journal, but you may find it too bulky and inflexible for day to day record keeping. If you want to use bullet journaling, you’ll probably want to use a separate notebook. A homeschool bullet journal typically goes beyond lesson planning and incorporates the extras from your larger family life.

    • The curriculum you’re using
    • The scope & sequence of your curriculum
    • The curriculum you want to check out
    • Books you’ve read each month/year
    • Books you want to read
    • Classes your children are taking
    • Your calendar
    • Deadlines
    • Field trips
    • Vacations
    • Websites
    • Movies or documentaries you’ve watched
    • Movies or documentaries you want to watch
    • Podcasts your children love
    • Simple meals you can make in a hurry
    • A list of rainy day activities
    • Goals
    • Achievements
    • Skills your kids are working on
    • Supplies you need
    • Supplies you have on hand
    • Expenses
    • Homeschool budget
    • Favorite memories
    • Strategies that help your kids
    • List of inspiring quotes

    Using a Homeschool Bullet Journal

    Once you set up your homeschool bullet journal, you just have to remember to use it. Put it on your bedside table and spend time each night recording and reflecting. Or put it by your coffee pot and use it to begin your day. Pull it out to help you plan for the week, month, and semester. If you have older children, let them add to it and check off the things they accomplished.

    It can be challenging to organize all the information and remember all the things. A homeschool bullet journal won’t shrink your child’s LEGO model of the Seven Wonders of the World, but it will remind you they made it. It will keep your book lists, goals, grades, achievements, and reminders safe and sound and all in one place. They are both easy to create and to use. Give homeschool bullet journaling a try.

    About Our Author

    Kelly left teaching middle and high school English to homeschool her children and reclaim how she and her family spent their time. Followers of interest-led learning, her family’s days rarely look the same, but they tend to include a lot of books, art supplies, and time outside.

    Kelly facilitates local writing circles for women and children and blogs about nurturing the love of learning on her blog, Curiosity Encouraged. She loves to journal, read memoirs, hike, and travel. She seeks quiet mornings and good coffee daily.

  • You Don’t Have to Do it All: How to Adjust Your BookShark Curriculum

    You Don’t Have to Do it All: How to Adjust Your BookShark Curriculum

    I’ll admit it; the giant blue binder that came with my daughter’s BookShark Reading with History curriculum was a little overwhelming. I remember unboxing day. While my kid flipped through her new books, excited by all the stories she was going to read, I unwrapped a ream of paper—my Instructor’s Guide (IG). 

    Never having had success with a boxed curriculum before, I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical. But BookShark felt different. The BookShark Science curriculum and US Elections Lap Book we had already used were a hit with both my daughter and me, so . . . deep breath . . . I needed to give this history curriculum a chance. I’m so glad we did! 

    Not only does our BookShark curriculum reduce the amount of time I need to prep for our lessons, it provides us with countless opportunities to read and learn together. I’ve found the teacher’s guide is just that, a guide. We can easily choose which lessons we follow, where we want to take a deeper dive, and which ones we skip or return to at a later date. 

    Feeling overwhelmed or a little uncertain about the plethora of materials in a BookShark curriculum? Never fear! You don’t have to do it all. Here are ways to pick and choose from your BookShark curriculum so it’s a perfect fit for you and your homeschooler. 

    Let BookShark Be a Flexible Guide

    When it comes to curriculum, I can get caught up in thinking I need to do it all exactly the way it’s laid out. The problem with this is sometimes my homeschooler wants to do things a little differently or needs a lesson altered. Sometimes she needs more time to read a book or buzzes through an activity and is ready to move on. 

    What I’ve found, thanks to BookShark, is a good curriculum offers options and ideas I can easily take and make my own. Below are the ways I adjust BookShark curriculum to meet the needs of my homeschooler.

    The Weekly Schedule Pages

    One of my favorite parts of BookShark curriculum is the weekly schedule grids. (See samples here.) Easy to read and modify, they lay out a concise plan. You can follow it as is, working down the assignments for each day. Or if your child prefers to stick with a book rather than skipping about, you can work across the page, reading the full week’s worth of passages at once. It’s up to you!

    Here’s how I use the IG pages. Each week, I flip to the new week’s plan and skim through what is suggested. Then I go back to the previous week and check to see what we are still working on. I cross off the things we’ve completed so it’s easy to see which lessons, pages of a book, or activities we have yet to finish. 

    To keep track of what we’re working on, I put a sticky note on the weekly schedules we need to complete. There’s plenty of room on these sheets to write down other things we’re doing or any modifications. On the rare occasion we are going to skip an activity or reading, I just cross it out.

    36 Weekly Dividers 

    The weekly dividers are useful guides in that they help me keep track of the units we’re working on, but I don’t worry about what week we’re on or push my homeschooler to finish everything listed in one week’s time. 

    When we started our BookShark Reading with History curriculum, she was not a confident independent reader. We used the independent books as Read-Alouds, so it took us longer than was suggested. This was okay! I homeschool because I am not interested in flying through lessons just to get them done. 

    Now, just three months in, my daughter reads on average a book a week independently. Her remarkable achievement is a testament to how reading awesome books and discussing them does, in fact, grow readers. Moreover, it’s possible that by the time we’re in the second half of the curriculum, she could be ahead of the weekly schedule. This is also okay! 

    BookShark curriculum is organized in such a way that we can easily adjust the lessons and move at our child’s pace.

    So you can follow the weeks as they are outlined in the IG. Or you cand do what I do and just work through the material in the order laid out but not necessarily in the time frame (week by week) that it’s laid out.

    BookShark Books

    The number of books provided with the BookShark curriculum is impressive yet can be overwhelming due to sheer quantity.

    Remember this: The great thing about a book is it doesn’t expire.

    Again, I had to remind myself of this when we started our curriculum. It’s okay if your child doesn’t read every single book provided or if they don’t read it at the exact time it’s suggested. 

    Guess what?! We have skipped a book here and there, and it’s okay! Why? Because my daughter was ready to move on or we wanted to take our time with a book she was really loving. We can always go back and read the books we skipped later.

    Permission to skip books is fully granted! 

    BookShark Lessons

    My daughter is learning all about the Eastern Hemisphere. She loves filling in the maps, reading and discussing the novels, and exploring the different countries and cultures. Taking notes is challenging however, since she is listening to me reading about a country’s history or reading about it herself. We use the history text provided as a guide as well. We use it for its maps and pictures, skim it for information, and supplement the text by finding documentaries and videos. We also use the notes provided for me in my IG to help her write down notes. She’s learning all of the information she needs to learn in a way that works for her and that’s what matters. 

    No one knows our kids like we do, so finding a perfect curriculum that meets every one of their needs is unrealistic. BookShark clearly understands this, so their curriculum’s provide learners with an organized Instructor’s Guide and tons of resources that can easily be adapted to fit the needs of each learner. Nowhere in the curriculum does it suggest you have to do it all. Our children will get a well rounded education no matter how we tailor it to meet their needs. 

    • Follow the plans weekly or as you see fit.
    • Read all the books or read some now and others later.
    • Choose which books your homeschooler reads independently and which ones you read together.

    What’s important is your child has a guide (that’s you), and you have a guide—your BookShark curriculum. With both of these in place, the love of learning happens over and over again. 

    About Our Author

    Kelly left teaching middle and high school English to homeschool her children and reclaim how she and her family spent their time. Followers of interest-led learning, her family’s days rarely look the same, but they tend to include a lot of books, art supplies, and time outside.

    Kelly facilitates local writing circles for women and children and blogs about nurturing the love of learning on her blog, Curiosity Encouraged. She loves to journal, read memoirs, hike, and travel. She seeks quiet mornings and good coffee daily.

  • Help! My Homeschooled Child Wants to Go to Public School

    Help! My Homeschooled Child Wants to Go to Public School

    There are a lot of different reasons that people choose to homeschool. At the core of them all is that we feel it is the best thing for our child. No one chooses this path to torture their kids!

    Most homeschooled kids love learning at home and realize how awesome it is to be homeschooled.

    But what if your child asks to go to public school? Maybe they went to school before and want to go back, or maybe they just want to see what it is like since they’ve heard other kids talk about it. What do you do when you want to homeschool but your child wants to attend school? Here are my six suggestions.

    1. Pinpoint What They Miss

    If your child has previously been to school, there might be something about it that they miss. Maybe they liked having a teacher or seeing their friends daily. Maybe they liked the independence or structure. Open the lines of communication and figure out what they feel is missing. Then try to figure out a solution that somehow meets that need.

    2. Look Into Private Schools or Co-ops

    Some private schools have daily or weekly classes open to homeschoolers. This arrangement can give your children the opportunity to be in a classroom setting for a certain subject but be homeschooled the rest of the time. There are also a lot of homeschool co-ops that are structured like school. If your child misses being in a class and interacting with a teacher, this option may be the fix you need. 

    3. Keep a Public School Schedule for a Few Days

    I don’t know about your homeschool schedule, but ours looks nothing like a regular school day. Most kids don’t realize going to school means getting up and moving bright and early and spending 6+ hours in classes and then completing homework at home! Oh, and no pajamas allowed! Sometimes giving them a small taste of what real school would be like can help them appreciate how wonderful homeschooling actually is!

    4. Change Your Approach or Curriculum

    Is your child interested in going to school because what you’re doing isn’t working? Maybe they hate the curriculum you’re using, or maybe your approach is too structured or too casual. It may be that with a few tweaks your child is happier in your homeschool environment and will no longer dream about going to public school.

    5. Put Them in Lessons, Classes, or Clubs

    If your child is missing interaction with their peers or having a teacher, enrolling them in something like tae kwon do or getting them involved in scouts might be the answer! You can even check out your local library for kids activities or clubs—even homeschool specific activities. Having a weekly or bi-weekly activity can fill that desire for seeing friends and having fun.

    6. Make Sure They Have Friends Who are Homeschooled

    A common reason for kids to want to go to school is because all their friends are in school and they feel left out. Making sure your child has friends who are homeschooled will relieve this feeling somewhat. 

    If your homeschooled child wants to go to public school, there is likely a variety of forces causing that feeling. Don’t take it as a rejection of you as a parent. Instead, take the time to address their concerns, talk things through, and come up with solutions that everyone can agree on!

    About the Author

    Krista is the homeschooling mom of 3 boys. After 13 years she has learned the value of chilling out, going with the flow and keeping homeschooling fun! She is the blogger behind Far From Normal where she hopes to encourage parents and homeschoolers, and inspire a life lived happily outside the box!

  • Set Your Own Daily Schedule: Homeschool Morning, Afternoon, or Night

    Set Your Own Daily Schedule: Homeschool Morning, Afternoon, or Night

    Setting your own daily schedule is a wonderful luxury homeschooling brings. We’re not scrambling to get kids on the bus at 7:30 in the morning. Breakfast becomes a leisurely meal instead of a frantic race against the clock. The shift into and out of Daylight Savings Time hardly impacts us.

    You have time to welcome the morning, spend time with your children, and enjoy a slow start. You determine the course of your day by setting your own daily schedule regardless of what the school does or what your other homeschool peers are doing.

    Homeschool in the Mornings

    Many of us enjoy homeschooling in the mornings. We can start the days with a brief morning time of poetry recitation, great literature, music, and art. The children tackle math when they’re fresh and able to think carefully about the problems. We get the business of our day—school—taken care of as first priority so we can do more frivolous pursuits later.

    After homeschooling in the mornings we have the afternoons free. We’re able to explore the town and go on field trips. Children can enjoy their favorite activities or play with friends. We can take long nature hikes and see the flowers bloom, leaves bud, and geese return.

    Evenings can be spent watching documentaries, enjoying read-alouds, or simply spending time together as a family.

    Homeschool in the Afternoons

    Just because many homeschoolers sit down to educate children in the mornings doesn’t mean you can’t homeschool in the afternoons instead. Sometimes it works best to spend the mornings sleeping, relaxing, working at home, doing chores, or simply enjoying the day.

    If a slow start suits you best, consider homeschooling in the afternoons instead. That’s the beauty of homeschooling. You set the daily schedule to fit your family’s needs.Enjoy a slow morning together, eat lunch, and then gather your school supplies. Run through math, English, and science. Curl up on the sofa to listen to the latest book you’re reading aloud. Spend the afternoon doing science experiments or history projects.

    Homeschool in the Evenings

    Despite the flexibility homeschooling brings, most people believe you still need to homeschool during daylight hours, and that’s simply not true. Remember, you set your own schedule. This means you can spend the morning on nature hikes, long bike rides, and exploring the town.

    Afternoons can be spent in activities, field trips, or time with friends. You can spend the day exploring the world and using up your children’s energy so they’re ready to sit and study quietly in the evenings.

    Begin your formal homeschool day at dinner time. Engage in long history and science discussions at the dinner table. Teach children to read in the living room after dinner. Work on math together.

    Each parent can take a child to run through schoolwork together. Discuss math, teach phonics, and write during the quiet evening hours.

    As you think about your ideal schedule, remember that homeschooling is flexible, and there is no right or wrong time to homeschool. Consider carefully your family’s routines and lifestyle before setting a daily schedule for your homeschool. Non-traditional homeschool hours may be best for your family.

    And you may find that one season of life fits morning learning while another season of life is better suited for evening homeschooling. Younger children tend to rise earlier, and teens love to sleep in, so adapt with their preferences by adjusting your daily schedule too. Or use a hodgepodge of times for your children. No one says that all your children have to study at the same time either!  

  • How to Teach Language Arts to a Reluctant Learner

    How to Teach Language Arts to a Reluctant Learner

    If your son tends to dawdle instead of completing a page of grammar exercises…

    If your daughter draws pictures instead of working on writing assignments…

    If you’ve seen your child’s shoulders slump when asked to read…

    Then you might have a reluctant learner when it comes to language arts. From making excuses to complaining to avoiding the work, these behaviors point to a problem. But there’s good news! Your children can learn the skills they need and even enjoy the process, too! 

    Find Out Why Your Students Are Reluctant

    First, find out why your students are reluctant to learn language arts. It’s important not to assume that it’s a character issue. 

    How will you know the difference? Character issues are often seen in other areas of life, not only when it comes to completing their language arts assignments. If your children are trying to get out of all work, including chores or anything that requires effort, it may be because they need consistency and discipline. 

    But if you see these behaviors only when working on homeschool language arts, there may be underlying issues that aren’t related to character. Some possible reasons include:

    • Learning disabilities or processing disorders. Talk to your doctor or a specialist. Research options for getting a diagnosis so you can make a plan. The good news is that early intervention can help kids learn to cope and even flourish despite their challenges. 
    • Vision issues. A simple appointment with an optometrist or opthamologist will tell you what they need.
    • Maturity. Sometimes children are not developmentally ready, so the best thing to do is wait. But waiting doesn’t have to be passive! Read aloud to them. Tell stories together. Write down things they have to say. You’ll be developing the skills without expecting more than they are ready for. 
    • A lack of foundational skills. There are building blocks to learning language arts. If children struggle with the physical act of writing, then it will be hard for them to do creative writing. Be sure to focus on the foundation and find ways to build upon that foundation until they are ready to take the next step. Look for a language arts curriculum that is developmentally appropriate.

    3 Ways to Teach Language Arts to a Reluctant Learner

    1. Optimize the Learning Environment 

    Create a better learning environment, conducive to focused work time. 

    Often people define themselves as early birds or a night owls. Generally these are the times they are most productive. When do your children seem most focused?

    • Is it first thing in the morning?
    • Right after lunch?
    • Or even in the evenings?

    Use those times to your advantage.

    Children can also be very sensitive to the atmosphere around them.

    • Do they need a calm, organized area?
    • Is the temperature comfortable?
    • Is a chair better for this activity or does sitting at a desk help them concentrate?

    You may have to try a few different things to find what works best, but it will be worth the time

    2. Use a Natural Approach

    A natural approach to teaching language arts capitalizes on how children have been learning since the day they were born. You probably didn’t approach teaching your kids how to talk by putting an alphabet chart on the wall or giving them a board book titled The Syntax of the English Language. And you probably didn’t make them say a sentence correctly ten times so they would remember proper usage and structure. 

    Instead you immersed them in language by talking to them. They naturally absorbed the rules of language. Sure, they made mistakes, but you actually thought those mistakes were cute. You knew that over time they would learn not just what to say but how to say it. 

    A natural approach to learning language arts, like the one BookShark uses, continues to trust that process.

    Kids learn to write by writing, read by reading, speak by listening. They copy and dictate from books by real writers. They narrate what they have been reading. And in this process, sometimes riddled with cute mistakes along the way, students become proficient at writing and reading and speaking.  

    3. Get Creative

    Use a timer. Students can feel overwhelmed if they can’t see the end in sight so they don’t even want to try. Help them to get past this roadblock.

    Set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, give them a quick physical break like jumping on an indoor trampoline or riding a scooter down the street and back. Or allow them to follow the timed lesson with a subject they enjoy more. 

    Build their language arts muscles by starting slow. Shorten a copywork or dictation passage or break it up over a couple of days. Let them experience success before increasing the difficulty. 

    Focus on just one skill at a time. If they are doing copywork and struggle to write neatly, have them focus only on how they are forming the letters. Don’t worry about a spelling mistake made when trying to get a letter just right.  

    Partner with your child. Take turns. They read a page, then you read a page. They write a paragraph, then you write a paragraph that they dictate to you. 

    Allow them to do some work orally. Language arts skills are built even when the physical act of writing isn’t happening. Good communicators know how to organize their thoughts. Therefore, any time your kids can express themselves clearly, they are practicing an important skill that will translate to writing later. 

    Let them do something with their hands. When you’re reading aloud, allow them to build with LEGO, create with playdough, or draw a picture.

    Make narration a normal part of life. Simply say something like,  “Hey, why don’t you tell Mr. Jimenez about the story we were reading!”

    You Can Teach Language Arts to a Reluctant Learner

    Creative avoiders can exhaust, frustrate, and even anger their parents at times. You don’t have to dread teaching your kids, though. Look for the signs to see if you have a reluctant learner. 

    By evaluating why, optimizing their learning environment, using a natural approach like BookShark’s, and getting a little creative, you can help your children succeed while keeping your sanity in the process. 

  • Bilingual Homeschooling: How I Got Started

    Bilingual Homeschooling: How I Got Started

    The thought of bilingual homeschooling first entered my mind twelve years ago when my daughter was in kindergarten. We started homeschooling because at that time we lived in a failed school district where the state closed one school and then taken over the other. As I learned more about homeschooling in general, I realized that I could personalize our learning experience as so many families educating their children at home often do.

    That’s when I realized that I wanted to pass on my own heritage to my children and make it a part of our lessons. I’m Spanish Mexican American. My dad and his whole side of the family live in Spain. And my mother was Mexican American. I grew up with both feet and a hand in each culture.

    This mishmash of traditions and two languages are all part of what makes me the person that I am. And I treasure my culture-filled childhood so much that I wanted the same for my own children. But it was very difficult because my husband and I lived far away from our families. So I began scratching away at our monolingual, monocultural lifestyle using our homeschool as a way to help my children learn about and appreciate the richness of their Hispanic heritage. And language learning was a small part of it.

    When I started, though, there were absolutely no resources available for bilingual homeschooling. Zero. I looked online for materials, and it was a slow, difficult process. Most were Spanish-learning programs, not curricula for teaching in Spanish. I even looked for Hispanic homeschool support groups, but there were none.

    So I started my own blog to chronicle our journey and share any resources that I found in the hopes of encouraging more Hispanic parents to consider homeschooling their own children.

    Over the last decade or so, I’ve seen bilingual homeschooling slowly but steadily increase. Most of these homeschoolers are made up of bilingual or multilingual families who see the benefits of raising bilingual children. Like me, nurturing their children’s bilingualism and biliteracy is a way for them to pass on their family’s heritage and culture. It’s a way to instill pride and foster confidence. And it allows parents to prepare their children for personal and professional opportunities in the future.

    Some are worldschooling families who have the ability to travel for work or pleasure. This allows parents to take advantage of the opportunity to immerse their children in the target language developing not only complete bilingualism, but biculturalism, too.

    But since the start of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the number of bilingual homeschoolers has exploded. Why? Because now both monolingual and bilingual parents who had their children enrolled in dual-language or immersion schools have found themselves homeschooling their young language learners.

    What Is Bilingual Homeschooling?

    By definition, bilingual homeschoolers devote equal time and energy to studying in two languages. The emphasis is placed on fluency in both languages. Seems simple, right? 

    Unfortunately, most families who decide to homeschool bilingually don’t have much guidance or support. Just as I was left to sort things out on my own, they must blindly figure out their way through the process because there is no bilingual curriculum available for homeschoolers. 

    The lack of resources and support has made things difficult in the past, but things are changing these days as more and more products and services are hitting the market to support bilingual learners. This is due mainly to the growing number of dual language schools across the country.

    So most families end up choosing an approach to teaching and then search for the resources that will support it.

    The Approaches to Bilingual Homeschooling

    My experience is mainly with Spanish/English homeschooling, and I will use that combination as an example in this article. However, the approaches listed here may be applied to any language combination. Here are some of the ways families are homeschooling bilingually:

    1. Complete Immersion

    Complete immersion families teach their children all subjects in the minority language (Spanish) only and rely on their child’s interaction with relatives, friends, and other influences to teach them the majority language (English).

    Unfortunately, this can be a difficult situation if your state requires yearly testing in English. In order for children to achieve academic success later on and qualify for college admission, they must be able to effectively communicate and learn in English, which may or may not be advanced depending on how much they actually learn from others.

    The complete immersion approach also becomes more difficult as the child enters higher grades where very limited teaching resources are available. Thus very few families (if any) successfully homeschool K-12 in Spanish only.

    2. Partial Immersion

    I consider partial immersion the ideal method for bilingual homeschooling. Gaining in popularity, this approach teaches a combination of subjects in both English and Spanish. Generally, the minority language is nurtured and developed in the early grades with introduction to English by 2nd grade, or vice versa.

    Partial immersion is becoming easier with the development and access to new Spanish-language resources for bilingual homeschoolers.

    3. Second Language Learning

    Second language learning is probably the most common type of bilingual homeschooling. In this approach, language learners are English-dominant and learn a second language at an early age for greatest success, for example, kindergarten or first grade.

    However, students can begin learning a second language at any point in their K-12 education. The myth that learning another language must begin prior to age 7 is slowly disappearing, and more and more families are waiting until high school to begin their student’s bilingual journey.

    4. Bicultural Learning

    Bicultural learning is different from bilingual learning. It takes a multicultural approach by emphasizing foreign cultures and traditions for a more global learning experience.

    This form of learning often goes together with worldschooling. In fact, the two frequently overlap as it is impossible to travel the world and not learn about the cultures in which you are living. Homeschoolers may begin learning a foreign language in later years. 

    Can Monolingual Parents Raise Bilingual Children?

    Is it possible for English-only households to homeschool bilingually? Yes, but the challenge is real. Most successful families use native speaking tutors or mother’s helpers to interact with, or teach, their children on a weekly basis. Playdates with bilingual families and even family vacations in Spanish-speaking (or your target language) countries are also valuable teaching tools. And now, with the pandemic, a lot of native speakers are teaching classes online, giving anyone with internet access to routine conversation.

    In a perfect world, bilingual homeschoolers would fall under the partial immersion category, but the reality is that most land somewhere between partial immersion and language learning. Wherever your homeschooling journey takes you, the key is to remember that the intentions of your heart and the effort you put into raising a bilingual child are what define your experience.

    About the Author

    Monica Olivera is a homeschooling mother of two, author, and a freelance education writer. Her site, MommyMaestra.com, helps Hispanic parents get more involved in their children’s education by providing resources, tips, and opportunities.

    She is also the author of The Latino Family’s Guide to Homeschooling and the Heritage Journal Series. Her education articles have appeared in numerous online sites such as NBCNews, Woo! Jr., and PBS SoCal. 

  • Why Homeschooling Is the Best: Flexible Routines and Schedules

    Why Homeschooling Is the Best: Flexible Routines and Schedules

    With our flexible homeschool schedule, we’ve had the space and control to achieve a perfect rhythm for our days. This schedule has not been imposed on us by public school, and we’re reaping the rewards! Life is much more relaxed, and the kids are learning more, too. Flexible routines and schedules are another reason why I say homeschooling is best.

    The Science of Routines

    Science backs the importance of routines for children. Psychology Today speaks about the comfort that children get from having a predictable routine. When they know what is happening, they feel safe. 

    A study found that a fixed family schedule actually helps children with behavioural issues such as oppositional defiant disorder and hyperactivity/impulsivity. I can attest to this! Our son has elements of both of these disorders and benefits from knowing what is going to happen during his day. When he is in a routine, he has far fewer meltdowns and is much more willing to learn and to engage.

    Based on the data, it would be easy to think that a rigid public school routine is the ultimate comfort. But I have found the opposite to be true. And I’m not the only one!

    Rigid Public School Routines Are Old School

    In his TED Talk from 2010, Bring on the Learning Revolution, the late Sir Ken Robinson explained that the current public school system is based on an old model from the 19th century, “We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people.”

    The public school schedule is an example of this conformity. Children do thrive on predictability, but they are often forced into a learning routine that does not work for them mainly so they can be batched and managed.

    My kids did not thrive with the one-size-fits-all timetable of public education. In fact, the early, rushed starts caused them a huge amount of anxiety.

    Some kids are better later in the morning or in the afternoon. An article in TIME says that teenagers are actually better suited to staying up late and sleeping late, so a more flexible school schedule could lead to more motivated teens. I know that my 9-year-old twins, who do like a set routine, benefit from a later start. 

    The Beauty of a Flexible Homeschool Routine

    Schedules and routines are great, but I don’t think the public school ones should be forced on everybody. And this is where the beauty of the homeschool schedule comes into play. There are so many ways that you can mold your daily schedule to best suit your child. Here are some of the freedoms we’ve discovered in our years of homeschooling:

    • Kids can get enough sleep and are rested and ready for the day. They can then start the day when they feel ready to learn.
    • Kids can have a peaceful morning routine rather than feeling stressed and rushed.
    • You can decide if you want to follow year-round homeschooling, take breaks periodically or use a 4-day schedule. You have the flexibility to decide what works best for your family and to change your mind whenever you like.
    • You can homeschool on the road and take holidays when you want to. Kids can experience the world, without having to wait for designated periods in the year to go on vacation. 
    • Kids can have a break if they’re sick or even just having a bad day. We do this a lot! It’s difficult to expect concentration and engagement from kids when they don’t feel their best. 
    • You can dive deeply into child-led learning, letting children focus on what delights and engages them. A flexible schedule means that subjects can easily be moved around to accommodate these interests.

    The world is changing, and education needs to change too. Even though public schools are constantly improving, they are not doing so quickly enough. The old way of managing kids is still prevalent in most schools, yet this way of teaching is not going to prepare all of them adequately for the future. And that’s why homeschool is the best! 

    When you school at home, you can adapt learning, content, and schedules to give your children the best education possible. And then they can be ready to face a changing world that needs people flexible enough to navigate its complexities. 

    About Our Author

    Charlotte Jones is a multi-tasking mom who works from home. She spends her days blogging at My Little Home School, homeschooling her twins, and teaching English online. Her home is a small house in a quaint little town on the coast of South Africa. You can often find her swimming in the lagoon or hiking in the forest with her husband, special needs twins, and furbaby. She loves her family, spending time in nature, running, red lipstick, and drinking too much coffee.  

  • What to Do When Your Child is Bullied by a Teacher

    What to Do When Your Child is Bullied by a Teacher

    I am the product of public school, and cannot say enough how much I loved my experiences growing up. Yes, I stumbled across a few bad apples during my 13 years as a public school student—one overtly racist teacher, one teacher who made no attempts to hide his very pleased gaze, one teacher who cursed like a sailor, and more. But overall I knew that these teachers were not representative of the profession as a whole, and I truly loved school. 

    When it came time for my own children to start school, it was a no-brainer. Public school was the only option. I’d loved it, my husband had loved it, and our kids were going to love it. 

    And they did… for a while. 

    My oldest child is a people-pleaser and brilliant—exactly the kind of student every teacher would want in their class. He makes their jobs easier and never makes waves. My middle child, however… well, if you have more than one child, you’re aware of how very different that second born child tends to be from the first! 

    When My Child Became a Target

    My middle child is not an easy student. He is profoundly gifted, sarcastic. He questions everything he learns, which is an admirable quality in an adult but not one that is so warmly embraced in a classroom of over 20 children. He was already several years ahead of where his classroom curriculum was teaching, and he is not the kind of child to sit quietly and wait patiently to be challenged. 

    Eventually this middle child of mine became a target. Not by his peers nor by the parents of the other children. No, instead he found himself in the crosshairs of members of the school administration. Actual adults who showed up to work every day at a school, supposedly dedicated to the care and advancement of children, went out of their way to chastise, dismiss, constrain, and persecute an 8-year-old child. 

    His hard-fought IEP paperwork was never filed legally; his accommodations were intentionally dismissed. One staff member in particular made it her mission to knock my son from his presumed pedestal and jeopardized his mental health in alarming ways. When he was intentionally placed in a classroom his IEP strictly forbade him from entering, she said, “He should be able to handle it.” When his extensive IQ testing hinted at possible dysgraphia, she said, “If he’s this smart, he’ll be able to figure it out.” The real doozy, though, the jewel in the cruel crown this adult bully wore, was when she filed a bullying report against my son because of his high IQ. “He can run circles around the other students with his vocabulary, and there’s no way they could keep up.” You read that right. Because my son has an extensive vocabulary, she had him formally declared a bully. 

    Are you mad yet? Because I sure was.

    In fact, I spent most of his few years in public school seething with rage. I had other children at this school, and they definitely never encountered these issues. My youngest had several years ahead of him at this school, so I didn’t want to rock the boat too much. Teachers are often protected by layers of bureaucracy and paperwork. What exactly could I do? 

    I could do anything my child needed, and I’ll tell you how to do the same. Here are my angry-mom tips on what to do when your child is being bullied by a teacher.

    1. Document Everything

    This is the most important step and the first thing you should start doing. Every story that your child comes home with, immediately record it in any way you can. Type the details into emails, record with your phone, make note of the date, names of any other children who may have witnessed what happened, your child’s emotional state… all of it. Any emails that you receive from the bullying teacher, save them. If your class has a Facebook group or an app where photos of daily activitiesare shared, look carefully to see what your child is doing in them. Is he placed in a corner, away from the fun? Is he being left out? Is he unhappy and to the side? Save these, date them, and document everything. 

    2. Work Up the Ladder

    Once you have documentation to back up your complaints, start by sending an email to the principal, outlining your issues. Be sure to copy any vice principals, the grade level chair, and possibly even the superintendent’s office. Don’t start with the superintendent, but don’t be afraid to include them either. Every level of leadership in your school district has a higher level they’re accountable to, and sometimes it takes seeing their boss’s name on an email to get your complaint taken seriously.

    Request an in-person meeting with the principal. If you still are not satisfied or if you feel dismissed, then proceed up the ladder. And remember to keep documenting everything along the way, copying the next person up the leadership ladder on every email you send. 

    3. Stay Squeaky

    I am a non-confrontational person by nature. I don’t like rocking the boat, ruffling feathers, or calling people out. But when it became apparent that my discomfort with confrontation was costing my child in mental wellness (and allowing an adult to bully a child), I had to get loud.

    You’ve heard the saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? The same is true when advocating for your child. You will have to get loud, frequently. You will have to send emails, lots of them.

    You will have to tackle the feeling that your requested meetings are inconvenient to administrators, stop hoping that everyone in the room likes you, and get squeaky. Squeak all over that office. Squeak in every meeting. Don’t let your concerns be quieted with charm and half-attempts at justice. Don’t let your child pay the price for being uncomfortable calling out people in power.

    Squeak for your child.

    Squeak and squeak and squeak until someone finally realizes your wheel really does need the grease. 

    4. Consider Your Alternatives

    Sometimes, despite the most meticulous documentation, running appropriately up the ladder, and squeaking non-stop, nothing gets changed. Sometimes a teacher’s bullying behaviors may be dismissed, allowed, or even defended. Sometimes the one-size-fits-all model of public education just doesn’t fit all, and you have to consider your options.  

    • Keep your child in the same school. You will have to be a constant presence in the office, advocating and fighting and squeaking, making a full time job out of hoping the school does the right thing. 
    • Consider private schools. These schools are often not within most families’ budgets, and as they are not bound by the same standards and requirements as public schools, you could very well find yourself in a similar situation with fewer avenues of accountability.
    • Look into homeschooling. It’s not what you think it is, and it’s not what it used to be. Use this guide as a starting point. There are near-countless opportunities for the ever-important socialization worry, co-ops, parental support groups, and freedoms. Programs like BookShark empower a parent to lead their child in academics with a flexible 4-day week that eases the transition from working parent to a homeschooling parent. 
    • Run for a seat on your city’s school board. If being a squeaky wheel hasn’t afforded you the opportunity to see change, then perhaps becoming a part of the wheel will allow you the influence to begin steering it. 

    Should you ever find yourself in a situation where your child has become the target of a bullying adult, where your child’s mental health and educational well-being are jeopardized because someone in power cannot control their own biased feelings and actions, you are not alone, and you are not helpless. You can fight for your child. You don’t need to make friends with everyone on staff. You walk your child through those front doors as a pathway to their future, not your own popularity. Risk your reputation for your child. Squeak for your child. Do whatever you need, whatever is best, whatever will rescue your child and put them in an educational option with an adult who truly cares for them. Your hard work may end up saving future children from the same abuse.

    About Our Author

    Jennifer Vail proudly lives in the great state of Texas with her very handsome husband and three very funny children. All three kids are educated in three very different ways according to their very different needs, which is exhausting but fulfilling. Jen’s hobbies include naps, 90’s pop culture, Netflix binges, buying books with the best of intentions to read them all, photography, and extroverting. She holds a degree in counseling but has found her calling by writing for and spending time with families of differently-wired, outlier kids—the square pegs of the round world.

    She stays up way too late and drinks way too much caffeine, but has no intention of changing either. She is the community manager and contributing author at Raising Lifelong Learners where she writes about homeschooling gifted, anxious, and otherwise different kiddos, but also rambles at This Undeserved Life from time to time. She feels compelled to mention that she still very much loves the Backstreet Boys and rarely folds her laundry.