My son is in fifth grade this year. He’s at that age where he’s growing up fast but he still loves to snuggle on the couch with his mom occasionally. One of the things he loves the most is reading together.
We have a long-standing tradition of reading a book together each night, usually one that has a movie coming out that we’d like to see.
This year with BookShark as our curriculum, that nighttime reading tradition has become part of our homeschool day, too! Since he’s an independent reader, we haven’t included Read-Alouds in our homeschool for several years. I admit that it’s something we let slide while we were using other curriculums. But now that we’re on the BookShark bandwagon, I’m realizing how wonderful it is to use reading aloud with a middle schooler!
I’m Reading What He’s Reading
I make an effort to read almost everything my son reads, but it gets difficult especially during busy times in our lives. With Read-Alouds, we are reading together, and that means I’m sharing the story with him.
We had an awesome experience this year with our first Read-Aloud, Pablo’s Journey(from Level 3), a story about a young boy aboard Columbus’ ship. What we learned in the novel was made even clearer when we toured replicas of the Nina and the Pinta. Our field trip took on so much more meaning because we were able to discuss aspects of the book and relate it to what we were seeing!
If we hadn’t shared the experience of Pablo’s Journey, our field trip would have not been as rich of an experience.
It’s a Soothing Part of Our Homeschool Day
Between math problems and writing activities, it is great to have part of the day when we savor a little quiet and connection.
During Read-Aloud time, my son can enjoy a snack, and the dog joins us on the couch. It is a reminder of why we homeschool in the first place—to nurture and enjoy our family relationships!
Reading aloud is a part of our day that my son looks forward to the most. He asks when we’ll be reading together and will happily sit to hear more than what the lesson plan calls for that day! It is great to have at least one thing each day that I can count on to be enjoyable for everyone.
BookShark Has Chosen Great Books
BookShark has curated such an awesome collection of books for reading aloud that it makes it pleasant as a parent to share in the adventure with your child. These living books bring history to life in a way that is enjoyable and fun. They open up conversations about the time periods and spark interest in aspects of history that may not have interested your child before. The books you read make all the difference in an successful lesson, and so far we have loved all of our books this year.
There comes a point in homeschooling when your child is older and capable of reading silently. That’s when you may ditch the Read-Alouds. But that might not be the best choice! BookShark has reminded me why Read-Alouds are such a great part of learning. I’m thankful for how the books have helped me connect us with my son this year!
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!
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.
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.
It’s here, it’s actually here!! High School Curriculum! We are so excited about World History & Literature and U.S. History & Literature levels. Today’s podcast is for all your questions about books in the levels, how it differs from other levels, why you should consider BookShark’s High School curriculum and more. Janna and her guest Amy R., BookShark’s Curriculum Editor and Designer, discuss the ins and outs of BookShark’s High School Curricula.
Janna 00:00 Welcome to Homeschool Your Way. I’m your host, Janna Koch, and BookShark’s Community Manager. Today’s episode is long-awaited, we are on the verge of releasing not one, but two high school levels here at BookShark. Today I am joined by Amy Ratliff, she is BookShark’s curriculum designer, we’re going to be talking about the two new levels, which are actually kind of four because we have History & Literature for the World and then History & Literature for the U.S. both at the high school levels. But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Let me bring in Amy. Hi, Amy.
Amy 00:36 Hello, everybody.
Janna 00:39 I know that people are so excited to see your face and to hear your voice and all the information that you’re going to be sharing about what BookShark has been busy doing these last few years working on these anticipated levels of high school. Before we get too excited, I bet you are. For those of you who have been familiar with BookShark or been around, Amy was immersed in our science for several years as we were updating our levels A through F. And now she has had the refreshing pleasure of being in history for several years. Amy, why don’t you just quickly give some background about who you are and how you got involved in homeschooling?
Amy 01:26 I mean, it’s true. I’m a nerd every time I get involved in a different project here, that’s my new favorite subject. And I’m just like, okay, science, science is the best now I’m like history, the best. Like I was reading some of the books that we provided. And I’m like, this is really good stuff like stuff I didn’t necessarily learn in high school, or maybe I did and then I forgot. And I’m just getting entranced in all these books again. So yeah, I work on different subjects here. For years, it’s been science. And recently it’s been the high school levels here. So I do editing, I do writing, and I test science experiments. I read books, I find new books, I write discussion questions, I create maps and all of the above. I work with different writers who helped us create the program, I work with different illustrators to create the program, and some of my other teammates who are helping me proof and read and come up with ideas and stuff. I’ve been here for, I think, five years at this point. And, that’s a little bit about me.
Janna 02:40 And a unique thing about Amy is she was homeschooled, like me. So it’s neat to see these next generations getting involved in what’s coming out for the coming generations. Because I know when you had a very different experience than I did, your mom was very creative in designing the curriculum for you and letting you do that. That student-led even before it was a thing, and I was more by the book. And I just did what I was given and didn’t venture outside of those parameters and homeschool. And so coming from different perspectives, and yet being both so passionate about getting new material out to the next generations.
Amy 03:23 Yeah, my mom would pick books up at different homeschool conventions, or used book sales or something and made her stuff. And so I remember, like if I had an interest in something, she would create a unit study for me. And then we’d go on often we do that. So I’m and then I went to college, and I became a teacher for a while. And now I’m here at book shark. And so I and I think I mean, I like creating this curriculum and just thinking about all the conversations that you guys get to have with your kids based off of the different books, because I know that I love these books, and I hope that you guys do too.
Janna 03:59 So really, you’re getting paid for what your mom did for free.
Amy 04:03 Yes, absolutely. Thanks, Mom.
Janna 04:06 Thanks, Mom. All right. So lay it on us what is coming out for high school, and 2023-2024
Amy 04:19 Yes, we have World History, World Literature, U.S. History, and U.S. Literature, all for a high school level. We’ve been working on this for quite some time. And we’re really, really excited that it’s that both levels, not just one but both are coming out this year. If you’ve been with book shark for a while, then you might know that for a few months and 2020, we released a World program. And as soon as we released it, the spine of the program went out of print and so we had to take the entire program away. And it was so sad for everybody here and all of you.
So we’re really excited that we revamped it with a different spine. And this World History program, I guess one difference is that this also covers ancient history. So this one covers all of World History, whereas the one released in 2020, was just Modern World History. So now we do cover all of World History. The reason for that being is that we know that different states have different high school requirements. And some states want ancient, some states want the world. So we made a program that covered enough ancient and modern, that we believe that people in all States of America could use it and fulfill the requirements.
Janna 05:40 What’s interesting, Amy is that as a parent that’s been using the program for seven years. Now, if you look at our different levels, we have an Intro to World cultures. And then we have Year One of two years of Intro to World History, then the second year, we have American History, year one, American History, year two, we have Eastern Hemisphere, then we start with World History One, World History Two, American History, and now we’re starting again with World History. So what is the distinction for parents who maybe have already done World History, Levels G and H using Story of the Worlds; Volumes 1-4? When that question is posed to us, what is our stance? Why are we making World History at a high school level?
Amy 06:27 Yeah, so the overall goal for the scope and sequence of BookShark is to hit the main social studies topics three times throughout your journey, Kindergarten through High School. So you’re going to touch on different, like different culture studies three times throughout your entire BookShark career, we will touch on World History, three times you’ll touch on American History, three times. So that’s always been the goal is to have like a younger elementary, then a late elementary, middle school touch, and then another high school touch. So these new programs, I mean, we’ve had Levels I and J out for a while where we talk about American History and the History of Science. And those have kind of like those are like high-level middle school to high school. And so I know that a lot of high schoolers have been using those. But now that we have this high school, those are going to be the high school programs. And because I’ve read these, I can tell you like these are more difficult texts. They’re more mature texts, there’s a lot more spread of information. The US history book in particular, for me, I was reading it, and I was like, this is more like an AP history book. This is not what I read in high school. This is more in-depth and more analytical, I think, of people’s beliefs throughout American history, rather than just facts of like when this thing happened, and why and like, where and who was involved, it gives you more of a glimpse into the people’s mindsets and beliefs and why one thing led to another. So yeah, it’s just definitely it’s the next step, it goes deeper. We’ve never shied away from dark subjects. And we believe that exposing kids to some of the real-world trials, at younger ages, develops a sense of compassion, and wanting to help people. So while we’ve already introduced the topics of like the Holocaust, and genocide, and helping those less fortunate than you, in lower grades/levels, these high school levels, they dive right in quite a lot. So I think that it’ll expand the high schooler’s minds and will let them see a deeper view of the world. And hopefully, they really, really get into it.
Janna 09:09 I think something that I have heard said, and I think it applies very appropriately here is that when we’re introducing these topics, these timelines, these historical figures, in the elementary ages, we’re creating hooks. And as they age up, what we’re able to hang on that hook can get weightier and weightier. Right. So we are giving them space to be able to have a framework for what we’re talking about. I don’t know about you, but I barely remember second grade. I remember my teacher and maybe some of my friends, right? But I do know that as I progressed through school when I was reintroduced to a topic that I had already learned about when we delve deeper, I was able to immerse myself even more because I had context. I have a hook and a place in my mind that goes Oh, that’s right. This is happening here. This is why it’s happening. So when people are asking, ‘Well if I’ve already done one, why would I do another?’ Well, the point is that you can dive deeper to look more critically at the surroundings of what’s going on. And it isn’t a story so much anymore like it is in the younger levels. Now, we’re talking about real people, with real consequences that now affect the things around us even today.
Amy 10:31 Yeah, and I think one of the tools that we have that all your BookShark users are quite familiar with is the timeline book. And the reason that you can reuse the timeline book is to kind of support what you just said, Janna. I’m going to keep on using this year after year. And I’m going to write this new historical figure or event. And I’m going to see that last year or two years ago, or three years ago, I also wrote this other event, and I kind of remember it a little bit, but it was years ago, but now I have that connection. And you’re starting to build a web of knowledge and interconnect everything. And that’s important.
Janna 11:13 That is really like the exciting part of education because the more you know, the more in my case, an opinion I may have about this situation. But the more I’m passionate about talking about it because the details do start to click and fall in line. And so now I am more aware of the why. And like I said, the consequences and how it all fits together. You know, I knew as a kid, the shot that was heard around the world, right? And I knew the phrase, and I knew the location. But it wasn’t until I was in high school and college that I started to understand the implications of what that phrase meant. And so I think that is what we are doing, as we build on these levels and go deeper and in wider or, you know, have places to go within the same timeline. Because the fact the matter is history, it doesn’t change. We all know, you know, from where whence we began. And so as we repeat it in the sense of learning, when we add more context is how it becomes you know like that web is a great picture of how it works. So let’s jump into World History for high school. What will it include?
Amy 12:30 Okay, World History. So I guess a little background. So when we create our programs, we usually find the spine for history. So the main book, and then we surround it with all different sorts of literature to integrate with the spine and to build upon it. So this book right here, The Decay from the Dawn of Civilization to Present-Day History, is the spine of our new World History program. And so it does go from you know, like the ancient Mesopotamia to Modern day. And that includes different contemporary issues like social media and global population, recent presidents, recent wars, and stuff like that. So this book is a little bit more encyclopedic. It has two-page spreads on each different culture or nation or topic. Sometimes it has little biographies of different people throughout the entire history of the world. So there’s a lot in this book, it’s huge. So yeah, this is the spine, and then we surround it again, with all the different books that help support it. So when you are reading, sorry, I have my booklist here. So you can read, you’re going to read a book about Ancient Egypt, you will read The Art of War. When you’re learning about Ancient China, you will read the Iliad. There’s a book about Genghis Khan and how he really kind of created a lot of modernism in the world, which you never really think but he kind of issued he, he was very transformative to world cultures. You read about the family Romanov. You read about Winston Churchill, and Cry the Beloved Country with apartheid in South Africa. So there’s I think, I guess I didn’t count but there are at least a dozen different books that you read alongside that, that help you delve into and see. I mean, one of the big things that I like about our literature books is it’s easy to read the spine and see people are just like flat characters and say, oh, yeah, this person did this and they did that. And then they died. Whereas when you read the literature, you get to know their thoughts, and their emotions like to become a 3d character. And then you see the world through their eyes. And then history comes to life. And you don’t forget that feeling.
Janna 15:20 It also demonstrates and shows the implications of like, if a person in history makes a decision they’re passionate about, right, that’s their platform, knowing their background, their history, what their lens that they’re looking through, really helps understand why they have that platform and why they’re so passionate about something. And then, on this side of history, we get to see the implications of the choices that they made and the impacts that they had. And now we’re living that out, I think it’s so important to be able to tie that all together, otherwise, you are just getting facts and figures. And it is sterile, without the literature pieces to bring it alive.
Amy 16:06 Yeah, I mean, one of the books that I didn’t mention is called China’s Long March. And it took me a while of reading to realize that the mouth that they were referred to, it’s about this, this army that’s marching through China, and they’re trying to get to this place for military reasons. And it took me a while to realize that the now they’re talking about that was like, held in pretty high honor was like Mao Zedong and that most of us don’t think he’s a very good guy. And I was like, Oh, well, this is a very different perspective of him that I never thought I’d had before. And it’s just a different light and sees him as a logical, like a very strategic leader in why he got to the place that he did later in life.
Janna 16:50 It’s important to be able to make those connections because otherwise, we can villainize and not to, not to say shouldn’t or should, but we can villainize characters, people throughout history, through our lens, and not having the context and their perspective of what’s going on. I had heard it said that we couldn’t judge another culture or time period by our own standards and values, we have to judge it by theirs. And if we aren’t immersed in theirs, we can’t judge it properly. And maybe judges the wrong word. Maybe more evaluate it.
Amy 17:25 Analyze analyzed, maybe, yeah, yeah. So that’s, that’s World History. So U.S. History is going to be similar. And that we have this book is called The Land of Hope. This is the spine that earlier I was mentioning it gives me more of an AP History feel. So the author just goes through lots of the whys and what people believed, about specific people and also just the culture in general, like, what did the culture of the colonists believe that made them think that they could come here and settle in this crazy country? You know? And then rebel against England? Why? How did that happen? What were the threads that led to that? So The Land of Hope is the spine for U.S. History. And that’s surrounded by books about like the Mayflower. You get to read a little bit of the Constitution. You read about Thomas Jefferson’s fight against the Tripoli Pirates, then the Civil War. Then we have The Grapes of Wrath, which is about The Depression. And Esperanza Rising, which is a newer book that I think is also about the Depression, Finding Langston, where you get to learn about Langston Hughes. And so, again, it goes all the way from early, early America to pretty, pretty modern. I think this book actually even has stuff about Obama and Trump in it. So it’s, it’s a very recent spine for us.
Janna 19:01 I’m so glad to hear it’s refreshing to know that we are finding good spines, good literature that we can build off of that is more modern so that it can address the things that our students are currently going through, or at least their parents have gone through as opposed to only looking back to things that maybe their grandparents had gone through. Although my kids love to call me a Boomer, which I am not. So not a boomer, they get they just think it’s so funny when they say it. So another unique perspective to these two levels that are coming out that may be a little bit different than what we’ve had in the past, and I’ll have you speak to this specifically, are the sources, what type of sources are we going to be linking to these programs?
Amy 19:47 Yeah, so this is different from other guides that we’ve carried, and I’m pretty excited about it. So in addition to the spine and the literature that you read, I think every week has at least one or two primary resources that you read. And these can either be just a couple of paragraphs that we print into our guide to a couple of pages long. And these are different excerpts from like the Egyptian Book of the Dead, you know, you’re reading about the pharaohs, and you don’t really understand their religion, but then you go and you read, like, it’s like a set of 40 prayers or something, I think they would say, and you just read that and you see what they did and what they believed and what they prayed, you know, every day back then. Then there are other ones. Let’s see my favorite, Martin Luther King speeches, there is the Hammurabi code, there are FDR speeches, there are letters from Columbus to Queen Isabella, there are just all sorts of Primary Resources, written by the people that you are studying that are also printed in our guide. And it goes back to our earlier point of you have to know what the people at that time were thinking and how they viewed the world. And so reading things that they actually wrote and recorded, is very, it’s like really key to understanding why they did what they did.
Janna 21:19 I think that is very unique to this, these two levels than we’ve ever done before. But I think, pretty unique to any history program that I’ve been involved with personally, that we would make sure that there are primary resources so that we aren’t just saying, somebody’s telling us a story of what they learned about Columbus, or X, Y, and Z, we’re reading what they actually penned personally. So it makes it so much more impactful because A, our brains don’t have to decipher, is this true? Is this someone else’s bent? Is this how it was perceived? I think that having those primary resources is going to make this program stand out in the homeschool curriculum.
Amy 22:05 I hope so! I didn’t get primary resources when I was in high school, and I went to a very good public high school. So I like that. I think, as you said, it adds a completely different dimension to this program as well.
Janna 22:22 Alright, so do you have anything else to say about the histories before we move on to the literature?
Amy 22:27 Sure. So a couple of other things about these histories. So along the lines of the prime or the primary resources, we also have many research reports throughout the year for history. I don’t know about you, but I remember doing lots of term papers when I was in high school for my social studies classes. So some of them are shorter, some of them are longer some of them, we let the student pick whatever research they want to do within the timeframe that they’re studying. Right. Then other ones we say, well, like this is something that we really want our students to know more about. So go do research and do a report on it. So the type and the length vary throughout the year, sometimes it’s written, sometimes it can be oral, sometimes it could be a slideshow, whatever. So those are both in World and U.S. History. Another thing is that World History specifically comes with current events. So that’s another thing that we think is very important for high schoolers to begin practicing is to look at current news sources, know what’s going on in the world be able to have a short conversation about it with their parents, or teachers or some other trusted adult. And we also scheduled those throughout the year of go watch the news. And then tell somebody what you learned, you know, or go read like three different articles online and read and tell and explain that to your parents or ask questions if you don’t understand part of it. So that’s part of world history as well.
Janna 24:09 And if you want to see what is available, our website will be updated as this podcast comes out. So make sure to go to www.bookshark.com. And you can look at the different history levels that we have. You want to specifically look for World History High School and U.S. High School.
Amy 24:29 Yeah, and for those of you listening right now, World is coming out in April 2023. And the U.S. will be coming out this summer of 2023. So it’s a couple of months behind World, but it is nearing its final stages. So that’s very exciting.
Janna 24:49 Now one thing I love about BookShark and will continue to be passionate about is that we couple literature not only in history, but other types of literature that fall in line with what you’re learning about in history, we call it integration. So let’s get into how world literature is integrated into our world history.
Amy 25:14 Yep, so our literature programs. So they involve a little bit more fiction, but they’re often tied to history as well. So like, for example, if you’re reading about the French Revolution in World History, you’re also reading A Tale of Two Cities in World Literature, which does happen around the French Revolution. Now, it’s not like a real story, obviously, but you, it’s an important piece of classical literature. And it functions well to accompany your study of the French Revolution. So stuff like that? I don’t know, do you want to hear some of the titles?
Janna 26:02 I would love to hear some of the titles, Amy.
Amy 26:05 Okay. So part of our World Literature program. So similar to our history, it kind of goes chronologically and to clarify it, you could do World Literature by itself, it can be standalone. You don’t have to do History to do the Literature program. But I do think they complement each other so well that you will get the most out of our program if you use both the History and Literature at the same time. Like the Tale of Two Cities, you can read that whenever. But it works well if you know about the French Revolution. So similarly, our literature kind of is chronological. So we start with some pretty early texts, like you’re reading about the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is Mesopotamia a long, long, long time ago. Then you read about Siddhartha, which is also a long, long time ago in India. Then you’re reading about like, Oedipus in Julius Caesar, Rome, but both are no more fictional stories about people who lived in those times. We have Beowulf, A Tale of Two Cities, then we also get into the modern times, which, you know, a lot happens in the 20th century. So we have like All Quiet on the Western Front about World War One, Things Fall Apart about this African tribe that gets split up and colonists and stuff, Night about Jewish programs in World War Two. And then we also get into some dystopian literature, we have both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 in here,
Janna 27:50 Now you’re speaking my language because that is my wheelhouse. I love dystopian literature. And I wasn’t exposed to it until college. So and the other one that we have in our World History, we talked about Cry the Beloved Country, I mean, these were things that I didn’t even get exposed to until I was way out of high school, and picking the classes that I wanted to take, you know, in my last two years, so it’s exciting to me to be able to introduce these to my daughter at a younger age, but then still be just as passionate about it, and be able to talk about it with her because I do so much love these types of this type of literature.
Amy 28:30 Me too. And I guess, if you’re an adult listening to this, and you don’t have a high school student, but you want to learn more about history and literature, you will find everything in here fascinating. Because, yeah, I didn’t read most of these in high school. And now I’m reading them as an adult. And I think, I mean, maybe, yeah, maybe education is wasted on the young. I don’t know, but I learned so much more as an adult than I did back when as a teenager. So I’m loving it myself.
Janna 29:00 So what are some of the language arts supplements that are going to be included in these packages?
Amy 29:06 Yes, and that brings up another good point for you BookShark customers, you families, you know that we have labeled all of our levels A, B, C, up to J. For these new high school levels, we are not giving them a specific letter name or number name, we’re just calling them High School World and High School U.S. because we want you to be able to use them in whatever order is best for you. And we want to do that because we know a lot of schools just school districts have more strict standards around when you do what in high school levels. So we want to make sure that you guys have the flexibility you need to do whatever you need to do to record and report properly. So I say all this because our language arts supplements, those do go by grades you know we have a ninth-grade vocabulary and 10th-grade vocabulary, so we allow you to mix and match the LA supplements, with your high school program in whatever order you’re going to go with it. So we also give it we give you the options, the options between two different vocabulary programs, we have Wordly Wise, which most of you know and love. And I also love, we are also introducing vocabulary from Classical Roots. This came about because students benefit from studying more classical root words in preparation for taking some standardized tests, and stuff. So if you are, so if you know the word photo is a root word for light, then you know, photography, and photosynthesis both have something to do with light. And so that is very helpful. So anyways, sorry, I have a soft spot for Classical Roots. That’s what I studied in high school. So I get very excited about it. So those are the two vocabulary options. And then you also have a set of Analogies books which is also important to begin preparing. Analogies, like comparing one thing to another thing, those connections are also really important for standardized tests later in high school. So just getting into that and those are also optionally offered with our program.
Janna 31:26 So you went through and told us a few of the titles from World Literature, what about the U.S.?
Amy 31:31U.S. Literature, okay, and US literature. So we do have the Winter People about Native Americans as the Bostonians are coming in. We have the Tempest, we have the Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and Kidnapped Prince, which is about an African named Acuano, who gets kidnapped unfortunately, and sold into slavery and he gets passed around. And this is a real-life story where he writes his journal about it all later. And that gets published into a book, so it’s a pretty cool story, although sad. We have Huckleberry Finn, My Antonia, Echo by Pam Eunos Ryan, The Woods Day Wars, and Fever 1973. So a lot of also just really good pictures of glimpses into the minds of the characters at different points in American history,
Janna 32:29 I think now would be a great time to point out that there may be some books that you or your children have read in younger years. And as you are deep diving back into these levels of history, it might be brought up again, it’s if we reuse it, we think it’s a great book. But as you were just saying earlier that when you reread these things either as an adult, a young adult, or an older adult, you really have a different perspective, you have different hooks to be hanging the story and the context on so don’t be afraid if you have look at some of these things. And you go oh, we already read that, because the questions that are going to be asked, as you’re maybe rereading through some of this literature are going to be very different from when you read it the first time. So for example, one of the books that I have actually already read twice because I’ve done level F with my older and my youngest is Seven Daughters For Seven Sons. It’s a phenomenal book, and I am finding out, I will back up, I’ve always said I don’t like to reread books, I have a pretty good memory, I don’t care to reminisce about something, and I want to do the new the next thing I want to add more. But as I’m aging, I’m seeing the value in rereading the books because of this very concept. As I’m going back through the story, my mood could be different, my mindset is different, you know, just how I’m connecting with the story is different. And so as you reread that book or your student does, because you still can use it as a read-aloud, you can use our program however you choose. And however it works in your family, your student is going to be reading it possibly through their voice with their connotations and their context. And so it’s different than when you read it out loud to them years ago. Now they’re processing it in their way with their context. And I think there’s so much value in that. So I just want to encourage families not to shy away from things if they’ve already read the books because we’re prompting, asking questions, and putting a program together that’s going to be very unique to their experience before when they read the book before.
Amy 34:45 Yeah, and definitely within the context like you. If it’s been years since you’ve read it you know a lot more about the word in that world now, especially if you first read it when you were nine and now you’re 15 you’re gonna have a completely different perspective on it.
Janna 35:01 So what else can we be expecting in this language arts program, Amy?
Amy 35:05 Similarly to our other language arts programs, in addition to reading the fantastic literature that we give you all year long, we give you a series of creative expressions, which is just what we call our different writing assignments. Every week, you have a different writing assignment with instructions and a rubric for easy grading. So, every week is going to be different. But in general, there are four large types of writing that we focus on. And we cycle through those types throughout the year. So we have to practice writing, informative writing, like just how to do something. We practice writing narratives, we practice doing research reports, and we practice writing argumentative essays. And so obviously, none of those are just single-week assignments. But there’s, there’ll be like a few weeks surrounding each topic. And you go through those four topics, I think it’s three times throughout the year, three, three cycles throughout the year. So and that happens in both World and U.S. Literature. And then yeah, again, I mentioned just like elsewhere, we have those rubrics at the end of the week. Sometimes that part of the rubric will be grayed out. And that means that your student probably hasn’t learned how to do that little bit yet. But you see, like, that’s going to be where you’re going. You grade them on the white ones, and the gray ones you read, and you think maybe they’ll need to work on that one later because my kid’s grammar does not work very well. So that’s there for both parents and students. It’s both the parent and the student guide. The parents are the ones grading, but students need to know what they’re going to be graded on. So that’s where I put the rubrics in both codes.
Janna 36:57 And then what’s the final piece of our program with literature? Right.
Amy 37:03 The other thing is, we do schedule poetry throughout the year. So each of our levels comes with its own poetry book, in which you read at least two or three poems, I believe every week. We’ve also added one additional type of book to our US Literature, which is the Elements of Style. And so I use that back in high school, I know of just different, making sure that you know how to cite things, well, that the paragraph structure is fine. And the sentence structure is fine with the noun-verb adjectives. So we also include that book and the US Literature package.
Janna 37:45 Maybe all of this is slightly overwhelming, but very exciting that these are coming out. You know, some may wonder why we decided to release two in the same year. But I think your explanation of the fact that people do things in different orders and different states in different schools if you are tied to them requires different things. So I think that satisfies that kind of itch to know well, why would you do it this way.
Another nice option that we have provided in our lower levels that will be extended into the high school is our virtual add-on. And so the virtual seat will be customization as you’re ordering your package. And if you’re unfamiliar with that, we do have a YouTube channel about BookShark Virtual that you can get yourself familiarized with the process, and what it actually provides you but in a nutshell, it does provide a space online where your student is going to be doing their assessments instead of paper to pencil. They’ll be doing it online or uploading their work so that it’s a great keeper of the record. It does have automatic scoring, if it’s an objective question, if it’s subjective, then you or a teacher, depending on how you use our program would have to go in and score it. But it’s a great add-on for independence, all of the schedules are there. I’m a user of the virtual option with my daughter, she’s 13. And I get a ding on my cell phone every time she turns in an assignment. So as I’m busy working, I know that she is busy doing her school and don’t have to feel like at the end of the night, I have to go track everything down and see where she’s at. So definitely a bonus for parents who feel like they want their child to be a more independent student, but also they are just as busy. And it’s just a way for them to be able to keep records and have things stored in one centralized place. It does make homeschooling super simple. Not easy. We both know it’s not easy, but it simplifies the record-keeping and the scoring. So that will be available on these four levels of high school that we’re releasing.
Amy, thank you so much for taking the time to walk us through what these levels are and the thought processes behind how they got put together. We are so excited to see your passion that the person who’s actually working with the curriculum is just as excited about it as the parents who receive it. And we hope that all of that excitement is going to translate to the students who start doing it. So, thank you so much for your dedication to furthering the education of homeschooled students around the world.
Amy 40:17 Thanks for having me, Janna, and yeah, if you guys liked this program, please email us because I want to share the excitement with you.
Janna 40:25 We love positive feedback. Thank you, guys, so much for taking the time to listen. Until next time, Bye-Bye.
Do you remember what it was like when your sweet little babies began to utter their first sounds? Did you run to get a textbook so you could teach them how to speak? Of course not! You certainly didn’t freak out thinking there was no way you would be able to teach them how to talk.
Instead you began to say simple words to them like mama and dada. And each time they attempted to make the same sound, you excitedly cheered them on.
But for some reason, the thought of teaching language arts seems to strike fear into the hearts of many homeschool parents. There’s no need for fear.
Remember, you’ve been teaching your kids language skills since the day they were born, even if you didn’t realize it.
How Children Acquire Language
Children learn language naturally. Just like your kids learned to talk without a Teach Your Baby to Talk board-book-textbook, they can learn how to write in a natural and fun way—a way that will help you both get excited about learning.
For homeschooling language arts, you can opt for a textbook approach like a public school does. Or you can choose the natural approach for listening, reading, writing, and speaking. A natural approach to language arts (like the one BookShark uses) immerses kids in all facets of communication in an age-appropriate way.
One tool in this natural teaching toolbox is incredibly simple yet extremely effective. It’s kind of like the Swiss army knife of language teaching methods since it teaches and reinforces multiple skills.
This tool is copywork.
What Is Copywork?
Copywork is simply writing down a sentence or passage from an example. While children copy from this example, they can concentrate on punctuation, correct spelling, and penmanship because they aren’t busy composing the sentences themselves.
When we consider all that young learners are putting together at the same time, it’s easy to understand why writing might be overwhelming.
Copywork reduces the overload.
Copywork is closely related to how your kids learned to speak. You, an expert in talking with many years of experience, spoke to them, and they imitated the sounds. And with each new word they acquired, you kept talking to them. Before you knew it, they were stringing whole sentences together—eventually grammatically correct sentences without ever being formally taught the rules of grammar.
With copywork, kids get to imitate both expert and experienced writers by writing the author’s words on paper.
Copywork—An Effective Way to Teach Language Arts Skills
In the natural approach, language skills aren’t seen as separate subjects to be taught, but as a whole. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever focus on a particular area. But your curriculum will be real books.
When kids consistently use copywork as a part of their language arts studies, they encounter words in context and see how rules are applied. You will be amazed at how they naturally absorb rules of capitalization, punctuation, spelling, phonics, and other grammar skills.
Go back to the idea of how they learned to talk. They didn’t need grammar lessons. But as they heard you speak correctly over and over, they mastered the rules of grammar and sentence structure simply by absorbing them. Sure, they made mistakes along the way, but you knew it was just a part of the process. You even thought their mistakes were cute.
Why Copywork Works
Copywork respects the way kids learn language skills and takes advantage of it. Kids learn to write from actual writers, not textbook producers, by immersing them in real writing.
Copywork reinforces skills they have already learned. Your students copy out of the books they are reading. They’ll encounter the passage within context. They will both hear it and write it.
Skills are reinforced in a natural, not contrived, way. Our kids can do countless exercises in grammar books and memorize a multitude of spelling words, but when they do those things out of the context of real writing, those skills often don’t translate to their personal writing. With copywork, students encounter words in context and see the rules of grammar in action. They know not just the what but the how.
How to Use Copywork
Start small. Think of it as building language muscles. Just as you wouldn’t have a child start lifting one-hundred-pound. weights to get in shape, you don’t want to overwhelm them with long, complex copywork passages. For example, BookShark copywork passages have been chosen with children’s abilities in mind. But every kid is different! You are the teacher, so adjust the amount of copywork if needed to fit your child. If the passage seems too cumbersome, either shorten it or stretch it across more days.
Though studying many subjects works great sitting on the couch, be sure they are comfortably working at a table or desk to do copywork. Sitting up straight with feet on the floor will help young learners both focus and form good writing habits.
We are more likely to embrace something when we understand the rationale behind it. So show your kids why copywork is beneficial. Talk about the fact that they will be learning to write from great authors. Explain that copywork will help them go beyond learning rules to actually applying them.
Don’t Fall into One of These Copywork Pits
A pitfall is a hidden or unsuspected danger or difficulty. These are a couple of common pitfalls when it comes to using copywork in your homeschool language arts.
1. Lack of Consistency
Guess what? No matter how great any learning method is, sometimes kids will balk at being required to do anything. They would often rather be building LEGO bricks or coloring.
When kids think there’s a choice, they’ll usually go with whatever requires the least amount of effort (a lot like us adults!). Copywork requires focus, and it can be uncomfortable in the beginning for many children. That’s okay.
For those who are especially reluctant, you might need to shorten copywork passages, or perhaps let them choose what they will copy that day. You can even set a timer for around five minutes so they know there’s an end in sight. But do require something each day so that it becomes a habit.
2. Not Valuing Copywork Enough
It seems too simple to be really effective, doesn’t it? Since most of us were brought up with a learn with constant drill-and-practice mentality, it’s easy to think copywork won’t really be that beneficial. If you don’t believe how effective it is and embrace it, neither will your kids. It’s amazing how much our kids pick up on our attitudes.
BookShark Language Arts
When your children study language arts the natural way as BookShark teaches it, they will really learn it. Not simply to pass a test, but in a way that truly makes them better communicators.
Copywork is just one of the many ways your kids will encounter language naturally. With BookShark, all of the components of a well-rounded, natural approach to teaching Language Arts will help your students to grow in their abilities in a way that is developmentally appropriate.
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.
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.
