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 reamof 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.
I often wish we were wealthy enough to travel the world. I’d love to expose my children to all the wonders of the world and have them learn firsthand about what makes each culture unique. Unfortunately, we do not have the means to travel extensively, and so we have taken to travelling the globe from our home using these twelve winning methods.
1. Cooking Traditional Foods
With the internet, it is so easy to find authentic recipes from all around the world. A few times we’ve had to make small substitutions to recipes when ingredients aren’t found locally, but cooking up cuisine from each country we have studied has helped us feel like we’re there. Cooking and eating are also a great way to get Dad involved in our homeschool lessons in the evenings.
Don’t be afraid to move a small table outside and pretend you’re at a Parisian cafe or eat in the living room gathered around the coffee table when studying Japan.
Watching travel videos, historical movies, and documentaries is a wonderful way to learn more about a region or culture. Movies allow us to see the landscape, the people, and their culture in a way that reading can’t always provide. When I combine the visual of film with the background of a book, we get the best of both worlds, and my children have a robust understanding of the world without ever packing a suitcase.
4. Crafting
Art is as much a part of any culture as food! A great way to learn about native arts and crafts is to recreate them. We have found so many wonderful tutorials online:
making African Kente cloth
trying Aboriginal dot painting
sketching Japanese manga
The act of making reproductions or designing something in the style of art you are studying cements the learning and provides a fresh facet to your geography studies.
5. Map Making
Yes, you can trace outlines on paper. But we’ve also made topographical maps and landforms out of cookie dough, cake, salt dough, and even brownie batter. We’ve drawn maps with rivers, capital cities, and other features we’re interested in. Three-dimensional maps are a great way to focus on each region. You can bet your kids will remember geographic features after they molded them in frosting or dough!
6. Listening to Music
Music is an important part of each culture, too, and listening to music from around the world is so easy with the help of the internet and YouTube videos. You can always take it one step further and make your own instruments or learn how to play an instrument.
7. Learning a Foreign Language
While we have never committed ourselves to fully learning a new language, we do enjoy listening to snippets of foreign languages or reading books that teach us words in the language of a foreign country. When studying Japan and China, we tried our hand at drawing some characters. Copying names, letters, and sentences written in a foreign language is a great way to get a feel for what street signs and environmental print would be like.
8. Designing a Travel Brochure
Assign your children the task of creating a travel brochure for your area of study. They can look up facts, add beautiful pictures, describe tourist attractions, and highlight all the special features of each country. The brochure can be on a sheet of paper, a posterboard, or even a digital presentation.
9. Taking Virtual Field Trips
Many museums, galleries, and historical sites have online webcams and virtual field trips that can give you a panoramic view of locations you can only dream of visiting in real life. Do some internet searches of specific locales or subscribe to an online virtual field trip service such as Field Trip Zoom.
10. Postal Exchanges
We have participated in a few cultural and postcard exchanges and had gobs of fun learning about other regions. We sent a letter and box of goodies to a family and received one in return filled with wonderful trinkets, snacks, and drinks from another country. If you Google cultural exchange box, postcard exchange, and flat travelers, you will find groups that link families from across the globe in these kinds of educational, snail-mail activities.
11. Attending Festivals
Many cities have cultural festivals, and they are a great way to feel like you are visiting a foreign country. You can usually get a firsthand look at the food, music, art, and dance from a culture. Encourage your children to ask questions! Most festival hosts and vendors are thrilled to educate inquisitive youngsters.
12. Hosting a Geography Fair
Our local homeschool groups hosts a geography fair where each child reports on a country, complete with food and crafts for the kids to try out. The kids get passports and stamp their way around the room, reading the display boards, looking at the displays, and trying new foods and crafts. If your homeschool group doesn’t offer a fair, it is simple enough to invite a few friends over for a culture night. Pick a country or continent, try new foods, have your kids report on what they’ve learned, and make some homeschool memories.
About Our Author
Joanne Rawson is the author of the blog Our Unschooling Journey. Known around the web as Mother of 3, Joanne began her blog when she first started homeschooling her three boys in 2012. She lives in Connecticut with her family and enjoys reading, crafting, and travelling… all of which usually ends up on her blog.
No matter how much we parents would like to deny the existence of bullying in the school system, we can’t. Public schools can be fraught with social issues which children are easily caught up in. If you are concerned for the safety of your child, then homeschooling is a good option to keep them safe. But even more than that, homeschooling is also a way to encourage them to be the best people that they can be. It’s a way to turn differences into superpowers!
The Ugly Truth about Bullying at School
Dosomething.org gives some frightening statistics about bullying in the US education system. Here are some of the most shocking:
One in five children between the ages of 12 and 18 has been bullied.
A large number of bullied children skip school because they are afraid.
Bullied kids often score lower in reading, math, and science.
Almost half of the kids interviewed were bullied because of perceived differences in them, such as appearance, race, sexual orientation, or disability.
The last point really hit home for me. As the mother of special needs twins, I saw this first hand. During the one year that my children were enrolled in public school, they were bullied. They were only in first grade, so we didn’t want to stick around to see how much worse it could have gotten as they grew up. The bullying was one reason among many why we chose to homeschool our boys.
The Benefits of Encouraging Individuality
Bullying is incredibly destructive and can have long-lasting effects on children. And this is especially true if children are different in a way seen as negative or shameful. These differences can dominate their lives, eventually becoming massive obstacles to overcome, hindering children in reaching their full potential.
But if kids are encouraged and their differences are celebrated, these traits can become advantages and strengths. Encouraging individuality can:
help kids feel proud of themselves and what makes them different
free children to be themselves
encourage them to show the world a unique perspective
nurture humans who are inclusive by nature
Preparing Our Children for the Future
The working world has changed and will continue to change in the future. The jobs we are doing now might not exist in a decade’s time. This rapid transformation means that the education system also needs to change. Public schools are unfortunately not able to keep up, but homeschooling is a viable option.
By homeschooling, you are able to allow your children to develop their individual strengths without the fear that they might be bullied for them. In addition, with a strong sense of worth and belief in themselves, children will stand out from the crowd. We need these kinds of people in the future—people who can see things in a different way, who are confident and who believe that they can make a difference, because they are different.
We all admire the individuality and boldness of Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk. So why not encourage our children to think outside the box like those admirable heroes?
Homeschooling is best for protecting children. They are kept safe and secure. But more than that, homeschooling is a place where children can be proud of what makes them different. And I believe the world sorely needs more of these kinds of people.
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.
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.
Homeschooling has come a long way in the last fifteen years. It used to be that most homeschoolers were educating at home because of religious reasons and mostly kept their children hidden at home—afraid that too much exposure to the world around them would hurt them in some way. These days, people are homeschooling for an array of reasons. Even some who are religious are choosing to homeschool for non-religious reasons.
You might be new to homeschooling and you think that everyone in the homeschool world is highly reserved, secluded, or unaccessible because of their religious beliefs.You might be looking for other folks who have chosen to homeschool not because of their beliefs, but because of other benefits of the homeschool lifestyle. If so, you can probably relate to my story.
I became a mom very young—19 to be exact. I never knew I wanted to be a mother, but when the doctor placed my son in my arms, my heart exploded, and I knew I would never leave home to work again if I could at all help it. Luckily, my new husband felt the same and I’ve been home with him ever since, along with three more little hooligans who have joined the ranks.
Being such a young, inexperienced mother, I was fearful of making mistakes, so choosing whether or not to send our oldest to school was a huge decision. In my heart I didn’t want to miss those formative days with my son. It wasn’t a control issue or fear; I just wanted to be with him and enjoy life with him. After a trial-run year at a private school for kindergarten, we decided to try homeschooling. We’re now in our eighth year of homeschooling, and it has been a beautiful thing for our family.
We wanted to be with our kids. We wanted to explore with them, do our days together, learn together, and have all day to achieve the education we dreamed about for them. Those were our reasons, and here are more non-religious reasons you might choose to homeschool:
The Love of Learning
The beauty of homeschooling is that you can cater to each and every one of your child’s interests and hobbies. You can choose rich literature and great teaching tactics to give your child an amazing love of learning to last their whole lives. This is another reason we chose to homeschool. After my son came home from Kindergarten with worksheet after worksheet, I knew I could give him something more—something that would light a fire in him to explore more, ask questions, and ignite his brain to think deeper.
Flexible Schedules
Some people choose to homeschool simply because they don’t want to answer to a big school calendar telling them where to be when. Having your school days open to explore is an awesome part of homeschooling, and some choose to homeschool because of this huge perk alone!
School Troubles
Bullies, teachers who don’t understand your child, and problems with friends or faculty are all reasons parents choose to pull their children out of school and give them a home education. Sometimes all it takes is a negative situation at school to open a parent’s eyes to what homeschooling offers in contrast.
Indivdualized Learning
The hard part about a traditional school is that it doesn’t have the adaptability to choose curriculum based on each child’s learning style. They have a budget to choose one curriculum that might have to last several years even if it’s not recepted well. This is where individualized learning comes in, and this is another reason why many people choose to educate at home. We have this amazing ability to change curriculum, try new things, switch halfway through the year, or scrap curriculum altogether!
There are tons of other reasons parents choose to homeschool; this just scratches the surface. I personally am a Christian, but that’s not why I chose to homeschool my children. My husband and I don’t want to control them or shield them from the world. On the contrary! There are so many beautiful things to experience out there, and homeschooling allows us the freedome to truly explore them. We all homeschool for different reasons, but the wonderful world of homeschooling is our common thread that makes us all non-traditional innovators.
Alicia Hutchinson is the homeschooling mom to four. She and her children love reading and history and exploring outside. They are just settling into their new home in the Minneapolis area, where they just relocated from North Carolina.
You can read more about Alicia and their homeschooling adventures, current projects, and thoughts on motherhood at her blog Investing Love.
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.
I have been homeschooling for so long that most of my friends and family are homeschoolers or at least homeschool-friendly. Honestly, I haven’t heard the question about socialization in so long that I forgot it was an issue. Today, I saw a Facebook acquaintance post a question to her friends, asking what kind of school they would choose for their kids. Every single one who said they would consider homeschooling mentioned joining a co-op for socialization as some sort of disclaimer.
When I began homeschooling my sons at the ages of three and five, we joined a homeschool co-op for this exact reason. In a world of homeschool haters, joining a co-op gives you a way to say, “Look! My kids socialize! My kids sit in a classroom at least once a week!”
We joined a secular co-op that met once a week for laid-back, academic classes. Co-ops are great for making new friends, learning in a group environment, and taking advantage of group rates on field trips. We loved being part of our co-op while it worked.
But then, two years ago, it no longer worked for us. Rather than try to find a better fit, we decided to leave the world of homeschool co-ops behind for a while. Here are my reasons.
1. Homeschool Co-Op Took Too Much Time
While classes only meet once a week for a few hours, co-ops rely on the support of all the members. Teaching classes is rewarding and a lot of fun, but very time-consuming! Our family had so many other opportunities and obligations that I found it difficult to juggle planning classes, buying supplies, and helping with administrative duties. Co-op took over my life, and my sons’ education suffered for it.
2. Homeschool Co-Op Was Expensive
Though most co-ops are run completely by parent volunteers, they can still get pricey. There are typically supply fees, field trip costs, and building fees. As my kids got older, the cost increased and we realized there were other classes and opportunities they would like to try that the co-op money could be used for.
3. Homeschool Co-Op Had Drama
Any time you get a large group of people together, you will get personality conflicts. My sons had a great time with their friends, but I had a hard time dealing with some of the other parents. It’s okay to have disagreements and prefer some members over others, but when you get to a point where you dread each weekly meeting, it might be time to say goodbye.
What have I gained by leaving co-op behind? Time! We are no longer rushing around every single day. We have at least two days every school week that are devoted to being at home, reading, learning, and enjoying being together. We also have time for play dates with our friends, days at the museum, and volunteering.
In addition to time in our homeschool, I’ve gained personal time, too. I no longer need to spend 100% of my time being a homeschooler. I get some downtime to be myself: to invest in my own interests, read books for fun, and focus on my needs.
I am grateful for the friends we made through co-op and the support we received as new homeschoolers. As my boys get older, we may choose to join a more academic co-op where they can learn different subjects. But right now we need the freedom to learn away from the group. Don’t worry, though, they still get plenty of socialization even without a homeschool co-op.
About Our Author
Stephanie Black is a writer and homeschool mama of two boys in Indianapolis, IN. Along with her husband and feisty rescue dog, they enjoy hiking, road tripping, and loudly singing 90s rock music.
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
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!
Teaching reading was my greatest fear as I contemplated homeschooling. Could I do it? What if I messed it up? What if I turned my kids off of reading forever?
Of course, teaching a child to read is not nearly as difficult as you may expect. And all of my children are proficient readers! What I’ve found over my years of interacting with my readers is that there is really only one element that is key to helping someone find success in reading—quality time with a mentor.
I grew up in the DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) era. We dropped everything and read all the way through my middle school days. This practice seemed effective for me, but I was already an avid reader. DEAR time merely fed that existing passion.
Now that I’m helping cultivate young readers of my own, I question the principle of DEAR. It’s not that I don’t love to read or that I don’t encourage my kids to read. Far from it! But unsupportedindependent reading is not something I find valuable.
Resisting the Temptation to DEAR
Let’s be honest. DEAR time is a wonderful thing for a mom who needs to prep dinner, to start the laundry, or to get the next kid moving along in their math. It can be a quick go-to activity that can make you as a teacher feel like you’re doing something great for your budding readers. Doesn’t mastery come from lots of practice?
The reality is that I can practice playing baseball for hours and hours, but if I don’t really know how to play, I’ll never improve. The same goes for reading. If I only leave my new reader or my veteran reader to practice good reading habits on their own, they will never be able to get beyond their own limitations. They need a mentor to support them in their independent reading.
The good news is that doesn’t mean you have to give up that valuable quiet reading time. With a few simple support techniques, you can take your independent reader to the next level.
Supporting Your Readers
Young readers need support from a mentor that can help them find success in their lifelong pursuit. Selecting appropriate books and understanding the author’s intent are not intuitive tasks. They need to be modeled, assessed, and cultivated. Here are some excellent ways to support your readers:
Curate a Home Library
It stands to reason that a home library will offer greater opportunities for reading. Leslie Morrow conducted a study indicating that children read 50 to 60 percent more in classrooms with libraries than without. You don’t have to own all of the books in your home library. Visit your local library frequently and always have a selection of quality books available for your budding reader.
Ensure that you have a variety of types books to choose from. You want your students to be reading realistic fiction, informational books, fantasy, instructional books, biographies, poetry, graphic novels, online articles, and journals. If you have a variety of books in your home library to offer your readers, you’ll have more opportunities to mentor your readers.
Model Book Selection
Reading success does not come from just having countless volumes to choose from. This can be overwhelming to a new reader. Show them how to select a book that is just right for their reading level. Encourage them to read in a variety of different genres. This will help those readers who always choose comic books learn to appreciate and enjoy different types of books.
How do you know if a book is worth reading?
Can they read it? Have them read aloud for a couple of minutes to see if the vocabulary is too challenging. If they seem to understand what they’re reading, you’re good to go.
Is it a topic that interests them? If it is, their interest might push them through a book that contains more complex language usage.
Does it offer something to think or talk about? We read to discuss ideas with one another. If a book doesn’t offer much to discuss, model how to be selective in what you choose to read.
Does it help in practicing what they’re learning? If you’re working on a specific reading technique, there are some books that are better than others to draw out that understanding.
Discuss Their Reading
When you ask them to read, a simple way to follow up on their reading is discussing what they read. You can model what this looks like when you read books aloud together. This doesn’t have to be another line item in the planner. It can be incorporated into your life in simple ways:
Ask them about their reading while you’re in the car.
Share about what they’re reading at the dinner table.
Use narration to have them relate what they just read.
It’s so easy to let instruction slip away in favor of independence. While it is important to allow time for your students to practice their reading, they still need you to check in on them.
About the Author
Betsy Strauss is a wife to a deep thinker and a homeschooling mom of three kids. When she stumbled into homeschooling, she thought it would just look like public school at home. Thankfully, she quickly learned that using a one-room schoolhouse model of teaching was a great way to unify the family, and enrich family life without going crazy! She shares her encouragement on Family Style Schooling Blog.
Although homeschoolers usually have a healthy home library, they are typically very faithful library patrons as well. They visit regularly, participate in programs, and check out stacks of books at a time. Even if they use a literature-based program, homeschoolers can’t seem to get enough books to supplement their science and history lessons or for recreational reading.
Tips for Keeping Track of Checked Out Library Books
Libraries can be huge money savers for homeschoolers but only if you don’t lose track of your borrowed books. Fines, no matter how small, can add up quickly when you’re checking out 20+ books at a time (as many homeschoolers do).
While they’re young, teach your children that being a good library patron is about respect. It’s important to take care of the books as if they belong to a friend. That includes knowing where borrowed books are at all times and returning them when they are due.
Designate a Central Location
Find a place in your home that can be used only for library books. Make sure all family members know where it is and what it’s for. Elicit everyone’s help keeping it available for this purpose and not letting it get cluttered with other items or books.
When you come home from a library visit, have your children place the books into this spot right away. Teach your children that after books are read, they are to be put back into the library spot.
Sign up for Email Alerts
Most libraries have the ability to send you a courtesy notice via email (or maybe text or robocall) a couple of days before books are due back. Ask your librarian if they offer this and if they do, give them your email address and make sure they attach it to all library cards your family uses.
Use One Library Card
If your library allows you unlimited checkouts per library card, use the same library card each time you borrow books. This way, when you go online to renew books or see when certain books are due back, you have to check only one card.
Does your library place a limit on the number of books you can take out per card? Then try to limit the number of cards you use. When you’re checking out large numbers of books at a time, it can be challenging enough to remember what titles you have at home. You don’t need the added pressure of remembering what card they’re on.
Check your List Before Heading Out
Before you head back to the library, make sure you have all of the books that need to go back. Pull up your account online or use the paper receipt and call out the titles as your children pull the books off the shelves and put them into your library bag. If there are titles that aren’t ready to go back, set them aside so you can renew them online after you pack up the rest of the books.
Keeping track of your library books isn’t hard if you have a system in place that everyone knows and follows.
