As homeschooling parents, our time is at a premium. Many of us are homeschooling several kids. In addition, we need to cook meals, grocery shop, clean the house, take kids to activities, and perhaps also work a part-time job.
Life is busy.
To carve out more time in their schedule, parents frequently ask these two questions about reading the books in BookShark homeschool curriculum.
1. When Can I Stop Reading Aloud to My Child?
BookShark recommends that you read aloud to your child through the middle school level. There are many reasons to read aloud to your child, but the primary reason is that children can comprehend a story at a higher level when it’s read aloud to them versus when they read it on their own.
The more challenging books in the BookShark levels are assigned as Read-Alouds. As Jim Trelease, author of the Read Aloud Handbook, states,
“A child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to his listening level until eighth grade. You can and should be reading seventh grade books to fifth grade kids. . .A fifth grader can enjoy a more complicated plot than she can read herself, and reading aloud is really going to hook her, because when you get to chapter books, you’re getting into the real meat of print—there is really complicated, serious stuff going on that kids are ready to hear and understand, even if they can’t read at that level yet.”
In addition, some of the Read-Alouds in a BookShark Reading with History package tackle difficult topics. If you’re reading them aloud together, you can discuss the issues as they’re happening in the story. You can talk about the choices characters make and the situations they face.
2. Do I Have to Read the Books My Child Reads Independently?
In short, no, you don’t. The BookShark Instructor’s Guide contains the questions you should ask your child about the Readers as well as the answers, so you’re covered. However, I still recommend reading the readers on your own, especially once your child reaches Level 3 and above. There are some real treasures in the books that are chosen as readers. I’m guessing that most parents did not read many of the books in their own childhood.
Second, if you have a child who gets excited by reading and learning about history, you can share his enthusiasm when you read the Reader, too. You can discuss the story and facts that you learned. Finally, as your child progresses up the higher levels, you will get to read excellent literature that is just as appropriate for older middle school aged children as it is for adults.
BookShark will give your children a quality education, and if you continue to read aloud and read your children’s readers, you will more fully share in that education with your child.
If you have more questions about how BookShark works, reach out to customer service for help! Email [email protected] or call 1-866-668-0179.
About the Author
Melissa is a homeschool mom to three kids. BookShark is her primary curriculum, and she and her kids love it! When she’s not homeschooling, she’s either shuttling kids from one activity to another or working from home as a freelance writer. You can read more about Melissa’s homeschool journey at her blog Moms Plans.
As a former teacher turned unschooling mom, one of the many things I love about BookShark is the variety of resources which spark interest in topics that might otherwise seem a bit dense for young children.
For example, I recently had the idea to introduce my six-year-old to the wonderful world of ancient Greek and Roman history. I was struggling to come up with a way to make it fun for her and something she’d want to explore for more than just one day. I wasn’t positive I could pull this off, but I wanted her to explore this important and downright cool period in ancient history. So I decided to go for it. My starting point was to look at my BookShark resources and then embellish them with our unique unschooling flair.
The first thing I did was pull out the catapult kit from the Hands-On History kit by BookShark. While the catapult is grouped with the Medieval period in the curriculum, I decided to put it with the Greeks, who invented it. Again this is the beauty of homeschooling and having a number of amazing resources on hand: we can make each learning day whatever we want.
I also knew I wanted to use the novel, Detectives in Togas from BookShark Level B, but I still wanted several fun projects to bring all of it to life for my daughter, who tends to learn more toward creative projects.
What did the ancient Greeks and Roman eat? Lay out a lunch of olives, grapes, cheese, apples or pomegranates, smoked salmon, lentil soup, and fresh baked bread.
What did the ancient Greeks and/or Roman wear? Style a toga and an olive branch headband or a shield and Roman soldier helmet.
What did the Greeks believe in their mythology? We studied the story of Orion and used the telescope to find the constellation in the night sky. Then using a large cardboard box, we fashioned a night sky using holiday lights that we poked through holes. My daughter crawled inside to look up at her own starry night.
How did Greeks fight battles? Build the wooden model from the Hands-On History kit, then measure and compare the distance that various items flew when launched from the working catapult.
How did children write in school? Make a wax tablet using a baking sheet, wax paper, melted wax, and a small dowel or small stick.
How did Romans notate numbers? Finger paint Roman Numerals
Who were important characters from Greek and Roman mythology? Let your child research Greek or Roman gods and goddesses. Then create a costume to represent the mythological deity they choose to dress up as.
Access to Great Literature Spurs Interest
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield from Level B
Time Traveler covering the Roman World from Level B
I love having the books and resources available at all times for my daughter to explore, even when we’re not using them formally for homeschool lessons. When I first started homeschooling, I closed up our school books in the cabinet when we were finished and pulled them out only for school time. This habit really diminished her interest. By keeping the resources available to her, my daughter voluntarily pulled materials out in the evenings to show her dad, or she looked through books while I made dinner.
Letting her have the freedom to explore on her own really increased her interest.
What made this ancient Greece and Rome study work so well for us was taking it slow, having fun, and following her lead. I alternated between reading time and hands-on activities to keep the energy flowing and, most importantly, I offered these activities simply as possibilities and encouraged my daughter to pick the ones that sounded the most interesting to her.
This learning adventure has been amazing fun for my daughter, who loved catapulting various items across the room. She also enjoyed using the telescope to find Orion in the sky, reading about Caius, and dressing up as Gaia for a day. It is such a treat to me to have a secular homeschool curriculum that provides resources for teaching ancient Greek and Roman history to young children.
About the Author
Resa Brandenburg is a former teacher who is now passionate about unschooling her daughter. She lives with her husband in an old farmhouse by the river in Kentucky. Her favorite thing to do is spend the afternoon with her family, including her grown sons and two grandchildren. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, and quilting.
Ask any veteran homeschool mom whose kids have already graduated from high school, and she will reassure you:
She had the same fears you have now.
She realizes now how pointless most of those fears were.
What a difference 10-15 years of hindsight makes! But you don’t have to wait that long. Let’s look right now at ten of the biggest and most common homeschool fears so you can face—and more importantly, conquer—them.
1. What if I fail to prepare my child for the real world?
Whether a family homeschools or not, parents may still fail to prepare their children for adult life. (The good news is that young adults can learn those adulting skills when they are required!)
Choosing to homeschool doesn’t make parenting any easier. However, having unhurried time at home to model good habits, to correct thinking, and to guide each child individually gives a homeschool family an enormous advantage in this arena.
The valuable, real-life experiences homeschoolers have can prepare them well for adult life if we maximize every opportunity:
community volunteer service projects
public speaking
competitive music
collaborating in co-op projects
ballroom dancing
2. What if I don’t have what it takes to inspire my children every day?
It’s unrealistic to think you’ll keep the same enthusiasm for homeschooling every day. What you can do is plan for those days when you can’t muster the inner drive to motivate your kids. Use plan B days and couch days when the learning is more low-key or stealthy.
Here’s more good news. It’s not solely your responsibility to inspire your kids. When you build upon your child’s natural curiosity with great living books and by following rabbit trails of interest, your child’s own motivation to learn will blossom. Then the two of you can work together to keep the enthusiasm high.
Like us, kids want choices; they want autonomy to move through the day, choosing the times when they prefer to learn, exercise, and relax. When our tweens and teens learn to be independent managers of their time and their education, they continue to learn even when we aren’t feeling so perky.
3. What if I get angry?
Homeschooling is a humbling process. Patience is a skill learned while on the job. You probably are going to blow your top as a homeschool parent. Make allowances for bad days and recognize that some days you will lose it—momentarily. You’re building rigorous academic habits and life skills for the long run; mistakes are part of the process.
4. What if I get ill?
Homeschool parents face the same sicknesses and accidents other families do:
bedrest for pregnancy
caring for a relative who is in the hospital or recuperating at home
When these situations happen, assess how best to homeschool based on the circumstances as they are (not what we wish they were). Focus on what you can accomplish with the limitations of an illness instead of what you can’t.
You may need to cut back academics to only the basics of math and language arts. School may take place in waiting rooms or at the hospital. If you are using a boxed curriculum, you will be able to rely on the laid-out lesson plans that require no intensive planning on your part. And at other stressful times, you need to simply take a break from school altogether until life becomes more normal.
Teaching your children about the fragility of life and the priority of family are important lessons, too.
5. What if my child doesn’t measure up?
Becoming a seasoned homeschool teacher means you know that learning is an ebb and flow. Your child will leap ahead at times and lag behind at others. The great thing about homeschooling is that we don’t have to evaluate our kids according to arbitrary scales determined by school boards. As long as our children are moving forward, it doesn’t matter that they don’t know the value of coins when other school kids learn it or don’t yet know how to write in cursive even though other kids their age do.
Trust that the learning is happening—different facts and skills—possibly on a different timetable, but happening nevertheless.
6. I’m too unorganized to do this well.
While organizing is an essential component of homeschooling, that doesn’t mean a homeschool mom has to mimic a public school setting with a fancy schoolroom and elaborate record keeping. As long as you can research curriculum, make a choice, consistently teach your children, and submit any paperwork your state requires, you can do this!
Then accept the fact that you will not cover everything. And neither do public schools. How did we ever come to adopt an impossible standard of covering everything? (And who defines everything, anyway?)
Instead of being scared that you won’t teach them everything, overcome fear by giving your children the tools and skills to learn anything. Research skills, reading for meaning, and technical ability set your children up for success in this modern age.
8. Will my kids be socialized?
Creating opportunities for socialization is a responsibility of a homeschool parent. Resolve to meet the needs of your children in this area, whatever it takes. It may mean joining or starting a co-op. It will certainly mean driving across town or hosting playdates.
But don’t go to the extreme of over scheduling your children out of fear of being weird, unsocialized homeschoolers. Talk to your kids about their needs for socialization. Introverts will want less time than extroverts. Watch their behavior, and work on any social skills that you see are deficient. But rest assured that there are plenty of awkward kids in every educational sphere. Homeschooling doesn’t necessitate that your kids will become reclusive freaks.
9. I’m afraid my worst school subjects will become my kids’ worst subjects.
Yes, your worst subjects could be your kids’ weaknesses, but the inverse is equally as likely. Your strengths could become your kids’ strong suits.
It is possible not to negatively influence your child about subjects you don’t like. For example, your children can become math lovers as long as you don’t pass your math anxiety to them.
Using a boxed curriculum, hiring a tutor, using a DVD supplement, joining a homeschool co-op, or trading out teaching time with another homeschool mom are just a few options to compensate for your own personal academic soft spots.
10. I’m not cut out to be with my kids all day long.
Sometimes, being with the kids all day is no picnic. Homeschooling is a selfless act not for the faint of heart. But that does not mean we have to offer up our sanity and health on the altar of homeschooling. It’s okay to take breaks. In fact, you need to have time away from your kids—guilt free.
How do you refresh? Do you like to head out alone and browse the yarn shop or meet a friend for dinner out? Or do you prefer for dad to take the kids out so you can stay home alone in peace and quiet? Whatever it is, make it a priority.
Being successful in homeschooling means coming face to face with your biggest fears. Second-guessing is normal, but don’t allow fear to dominate your thinking. When feeling weak, I remember what Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
I’ve known my son is an introvert for a long time. Of all my children, he is the only one who intentionally goes into his room and plays for hours by himself. He gets easily overwhelmed by multiple people talking at the same time. He also gets extremely frustrated and exhausted when he’s interrupted.
He’s your classic introvert: quiet, reserved, and soft-spoken. He’s quite the opposite of his outspoken older siblings.
I didn’t set out to homeschool specifically because of personality. However, I’m convinced that homeschooling offers so many benefits to introverted children that traditional schools can’t provide.
1. Extra Processing Time
Introverts need time to process information and experiences far more time than extroverts. They gather information constantly and can ponder it for days.
It’s not uncommon for teachers to move on from a subject, thinking it’s done. Then to their surprise, an introverted child will share some deep thought or conclusion about it days later. They’re just now ready to talk and engage more with that subject.
And all that time in between?
They were thinking, processing, and making connections. All this happened in the quietness of their own minds.
Extroverts may easily jump from subject to subject. Introverts need more time to dwell on a particular subject. They also crave the flexibility to return to topics they’ve pondered for a few days. Homeschooling allows introverted children to take as much time as they need.
2. Reduced Risk
Not every extrovert is a risk-taker. Yet, research shows that the majority are far more apt to take risks than their introverted counterparts.
Think about how much risk it takes to ask a question in a classroom full of peers. Just the thought keeps many introverted children’s hands right by their sides.
The ones that risk and fail? They are even less likely to risk in the future.
Asking and answering questions is rewarded in a traditional classroom. Even if a student does well in other areas, he might be penalized for lack of class participation.
In addition, introverts think deeply about problems. They might not be ready to answer questions as rapidly as teachers ask them. Homeschooling provides a safe place to both ask and answer questions. They don’t have to fear failure or ridicule. It gives them time to think before answering.
Therefore, introverted children can grow in confidence in this secure place. They’ll need it to engage and succeed in a culture that favors extroverted character traits.
3. More Alone Time
While it’s a myth that all introverts steer clear of people, most do need time alone to recharge. That quiet time is not just a nice thought or bonus.
They need it.
Introverted children who attend school all day can become overloaded by the excess stimulation. Because of this, they come home withdrawn at best, and a hot mess of pent-up emotion at worst. Homeschooling provides time for introverts to be alone and get the quiet time they desperately need. As a result, they can give their best emotional energy to the people closest to them their family.
4. Fewer Interruptions
As an introvert myself, having four children made me realize that interruptions drive me crazy. Not only that, they literally sap the energy out of me. When I’m reading aloud during our homeschool day, the more I am interrupted, the less energy I have to finish a chapter. When I’m interrupted in the middle of a task, I can completely forget what I was doing.
I’m starting to see more of this in my son. He struggles with speech, so when his siblings interrupt him repeatedly, he forgets what he was going to say. This adds to his frustration.
Also, interrupted subjects in school settings frustrate introverts. When the clock says time’s up, the teacher moves on to the next subject. So, telling an introverted child to save a math sheet for homework or to finish the book later can be extremely frustrating.
Depending on your family dynamics, homeschooling can be an ideal way to avoid interruptions. You can spend as long as you need on a particular subject.
5. A Chance to Develop Leadership Skills
Leaders who demonstrate extroverted qualities flourish in western cultures. Assertiveness, quick thinking, teamwork, charisma, confidence, and multitasking are all traits of the extroverted leader.
It’s easy to overlook introverted leaders in a school setting. The culture values and praises extroverted leadership traits. Because of this, introverts can start to believe that they aren’t really leaders at all. But introverts make good leaders, too. Schools just struggle to recognize and develop them.
Introverted leaders tend to have better focus, better listening skills, and more creativity. They are also cautious. They like to think carefully about a problem. Then they act. This can be essential for certain leadership positions.
Homeschool parents have the opportunity to help their introverted children become strong leaders in three simple ways:
Provide a safe space to be themselves
Praise introverted leadership qualities
Provide opportunities to practice leadership
The Homeschool Advantage
While introverts can succeed in a traditional school setting, homeschooling gives them a distinct advantage that they may not get anywhere else. If you need more information about raising introverts, I highly recommend these two titles:
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Nurture by Nature: Understanding Your Child’s Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger
And consider homeschooling. If your introverted children are not flourishing in traditional school, homeschooling might be the best gift you can give them.
About the Author
June loves deep discussions about homeschooling, parenting, and minimalism. When she’s not homeschooling, decluttering, or blogging at This Simple Balance, she loves to enjoy perfect silence while sipping a hot cup of coffee and thinking uninterrupted thoughts—which, of course, with four kids ages eight and under doesn’t happen very often!
I’m not a growth mindset mom, at least not by default.
I’ve read all about the importance of developing one, and I’ve written about its benefits. But as many a homeschool parent can attest, being aware of a practice and its real life application isn’t the same thing as actually doingit.
My kids know to put their dirty clothes in the hamper. Want to guess how many pajamas I find shoved behind the bathroom door?
The situation’s pretty similar when it comes to me and a growth mindset. I know what it means to have one, and I know when I need to use such an approach. But the minute a perceived failure or challenge shows up at my doorstep, my first instinct is to give up with a cry of “I just can’tdo this! I’m not good at it. I never have been.” The fatalistic, fixed mindset tends to be my default instead of applying what I know about growth mindset.
Sadly, my fixed mindset affects my children. As we all know, parental attitudes toward failure have a major impact on the behaviors of our children.
Father-daughter psychologists Robert and Lisa Firestone have coined this the Self-System: a phenomenon in which a parent’s self-concept serves as a tool to shape the child’s. When parents shut down or give up in the face of difficulty, a child observes and internalizes the behavior as an appropriate response to struggle. Watching a parent work through a challenge, on the other hand, internalizes a message of hope: if mom and dad persevere through a problem, the child discovers that she can, too.
It’s not that parents who present a fixed mindset are lazy or lack a desire to succeed. It’s more that our patterns of behavior become habit: once we walk down the path of least resistance, it’s easiest to keep walking along that well-worn rut.
Fortunately, though, our habits are flexible, and there are steps we can take to foster growth in ourselves. Once we exhibit these characteristics to our children, they’ll begin to develop the behaviors as well. They’ll view challenge as an opportunity, not as failure or as a reason to turn tail and run.
Say This, Not That: 10 Perfect Phrases to Develop a Growth Mindset
Habits take time to develop, and with mindset, it’s a matter of positive self-talk. Changing the way we speak to ourselves and our children will go a long way toward reducing the desire to surrender.
To build a growth mindset within yourself learn to replace familiar mental phrases with new ones:
Instead of “I’m not doing this right,” say, “I need to revisit my options.”
Instead of “This isn’t something I’m good at,” say, “I’m still working on this skill.”
Instead of “My house is always a disaster,” say, “Good things happen in my home. I’ll teach the kids to help out.”
Instead of “There’s no way I can do it all,” say, “I know when to ask for help.”
Instead of “I’m not qualified to teach this,” say, “This is a great time for me to learn alongside the kids.”
To build a growth mindset within your kids, learn these new ways of communicating:
Instead of “Math [reading, writing, etc.] comes really easily for you,” say, “Let’s find a challenging problem [book, topic, etc.] to tackle.
Instead of “You’re a strong writer (reader, artist, etc.),” say, “Let’s try writing in a different genre (reading a different author; creating in a different medium) to stretch your learning muscles.”
Instead of “This is so good!” say, “I love the colors (ideas, examples) you’ve used here. How will you approach it next time?”
Instead of “Maybe this activity just isn’t your thing,” say, “How can we conquer this next time?”
Instead of “You worked hard. Aren’t you glad it’s over?” say, “That took a lot of effort. What path will you follow next time?”
While positive phrases are immensely helpful, they’re definitely not a golden ticket. Changing the way we think about challenge takes concrete reminders of the triumphs of our past. Try keeping evidence of family accomplishments posted in a conspicuous, well-trafficked place so you can celebrate these small victories every day. You’ll develop a growth mindset together as a family, and find new ways to turn daily challenge to success.
About the Author
Ginny Kochis is a former high school English teacher and adjunct professor of English turned homeschooling mom and business owner. She writes about faith, motherhood, homeschooling and family literacy at Not So Formulaic.
Are you one of those homeschoolers who watches dolphins at the zoo and calls it school? Here’s a secret: Sometimes we all are.
Do field trips have a place on your homeschool calendar year? Are you on the fence about taking the time away from your books? Here are facts to get you off that fence and on that field trip.
Getting out of the house to see history and touch science not only adds to your studies, but it also checks that pesky socialization box.
Field trips are not an intrusion if they are part of your curriculum.
How do you make that outside-of-the-books field trip time really count? Although the term field trip has become a euphemism for a day off from learning, I don’t find that true at all. My adult children still talk about the connections they made between seeing history on our various homeschool field trips and then later reading about it in their curriculum.
There are two ways to get around feeling guilty about taking a day off from your books. I’m giving you permission from the high council of homeschoolers to adopt either method of making your homeschool field trips count.
Two Ways To Plan Homeschool Field Trips
1. The Wing It Method
The first is easiest. Just decide that the schedule and programs are not going to be the boss of you. In other words, wing it.
Be impulsive! Wake up one day and surprise everyone with a day out.
Be comfortable knowing you may do Tuesday’s work on Wednesday.
Don’t worry about fitting anything that you are reading or studying. Just choose a topic or location that seems fun.
Even your youngest students will be thrilled about making a connection to a book they’ve read.
If you encounter something from a different point in history, you’ll get that pay off in years to come when they look up from reading and tell you how they saw that in the museum last year. As Susan Wise Bauer says,” Your goal is to supply mental pegs on which later information can be hung.”
2. The Curriculum Supplement Method
The second way to plan homeschool field trips is more suited to the Type A personalities. If you are a box checker this is for you!
Open up a few browser tabs with websites of local museums and zoos.
Take a look at both the temporary and permanent exhibits for topics in your syllabus.
No matter what level you are studying, you are almost guaranteed to find something applicable to your homeschool.
Pencil the locations into your IG, and when you get to that week, you’ve already got a relevant field trip idea on tap!
No matter what kind of planner you are, my point is just this: Don’t let the Instructor’s Guide rule the year. Any kind of home education is a full-time job. You are already a hero for taking it on. The guide is just that; it’s not your boss.
Before the Visit: What to Bring for a Happy Homeschool Field Trip
Bring the essentials. We even have a dedicated field trip backpack.
The outside pocket contains pens, pencils, and a couple of small notebooks for drawing, notes, or games.
Kleenex and wet wipes are always handy to have on hand.
I carry snacks that do not melt— gum and granola bars for example.
Keep a stash of dollar bills for souvenirs and the Mold-A-Rama machine if you are lucky enough to find one!
Back in the day, I had four kids all under the age of ten. I can tell you from experience that any field trip will require an entire day off from school. It doesn’t matter if you drive or take public transportation. It still takes all day and most of your patience.
Try not to wake or leave the house any earlier than you normally would. If that means you leave mid-morning, that is okay. The last thing you want is to begin the day stressed as you rush out the door.
During the Visit: Know When to Stop
The old adage “always leave them wanting more” is true. Dont’ try to do it all, and leave before the day goes sideways.
Each kid gets a map and chooses one “must see” item.
Take turns navigating through the place.
Don’t be afraid to let your kids ask questions (or not). Museum and zoo folks love eager vistors. They don’t work there only for the money!
Bringing schoolwork? No. Just don’t. There is no point in bringing teens with you if they sit on a bench, reading literature or doing algebra problems.
Keep the visit short—less than four hours unless you have all teens. If anyone seems overtired, unengaged, or is almost crying, it is absolutely time to go.
After the Visit: Reflect and Investigate
Sit down and regroup before you leave. Ask
what they did and didn’t like
what would they like to see next time
what they saw that they want to learn more about
Encourage them to think about how they can find the answers to their questions. That ends the visit on a high note, and before you know it, you’ll be motivated to plan the next day of field trip learning!
About the Author
Jenny Naughton lives in Chicagoland with her husband where they have been homeschooling their four sons and one daughter since the dark ages of 2001. Her nose is always in a book, and if you come over, she will send you home with one so that she has the shelf space to get more. Her favorite social media platform is Instagram where she overshares her books, coffee, pets, and more books.
If you homeschool for any length of time, you’ll inevitably struggle with the idea that a fresh curriculum might be better for you and your child even if you are having no problems with your current curriculum! That maxim about the grass appearinggreener on the other side of the fence can apply to homeschool too.
Why We Chose BookShark Homeschool Curriculum
My oldest loveshistory and reading, and we chose BookShark for that exact reason. While using BookShark, my son received a strong historical overview of the time period that we were studying, but he also got plenty of excellent historical fiction related to the events he was studying in history.
Each day, he spent time in his room reading on his own. Later in the afternoon, after my youngest two were done schooling, my son and I read our current read aloud together. Sometimes even the younger kids listened in, asking questions and commenting on the book. BookShark fit our family perfectly, and we all enjoyed it.
The Temptation to Switch Curriculum
However, our family doesn’t live in a homeschooling bubble. Catalogs from various publishers come in the mail, and I often read other homeschool moms raving online about different science or history programs. Unlike years ago, today there are a myriad of curriculum options for a homeschooler.
Last summer, when I was reading a book about homeschooling high schoolers, I saw mention of a curriculum I’d never heard of before. Like any good homeschooling parent, I hopped on the computer to research this company.
It sounded like such a great program! There was a lot of history, perhaps even more than BookShark programs because this alternative included more non-fiction along with their list of historical fiction. I contemplated buying this curriculum for a while before I finally took the plunge.
Within two weeks of using this alternative homeschool program, my son and I both knew I had made a huge mistake!
Why We’re Back to BookShark
True, the other curriculum did win high points with us for the interesting non-fiction selections that gave my son an even deeper knowledge of history. But honestly, that was the only advantage this curriculum had over BookShark.
We missed so many features of BookShark!
As a teacher, I missed BookShark’s easy all-in-one, open-and-go format. With the other curriculum, I had to spend ninety minutes to three hours every weekend, choosing my son’s assignments and laying out a schedule for him for the week. I didn’t have time for that! With BookShark’s Instructor’s Guides, I could simply glance at what was coming up for the next week. Prep took almost no time.
Both my son and I also missed the questions BookShark includes at the end of each reading. The other curriculum didn’t have that and instead relied on students doing projects or lapbooks to show their comprehension — neither of which my son enjoyed. While BookShark has projects and lap books, they are optional add-ons and not essential to the program.
We missed the historical fiction in BookShark. Because the other curriculum was so heavy on non-fiction, there were fewer novels to read. While my son loves history, he also loves reading fiction, and he really missed the quality fiction books he was reading with BookShark.
After only two weeks, we set aside the other curriculum and are happily back to BookShark. Now, though I may still get catalogs and read others’ comments online, I can rest assured that BookShark is the best curriculum for us.
About the Author
Melissa is a homeschool mom to three kids. BookShark is her primary curriculum, and she and her kids love it! When she’s not homeschooling, she’s either shuttling kids from one activity to another or working from home as a freelance writer. You can read more about Melissa’s homeschool journey at her blog Moms Plans.
We all can recall that feeling from our days in public school when the teacher distributed a test full of letters to be circled and blanks to be filled in. Our sharp pencils would start to tap on our desks as we tried to recall something—anything—about what we had crammed the night before, but it’s gone. We draw nothing but blanks.
We carefully read and reread the questions, maybe ruling out a C here or a D there and making our best guess between A and B. When the test is mostly filled in, we hand it in, hope for a passing grade, and it’s on to the next chapter in the textbook to repeat the cycle again next week.
These icky memories of tests are why I’ve never been a traditional test-giver as a homeschool mom.
I know that my soon-to-be high schooler will need to have testing skills eventually, and we will work on that as it comes, but for younger kids, especially kids who stress out easily, paper tests can be the straw that breaks a love of learning for your child.
As parents though, we want to make sure the things we’ve spent hours teaching our children has stuck with them. For that reason, I want to test my kids but not with tests in the conventional sense. Here are non-test ways I use to gauge a child’s learning without completely stressing them out.
Presentation
At the end of a unit or section, have your child prepare a presentation to give to the family. Invite the grandparents over to make it more official. Give them a short list of things from their Science or History lessons that you’d like them to prepare, for example, recite a part of a speech or create and explain a model of a battle. Set a date for the presentation and have them work a little bit on it daily until it’s ready.
Oral or Written Report
Writing a report, whether it’s several pages or just a drawing that your child talks about is a great way to see all your child has learned. There are lots of ways to do a report.
Have them type a traditional research paper based on what you’ve studied together.
Cover an empty cereal box in construction paper, then print pictures, write out information, and draw maps and cover all the sides of the box with information.
Skit
Have your children choose roles to play based on things you studied and write out their own skit. Have a lot of it be ad lib, because then you’ll know it’s not just memorized to get through the skit. Have them create costumes and a simple setting. When my kids acted out a scene about Alexander the Great and his parents, I saw exactly what they learned about him in a playful, no-stress way.
News Show
Put on one of dad’s ties, set up a desk, give your child a coffee cup, and have them play newscaster for an evening news show. In advance, have your child write out what he’ll talk about on the news. Makes sure he adds in lots of facts and details. It could be all about a new science discovery or ways to do long and short division or a battle in a war in history —anything you’ve studied in homeschool. Just pretend he’s saying it on the news!
Dinner Party
I love tying up a unit study with a great dinner party. Plan a dinner based on a time in history or a fun science theme you’ve been learning about. Gather supplies from around the house and let your child take the reigns. Cook food together, let him decorate, and allow him to have talking points throughout the dinner about things he’s learned. Have him share these facts with the guests at dinner. He’ll love showing off what he knows.
There’s more than one way to make sure your child is retaining what you’ve taught. Pay attention to how your child learns and what makes them tick and what makes them shut down and use those clues to figure out creative ways to test them. You’re going to learn so much together!
A psychological assessment I recently filled out for one of my children showed a clear bias towards public schooling with these kinds of queries:
“Do they stay seated when asked to remain in their seat?”
“Are assignments turned in on time and complete?”
“Do they follow directions without additional prompting?”
As both the parent and teacher, I had a lot of questions to answer. Some were almost impossible because I had no knowledge of my child in a traditional school environment. We’ve always homeschooled, so I was making a guess.
Would they remain seated if told not to get up? Doubtful. Do I see that as a problem? No, not really.
It wasn’t long after I completed those questionnaires that I happened upon an article by my favorite psychologist, Peter Gray. Its title, Developmental Psychology’s Marriage to the School System, caught my eye since I was informed that my child tested on the low-normal range of cognitive development and showed other cognitive issues.
Of course, this is a child who has never had to parrot back information on demand or stay in a seat even though they wanted to get up. That hasn’t been their experience of the world.
Gray outlines five ways which the school environment creates a distorted view of child development and psychology. Here is his list of school characteristics and how they differ from a homeschool experience.
1. Adult Direction
School is a place of constant adult direction. Children are told what time they should arrive, when they are allowed to leave, how long to spend on each task, when they can eat, when to go to the bathroom, and what they must be focused on every moment of the long school day.
Compare this environment to homeschooling, where a child can sleep if they’re tired, eat when they’re hungry, go to the bathroom when needed, and be interested in the Civil War even if the state standards say they’re to study the American Revolution this year.
2. Work Versus Play
School explicitly delineates between work and play. Math class is not play; it’s a time for you to pay attention and stay in your seat. Recess, if you have one, is playtime, but even that can be micro-managed by adults.
“Play is the work of a child.” ~ Maria Montessori
Homeschoolers instinctively mix work, life, and play. When there is no artificial separation of work and play, learning can be effortless. Knowledge doesn’t have to be dispensed in the form of a worksheet to “count.” A family game can teach math skills just as well as (maybe better than!) a workbook.
3. Norms, Rankings, and Measurements
Measurements and norms are the areas where I think the co-dependent relationship between school and child psychology is most apparent.
Anecdotes are not a reliable measure for research or public funding; therefore, education and child psychology need each other. Could one exist without the other?
The schools need the tests and norms provided by the psychologists, and the psychologists need the research subjects. We then use these tests and standards to categorize children into different groups—the labels of which are nearly impossible to escape.
In homeschooling, a child has the luxury of just being who they are, where they are. They can continue working on a skill until they master it. They aren’t subjected to daily tests and assignments ranking them against every other child. There isn’t a “norm” demanded on a given day in a particular grade.
4. Age Segregation
Age segregation is the most defining element of school. Age determines when they must begin and age determines when they are free of compulsory attendance. Age determines what grade they are expected to be in and what tasks they are expected to perform.
This age segregation also contributes to bullying and extended adolescence. It creates a vacuum in which peer pressure determines what is acceptable and what is not.
Homeschooling doesn’t rely on age segregation for its function. Children spend their time with everyone from their grandparents to their newborn sibling, and doesn’t this resemble the “real world” more than a group of thirty 12-year-olds ever will?
5. Competition
School is a place of constant competition. From class rankings and grade point averages to being chosen as the lead in the play and making the football team, everything is a competition.
Now many will say that this is real life and that competing is good, but I find this to be a chicken and the egg argument. Do you believe that because life really is a series of competitions, or because you were conditioned by schooling to view everything as a competition?
Within a family, of course, there can be some inherent competitiveness, but ultimately cooperation rules. Choices must be made about the allocation of time and resources, and everyone’s desires are considered.
Institutional schooling and child psychology view all children as apples, and they’re treated similarly. Sorted and graded, some are chosen for the holiday gift box, and others are discarded, fit only for juice.
As homeschoolers, we have apples, but we also have oranges, lemons, peaches, and pineapples. No two are the same, and we don’t value an apple more than an orange.
So as I hear the conclusions of the psychologist, I trust my own instincts and doubt the “expert.” How can I expect my child, who has never spent a day in school, to be accurately judged based upon studies of children in a place of extremely limited freedom?
I can’t; they’re apples and oranges.
About the Author
Bethany is the mom of six always homeschooled children who one day realized she’d lost herself in the process, probably under a pile of laundry. Her eclectic style of relaxed homeschooling draws upon classical to unschooling methods and everything in between.
While homeschooling her children, teaching at a Project Based Co-op, and writing about learning outside of school, she still tries to find time to read a book, drink coffee, and pay the bills. Read more from Bethany on her site BethanyIshee.com: Real inspiration for the authentic mom.
My son rolled under the table in the back of the preschool room while his teacher read a book to the group, and I watched on in mild embarrassment. Why couldn’t he focus like the other kids? Why wasn’t he sitting and taking in the story as raptly as the others were?
He’s just a sponge, who takes in everything and internalizes things, making cognitive leaps so quickly.
As the teacher finished, I saw him creep back towards the carpet slowly, though he was still very wiggly, and stayed slightly set back from the others. She started asking questions—basic ones like, “What color is the hat the kid was wearing?” and “Why did he need to buy a new toy?” The children chimed in with simple answers.
My son crept still closer until he was in a position to join the conversation. He started by comparing the story to a television program his dad watched a few nights ago, and through that comparison, he applied the moral of the story to everyday life. The teacher looked at him knowingly. His mind didn’t operate on the same plane as that of the other children.
He then went back under the table, squirming while he waited for his sweet teacher to tell the others what they needed to do in their center work. Afterwards, she came over to give him a very different task to complete.
What is Giftedness and Asynchronous Development?
According to The Columbus Group (1991), giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching, and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.
Asynchronous development is arguably the defining characteristic of the gifted. This means that their development is out of sync with their neurotypical peers. For my four-year-old in the anecdote above, it meant that he was listening intently to that picture book, making incredible leaps from the the story, and connecting, then applying those thoughts to a news story and to life. All while rolling around on the floor like a typical four year old boy—although at an inappropriate time.
Homeschooling the Gifted Child
While the mom in me cringed at the sight of my kiddo being the only one who looked like he wasn’t paying attention and focused on the behavior rather than the result, the gifted specialist in me had seen things like this so many times before.
In that preschool room observing gifted asynchrony from a parent’s perspective, I realized that I never fully understood all that the parents of the gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice-exceptional children with whom I’d worked with for decades had been trying to tell me. And, in retrospect, I wish I’d realized then how important homeschooling would be to this particular kiddo, and had chosen to keep him home from the start.
Gifted children thrive in a homeschool setting where they can be themselves—wiggly and fidgety or laser-focused on a self-selected topic. They thrive when their tasks can be customized for them, or when they can follow rabbit trails of interest to them with a gifted homeschool curriculum.
We didn’t homeschool our son from the beginning, and those few years of schooling were hard.
Finding and Modifying a Homeschool Program for Gifted Students
There are just so many layers to giftedness, and that definition from the Columbus Group is crucial for parents—especially homeschoolers—to keep in mind every time we go to choose a curriculum.
The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching, and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.
The search for the perfect curriculum can feel overwhelming for the parent of a gifted child. It’s like the story of Goldilocks—too deep, not deep enough, too slow, too fast—it’s nearly impossible to find just right. And the truth is—there isn’t a just right curriculum for a gifted kiddo. (And if anyone tells you that they have developed a gifted homeschool curriculum, run away.)
Image Credit: Syeda@thepreciousyears on Instagram
Using BookShark Literature-Based Curriculum with Gifted Students
So, does BookShark work for gifted kids?
Absolutely.
But, like any other program, you’re going to need to think outside the box as you use it.
BookShark is an amazing, literature-rich program that is all planned out for you and full of wonderful books of all genres. It boasts a four-day schedule, with a very detailed and easy-to-use teacher’s guide. It’s literally an open-and-go curriculum.
For most people.
Needless to say, I’ve adapted the program heavily just like I would with any program for my gifted learners.
My kids want to hear the stories. They don’t want to stop after a chapter, so we binge read and finish 2-3 of the Read-Alouds in a week if that works for us. There’s no shortage of retention. The conversations in the van while trekking to theater rehearsals and science programs are rich and deep. The books inspire deep thinking, and my kids love the mental challenge!
The most important thing to remember as you’re using a curriculum like BookShark with gifted learners is that you’ll have to make it your own. For example, we skip the current event reports assigned in the Instructor’s Guide. While the reasoning behind doing them is solid and important as explained in the guide, my kiddos don’t need to do reports on current events because they already eat, sleep, and breathe critical thinking and opinions. Goodness gracious… the opinions in a room full of gifted children can overwhelm, but lead to fascinating conversations.
We also don’t follow the four-day schedule as laid out in the Instructor’s Guide. For many gifted children, the idea of jumping from section to section (or subject to subject) is a drag once they get excited to learn about something. Instead, we take a more integrative approach.
I look at each book suggestion and the activities that go along with it, see how they tie into any geography or timeline activities, go over the discussion question all at once, and then we read. It may take us a day or two to finish a book, or several weeks, but we take it at the pace we deem best, making a new decision with each title and our engagement in that title. And, actually, for the very advanced reader, a parent may not even ask any of the discussion questions while the book is being read.
I let my ten-year-old read as quickly as she wants to—and sometimes that includes several books in one day—and then we might chat about some of the questions in the guide once she’s completed the entire book and wants to move onto the next one.
The truth is that an Instructor’s Guide is just that—a guide. Parents of gifted children need to read through the guide to see the scope and sequence of a curriculum and what will be taught, but then the Instructor’s Guide serves as your springboard for devising a pace that works for you.
How Book-based Homeschool Curriculum Works for Gifted Learners
For a gaggle of gifted kids—or just one, for that matter—a book-based curriculum like BookShark allows them to push forward at their own pace, reading as much as they desire, sometimes finishing several weeks worth of content in a single week. It also allows for them to go deep when they find a topic they’re interested in and fall down a rabbit hole or two by pulling in more books, diving into writing or project suggestions, or just talking endlessly about their latest discovery.
In our case, the five and eight year olds will probably revisit this program and its books on their own in a few years when they’re reading independently. By then, they’ll breeze through two years in one because they’ll have the prior knowledge from which to draw.
The ten-year-old will probably be done with all the books and poems within a few months and will beg for the second year world history program so she can keep reading. For her, a child whose learning comes from what she reads rather than what she does or watches, she and I will talk about, journal, and debate the talking points that are in the teacher’s manual or the ones she comes up with on her own.
But for all three of my gifted children, the biographies, history books, and novels in the curriculum bleed into their play, into the stories they write, into the conversations they have with one another, and into the museum trips they want to take.
A program like BookShark, with its fiction, nonfiction, poetry, discussions, and Instructor’s Guide is a perfect spine for a gifted homeschool family because it allows for the depth and breadth, rabbit trails, and adaptation that an asynchronous gifted child needs most.
A homeschool program for gifted students like BookShark, with its fiction, nonfiction, poetry, discussions, and Instructor’s Guide is a perfect spine for a gifted homeschool family because it allows for the depth and breadth, rabbit trails, and adaptation that an asynchronous gifted child needs most.
And that wiggly, squirmy four-year-old in the library is now a thriving high schooler who often comes along with me when I speak to parents of gifted and twice-exceptional parents who are dipping their toes into the adventures that homeschooling brings. He’ll tell anyone that flexibility and outside-of-the-curricular-box-thinking is what one needs most to make it as a homeschooling gifted child.
