In all honesty, I never thought I would homeschool my kids. I started because my oldest missed the cut off date for kindergarten and would have to wait a full year before starting school. She was beyond ready, so I knew I needed to do something. After a lot of research and many discussions, our family plunged head first into homeschooling.
We began our journey as unschoolers. The kids were young, and it worked well to have learning revolve around their interests. Then we moved. The new record keeping and evaluation requirements of that state made it difficult for me to continue homeschooling without a focused plan. I realized I was going to need curriculum.
Choosing Homeschool Curriculum
As you know, venturing into the world of homeschool curriculum can be overwhelming. I had no idea where to start. So I did what most of us do. I starting using what my friends recommended which happened to be well-known, faith-based curriculum.
At first, I welcomed the idea of using books that supported our beliefs. Unfortunately, I found that I don’t need (or want) the level of religion found within many Christian textbooks used for core subjects. In my opinion, they dedicate too many pages to watered down religion—pages that could be better used for more subject material.
For example, my kids don’t need multiple paragraphs in each chapter of a science book reiterating the point that God’s creation is perfect and beautiful. I want our science curriculum to focus on science. So now I look for faith-neutral or secular materials.
A Solution for My Curriculum Struggle
Because of the curriculum struggle I faced, I made the decision years ago to forgo standard homeschooling textbooks for most of our core subjects (like science and history) and instead create my own lesson plans. As a substitute for pre-made curriculum, my kids watch relevant videos, read living books, play educational games, and complete a ton of hands-on activities.
Compiling everything on my own is definitely time consuming, but works well for our family. Other homeschool families in my situation use a quality curriculum that isn’t faith-based such as Bookshark’s literature based, secular materials. The convenience of a full boxed curriculum or a curriculum plan for a key subject takes the burden off an already busy mom and allows her to enjoy the homeschool experience without spending hours of planning and researching.
About the Author
Megan Zechman is a veteran homeschool mom of two girls. Over at Education Possible, she shares creative, hands-on learning activities for middle school.
Many of us were taught language arts as a disjointed set of unrelated skills—a very ineffective way to learn it. Can you relate to any of these experiences?
Learning about a grammar concept and completing ten to twenty exercises after the lesson to practice the new skill.
Receiving a list of spelling words on Monday and memorizing them for a test on Friday. Then spelling them incorrectly in your own writing.
Defining literary terms and never noticing them in the books you read.
Memorizing vocabulary words, but never actually using them while speaking or writing—and then forgetting them.
Following a formula to write a paper and hating every minute of it because you were as bored writing it as your teachers were probably reading it.
You did the work in school, but without context and without connection. As a result, you may believe you aren’t good at language arts. The truth is, you struggled with language arts because of how it was taught, not because of a lack of intelligence. Unfortunately we have a tendency to homeschool in the same way we learned, even if we believe our own education was lacking.
There’s a better way. You can teach language arts effectively, no matter your own school experience with the subject. After all, Albert Einstein said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Life-Long Learning Starts with You
As a homeschooler, know it’s perfectly fine to learn alongside your children. You don’t have to be an expert in every subject. It’s not even possible! What you do need is an attitude that says, “We can figure this out together.”
As Anthony J. D’Angelo said, “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”
It’s okay if you don’t master something the first time around.
Learning is a process that takes diligence and practice.
They don’t have to do it alone.
Modeling learning means you’re showing them how to learn, not just what to learn. You also get the benefit of a better grasp of language arts skills you can use in your own life. And you’ll also be more sympathetic when they struggle, because you know what it feels like.
Teaching Language Arts Comes Naturally
“Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.”—John Holt
Your children began learning long before they ever started school. From the moment they were born, you watched in amazement with each skill they added from rolling over to lifting their heads, from sitting to standing, from crawling to walking.
You wondered as they picked up word after word and began speaking in phrases and sentences. You laughed at their grammar mistakes because they were adorable, and you knew one day they would say it correctly.
You were their first teachers. You encouraged them, you helped them, and you gently corrected their mistakes.
You’ve been teaching them since the day they were born, and you can continue to teach them everything they need to be effective communicators.
Workbooks and textbooks may offer lessons and exercises to teach kids language arts skills, but they are ineffective to inspire a love of literature and writing. Often students don’t know how to apply those exercises to their actual writing. They miss those things that make writing compelling to read and their speeches compelling to listen to.
Spelling and vocabulary comes from the books they are reading.
Writing assignments are tied to the subject matter they are learning about in the books they read.
Grammar skills are learned through copying and writing from dictation using sentences and passage from the books they are reading.
You see the pattern. Students learn from published authors—experts in their field. Good writing inspires good writing as students absorb language arts skills naturally.
You Have a Guide
Anatole France correctly said, “Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” As a homeschool parent, tou have the opportunity to be your students’ biggest cheerleader—the one who encourages them and helps them stay on track.
But you also have a coach to help you along the way.
With BookShark Instructor’s Guides, you have everything you need to teach language arts, even if you don’t feel confident in your own skills. You get:
A 36-week, 4-day schedule designed to save one day a week for co-ops, music lessons, sports, field trips or other extra-curricular activities.
Weekly overviews
Student Activity Sheets
Separate parent instructions, answers, and definitions
Rubrics to help you evaluate more subjective activities
You Can Teach Your Children Language Arts
You may not consider yourself equipped to teach language arts because you didn’t understand the way it was taught to you. But there’s good news. You aren’t alone. BookShark can help.
You’ll have everything you need to teach your kids naturally, and along the way learn a few things yourself. It’s one of the reasons homeschooling is so successful. As a homeschooler, you are the facilitator of your children’s education. You don’t have to know everything, because like any life-long learner, you can find the resources to help.
About the 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.
Do you want to use a boxed curriculum but worry that you can’t afford it? If you feel that a boxed curriculum like BookShark is best for your children, don’t give up on purchasing it because you’re intimidated by the price tag. You may find that with strategic planning, you can afford a boxed curriculum.
Before looking for additional money in your budget, first put the price into perspective. For example, consider the price per child if multiple children will be using it.
Let’s say you have a fifth grader, a first grader, and a preschooler. If you purchase the fifth grade BookShark complete package for approximately $998, you receive materials for all the subjects your child needs—readers, read alouds, history, language arts, math, science, and spelling.
If you keep the curriculum, you’ll be able to use it when your second child reaches fifth grade and again when your third child reaches that age. Of course, you’ll need to replace the consumables which cost approximately $350 per child. So, in this scenario, you’re able to teach three children the 5th grade complete curriculum for a grand total of $1,348, or approximately $450 per child. Suddenly, the curriculum has become much more affordable.
Calculate how much you currently spend in one year to homeschool your children and compare that to the price on a complete curriculum. You may think that you’re not spending as much as a complete package, but that’s may be because you buy curriculum little by little throughout the year instead of all at once as you would with a boxed curriculum.
Use Your Tax Refund
Some families who live on a very tight budget earmark their tax refund or a portion of it to buy curriculum each year. A refunt typically comes in the late winter or early spring, just the time you are starting to consider your curriculum choices for the upcoming fall.
Save Each Month
Another option is to set aside a certain amount every month to pay for the curriculum you anticipate buying. If you’re buying the full package for third grade and Kindergarten, for example, you’ll be paying approximately $2,418 for the year, so you’ll need to set aside $202 a month to pay for the curriculum.
When your children get older, your monthly saving plan will be less expensive because you can save a program for the next child. When the children in the above example are in sixth and third grades, you will need to spend only $1570 ($1200 for the full sixth grade curriculum and $370 for the consumables for the 3rd grade curriculum). In this example, you’ll need to set aside only $130 a month.
Teach Your Children Together
If your children are within two to three grades of one another, you can combine them for their studies in history, literature, and science. So, if you have a fourth grader and a second grader, you could choose to teach them at a level in the middle, perhaps 3rd grade, which is suitable for children ages 8 to 11. Keep in mind that you will still need to teach your children at grade level for math, language arts, handwriting, and spelling. By combining some parts of your curriculum, you can see substantial savings.
Sell Your Used Curriculum
Once you’re done with your curriculum and no longer have a younger child to use it, sell it. BookShark curriculum maintains its value. You can sell it via eBay or a BookShark used curriculum Facebook group. You can likely regain at least 50% of your purchase price especially if it’s relatively new and in good condition. You can also try to sell the curriculum at your local homeschool group, but you’ll likely make more money online.
Buy a Used Set of Boxed Curriculum
Since there is a booming market for used boxed curriculum, consider buying it used. You’ll likely pay only half the price of retail. When you’re done using the curriculum, you can sell it again and recoup a good portion of your investment.
While you may initially think that a boxed curriculum is too expensive for your family, when you use these strategies, you may find that it’s comparable to other alternatives.
One Extra Way to Afford Boxed Curriculum
BookShark Payment Plans
BookShark now offers 3, 6, 9 and 12-month interest-free payment plan! Click below to find out more.
