BookShark

Tag: homeschool how to

  • Help! My Child Doesn’t Like to Read

    Help! My Child Doesn’t Like to Read

    When I started homeschooling many years ago, one of my main goals was to raise readers. As an avid reader myself, I’ve always understood the value of reading. It expands our vocabulary, teaches us, ignites our imagination, challenges us, transports us to amazing worlds, and so much more.

    I knew I wouldn’t be able to teach my girls everything, but if they could read well and enjoyed the process, they would be able to learn anything they wanted to. So I did whatever I could to make reading exciting and accessible. Here are ways to nudge your child toward becoming a lifelong reader.

    Create a Book Loving Home

    First, it’s important that our children know that we, as parents, think books are important. In our home, we have multiple bookshelves that are filled with a variety of books. Our Kindle ereaders get frequent attention. Library trips were (and still are) frequent and positive. We invest in a literature-rich homeschool curriculum.

    My husband and I read regularly, so our kids see us getting caught up in stories and hear us discuss what we’re reading. Remember that our kids tend to value what we value.

    What if you’ve done all you can think of and your child still doesn’t like to read? It’s time to ask yourself some questions.

    • Could your child have a learning disability, like dyslexia, that makes reading hard for him? Sure, we should all challenge ourselves by reading difficult books, but every time we pick up a story, it shouldn’t be a chore.

    We’re lucky that today, more than ever, there’s help available for those who have trouble reading. If this is an issue for your child, I would encourage you to seek assistance instead of deciding that he’s just never going to be a good reader.

    • Is your child a slow reader? Sometimes, especially with longer books, it’s hard to keep motivated when it seems to take forever to finish. Is he slow because he’s having trouble focusing? Is the story or vocabulary too challenging?

    Think about what can be done to break down any barriers for him. Reading isn’t a race, but see if you can help him pick up his pace, so he doesn’t get frustrated or lose interest while reading.

    Does she find the books she is reading boring? Do you let her choose her own books or is she regularly assigned reading material? Maybe she just hasn’t found the right subject to ignite her passion.

    Sure, children have to read books for school, even if they find them boring. Just make sure that you’re encouraging her to read for pleasure as well.

    4 More Tips for Turning a Non-Reader into a Reader

    • Spend part of your day reading aloud together, regardless of your child’s age. Yes, read aloud time is still valuable for teens! There is something very powerful about spending time as a family reading a story. Just be careful to avoid these common read aloud mistakes.
    • If the act of reading is challenging for your child, turn to audio books. By listening to books, instead of reading them, they can still develop the passion for the stories without having to struggle.
    • Introduce your child to a wide variety of books. Encourage her to explore the various genres and topics to find one that excites her. Make up a list and each time you go to the library, have her choose one or two different types. You both might be surprised by what grabs her attention!
    • Make sure your child is reading books that are at the right level for him. Books that are too hard or too easy can turn off a child’s interest. Challenge him to move up his reading material as he grows, but don’t jump so far ahead that every page is difficult for him to understand.

    Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that homeschooling or following any of these tips will raise a reader. However, instead of throwing in the towel claiming, “my child’s just not a reader,” persevere in your efforts to turn your non-reader into a reader. Some readers bloom later than others! And your investment may pay off in years to come.

    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.

  • 7 Ways to Afford a Boxed Homeschool Curriculum

    7 Ways to Afford a Boxed Homeschool Curriculum

    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.

  • 3 Ways BookShark Curriculum Is a Bargain

    3 Ways BookShark Curriculum Is a Bargain

    Because I love BookShark curriculum, I tell all of my homeschooling friends about it. During such a discussion, it’s not uncommon for a friend to lament that while BookShark looks amazing, it’s just too expensive.

    Although this is a common misconception among many homeschoolers, I find the opposite to be true. The way I see it, BookShark is an affordable way to provide my child with a quality education.

    1. BookShark Versus Private School

    First, I compare BookShark’s cost to private school. When my oldest child was nearing school age, we immediately ruled out public schools because of an inferior school system in our local area. Instead, he attended a private school through third grade. 

    Since we qualified for tuition assistance at the private school, our monthly tuition payment was $258. Without financial aid, the payment would have been almost $600 a month! Annually, we were paying $3,096 a year for tuition with financial aid! On top of the base costs, we also had to pay for school supplies, uniforms, and fundraisers. With all those additional expenses, the yearly total was closer to $3,500 a year. Without financial aid, we would have paid $7,200 a year.  

    Yes, compared to private school, BookShark’s full grade curriculum packages of approximately $800 to $1000 a year are a bargain! Plus, I find BookShark’s curriculum far superior to the education my son received in private school.

    Better learning for less money? Yes! Sign me up.

    2. BookShark Versus DIY Curriculum

    Next, I compare BookShark to piecing together your own program. Most moms who tell me BookShark is too expensive are frugal with their money and like to make smart financial choices. They usually prefer to piece together their children’s curriculum by buying used novels and second-hand Instructor’s Guides. This can be a great way to go. I tried it myself during the early years of homeschooling.

    What I found, though, is that when buying used, I spent more money than I anticipated over the course of the year. Some of the books I purchased weren’t as described —filled with highlighting and pencil marks, for example, so I’d have to spend more money buying the product again, hopefully in better condition.

    What’s worse, I spent far too much of my valuable time searching for the items I needed, corresponding with sellers, and tracking down sellers who didn’t send my product in a timely manner. For me, the few hundred dollars I saved buying used wasn’t worth the hassle, frustration, and time. Now I prefer to buy my BookShark curriculum new, in pristine condition, ready for my child.

    3. BookShark Versus Single Use Curriculum

    If you homeschool more than one child, the cost of using BookShark curriculum goes down each time you use it with your next child. I have a seventh grader who has used Levels D and E and is currently in Level F. I also have two younger children who are currently in Level B. When they get to Level D, which I already own, I’ll only need to buy the consumables for them, making my yearly cost approximately $300! You really can’t beat that price for a year of quality instruction. Then, when my younger children are done with the material, I’ll sell it used and recoup some of the money I originally spent, lowering my overall cost even further.

    While on the surface some may think BookShark curriculum is expensive, when you compare it to the expense of private school, the time spent to piece together used books, and the savings from reusing a particular curriculum package, BookShark can be seen for what it is—a quality education at a very affordable price.

    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.

  • 7 Tips for Handling New Vocabulary During Read-Alouds

    7 Tips for Handling New Vocabulary During Read-Alouds

    Reading books to our children isn’t merely an ideal way to cement family relationships or enjoy a pleasant afternoon. It’s also an excellent method to introduce new vocabulary words to our children and help them master those words.

    Here are seven easy tips for teaching and reviewing new vocabulary learned during read-alouds with your children. Pick and choose from these different options. You don’t want to use every tip for each new word you encounter. Choose the words that you think are most integral to the story or words that your children are most likely to encounter in their daily lives or academic reading. 

    1. Stop and define the word

    Stop reading as soon as you run into the new word and define it immediately. Your children will immediately hear the word in context and how it’s used in literature.

    2. Ask children to define the word

    Instead of defining the word yourself, ask your children if they know what it means. If they don’t, help the children figure out what the word means from the context and see who can come up with the best guess.

    3. Look it up in the dictionary

    Another way to learn a new vocabulary word is to look it up in the dictionary after you ask the children to predict what the word means. This is also an excellent way to teach dictionary skills and ingrain the lifelong habit of checking the dictionary for any definitions the child doesn’t know.be assured that you can cover nearly every academic subject with almost any topic. Look for the connections between your child’s current passion and math, science, social studies, English, writing, and history. And then set them free to learn with full excitement!

    4. Write it down to look up later

    Instead of stopping the storyline in the middle of action and possibly losing children’s interest, keep a notepad next to you and write down any words you’d like to discuss later. Discuss and look up the words after you’ve finished the day’s read aloud. 

    5. Review new vocabulary at the end of the session

    Defining new words is important, but it’s also just as important to help the kids retain the new vocabulary words. As you finish the day’s read aloud, ask the children to review the new vocabulary words and their meaning with you. See who can remember the most words and hand out high fives to the kids as they define the vocabulary.

    6. Define words at dinner time

    Every evening review the new words at dinner time. Make an impromptu game to see who can use the most new vocabulary words at the dinner table. How many unique and challenging sentences can be spoken?

    7. Use the word as many times as possible

    Use the words yourself as many times as you can during the next week. The children may not use the vocabulary word in their spoken vocabulary, but even the smallest child will begin to understand the vocabulary words as they hear them in use.

    Read-alouds bring a wonderful opportunity to expand your children’s vocabulary. Using these seven tips to discuss and review the words in context will cement the vocabulary in your children’s mind better than any program.sitive emotional and social benefits far beyond merely escaping a negative public school environment where bullying is rampant.

  • 5 Ways to Give Accountability to a Kid Who Is Slacking in Homeschool

    5 Ways to Give Accountability to a Kid Who Is Slacking in Homeschool

    I want to develop my child’s natural love of learning. But some days it seems he’s more interested in smashing through the next level of a favorite video game than doing his homeschool assignments. 

    Yes, kids can lose steam with their school work even with the most engaging of curriculum. Encouraging a child’s accountability for their assignments is a challenge, but it is a worthwhile endeavor. When you can motivate your child, you curb their dawdling, you teach them time management, and—in the long run, you raise a young person who can self-regulate.

    So, what can a parent do to help a child who seems to be slacking? How can a homeschool parent provide the accountability a child needs without micromanaging?

    1. Creating a Partnership Between Kids and Parents

    First, we need to understand that sometimes what looks like slacking can actually be boredom or feeling trapped in a routine that they have little control over.

    Creating a partnership between yourself and your child is a great step in encouraging accountability and responsibility. It begins by listening to each other and respecting each other.

    The outcome of this dialogue will likely include giving children control over their education. Look for all the possible ways you can allow them to choose. Some kids prefer a more structured homeschool plan of checklists while other kids may enjoy an unstructured rhythm. Your child may prefer to do much of their work online, while others may prefer hands-on activities, or a literature-rich approach. Give them ownership over their education by letting them choose topics, curriculum, schedules, formats, etc. The more control they have, the more motivated they will be. 

    2. Getting Kids Invested in Their Work

    A child’s interests can be a great way to get them invested in their work if they are slacking off. Ask your children what they want to learn about. This shows that you care and value their opinions.

    Is your child interested in

    Any of those topics can be the focus of a rich homeschool study. Let your kiddo choose the topic! Go to the library and pick books and videos all about the thing that interests them. Let your kid read, research, and dive deep. When your child has satisfied the thirst for knowledge on that subject, let them pick another topic! Or perhaps you may want to have several different interests going at the same time.

    If you are concerned about leaving out any particular topics, be assured that you can cover nearly every academic subject with almost any topic. Look for the connections between your child’s current passion and math, science, social studies, English, writing, and history. And then set them free to learn with full excitement!

    3. Empowering Accountability

    To be successful at anything, our children need accountability to be responsible. The primary way to instill responsibility is two-fold:

    • be clear about expectations
    • help your child set bite-sized goals to work through

    In all things remember that you want to preserve the joy of learning. So take a step back and consider whether you need to adjust your expectations when your kids appear to be slacking.

    External force and negative incentives (punishments) have been proven to be poor motivators in the long run. On the other hand, positive reinforcement and natural consequences are far better ways of building a work ethic in children.

    4. Modeling Accountability

    If you really want to bring home the idea of accountability, then show your kids by modeling that behavior in your life. Show your curiosity for learning new things, and your kids will do the same.Let them see your personal goal setting and then demonstrate consistency in achieving your own goals even when you’d rather do something else.

    Let’s face it, we as adults don’t find certain tasks enjoyable either. How many times have we put off taking out the trash, making an important phone call, or creating that spreadsheet for work? 

    Showing our kids that even the boring tedious tasks must be done, develops a sense of accountability in our lives and the lives of our young learners. Monkey see, monkey do, so to speak.

    5. Rewarding Effort

    Finding a balance between external rewards (such as screen time, money, gold stars, or candy) and the internal reward of a job well done is key.

    Done sparingly, rewards can be good motivators for reluctant learners who are prone to slacking. But try to encourage effort over outcome. This attitude sets your child up for a growth mindset which helps them overcome obstacles later in life.

    As a homeschool mom, I always want to to lovingly motivate my kids instead of using force. Rewards can be helpful but may not ultimately change behavior. So, it’s important to encourage perseverance. Teach problem-solving skills while also giving your children the freedom to choose their interests to get them invested in their work.

    It’s not easy as a parent to traverse the continuum of pushing our kids too much to the other extreme of coddling and over-sheltering them. But we can all agree that accountability in adulthood is forged in the early years. Now is the time to lay that foundation with loving accountability!f positive emotional and social benefits far beyond merely escaping a negative public school environment where bullying is rampant.

    About the Author

    I’m Erin, an introverted homeschooling mom to two intense extroverted kids. We are child led with a heavy emphasis on read alouds, games, art, nature hikes, and hands-on everything! My kids just learn better when they can use their hands. You can find me at Nourishing My Scholar.

    We traded the hustle and bustle of city life for the quiet that only farm life can provide. This creates a wonderful environment for our children, complete with chickens, goats, ducks, and cows. I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter and Gilmore Girls. When we’re not homeschooling, you’ll find me curled up with a cup of coffee and a good book or possibly enjoying a random dance party in the front yard to the newest Disney soundtrack.