BookShark

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.Read More

I never imagined that I’d read and enjoy business and productivity books. I imagined that they’d be all about how to squeeze maximum efficiency out of every last second of the day.

To me, that sounds like slow death by strangulation. No thanks.

But after various friends (including homeschool moms) repeatedly recommended a couple of titles, I decided to give them a try. Here are three lessons I’ve learned that actually adapt quite well to the homeschool dynamic.

Are you thinking about homeschooling? New to the idea? Not sure where to start? Homeschooling is growing in popularity for so many reasons – schools are cutting services, special needs aren’t able to be met, the ever-increasing focus on testing… these scenarios and others are driving more and more parents to pull their kids out of traditional school settings and keep them home for their education.

The important thing to remember, as you jump into homeschooling your kids, is that you CAN do it. Nobody knows and loves your kids like you do. There is simply nobody better equipped to teach your kids than you.

Maybe it’s just me, but homeschooling in the winter can be a challenge. My children don’t play outside as much, playgroups don’t meet as often, and we spend a lot more time at home. In some ways, this is a gift. We love homeschooling because we love home, but we also love and need our community and friends. When the forecast looks cold and gray, all I want to do is stay in my pajamas and read. My kids seek screens more, and if we’re not careful, we can start to feel blue. Seasonal shifts naturally happen in our homeschool days when winter arrives, but if I want our days to continue to go smoothly and for my family to feel our best, a little extra energy and planning is needed on my part. We welcome more time to read and snuggle, but movement, projects, and getting out of the house—even when it’s cold—are a must, too.Read More

Admit it. You’ve seen the pictures of happy, snuggling children listening to a book being read or heard about the deep discussions and family bonding that happens when parents read to their children and thought, “I want that too. I’m going to make time in our home school schedule for read aloud time. I can do this.” So you give family reading time a try. But it doesn’t look like the pictures or work like the stories. Instead, your youngest is running around chasing the dog. Your middle child looks bored, and when you ask your oldest a question about the paragraph you’ve just read, he just grunts and says, “I don’t know.”Read More

How long is a typical homeschool day and how does it compare with the hours of a day in public school? Many parents, new to homeschooling, wrongly assume that they should homeschool for the same length of time as their public school counterparts. 

In general, a homeschool day is much shorter than that of a traditional school. But this shorter school day doesn't mean that less is getting done. In fact, homeschoolers can often achieve more in less time than public school students. 

My son is in fifth grade this year. He’s at that age where he’s growing up fast but he still loves to snuggle on the couch with his mom occasionally. One of the things he loves the most is reading together. We have a long-standing tradition of reading a book together each night, usually one that has a movie coming out that we’d like to see. This year with BookShark as our curriculum, that nighttime reading tradition has become part of our homeschool day, too! Since he's an independent reader, we haven’t included Read-Alouds in our homeschool for several years. I admit that it's something we let slide while we were using other curriculums. But now that we're on the BookShark bandwagon, I'm realizing how wonderful it is to use reading aloud with a middle schooler!Read More

The temperatures are beginning to drop. Autumn is well and truly here which means winter is not far behind. I look forward to the first snowflake, the first icicle, and that muffled silence that falls over everything after a heavy snow. But then just as quickly as it all arrived, I am ready for warmth and sun again. Yet my kiddos could spend all day in the great outdoors of winter, provided there is plenty of hot cocoa and a cozy Read-Aloud by the fire afterwards. Reading is part of our family culture. It brings joy and happiness to both children and adults alike in my home.Read More

The holidays are a crazy time of year, and if your homeschool is anything like mine not a lot of school work gets done in December. And when I say “not a lot” I really mean none… at least not in the traditional sense. Instead of being stressed about getting behind I have made the executive decision to set the curriculum aside and just enjoy the holidays. No History Read-Alouds, no Language Arts lessons, and no Science. However, that doesn’t mean the learning and growing has to stop! Here are three ways my children continue learning in December even when school's officially out.Read More

When you first make the choice to homeschool, what you need and want most is support. And naturally, where do you look first for that support? Family, and almost always, your parents. Now if grandparents have been unsupportive and critical of your parenting decisions from the start, their criticisms of homeschooling probably won’t surprise you. But if, on the other hand, you are used to unwavering support for your parenting choices, opposition to homeschooling may come as a shock. Whatever your experience in the past, keep in mind that unless you are a second-generation homeschooler, homeschooling isn’t an obvious choice. As much as it has progressed over the years, homeschooling is far from mainstream. You are choosing an educational option that is far from vetted with no guarantees of a successful outcome—at least in their minds. You are putting their precious grandchildren’s future at risk, and they probably won’t keep quiet about it.Read More