BookShark

It’s that time of year again. The library reading programs are coming to an end. Your children’s summer sports tournaments are going on. And the stores have stocked up piles of back to school sales. You have probably spent months researching, purchasing curriculum, and preparing for the upcoming school year. But do you have a plan to make the first day of school memorable for your kids this year? If not, maybe you'd like to try one of these four ways to commemorate and celebrate the first day of your homeschool year. It doesn't take elaborate preparation to make the day special. It merely takes a little thought.Read More

Making the decision to homeschool can seem very overwhelming. A million questions are probably running through your mind, such as: What will my family and friends say about our decision to homeschool? How will my children get to socialize? What do my children need to learn? How will I have the time to do it all? Before I started homeschooling my biggest concern was definitely figuring out how to do it all. I felt as though I was already a very busy mom, but I quickly realized that with a little planning and organization, it is very easy to incorporate homeschooling into any lifestyle. Here are a few simple tips to help you manage your time while homeschooling:Read More

Choosing to homeschool can feel like choosing to pack up your family and follow the Oregon Trail. You’re pioneering in unfamiliar territory. You know you’re going to run into some challenges and hardships. And people might just think you’re crazy for even trying. Why are homeschoolers the brunt of such harsh judgment? And how can you respond? Responsibility is Scary When we become parents, suddenly we are responsible for the safety, well being, and upbringing of a real, live human being. It can be downright terrifying. In an effort to fight our fears, we search around for anything we can control. We want a surefire method and we want guarantees that it works.Read More

When we first decided to homeschool I wanted to go with a full box curriculum. My hope was to ease into our homeschool journey. We are now in our fifth year of homeschooling. My fourth grader is still happy seeing the BookShark box show up at our door. And I'm happy knowing everything has arrived and I won’t have to spend my time planning our year. Here are 6 reasons we continue to use BookShark as our curriculum.

1. BookShark is a One-stop Shop

We get everything we'll need to start our school year at one time. This means we aren’t having to shop for phonics or look for spelling. Nor do we have to find a science program that we'll be able to utilize. Rather, we are able to choose what we want and then it all arrives at one time.

In certain homeschool circles, audiobooks have a bad reputation. Listening to a book is considered a sub-par educational activity to silent reading. I find that to be nonsense. Audiobooks provide benefits to all listeners and can be especially beneficial to struggling readers. How can audiobooks benefit your homeschool and family?

Support Skills of Emerging Readers

How can it help reading skills if they aren’t reading? Listening to an audiobook allows them to hear fluent reading. This will help when they read aloud. It allows them to notice how punctuation affects the meaning of a passage and how we hear written conversation. They notice whether someone reads too fast or too slow. As a result, they can become better at controlling their own pace. All of these things will help them to become better readers.

There are no tags on any of my child’s clothes. When she needs new clothes, we spend hours in dressing rooms trying to find ones that are comfortable. Deeply intuitive, in need of quiet downtime, challenged by change, a perfectionist, she is not alone. There are, in fact, two people in my family of four who fall into the 20% of the population known for being highly sensitive. Elain Aron, Ph.D. is the author of The Highly Sensitive Child: Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them. She herself was often misunderstood and even shamed for being too sensitive.Elain writes, “… it is primarily parenting that decides whether the expression of sensitivity will be an advantage or a source of anxiety.”

Summer is upon us. For homeschoolers that may signal summer break, or it might just be another season where they continue their normal lessons. If you take a summer break, chances are that you are still looking for creative ways to keep your children learning.

As homeschoolers, we often look for lessons in everyday life and ways to make life an education, so it only makes sense that we want our kids to learn all summer long.

Are you ready for Shark Week? We get super excited about it around here because my kids love everything to do with this apex predator of the oceans. It's the perfect way to keep summer learning fun! We’ve already created our sharky library list and now I’m looking into documentaries. My kids adore documentaries as they add a visually compelling and storytelling element to my kids’ studies. Shark Week for Homeschoolers Comprehensive Video List Here is a comprehensive list of 25 shark documentaries and shark videos using YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.Read More

One of the greatest pressures of homeschooling is the weight of responsibility moms feel. They sense the need to check all of the boxes and cover all of the important topics. Even if the idea of exploring interests with less structure sounds appealing, it may be nerve-wracking to let go of the formal curriculum. However, if you take a break from school during the summer months, this can be the perfect time to experiment with a less formal approach to learning. First, start with a good YouTube video. Then, follow the rabbit trails of curiosity and interest that spring up.Read More

The concerts, award ceremonies, and end-of-the-year parties have faded, so it's time to take a deep breath. Summer is here, and the living is easy...or at least it used to be. Who has time to take a breath when you have to enroll in that sought-after robotics camp? Oh, and there are dance intensives and day camps for every imaginable interest. And let's not forget the traveling sports team. As homeschool moms, we may even feel the desire to get a jump on the new school year. This isn't a bad idea if your summer is miserably hot and you flock outdoors in the fall, but do we need to fill every moment with enrichment?Read More