I’m not really an unschooler, you know. I’m too mother-directed. But I’m not formal enough for the other types. I guess I’m eclectic, which is not much of a label, so. But, after that caveat which I say every single time the subject of our homeschool comes up because I am a flake, with considerable back and forth we have decided we are going with Bookshark this year!
Last year we used Oak Meadow. My kids liked it okay, and retained quite a bit but it’s kinda dry. And it was difficult to keep up with because the lessons are weekly, not daily, so that meant I had to do three kids’ dailies every week. I have too many other responsibilities to make that a priority, so that meant every week was a bit of a slog as each child brought me their book (or didn’t) and asked me what they were supposed to do. Every day. And then my mom got sick and everything but math stopped completely.
Bookshark, like Sonlight, is literature based. Gilbert, a rising 8th grader, will be in Level 8, History of Science. (It looks so. cool. I mean, I would have loved this at his age. And now, which is great, because I’ll be reading all the books so he has a discussion partner.) Trixie, rising 7th grade, is doing Level 6, World History 1. And finally, Gloria, rising 5th, is doing Level 3, American History 1. Bookshark levels cover a wide age range. Level 8 is for 13-15, Level 6 for 11-13, and Level 3 for 8-11. They aren’t really like grades in a brick and mortar school. And everyone has math appropriate to their ability. This year we’re going with Teaching Textbooks, the streaming option. I kind of go back and forth between TT and Saxon every year, but since Sean gets an employee discount the choice was easier.
One of the things I really like about Bookshark is the four-day week. I hope that mostly that means we’ll have one day free and clear, but I know that a lot of the time the kids will want to spread out into that day. Now we’ll have a good buffer zone, no rush to get things done or fall behind where we want to go.
So I’m going all in until about the middle of October when I’ll be in babyland until the new year. Then back to it!
