Disclaimer: I received this curriculum for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.
I have eclectic tastes when it comes to good food. I love sampling foods from different cultures. New flavors, food pairings, and different textures add variety to my palate and make the mundane, routine necessity of eating an adventurous experience. My homeschool operates much like my eclectic tastes in food. Variety is the spice of my homeschool, with no day looking the same as the day before. Therefore, I consider myself a staunch eclectic homeschooler. While I believe in structure and a basic routine to help with consistency and our learning progress, exploring every subject the same way, day in and day out, makes for a very dull homeschool environment.
My two youngest children are full of energy, motion, and imagination, so our homeschool rarely has a dull moment. On the surface, learning history would seem to be antithetical to my children’s temperament. Still, in my mind, history has great potential to integrate several subject areas and skills into its exploration.
Last month, we moved on from exploring U.S. Geography (namely, exploring the states and the national parks) and are moving on to studying U.S. History. We are taking the summer to dive into U.S. History, and that means diving into a curriculum that provides us with variety, flexibility, and meaningful learning opportunities.
BookShark is a Charlotte Mason-inspired, literature-based U.S. History curriculum that immerses young learners in books that build their understanding of history through books, maps, and activities that also strengthen their reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary skills.
What is received with BookShark?
We received a surprising number of materials with BookShark. We received the following materials for the Level E Introduction to History, Year 2 of 2 for ages 9-12:
- The BookShark Binder with the Instructor’s Guide
- The Wee Sing America CD
- The Timeline Book and Timeline Figures
- The World/USA Laminated Map and a 4-pack of Vis-à-vis Marker Set
- The Children’s Encyclopedia of America
- The Landmark History Vol. 2 Textbook
- The World Wars Textbook
- and over 31 books of engaging literature that includes award-winning authors and modern classics.
The Instructor's Guide
Initially, parents may feel overwhelmed by the curriculum’s many moving parts. However, a quick study of the first few pages of the Instructor’s Guide (IG) should alleviate any anxiety and clarify how the different materials provided give your children a richer experience with history.
The IG lays out the purpose of each of the materials included in the curriculum, the four-day schedule design, and everything you need as a parent to feel competent and comfortable facilitating your children’s engagement.
As a parent who prefers structure and guidance, the Schedule and Notes section was my favorite feature of the IG. The schedule was easy to follow and showed me what books to use for History and Geography, what books and chapters to use for the daily read-aloud, and what readers my children would be reading from. A simple key at the bottom of the schedule gave me a quick note of when the map and timeline with timeline figures would be needed that day. I also appreciated the Daily Notes, which included discussion questions after our daily read-aloud and vocabulary words with the definitions and excerpts from the reading that had the vocabulary word used in context. These features made learning vocabulary so much easier and more organic.
The schedule is bare-bones enough to give you what you’ll be reading each day for those who like less structure and want to dive into the books. You can incorporate whatever supplementary materials (either provided with the curriculum or outside resources) you prefer.
The History Books
Many of you have heard the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and the history books chosen by BookShark epitomize why this old saying is true! In my opinion, it is so vital for young learners to be able to visualize historical events. Often young learners operate in the realm of what is concrete and tangible to them. This means that speaking of a different period with different values, cultures, and living conditions without a visual representation can make it hard for them to fully understand or connect with history. The history texts that BookShark chose were rich with pictures and explanations that pulled no punches when accurately discussing complicated topics like the world wars, slavery, and the Civil Rights Movements.
American History: A Visual Encyclopedia by the Smithsonian
This encyclopedia was rich with colorful pictures, images, maps, and timelines. My son often pulled this encyclopedia off the shelf to look through the photos and read explanations of historical events. The pictures of real people from history really made the events described real, not just a talking point.
The World Wars
I am looking forward to teaching the World Wars simply because I can use this outstanding textbook. The textbook begins by clearly explaining the causes surrounding World War I and includes color pictures of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and a picture of the assassin who killed them and ignited the war. The World Wars were pivotal moments in modern history. I am sure that our exploration of the Wars using this book will spark intense conversations about the horrors of war, what it means to serve one’s country, and how wars affect the citizens of a nation.
I will note as a Black homeschooler that while the World Wars text makes passing mention of the contributions of African-American troops and segregation within the military, it fails to delve into details sufficiently or do justice to the subject. As a Black parent, it will be incumbent upon me to do the research and acquire supplemental videos, articles, and pictures to discuss topics. Historical highlights such as The Tuskegee Airmen, segregation within the military, and innovative contributions made by black people to the war were glaring omissions from the text.
The textbook also fails to mention the Japanese internment camps or how Asian immigrants were treated during the wars and after.
The Landmark History of the American People: From Charleston to the Moon Volume II
This textbook was another image-rich text that narrates the history of the U.S. from the dawn of the Civil War to modern times. I appreciated how this textbook goes into much greater depth about the causes of the Civil War, including the horrors and issues with slavery and the resultant divide between the North and the South. The discussion delves more deeply than most traditional textbooks into the experiences of Native Americans and black people both before and after the Civil War. The experiences and influence of leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois and Frederick Douglass are also discussed in some depth. While the textbook doesn’t get into details such as how minorities were cut out of experiencing the benefits of The New Deal, for example, the text does provide starting points for minority parents to do further research and supplement the material if they are familiar with these aspects of history.
When I review BookShark’s history textbooks, I can see the thought and care that went into choosing texts that did more than a cursory discussion of the experiences of Native American and Black people in the U.S. I also appreciate the language and images used in the chosen texts to accurately describe some of the issues surrounding U.S. History’s specific, commonly controversial themes.
However, even with these texts, minorities (Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American) contributions and experiences still appear on the margins of the “mainstream” events discussed. I think the history texts chosen are valuable still and necessary for this curriculum. Still, I genuinely feel that if BookShark could add an inclusive history text that walks through U.S. History through the experiences and perspectives of marginalized groups (ex: immigrants, Black people, Native American Asian, and Hispanic people), it would make BookShark History Curriculum shine even brighter.
The Maps, Timeline, Timeline Figures, and Wee Sing Cd
Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, maps and timelines also serve to illuminate historical events and orient children to their place in history. The timeline and timeline figures were highly valuable as a resource for my children because it helped them to understand that much of the history, we were exploring was not far removed from them. As we looked at public figures such as Harriet Tubman and Helen Keller, I was able to point to family members like my grandmother who was alive during much of the events we studied and my grandmother’s parents, who were contemporaries of Harriet Tubman. This communicated to them more clearly that slavery, abolition, and the Civil Rights movement were as far removed from today as many like to pretend. It also drives home for them how much progress has occurred in a short period of time when viewed through the lens of recorded history.
Additionally, the maps were invaluable in helping my children understand where America sits in relation to events that involved other countries such as the World Wars. The United States map also gave the practice in familiarization with the states’ and how regional cultures and politics served to influence the Civil War, states’ economies, and legislation.
While I can appreciate the Wee Sing CD and the variety of songs available for my kids to listen to, we didn’t really use the cd in our homeschool.
The bulk of the BookShark curriculum is, of course, books (being literature-based). Oh, what a rich selection of books they include! My excitement grew as I pulled classics like Old Yeller, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler out of the box! These are classics that I read and enjoyed as a child and now get to share with my littles. I am especially enamored with Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry because I read it aloud to my two oldest when they were younger.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a shining example of why I loved the books featured in the BookShark Curriculum. Not only do the books coincide with the periods and events covered in the curriculum, but the books capture the zeitgeist of the times through the eyes of children from various backgrounds and walks of life. Reading the experiences from other children’s perspectives helps bring history to life and make it more relatable.
Additionally, I appreciated that BookShark included books for me as a parent to read aloud to my children and help them improve their vocabulary. They also had readers with simplified language so that my children could read me. This is huge for me as I try to move away from a reading curriculum that targets specific skills and levels and does reading for us more organic and natural. BookShark helps me feel confident that my children can progress in reading and be exposed to a variety of literature.
The Takeaway
I consider BookShark Reading through History Curriculum a worthwhile investment. I was able to use the curriculum with my two youngest children, whose ages coincide with the age range for the curriculum (ages 9-11). I appreciated the immersive approach to history through rich literature that sparked curiosity and deeper conversations and expanded my children’s vocabulary in an organic, conversational way.
The BookShark curriculum equips families to explore history together, which feels more like a discussion than teacher-driven instruction with a top-down, authoritative feel. The results are rich conversations, new perspectives, and a greater connection with your kids as you acquire new knowledge together.
