
Bookshark Literature-Based History Curriculum for Your Homeschool
At my house full of bibliophile children, there is absolutely nothing more exciting than the arrival of a box full of books! Of course, my kiddos really wanted to grab an armful of books each and disappear to the nether regions of our home immediately, but I knew better than to allow that.
I gave them a few minutes to browse through the books before gathering them back up. Being prohibited just made them all the more enticing!
We have visited China twice as a family and both times have commented that we needed to learn Chinese history in order to answer our myriad questions. We finally decided that this was the year and were overjoyed to find BookShark Level F is the study of the Eastern Hemisphere!

(I was compensated for my time, but all of the opinions contained within are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosures for more information.)
What Does BookShark History Curriculum Include?
Each level of BookShark History is different and the content of each level is outlined on their website. We used Level F, which is the study of the Eastern Hemisphere, geared to ages 10 – 13. I used it family-style for 4 of my children, ages 9 – 15, and it worked perfectly.
BookShark History curriculum contains absolutely everything, from the literature books (Level F includes 42+ books!) and the Instructor’s Guide to the activity books and supplies (our included an origami set, a Chinese calligraphy set and a timeline with stickers) plus a markable map with dry erase markers.
Student notebooks are consumable, so if you have multiple children using one level, you will need to purchase each child their own notebook. Alternatively, you could copy the one that comes in the kit, but they are colorful, with beautiful maps, and I think it would cost more to print yourself than to purchase.
These fun activity sets are included: an authentic Chinese calligraphy set, an origami set, a markable map with dry-erase markers and a timeline with stickers. What a fun way to make history more hands-on!

How Do We Use BookShark History Curriculum?
My primary reason for loving literature-based curriculum is that my insatiable readers devour them without me having to say a word. Not having to nag is almost better than an entire night of uninterrupted sleep, and if you’re a mom you know exactly what I mean!
The included Instructor’s Guide divides the schedule up into 36 weeks each with a 4-day schedule of reading assignments and activities. Each week includes correlating Geography and mapwork, which I love so much! It’s always helpful when you can accomplish two or more subjects in one curriculum.
Speaking of killing two birds with one stone, the literature component of BookShark history curriculum counts double as language arts literature. Yes, really! It makes your job so much easier as a homeschool parent.
The markable World map in Level F is laminated so it’s stiff and durable, but it also has perforations so it’s foldable. It’s my new favorite. The student materials include consumable maps and the Instructor’s Guide also has laminated fold-out maps to show different historical events.
We only work on history formally, as a family, about once per week and BookShark makes it easy to do that. Math is the only subject we complete every day. We work on history about once a week and we’re able to complete a week’s worth of assignments in about an hour or two.
Because my kiddos love to read I just hand out the reading assignments for the following week so they’re prepared. They usually read way ahead of what is assigned, but that’s okay. Our discussions don’t seem to suffer.
Whenever they’re reluctant because a book looks too non-fiction-y, I take the opportunity to read aloud with them and then I strategically leave the book lying around. If it doesn’t disappear, I read some more until it does. Occasionally, I have to read a book all the way through, but we enjoy that anyway.
Each week we start with a discussion of the assigned readings, then take a few minutes to mark where each event happened on our map, and then we add what we studied to our Timeline Book. We do all of that together as a family. Then my kiddos complete the assigned pages in their own notebooks, including their assigned map work.
Because we are completing an entire weeks worth of material, it usually takes us an hour or sometimes two if my kids are particularly interested or loquacious. If we were completing a single assignment each day, I’ll bet it would take about twenty minutes or less, excluding the reading assignments.
Each country you study includes an optional “choose your adventure” activity wherein students get to to become an expert about their choice of some aspect of that country. Students use outside resources to make a traditional recipe, compose a traditional song, learn about native plants or animals, perform a traditional dance, learn about traditional costumes — honestly there are numerous fun, creative ideas in the student notebooks.
I didn’t help my children with their “choose your adventure” activities at all and they came up with amazing projects all on their own! Most of the extra activities are optional, but the ones we’ve completed are very worth the extra time they require.
The Timeline Book
The Timeline Book is a spiral bound collection of cardstock with a dated timeline drawn across them all. Stickers of historical figures and events are included with the Timeline Book, which make it extra fun. Not all of the events include stickers so my youngest has fun illustrating our timeline book.
I think it would be fun, eventually, to unbind all of the pages and tape them in order around the top of the wall in our home, but that will make it more difficult to add events, so I won’t do that until we’ve finished it. It’s very effective as it is bound, though, too. We love our Timeline Book!

Can You Use BookShark History Family-Style?
I wouldn’t use it if I couldn’t! I’m no masochist and I think having to provide grade-level resources and teaching in every subject for each of my eight children would be torture.
I homeschool family style for MY sanity. Of course, each of my kiddos has grade-level math, but we study the rest of our subjects as a family. They all just take away what they can on their own level, but they all earn significant learning.
BookShark History levels each span a three-year age range, but each level can easily be expanded beyond the suggested age range. When you choose your level, just make sure the subject matter is interesting to all of your children instead of trying to keep things on a certain grade level.
If you plan to use BookShark History curriculum with multiple kiddos, you’ll need to either purchase a separate student notebook for each student or print copies yourself. They come loose-leaf and 3-hole punched (for placement in a binder) so they’re easy to run through the printer, but they are all in color, with beautiful maps and photographs. Level F is 135 pages. I think it might cost more to copy than to purchase.
Can Kids Work Independently?
It depends on whether your children love to read or not. If you have to complete all of the books as read alouds, it’s going to require more involvement from you.
My kiddos read voraciously, so my time commitment is about 1 -2 hours per week. I lead the literature discussions, assign workbook pages and correct finished ones, and assign the next weeks reading.
The activities, like Chinese calligraphy and origami are sufficiently enticing that my children beg to be allowed to work on them independently, so I don’t need to assign them. So far I haven’t even needed to oversee them.
Occasionally, but rarely, I have to read my children an entire book aloud. They complete the majority of the readings independently.
If you need your child’s studies to be more independent, BookShark also offers a virtual version. BookShark Virtual isn’t an online curriculum. It’s more like a daily planner for students, guiding them through a physical curriculum, and a way for parents to track progress.
Your children will still spend their days reading engaging books (hard-copies provided in each BookShark package as always), discussing ideas and working on hands-on projects in real life. They’ll just log in to view assignments and grades, and take assessments. It’s a great help for busy parents!
We’ve used BookShark Virtual for a couple of different classes now and I wrote a whole BookShark Virtual blog post in case you’d like some more information.
What I Love About BookShark History Curriculum
One of the many reasons I love literature-based curriculum is that I never have to nag! I merely turn my kids into literature junkies and I provide their drug of choice.
Another reason I love BookShark History is that there is no objectionable material — no propaganda and no attempts at social programming. I don’t know about you, but I think schools should stick to teaching reading, writing and ‘rithmetic and leave social responsibility and character development to parents.
BookShark History is good, old-fashioned learning, just the way it should be!
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