Now I by no means claim to have the exact remedy for tackling homeschool with multiple children. I mean let’s face it I only have two children and they are very close in age. I am also very aware that many of you reading this may have more children than I do and that the age differences may vary from close to several years apart. That being said and details + differences aside I have gathered all my strongest practices (after seven years of homeschooling our children) and included resources that make homeschooling multiple children attainable and less traumatic. These resources are here for you to explore and hopefully implement or modify a few so that they will work for your homeschool.
*Post contains affiliate links.
As always I suggest you start everything off with prayer. Prayer will open your heart to the goals that the Lord has for you each day. We like to ask for our hearts to be softened, receptive, and that we will be able to retain the information covered each day.
1. Allow a little chaos + Give yourself time to adjust.
You’re not trying to recreate school here. While I understand the need for order understand that in your home especially, your children will be children. Not to mention the text messages you’ll receive or the appointment you’ll need to confirm. So much happens during the course of the day that you can not control. There will undoubtedly be interruptions. It’s all about strategically planning your day and incorporating routines, activities, and expectations that help you to maximize your time and get the most accomplished. Don’t worry I promise I am going to tell you how I did/do this.
2. Include independent learning activities.
Independent Learning Activities are activities that encourage learning and that the child can do with little to no assistance. What does this look like? It will vary of course depending on the age. For toddlers and younger children, busy bags/boxes/bins (I’ve heard many different terms) will be your best friend. It’s great to have a variety of these so that you can rotate them and your little one won’t become bored. For ideas and inspiration for your busy bags, you can explore Pinterest (links above) or check out the queen of busy bags over at The Purple Alphabet.
*Scroll through below to see a few examples.
For older children, this could be something like copy work. For even older children it could be research or a project.
3. Take Breaks.
This may seem like a no brainer but you’d be surprised how often homeschool parents forget to do this. Sometimes you can get so caught up in catching up or finishing on time that you don’t recognize the situations or speed bumps in your day that are encouraging you to stop. This isn’t limited to homeschool hours. Remember to break from the homeschool commonplace when you’re not actively facilitating. If you don’t clear your mind of the homeschool thoughts when those interruptions happen during your school hours you will be frustrated even more.
4. Incorporate a Schedule
While I am not really one to commit to a schedule for homeschool, I will say that I do love them nonetheless. I have also learned that for many people they help their homeschool run very smoothly. While we don’t typically follow a set schedule a schedule might work for your homeschool. Plan out your lessons, set a goal for completion times, set a time for lunch, chores, and schedule in naptime. As you are planning your day be sure to keep track of which independent learning activities you will give to the children that require them.
5. Morning Baskets
We absolutely love our morning basket! Wait, let me backtrack, a morning basketis full or not so full of topics, poetry, discoveries, devotionals, just about anything that you want to include for the family to discuss, go over, or learn at the start of the day. However, it can be done at any time throughout the day. It’s a collective time where the entire family can converse or reflect on things ranging from music and specific topics to foreign languages and everything in between. This year we will be including a Friday Tea Time (which is closely related to the morning basket) in our homeschool. I can’t wait to share more on that with you. Also, I will have a post coming soon about what we’ve included in our morning basket this year.
6. Story Time and Read Alouds
Hopefully, you’ve already established a habit of reading as a family. The reason I suggest this is because it provides another opportunity for those children that are most likely to cause a distraction to be included in what they may see as that coveted time in which mom or dad is focused on brother or sister and not them. The more inclusive activities you have like this the less likely they will feel isolated or left out. So if you are focused on someone else they’ll be ok.
Additionally, once the story is over you can find independent work for all your students giving you time to concentrate on the child that needs it the most or maybe even rotate between two. How would this look? Well, for a highschooler you could have them write a short essay about the story or topic. Your middle schooler can write a paragraph. Your upper-level elementary student (3rd through 5th grade) can write a short paragraph on the topic and the lower level elementary learner (K-2nd grade) can write an original sentence about the topic or copy or trace a sentence that you have written for them and with your preschooler you can simply talk about the story with them or provide a coloring sheet that introduces a letter and new or old word. I made a few for you. It’s free and you can grab it here. For instance, if you read a story that includes a rabbit(we love this one)you could say “R is for Rabbit, can you color the rabbit”.
7. Include Nature Studies and/or Maximize the Subjects that can be Taught as a Group.
Subjects like Nature Studies, Geography, History, Science, and Writing can be a lot of fun for all ages and what’s excellent for you is that they can be combined and taught together. Accompanying activities can be modified according to the grade level similar to what I demonstrated above. How would this look? For example, all of your children could keep a science journal. Have all of them record their predictions but for the younger children instead of using words or forming sentences if they are not ready, you could have them illustrate their hypothesis. Once they witness the experiment’s end result they would then record their findings in the same manner. Have all of your children record if their prediction matched the outcome. If it did not have your older child explain, in their journal, why they think their hypothesis did not match in sentence form. If they were correct, you could have them expound on their thought process or prior knowledge which assisted in an accurate prediction. Younger children can write a “Y” for “yes” or “N” for “no” and then illustrate what happened.
*If smaller children are able to form a small sentence (ex: “Yes it did”. or “No it did not”.) encourage them to do it.
*If questions arise during the discussion allow older children to assist you in explaining to the younger children this allows them to practice communication skills and demonstrate a clear understanding of the subject matter to you.
Remember with this you’re not you’re finding common ground for delivery, modifying the level of the individual assignments, and assisting with completion as needed.
8. Snack time and Naptime
Plan your one on one time during the younger child’s snack time or nap time. These are literally golden times of the day. Earlier we discussed setting a schedule and mentioned scheduling in your lunch and naps. If your little one usually takes a nap after lunch after lunch then you know that you can use that hour or however long they nap to go over the lessons with the other children that require individual attention.
Well, that’s it! That’s all I have. Hopefully, you feel more at ease. And if not, remember, I said that homeschooling multiple children is attainable. I didn’t say it wouldn’t come with some challenges.
Your feelings are valid and remember “Allow yourself a little chaos” and pray!
Until next time,
