Mom to Many: Homeschooling Multiple Children

How do you homeschool multiple children and multiple levels? Managing lessons with six children, four of who are in school and two of who are masters of chaos, is definitely a challenge, but it is doable. It's all about having the right tools and the right mind set.

Tip #1: Schedule

My first recommendation is to have a schedule. I've talked about this before how to work up a daily homeschool schedule, and more recently how I tweak it each year. The reason that this area is so vital for me, and why I stress it is because it is the only way to handle multiple children at multiple levels without eating up your entire day or driving you crazy. Some subjects, such as math are more individual subjects. They need to be tailored to each child's level. I currently for example have two doing Algebra I, one doing fractions, and a fourth just learning to add and subtract. There are no way that I could adequately teach them all the same thing. A schedule allows you to plan for those individual subjects and time to work one on one with your students.

Tip #2: Combine Grade Levels

My second recommendation is to combine grade levels whenever possible. This one is such a big part of successfully homeschooling multiple kids and multiple levels that I debated listing it first. You have to schedule time and make sure that you are covering individual kids where they need to be, but what about all your other classes. Most classes you can combine age levels: history, science, art, music, and read-alouds (great for discussing grammar and encouraging their own writing and reading). These are all areas that we do as a family.

In art, I don't expect the same quality of work from every one, it's easy to see where some have more natural talent than others. I approach other subjects with a similar group lesson but individual expression mentality. Do I expect the same level of follow up work in history from the pre-reader as I do the high schooler, of course not. I tailor the questions I ask questions based on their abilities. Additionally, I don't expect the littles to retain as much as I do the older kids, after all, I'm teaching to the older kids and trusting the littles to catch more and more as time progresses. With read-alouds, I typically do the opposite, I choose stories that even the youngest will relate too and be interested in. Then, as they get older, I expect them to dig more and more into the literature aspects and see them use things they see modeled in stories in their own writing. Both methods, teaching up and teaching at a baseline, have value.

Combining as much as possible allows them to learn from each other as well as from the material itself, while saving you a lot of time and headache. I read the material and then relate what we've just read in as plain of English as I can, giving overviews for the younger learners. We then discuss what we've read and talked about, and very often them correcting and clarifying each other or finding other examples in every day life makes the information more relatable and more easily understood by everyone.

Now that I have such a spread of children, from 1st grade to 9th grade it is more difficult to combine some subjects. For example, this year I needed to lay the ground work for high school science with Biology for the older two, but the younger two weren't ready to delve into that deep of a science. As a result, we opted for two science classes: Biology for the oldest two, and Earth Science for the youngest two. I'm still combining multiple levels in one subject, because teaching two sciences is still better than teaching three. Last year we also did this, but more because of different interests amongst my students (more on that next week). With my two youngest students, last year I geared science to my youngest learner, and the oldest learner enjoyed helping, even though she wasn't as challenged. This year I geared science to my older learner, knowing that my youngest won't understand everything, but will still learn a great deal.

Tip #3: Combine Subjects

My third recommendation is to combine subjects as much as possible. The idea that so many of us have about math, reading, science, history, etc, all being separate subjects is a product of the current industrial approach to education. Studies show that integrating multiple subjects into a single lesson has many benefits. It makes students more engaged and increases real world applications by students. My kids didn't care about Roman numerals until we were studying ancient Rome in history. We do most of our writing assignments on historical subjects, and we look at art and music through the lens of history as well. Science naturally can incorporate math when we measure and record information. Anytime you can combine subjects it increases what they retain as well as decreasing the amount of time spent on "school work" in a given day.

Tip #4: Attitude

My fourth recommendation is to manage your own attitude. Kids are like sharks they can smell blood in the water, and will attack. Just kidding, but in all seriousness, I can't control their attitudes, but I can control mine, and mine is what sets the mood. Everything in the house can be going wrong, but if I'm able to stay calm and collected we can get back on track and still have a profitable and enjoyable school day. On the other hand it doesn't matter how good things started out if I fall apart, our school day just isn't going to go well. One way I manage my own attitude is by trying to rein in my expectations. One way I do this is to remind myself, when I feel like falling apart, that everything about how they will turn out doesn't boil down to this one day of schooling. I try to tell myself that it's probably not going as badly as I feel like it is. Sometimes it means we need to take a short break to regroup, or let a subject go for the day. Sometimes it means I need another Dr. Pepper. The key is to find a way to deal with what I'm feeling, not allow my feelings to be dependent on their moods or cooperation, and just refocus on being the best mom and teacher I can be.

Bonus Tip: Handling Littles

As a final bonus tip, many of you who are homeschooling may be dealing with littles - babies or toddlers who aren't school age yet. One key to managing lessons with all of my students is in how we handle our littlest members of the family. Afterall, if they are running wild and tearing up the house, learning is sporadic if it's happening at all. When they were babies it was easier, I did lots of baby wearing when they weren't napping. But, now that I have toddlers it's a little more challenging.

First, I incorporate them as much as I can into our day. We do our group subjects first in the morning, and while the kids are coloring or completing history projects, they get a sheet of paper and colored pencils too. Secondly, when their attention span runs out I use the tv. Sometimes I can get as much as 45 minutes of instructional time, if I turn on a favorite show on the tv for the twins. Third, hold them. When I do read-alouds, I hold and cuddle the boys. When they are extra fussy, I get someone else to help me with the materials so that I can hold the boys. It's exhausting, but sometimes its what you have to do. These three suggestions will get me through all of our group subjects. Next, nap time or quiet time is a life saver. We do individual subject that require one on one time with Momma during nap time. As the boys out grow their nap we'll institute quiet time for them, where they have to stay in their rooms and nap or play quietly. The final trick is to alternate who gets a break to play with their little siblings, so that they aren't alone and destroying the house, but that learning is still progressing. There are still days of pure chaos where we are trying to squeeze learning in around twin tornadoes, but these tricks with the littles help to assure that I have the ability to school the older kids consistently.

Ultimately

Ultimately, if you can keep a positive outlook and streamline your day you can homeschool multiple children. That means even when the littlest are interrupting your day, you can stay positive. That means you can order your day, so that you aren't stretched too thin. Schooling multiple children at multiple levels becomes not only possible, but enjoyable. Every school day leaves me exhausted and ready for a nap, but they also fill me with joy as I see them make those mental connections, help each other, and grow in knowledge and, I hope, in grace.