Homeschooling Multiple Children

When I started homeschooling I really only had the Princess who was doing school. Sure, sometimes my Little Man would “sit-in” on schoolwork, but my primary focus was on the Princess. Over the years our family has grown by one more, the Littles have gotten older. And now I am homeschooling 3 kiddos instead of just one.

Honestly, I kinda let things go with the Littles long after I should have been working with them. I was anxious about trying to educate more than one child at a time, and especially THREE at once. But apparently, I can’t wait until one is graduated to start educating the others. Who knew?

Seriously though, this year is my first year with all 3 kiddos officially doing school work. You can read what curriculum I chose in this post ———> Paterson Academy Curriculum Round-Up 2018-2019. The biggest challenge I have is the large age gap. The Princess is 11 and in 6th grade, while the Littles are 5 and 7 in K and 1st respectively. That age gap doesn’t seem like a big deal with some things, but educationally speaking, that gap can be more like a canyon. I approached things with that in mind and made my primary goal to make things as easy as possible for everyone, especially me. Here is how I did that:

Give older students as much independence as possible

Personally, I don’t love telling my daughter what to do every step of the way. I would prefer to give her a list of things she needs to have accomplished by the end of the day and leave her to it. By sixth grade, she should hold a certain amount of personal responsibility. She should be well on her way to having ownership over the direction of her education.

With that in mind, I have started sitting down with her every Sunday and going over her week’s assignments. I give her a daily list of assignments for the week and she goes on her way. I am always available to answer questions, but for the most part her schoolwork is self-directed.

Remember that kids won’t always do what they’re supposed to do. At first, they may take advantage of their newfound freedom and shirk their responsibilities. But with persistence, consequences, and open conversation about increased responsibility you all will find a rhythm that works for you.

Find work that can be done as a group

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that we get to spend a lot more time together as a family. Our Daily Basket is one way we can learn together (you can read more about that here —–> The Daily Basket for the Secular Homeschooler). The beauty of subjects like history, art, music, poetry, and literature is that they can be taught to kids of various ages. Each child will take from it what they are able to for their individual level. And if you put things on rotation like Shakespeare, poetry, etc. you will find that children can build on their understanding with each round. So what a child gets from studying Van Gogh in 1st grade will be simple, but when they come back around to Van Gogh in say 4th grade they will build on that simple idea and have something more complex. Again when they get back him in 7th and 10th.

Field trips are also a fantastic way to get everyone learning together. As you already know we are on the go A LOT and this is one of the main reasons why. Everyone learns when we’re at the museum or exploring nature or whatever. They each learn at their own level and are better able to find things that interest them specifically. Sometimes they do go in 3 separate directions so maybe they are not necessarily learning “together” but it’s still better than trying to teach 3 completely different subjects at once.

Get curriculum that matches even if it's on a different level

This isn’t always possible since one of the selling points of homeschooling is catering your child’s education to the learning style/needs of the child, but using the same curriculum for all of your children can help make things easier. Curriculum usually maintains the same type of schedule for all grades. This means each child can be doing Lesson 16 on Tuesday but in their own book.

If kids are very close in age (like within a couple of years) and/or at the same level, it is also possible for the kids to be doing the exact same book. Both of my Littles are doing Handwriting Without Tears and Explode the Code 1. They work together with the Little Man reading directions to the Baby who doesn’t read well yet. This also gives them a little healthy competition as they try to get their work done. I do try to discourage real competition, however.

Older kids can help guide the younger ones with their work

With one little one that doesn’t read and one little one that doesn’t write there are times that both little ones need me at the same time. I have yet to perfect my ability to be two places at once (where is that time turner necklace Hermoine had?) so I need the help of The Princess. It’s really a wonderful opportunity for her to practice patience and kindness when she is working with one of the Littles, and it helps me keep everyone on track. I do have to pick which little one needs my help most vs. which one just needs something simple.

Even the Little Man will read things to the Baby to help out, although he struggles with not just giving her the answers.

Overall, I believe that pairing older and younger kids is a very good way to help younger ones get through their work. If I had more children like many wonderful homeschooling families I know, I think this would be something I put into practice quite often. I believe there is a benefit to both age groups because they each get to learn from the other and work cooperatively.

In the end, I think that homeschooling multiple children is definitely different than just focusing on one, but no more difficult. I think that you have to plan ahead, considering that those little kids need (and deserve) to be educated as much as the older ones. Most importantly I think it’s imperative that you consider the ways you can make this easy on yourself while still giving each child a full educational opportunity. Don’t stress yourself trying to give each child complete individualized attention. There’s only one you and 24 hours in a single day and sometime during that 24 hours you still have to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom…. Give yourself the grace to make it easy on yourself and I assure you the kids will also appreciate it.