Homeschooling Children of Multiple Ages
One of the most common questions I receive from other homeschool mamas, is how do you homeschool children of various ages? How is it possible and what does it look like to homeschool your children in a way that is effective for all?
This is one of those questions that makes sense to ask. It’s hard to sometimes understand how a “one room schoolhouse” can be done, however if we look back into history, we know that this has been done before and it was done successfully. To be honest, homeschooling children of various ages has looked different in different seasons of our homeschooling and I fully expect it to continue to change as we grow.
It’s dreamy to think of the children all gathered around the table and learning together, and while we certainly do this, it’s also realistic and understood that sometimes this just isn’t manageable with children on different levels, curriculums and with different needs.
What started as our family doing all subjects together when my children were little, has evolved into my family doing family style subjects together; with core subjects being more one on one for some children and more independently for others. My first piece of advice for homeschooling multiple levels and grades is to determine what subjects you can do family style. Family style learning eases your time as the educator with planning and assisting; it allows more cohesive learning; more solid family time; and more opportunities for the little children to learn from the older children.
In our home, we deem anything that isn’t a core subject as a family style subject. Our Catholic Schoolhouse memory work and timeline serves as the spine that determines our history studies, our science studies, our catechism studies (more on this later), our geography, our art and music, and our Latin studies. These subjects are done together at the table, often during breakfast, lunch and/or afternoon snack time. Some of these subjects we do not do daily, as it is fine to loop these subjects on specific days of the week.
So what does a typical day look like for us?
Completing a family science unit together after lunch one day
Breakfast and Morning work: This consists of bible, morning prayer, poetry, memory work, timeline cards and often a read aloud. While I review these things, the children are often working in their handwriting books and/or coloring a worksheet or color sheet that pertains to the lessons. On Tuesdays we normally do a read aloud or chapter reading from history and then the kids will do their history note booking. History note booking is done family style, but with different expectations in terms of level and skill (younger ones narrate, older ones write longer pages, etc).
Spelling and moving to morning chores and core work: The girls will work in their spelling books while I usually do a preschool lesson or wrap up a read aloud. Normally from here the girls will go get dressed, the toddler runs to play and I will sit with my second grader. Here is where we knock out all of his math, ELA and reading work. While he is working on this, the girls are cleaning their rooms, getting dressed and then beginning their core work.
Doing core work: While I am finishing up my second grader’s core work, my fourth grader is usually beginning her work and sometimes I can juggle the two at a time. Other times, I will send her to her room to read until it is her turn with me. She is slowly becoming more independent in realizing that she can read the directions and often complete the work herself, but there are times where I have to help with the new skill. During this time my sixth grader is completing all of her work that she can do and anything that she needs me for, we set aside. During all of this, my preschooler is often playing with his toys or coloring or doing some sort of simple activity.
Wrapping up core work: Sometime by 11:30 my second and fourth grader have completed their core work and will run off to play. Here is where I assist my sixth grader with anything that she needs me for. While we do most of our catechism family style, she does a more in depth catechism from Seton that we work on together. Each child will likely be adding in their own catechism studies for next year as well.
Lunch and play: During lunch time I complete more read aloud books and will often read something to go along with our science studies. One to two days a week we will work in our science workbooks (although next year we will likely just do science note booking) after lunch or during a snack/tea time. From here our day is usually wrapped up and the kids are free to play or move onto their sports or crafts that they wish to.
Homeschooling multiples doesn’t have to be complicated or even fit any sort of color coded block schedule. I have tried the fancy schedules and it just doesn’t always work for us. We tend to just move and groove in our own, natural rhythm and that works just fine for us! It is okay to just sit with each learner and soak it in, give them your best and then move onto the other learners in your home. Move and grow with them throughout the seasons, and they’ll appreciate you so much for it!
