10 Secrets for Managing Multiple Children While Homeschooling
The One-Room Schoolhouse
Nestled at the edge of a sprawling paddock, the one-room schoolhouse stood as a testament to simpler times. Inside, sunlight streamed through tall, narrow windows, casting warm patches of light onto the well-worn wooden desks arranged in neat rows. The chalkboard bore the day's lessons in careful handwriting. A potbellied stove in the corner, tended to by a caring teacher, promised warmth during the harsh winters. At times, bubbling on top of the stove was a stew awaiting hungry children to come and devour it at the lunch time bell.
Children of all ages sat together, their eager faces reflecting a thirst for knowledge, as the lone teacher guided them through the mysteries of reading, arithmetic, and the world. Managing multiple children, the teacher would gradually spend time with each age group. Younger children were dismissed before older children. Often, the teacher would teach with a common theme known as a 'unit'. Students of all ages would learn the same topic, but at their own level. The air was filled with the soft murmurs of recitation and the occasional chirp of a bird from outside, creating a harmonious blend of nature and nurture in this quaint haven of learning.
This 'One Room School House' is much more like homeschooling than the school system that is used today. We could imagine that in a large family, our homes are that school house. The teacher (us) goes between the children guiding and helping. We begin the day with prayers and reading aloud. We spend more time with the younger students first so they can go and play while we focus more on the older children. If any of the older children are available, they can read to a younger child or perhaps help them with a math problem.
While there are certainly larger families than my own, I certainly felt pretty stretched when all my eldest children were still homeschooling. At my busiest, I had five children homeschooling, plus heavily pregnant with my sixth. Juggling teaching, housework, cooking and babies can be quite exhausting. There are a few things I have learnt along the way! Managing multiple children can be a tricky business! I'd like to share with you today my top 10 secrets for dealing with those crazy years. Hopefully, you can see that although it's crazy (and there is no avoiding that!) it's doable.
1. Morning Meetings
Begin each day with a family meeting to discuss the day's plan. We begin with our morning basket time. This is a time to say prayers as a family, read aloud from a book which all children of all ages can enjoy and add in any other subject which brings beauty and joy to your day. Poetry, art, nature journaling, music appreciation - all the subjects that children (and adults!) of all ages can enjoy.
The morning meeting can be a done on a Monday. You can discuss as a family all the things that has to be done that week. It can also be used as a time to discuss with the children what tasks they have for that day, and what you might need them to do to make the day run smoother.
2. Create a Flexible Schedule
A well-structured yet flexible schedule is essential. But flexibility is the key. You certainly don't want to be racing around against the clock, trying to keep up with a highly structured timetable that you made when you were feeling super motivated and organised. The more children you have, the more chance that unexpected events will occur.
The three year old will climb up and steal the older child's pencils.
The toddler will have a tantrum because you won't read their favourite book for the 100th time that day.
The baby will decide the morning nap is not happening that day.
All the kids will see that kangaroo that has just bounced across the backyard, and they will go running out to chase it (yes that really did happen!).
3. Block Scheduling
To avoid getting too bogged down with a structured timetable, try block scheduling. It follows a loose structure, but in a way that can be adapted and changed as you need to ensure you don't feel the pressure of 'running out of time'. Block scheduling allocates specific blocks of time for different subjects or activities, allowing for adjustments as needed. My post on schedule examples has more details on how this can be done and there is a free download with a sample schedule for you to try.
4. Leverage Combined Learning
Teach subjects that can be combined across age groups. History, science and geography can often be taught together with activities tailored to different age levels. Pick a main topic and get all children to learn from that topic.
For example, children of all ages can learn about ancient history. You could read aloud a story set in ancient Egypt, then the older children read more non-fiction texts and write essays on Egyptian topics, the middle children could practise writing messages in hieroglyphics, while the younger children do some art activities making Egyptian pyramids. The youngest children could make pyramids with their blocks and then do a colouring in activity.
Combining children for topics makes it easier for the parent and more fun for the children.
A selection of different books for all ages, all on the same topic, sweetened with homemade Anzac biscuits.
5. Share the Teaching Around
When trying to manage multiple children, it is not possible to teach all children at once. Each child needs to wait to get their 1-on-1 time with mum. Sometimes this can be frustrating, but you need to remember it is still better that the 30-to-1 ratio in schools. A 10min lesson with one child could be the equivalent of a 40min lesson in a school environment. To help keep your sanity, get your older help younger children. They can practise reading aloud to the baby or toddler. They can also revisit maths concepts when helping a younger child. I also had older children reading their assigned book while rocking the baby!
You need to stagger your 1-1 time with each child as in the one house schoolroom. Start with the younger ones and as you send them off to play, work with the older children. Take a child aside to work with them, while other older children conduct a PE lesson outside. Create an environment where you all work as a team, helping and assisting each other so the day runs as smoothly as possible.
An older sibling reads to a younger sibling as we do 'picnic school'. This gives me a chance to work with an older child.
6. Teach One Subject Per Term
Geography, science, history, economics, civics and health can be done as crash courses. Either choose a term to focus on each of them. Or even do them over a few weeks, intensively. If you did history every day for 4 weeks, that's the equivalent of doing it once a week for half the year! If you really wanted to, you could do it a couple of times a day over 2 weeks. It could become your history program as well as your art, design and technology program and writing program.
7. Natural Learning
Our time as homeschool mums is precious, we don't have time to be doing anything extra to what is absolutely necessary. If you have a general idea of what your children 'need' to learn at a certain age, then you can keep an eye on things they do naturally.
If you see your primary school child is keen to play around with that electronics kit their Great Aunty Dora bought them for their last birthday...encourage it! Let them play and explore...they are covering science. If on your last trip to the library your other child is interested in borrowing the Horrible Histories books, then great! They are covering history. Maybe your younger child wants to play around in the kitchen with bicarb, lemon juice and vinegar...fantastic! They are doing science. Maybe their grandparent has just been on an overseas trip and is telling them all about their adventures. Get out an atlas and they can see all the places that they travelled. They are doing geography.
You get the picture.
Sneak in learning when they don't know it's happening. Present interesting books for them to read, buy educational games and kits and see how much learning that will happen without lesson plans, workbooks and textbooks. Record it all down so you can see all the amazing things that are happening in their day.
8. Little Home Helpers
With little feet constantly running around the house, and primary and high school children spending a lot more time in the home, they seem to get dirtier a lot faster than the home of children that are at school.
Teaching kids chores while homeschooling is immeasurably helpful in a homeschool environment.
Firstly, it instills a sense of responsibility and independence, time management and organisational skills, teamwork and cooperation.
If I clean the back glass doors, kids don't seem to mind if they get dirty. But if one of the kids cleans them then I'll hear them yelling, "Don't put your hands on the doors, I've just cleaned that!" The kids take much more pride in the house if they have helped to clean it.
9. Over-Commitment
A common criticism of homeschooling is the lack of socialisation. As homeschoolers we know that this is not the case! If we wanted to, we could be out all day everyday with the amount of activities on offer to homeschoolers. As we try to manage our multiple children, some of us end up overcommitting, because there are so many good things to choose from! This can lead to burn-out. Be careful of this! Only commit to what you are sure you can sustain and always know that you won't run out of activities to choose from.
10. Self-Care
We hear about this all the time... self care! I have scoffed at this many times. Our culture is so pushed towards making sure we have our 'me time'. This can make us feel guilty if we don't spend lots of time on ourselves. We need to appreciate the little bit of time we might get here and there. Don't expect to try and get large chunks of time without kids. Take little moments here and there and really enjoy them. My special self-care time is my coffee time during morning tea. The kids are sent outside to play and I boil the kettle and enjoy my hot black coffee...without interruptions.
I also enjoy some quiet time some afternoons. The kids are allowed their 'screen time' and I enjoy a nice quiet house. Sometimes, I use this to collect my thoughts, read, make phone calls or make another cup of tea. Other times I use it get some jobs done in silence or while I listen to an audio book or podcast.
In the evenings, I love a quiet house. On evenings when I am not collecting kids from different ends of the earth, I love to cozy up on the couch with my book and yet another cup of tea.
We can all make special times during the day for self-care without the use of babysitters, or elaborate days out. Don't get me wrong, I certainly do sometimes organise a babysitter and go out on a date night with hubby or by myself but my main form of self care is deliberate stopping during the day to appreciate the beauty around me.
Conclusion
Homeschooling and managing multiple children requires patience, organisation, and creativity. Try out my little secrets and see that you can create a harmonious and productive homeschooling environment that caters to the unique needs of each of your children. Remember, flexibility and adaptability are your best friends in this journey. You can do this!
"Homeschooling is like crafting with glitter.
It’s messy and scary and oh so worth it.”
Unknown
