How to survive homeschooling multiple children!

How to homeschool multiple children

Does your house remind you of a zoo full of uncontrollable, wild monkeys during homeschool days? Do you run yourself ragged, but despite your hard work your children have very little to show for it at the end of the day? 

Guess what –you’re NOT ALONE! Homeschooling is hard work, let alone homeschooling several kids at different age levels and needs! The struggle is real Momma..

Deep down in your heart you know it must be possible. You’ve seen moms with eight kids, who are full time homeschooling. Their children are all well behaved and smart and their house is spotlessly clean.”What’s their secret?” you ask. “How can they do it, when I can’t?”

This used to be one of my biggest struggles -and still is at times. Therefore I’d like to share a few tips on how to homeschool multiple children that have worked for us. I’m still far away from that magazine-worthy mom with a spotless home, but I don’t think I’ll ever be like that anyway (homeschool or not). Just not my style…

A couple of things to remember before continuing: 

1) Homeschooling multiples usually becomes easier as your kids grow older. 

2) Take your child’s unique learning style into consideration when you plan your homeschool days. This will lend to a more pleasant and productive learning experience.

• Does he/she need a quiet learning environment?
• Does he like to work alone or in a group?
• Is sitting at the table the best option?
• How does she learn best?
• Does she need to move while learning?

If you haven’t already done so, you should do a learning style assessment to find out more about your children’s different learning styles.

That being said; below are my tips on how to survive homeschooling multiple kids.

5 tips How to Homeschool multiple children

1) Plan ahead

Prepare, plan and print out material the day before, so you can use your time wisely and be laser focused on where to start in the morning. Many mornings have slipped me by, trying to find the right idea or printable..

Talk to your children about what’s expected of each one and what the schedule is gonna be, before starting.

2) One-on-one undivided attention

 Don’t sit down at the table with all the kids at the same time and expect them (and you!) to be able to concentrate at different tasks. It’s not gonna work!

And if it does; CONGRATULATIONS! You have done the impossible! 

Instead, try to work with one child at a time. This is my best tip yet and something that took me a long time to understand. I used to turn myself inside-out, trying to help all three of my kids at the same time and it always ended up with frustration and unproductivity.

It might seem to you it’s faster to work with all of them at the same time, but in most cases it’s not. 

By sitting down with a child one-on-one, you satisfy that child’s need for undivided attention. It makes her/him feel good and special. But make it truly undivided attention -turn off your phone during this time and don’t let other things distract you (unless you absolutely have to take care of a potentially dangerous situation of course). 

Prepare a few independent tasks that your other children can work with. This could be working on a model for a creative project, silent reading, painting, watching an educational video on YouTube to prepare for their own lesson, working with an online educational app or even do chores (laundry folding is an excellent choice and can keep some kids busy for a long time!). 

If they keep on interrupting you, just let them play instead. The important thing right now is to work one-on-one with the one child. 

4) Unit studies

This is an excellent way of teaching multiple kids of various ages at the same time. A unit study is when you study ONE specific topic in-depth for a set amount of time. Do you wanna know why this is so great? –Because you can adjust the learning according to the kids’ interests and level.

For example; if your kids are interested in horses you might start off the unit study with a visit to a local horse breeder. Then the oldest child might learn about horses in history, your middle child can write a persuasive essay about why he should get a horse or learn about the anatomy of the horse, while the youngest is doing horse-themed math or coloring pictures of horses. It will require some work from you –the parent– to prepare the material, but once you have it’s so worth it!!

Last fall, when we learned about Native Americans, we started off by visiting a local museum. Then we made dioramas and read books about different tribes together. 

5) Helping each other

The Montessori philosophy is built upon the idea of older children being role models and helping the younger children out. Why not utilizing this at home as well? It might not always work with siblings, but when it does -it works wonders!

Not only does the younger child benefit from this, but also the older one. You can learn so much from teaching someone else and besides it gives a boost of self confidence. 

Kids also seem to have a certain talent of simplifying things (or maybe it’s the other way around –adults complicate things..) 

My oldest daughter has saved me more than once when I lost my patience with my youngest. She’s helped me in the struggle of teaching him to read. Other times, when I have been thinking of how I can possibly teach a certain topic, she’s come along and finished it up in less than half an hour! 

Enjoy the moment… Before you know it, your kids will be doing it all on their own and you’ll miss this quality time helping them on their homeschool days!

Save to your favorite Pinterest board to read later

Please share your ideas and experiences with us!

Check out more fun and creative learning ideas