Tips for homeschooling with 4 or more kids

[Oakblossoms]

We don't do too much during the week. We have classes at the Y and it is really close. I take my Grandma to classes, two days a week. We have been working on getting kids more independent. But, my youngest boy can't read well. So, I am still quite involved with him.

 

i am pregnant with our fifth child. I know I need to be more realistic with our life. I am really thinking of moving Science to Saturday. I have been working. on getting up earlier. I have a difficult time with that while pregant. I get too sick if I am up before 7.

 

Any tips?

[snipsnsnailsx5]

No advice! But I didn't want this to get lost in the shuffle. I'm curious to some answers also! lol

 

I am homeschooling only three right now, my fourth and fifth children are still young. I would like to do preschool work with both my fourth and fifth boys (ages almost 4 and almost 2)...but my time is SOOOO tied up with my oldest three (almost 12, almost 9, and 6.5...we have all spring b-days LOL).

 

We only school on Monday, Thursday, and Friday because Tuesday and Wednesday are at a homeschool co-op type program. They get their science, P.E., art/music, etc. all there.

 

So I'm only doing math and language arts...yet still I can't figure out how to do this! LOL I can be pulled apart in three directions.

I want to focus more on QUALITY of work not just quantity.

 

I think I'm going to hang out at some large family homeschooling boards and get ideas. lol I also am going to do a blog search. ;) I love to blog hop!

 

My guess though is that I'm going to do a major rearranging of the schedule. Such as schedule blocks for each child and not do math and language arts both on Mon, Thurs Fri...but rather do something like math on Monday (since its less work) and Language arts on Thurs/Fri (includes spelling, handwriting, grammar, writing...).

 

I don't know!! I wish I could help more...

[Sasharowan]

Now that oldest is in high school, I usually restrict time out in the day to one day a week. Youngest has storytime on Tues. morning and then we do shopping or anything else needed. All other activities do not start until 5pm or later. Each child has their own space for school stuff and this includes all pencils, glue, colors, paper, etc. they need. We sit central so that I can rotate around and help as needed. We have mostly done away with group work because of personality clashes and learning differences, not to mention age range. Youngest isn't really doing school yet. I forsee scheduling changes next year as I carve out time for basics with him. As it works now, we have 2 really long days, 2 short days, and one day that is mainly math and reading.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Sasharowan
spelling

[justamouse]

don't get up earlier than you can handle, just go later, perhaps a bit after dinner?

 

and doing science on a Sat, before noon --even from 11-12 is so doable.

 

Do what you have to do to make this work for YOU. That's the beauty of it.

[laughing lioness]

When I have a child who is at the learning to read stage I always create dedicated time to work with them on phonics, even if nothing else gets done. If a kids can read, they can do a whole lot of learning on their own.

Enlist the kids to read to each other, do flash cards and play games (my kids love math bingo).

Make full use of educational CD's (SOTW, IEW's Poetry, CC CD's, etc.etc) and videos (there is tons of science vids out there- Bill Nye, Magic School Bus, etc) as well as ed computer games. Create a schedule for it so the kids can get through info but still work without you.

During difficult seasons pare it down to the minimum. Get the rest you need.

[Oakblossoms]

:lurk5:

[WeeBeaks]

You mean with older kids like yours or in general? I have 4 kids but only 2 doing school right now. What works for me is everyone in the same room so nobody colors on the walls or anything and just go for it. You may not have problems with the coloring that I do. ;)

 

I alternate back and forth with independent stuff and things that need me. I have a K and a 3rd this year along with a preschooler who wants to do school too, plus a 3-month-old. We use workboxes for 3 of them. They are a newer addition to our school and are working great.

[AngelBee]

:bigear:

[M&M]

We don't do too much during the week. We have classes at the Y and it is really close. I take my Grandma to classes, two days a week. We have been working on getting kids more independent. But, my youngest boy can't read well. So, I am still quite involved with him.

 

i am pregnant with our fifth child. I know I need to be more realistic with our life. I am really thinking of moving Science to Saturday. I have been working. on getting up earlier. I have a difficult time with that while pregant. I get too sick if I am up before 7.

 

Any tips?

 

 

First, I make sure that my older children can do some work independently, even if that means doing lots of reading while Mom is not feeling well. I have learned from using Tapestry of Grace how to teach my older children to plan out their week and to be responsible for getting the work done. We have a planning meeting once a week for history and literature(and whatever else we do in TOG) and then we meet once a week to have discussions about the work. Skill areas are done daily, science is sporatic in our house except for my highschooler.

 

 

Then, I make sure that the basic skill areas are covered for the older ones. We now use Math-U-See for math not only because it works well, but also because my children can watch the dvd's and I don't have to teach 5 math lessons a day. When I was pregnant, I did phonics with the younger children when I could and they played a lot. Not one of my children have suffered from waiting until after baby was born and we were settled. Sometimes that meant that we took a break from school. The hardest adjustment after we got back to a normal school day was getting the younger ones to learn to respect school time over playtime.

 

I choose curricula that is not teacher intensive, anything that I use with my younger children has to be pick-up and go. A lot of Peace Hill Press' curricula fits the bill for us. I agree with Laughing Lioness about books on cd, videos, magic school bus, etc. all of these things contributed to informal learning in our house.

 

Take care of yourself and rest.

[Oakblossoms]

Thanks.

 

Last week seemed to be a better routine for us. We instituted a real meal plan and I did all the shopping for an entire week. Everyone was really good about looking at the menu plan. I am amazed at how much time that gave all of us.

 

This upcoming week we are instituted a new MOTH schedule. I hope it helps me to keep from thinking so much:lol: I think I give my self a lot of anxiety overthinking every thing that comes along. I used to laugh about schedules and menus and planning. But, I don't think it's an option anymore.

[Shifra]

:grouphug: I don't have any real advice, but I wanted to suggest that maybe you could do some of the schooling while you are lying down? That may help now that you are pregnant. I spent most of my last 2 pregnancies lying down due to a high risk condition, and it is amazing what you can do in a horizontal position! See if you can convince your children to bring their schoolwork to you while you are reclining on the couch or your bed.

[Oakblossoms]

I have tried the I'm not really leaving my room for most of the day. Sometimes it works. Do you have a lot of stuff in your room?

 

My room has a toddler bed and playpen now. I hate it when school stuff piles up in there. I've always tried to keep my room as the sanctuary. If everything else is crazy I want to hide in my bedroom. It used to be the bathroom, but the cat likes to perch in the window now and it scratches it's nasty self and I'm all grossed out:tongue_smilie:

 

(My house must sound lovely at this point.)

 

I totally broke down all hormonal this evening. The boys missed their swim classes. I didn't make dinner. We all got a good hug though. But, I'm such a cry baby at this point. We belong to a VA, so we have weekly reports and such. If not I would probably just go back to unschooling. Sad but true. I'll keep trying with the VA because it's gives me accountable and access to really wonderful school stuff.