Mixed Ages Family Set Up?

[Paige]

What kind of set up do you have for doing school with multiple kids on multiple levels? I think I'm trying to be too accommodating and make things too perfect and I'm tired and it's not working.

 

What we're doing is 4 different kids, in 4 different rooms, each doing his or her own thing, and I float. I hear, "Mommy, help!" all day as I go up and down the stairs and I don't think anyone is happy. This is our usual routine, but adding in the youngest this year seems to have upset the balance much more than I anticipated. For about 5 days a few years ago and 1 kid less, I tried to do all the kids at the same table and they were fighting and distracting each other. Oldest child was diagnosed w/ OCD and ADHD so he was compulsively distracting everyone.

 

I think maybe I should go back to all of them together like a 1 room school house. Does anyone do that? If Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley could teach a schoolful of different ages when they were 17, surely I can handle 4 at over 30, right? We don't have desks. I just have a kitchen and dining room table, the floor, and a small kids' tea party table in another room. I'd consider finding 4 desks and somewhere to put them if you say it will make our lives happier. My mom said the Goodwill had a bunch for sale for only $20 but I said no at the time.

 

Just wondering what kind of set up you have that works, or what makes you miserable. My kids are 12, 9, 9, and 6 and everyone but the 9yr olds have slightly different programs.

[Lynnae]

Well, I have different aged kids, but my age range is greater than yours, so this may or may not work. I'm stagger starting them this year. Last week we started my 15 year old. I spent all my time focused on her, so that she would know what she needed to do each day. Beginning this week, she's completely independent, except for an hour on Mondays to discuss history with me and a short wrap up on Fridays. She works in her room.

 

This week I started my 10 year old. He has a lot of subjects that I need to teach him. We're developing a routine, so I will know when I will likely have free time to work with my three year old. He works at the kitchen table.

 

I will do light preschooling with my three year old next week (she begs for it...I'm not a hard core preschooling parent). Based on the last couple of days, I know I will have some time mid-morning to work with her, while my 10 year old is doing math and grammar. I will likely work with her at the kitchen counter or at the living room coffee table. We have an open floor plan, so my 10 year old will basically be on the other side of the same big room.

 

I think I would have been overwhelmed if I would have tried to start them all on the same week.

[MrsH]

I love the idea to stagger start them!  This was only day 2 for us of having all 3 kids home, and I definitely increased the amount of independent work dd11 does.  What's worked (for the past 2 days, so take it with a grain of salt!) has been to get dd11 settled, then do calendar pages w/ ds7 and dd4, after which I do read-alouds with them.  I envision science and history falling under that "circle/couch time" as well.  We then go get some exercise (inviting eldest) and come back to do work with ds7 1:1, followed by dd4 if she wants it. 

 

I wonder if you could spend an hour 1:1 with your youngest while the others do something independently.  Maybe it's their reading time, or instrument practice, or something else? Then work w/ the 9 year olds while your youngest goes off to play, or maybe she does something on the computer or watches a show or something?  Maybe gear science and history to the 9 year olds, with the 12 year old doing the same time period but more independently.  Your youngest could join in as she wanted to.  Once all the others are done, maybe meet w/ the 12 year old?  Might not work with the OCD/ADHD issues... maybe checking in with her/him at each transition or something?  I've got my eldest putting a sticky note in wherever she gets stuck, and then we'll address it during our check-in.

 

Again, we're only on day TWO so this is just my grand plan, it may not actually pan out. 

[happypamama]

11 yo and 8 yo each have a small table, facing each other. 4yo has a small table tucked into an alcove in the same room (because that's where it fit). I have a desk, and they all bring me work, one at a time, or I answer questions needed. I start the older two on their reading, and then they move on to whatever else they can do independently, and I call each child to me, but the order varies, depending on who finishes what first. And we do group subjects when I have a chance.

 

The kids do sometimes take their work to another room if siblings are being distracting.

[Ellie]

No, children in all different rooms would not be good for us. We're kitchen-table people, all of us in there together.

[*Lulu*]

I give each a bit of one on one time in the morning. Then, after group work, I set up shop at the dining room table. I will give the two older independent assignments while I finish with Bug. Then I rotate working with the older two until they are both working independently again. I have two work areas in the same room so the two older can spread out, but still be in my sight.

[Mena]

Four (or eight!) separate rooms would never work for us. We just use two that are separated by a glass door. "The schoolroom" contains a table (where I teach) and my desk, while "the office" has a desk for each of my high schoolers and one large table where my middle kids can work independently. 

 

In your case, I would set up with all the kids in one room, but let them go off to a quieter room for independent work or reading. 

[Mandy in TN]

I had a 7.5' long distressed pine top on a wrought iron base with long benches on each side. I loved it! The kids never worked there. :-/ I moved it to the game room last year. Now, I have one kiddo homeschooling and an island/ bar in my kitchen.

 

But, to answer your question, yes, move them closer together.

Mandy

[IsabelC]

Quick reality check. Anne Shirley is a fictitious character. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a real person, but her story was told from her subjective viewpoint, long after the events, with many alterations. One room school teachers were sometimes bullied by the older students. Sometimes they resorted to extreme humiliation, severe corporal punishment or even expelling students. They didn't try to do everything for/with each child. The bigger kids helped teach the little ones, and the teacher accepted that some kids were less academically inclined than others. Plus even the most dedicated teacher isn't quite as emotionally involved as parents usually are. So please don't feel that it should be an easy thing that anyone can manage.

[AK_Mom4]

I would go back to three rooms if that was working for you last year.  Put the 6yo in with whichever of the 9yos that would work best.  The 6yo won't be working for very long and mostly with you, so you can use that ox whip from Farmer Boy if those two get rowdy. ( :lol: )

[fairfarmhand]

We have a long counter in the kitchen with stools. I stand on one side of it and the kids sit on the other side. I work my way down the counter with each kid.

 

Can you isolate the  distracting child, perhaps in a nearby room and just work with everyone else in the kitchen. Maybe give the ADD kid 1 chance each day to join the group and when the stimulation is too much allow him/her to move away.

 

You don't have to have all of them doing bookwork at the same time. You can have one kid practicing facts on funforthebrain.com, another practicing spelling words on spellingcity.com and another doing handwriting practice while you work one on one with another kid. My kids do get tired of some of the games on those websites, but I tell them the alternative is fact practice worksheets and writing spelling words over and over.

 

Also, I work with my Ker first thing, so he can go off and play while I am working with the olders, then he rejoins us for read-alouds.

[My3girls]

I stagger start.  dd11 starts in the morning.  Then she takes a break mid-day while I work with the youngers.  Then she comes back for more work in the afternoon while the youngers play.  Then she breaks while I work with the youngers again in the early evening.  We have couch time in the evening after dinner for group work.  I work from home so the kids rotate in and out of my office.  dd11 is able to work more independently so I start her then I am available between phone calls for questions.  The youngers get my lunch break and immediately after I clock out.  Then the couch time is after dinner.  My situation is probably fairly unique.  However, I would still have one central place and stagger them even if I did not work.  So it kind of looks like this:

 

9am-11am dd11: spelling, typing, living book, poetry, copy work

 

12:30pm-1:30pm dd7 & 8: levelled reader and activity such as word search or decoding, etc...

 

2pm-5pm dd11: WWS, Math, Science or History

 

5pm-6pm dd7 & 8: Math, poetry, copy work

 

7:00pm- 8:00 d11: AG and Lit... We meet up to discuss Literature after I put the youngers to bed.

 

7:30m-9:30pm dd7 & 8: FFL2, WWE2, ETC, science or history, and read aloud

 

DD7 & 8 put in about 4 hours a day and DD11 puts in about 6.  Mom puts in A LOT!

[LindaOz]

I have 6 schooling and two little ones.  We have a 'study' downstairs with desks in it.  My 12th, 11th, 9th and 7th graders work there as they all work mostly independently.  Meanwhile, my 5th and 3rd graders usually work at the dining table as they need more of me (although my 5th grader has taken to working at her desk more often this week) while my little ones play around etc in the attached living area. 

 

If the downstairs crew need me, they come and find me and we usually work together in the living area so that I am still available to the younger crew.  When I have reading time with 5th and 3rd, we also do this in the living area while the others are still doing independent work.  So, I am not doing much floating - instead, it's the kids who come to me when they need help or checking.

 

After lunch, we all meet together in the lounge room for read-aloud time which everyone still participates in - yep, even the big kids :-)

[lea_lpz]

I use My Father's World which encourages families to learn together for core subjects, have some one on one time for Lang and math, and also assigns independent work for 2nd and up so that everyone has something to do during one on one time.

 

I would likely do core subjects with everyone for about 2 hours a day, assign the 9 year olds and 12 year olds independent work for an hour a day, and then work with everyone one on one for a half hour to an hour depending on how much you realistically do. I would also assign older kids to younger ones. So your 9 year old might spend some time helping your six year old when you work with 12 year old. Then your 12 year old might be helping the 9 year olds when you work with the 6 year old, etc.

 

So ideally kids do:

2 hours of core together

1 hour independent work (except 6 year old)

1/2 hour one on one work

1/2 hour helping younger buddy

 

When you do core, everyone would be together. During independent work I would consider letting everyone school in their own room if they are getting it done, but not if they are not on task. Then I would keep everyone in view. When you do one on one, if others are in the same room, they'd need to work quietly,

[swellmomma]

We school around the kitchen table.  Even if we had enough rooms in the house to split everyone up school would never get done, I would be running around like a chicken with its head cut off.