Best curricula for a big family?

[Miss Cornelia Snook]

I have four children and can't devote as much time as I wish to teaching each child. K12 is sucking me dry with only two children involved in it. One child is currently in public school and I really want to take her out.

 

If you are homeschooling a large family, what works best for you, and still leaves enough time to get the laundry, dishes, and dinner done?

 

Thank you!!

[ElizaG]

We don't have it all together at this point (especially with household stuff -- supervising the children's chores is a big challenge for me right now), but when it comes to the actual homeschooling, I've found that the only approach that's ever worked for us is:

 

- a small number of simple workbooks or textbooks for math, English, & foreign language in the morning

- very relaxed study of one of the content subjects in the afternoon

 

We're an academically inclined family, yet our official schoolwork seems minimal compared to what other families have listed.   This puzzled me for a while, until I realized that we tend to expand on what's in the school books, either through discussion or the children's side reading and projects.  So the prepared curriculum is more of a foundation for us to build on.

 

I thought that KONOS was 100% unit study, but found out recently that they recommend the above structure:  workbooks for the 3R's in the morning, unit studies in the afternoon.   It's not quite what we do; we prefer to study topics in a more conventional order (e.g. chronological history), and our "unit studies" tend to be a lot simpler than theirs -- often just a few books and some small, manageable activities.    But I'm with them on the idea of structure for the basics, followed by exploration for everything else.  :001_smile:

 

[prairiewindmomma]

My kids are of a similar age spread. We used k12 for a couple of years while my 2e kids needed evaluation and therapies. We were happy to leave it as soon as we could. What we use is in my signature. The key for us is our schedule. I spend one on onetime with each for an hour in the am. My K'er is done after her 9-10am time with me. She has 8:30 scripture study (all kids), we go over the day's game plan with my older two who work independently for an hour (unless baby is fussy and then oldest takes her). At 10:00, she goes off to watch Daniel Tiger's neighborhood or a Nova episode (no judging!) or to play with baby at my feet while I work with my 7yo. I work with him from 10-11 or 11:30. He needs a break at that point (having had 3 hours of school. I check in with oldest at that point and then go off to start lunch. We eat lunch. I do history or science with the younger two (5yo joins in when she wants to), and then they are dismissed to read or play while I finish up with oldest by 3:00. At that point we do housework or errands...although dishes and laundry have happened as the day has gone on. Lunches are simple. Suppers usually are in the crockpot or 30 min or less of prep time. HTH!

[Tiramisu]

I think CLE language arts (phonics, spelling, grammar, handwriting in one workbook) and math would cover a lot of bases. Then do a content area geared to your 10 and 8 year olds and let your dd sit in.

[mamamindy]

I know others will say this, but doing things together as much as possible will really help.  For example, my two oldest DDs are at different levels in math, but I will have them both working on math at the same time.  (Oldest DD gets some review if she's waiting for me, for example, or if she helps explain a concept.)  This helps me so much since that means I switch gears less often. ;)  We do all content reading, discussion, activities (if we get to that) together as a family.  Even the baby if she's not napping.

 

It has helped me to try to have a "school" time for our basics, so that when that time is up (even if we didn't finish it) to stop and take care of lunch, fold the laundry, etc.  We read our content during meals, and I have my big girls read independently every day while the babies nap so that I can also nap or catch up on household duties.  Have fun!!

 

ETA: I didn't even mention curricula!  Sorry!  I think it's less the specific curricula than how you use it IYKWIM.  We use a variety of things.  We focus on basics:  HWOT for penmanship and homemade copy work as described in TWTM, FLL2 together since my girls are close in age and that works, and we use Singapore Primary Math at different levels.  We also use SOTW mostly as a read aloud, along with extra library books and an occasional activity (don't beat yourself up if you can't get to those during a rough season though - JMHO) and we're doing a Simply Charlotte Mason nature study for science, along with library books and Magic School Bus.  Hope that helps!!

[HeartatHome]

My Fathers world? It's created for learning as a family.

[mom@shiloh]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, it sounds to me as if you are asking for specific curriculum that works well for many ages.  The curriculums that span multiples ages are typically the ones for history, science, geography.  If that's what you're looking for, I'll throw out a few suggestions.

 

History:  SOTW is very popular and kids of many ages like to listen in or read this independently. Mystery of History also lends itself to multiple ages, giving suggestions for activities for three different levels.  

 

Some programs are specifically set up for multiple ages  Tapestry of Grace, Biblioplan, Simply Charlotte Mason and My Father's World come to mind as companies that set up their programs to cover K-12.  Others such as Heart of Dakota and Sonlight cover an age span of 3-4 years.  

 

Most of these include geography, some also cover Bible, and a few include LA.

 

Some science programs that work well with multiples ages:  Apologia, Christian Kids Explore..., Real Science for Kids, 

 

I'm sure there are many more programs that I'm missing.  Actually, you can take almost anything and make it work for multiple ages if you're willing to do some tweaking.  

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited July 10, 2022 by SilverMoon

[RootAnn]

...what works best for you, and still leaves enough time to get the laundry, dishes, and dinner done? Thank you!!

 

Everyday, you have to feed the kids, clean the house, and educate the children. Some wise person pointed out to her husband one day (as recounted on the WTM boards) that she could only properly do two of the three each day.

 

Most days, I pick feeding & educating. Some days, I clean & educate and the kids fend for themselves food-wise. (Luckily, my kids are old enough & "trained" enough to help with the cleaning. But the house is never as clean as dh wants it & the laundry is not always put away in a timely manner (by the children).)

:grouphug:  (No curricula advice. My stuff is almost all parent-intensive.)

[Murphy101]

Ha, I think that was me, rootann. :)

 

I list what we are using and have used over the past several years on my blog. I ave no idea if it's of use to anyone else or not. I post it mostly to help me keep track somewhere I won't lose it.

 

I don't know what works for you, or ages/grades of your kids, so can't make better recommendations.

[Miss Cornelia Snook]

Thanks, all. My kids are 10, 8, 5, and 18 months. I think what I need to do is revamp HOW I'm doing things and get these kids more involved in the chores, so I'm less pressured to try to do it all. If everyone helps, then theoretically, there's more time for school, right? Or just having fun together as a family!

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

At this point, only my oldest dd has a few independent subjects.  And I try to combine history/geography, science, and Spanish as much as I can.  Everything else is taught one on one to my 3 oldest kids (and a tiny bit of play school with the 3yo).  Between school, snack, lunch, and putting the toddler and 3yo to sleep I am busy from morning until 3-4pm.  I do make a homemade supper each night.  Cleaning gets the shaft here.  I keep up with laundry and dishes (though dh does the afternoon dishes after supper), and vacuum and sweep a few times a week.  We do try to do a few more chores on the weekend, but the reality is that our house is not as clean as we'd like.

[SnMomof7]

I have 5, four of them are very close to yours. We use mostly CLE and ACE together with some together time when we do scripture memory, poems, common knowledge stuff, or a history read aloud etc. We read aloud at bedtime too. Keep K VERY simple.

 

My children do chores. My husband helps cook if he wants something beyond throw in the oven food.

 

My house is liveable, never super clean.

 

Started moving my oldest to independence last year and it has been wonderful - helped me get time to do K and to teach my 2nd to read.

 

You can find details in my signature :).

[momto2blessings]

Simply Charlotte Mason works well for combining kids. Their history/geo/Bible guides are inexpensive and have the whole family together w/a spine, and then age appropriate history books for everyone. Older kids can read their history readers on their own. It's a day-by-day schedule, which I much prefer to a weekly schedule. If you have a sick day or fieldtrip day...just do the next day and they schedule in make-up and exam days. We use Math-U-See where I watch the dvd lesson w/my kids and then they are pretty independent once I maybe help show the new concept on a couple problems. Writing Tales is pretty independent for 3rd-5th grade and covers writing, grammar, spelling, voc. Just what we do/have done:) Blessings, Gina

[Walking-Iris]

I only have 3 and only two actively homeschooling. What still works for me is what a pp said about separate skills in the mornings and fold them all together for content.

 

It's why I like the science and history rotations so much. I can cover the same subject matter but at different levels. 

 

So I basically teach the lang arts and math at each of my children's levels, but all 3 are included in some way with the history and science. I've been able to include my 3 year old in science projects or history projects by giving her some simple task to do. 

 

I'm not sure what curricula works well as a family. I do try to use multi level programs though, rather than grade specific. I really like that SOTW and History Odyssey have book recommendations and activities that span my kid sages. The coloring sheets are good for entertaining a little one while reading aloud the text to an older child. And the projects can be a family activity. 

 

I use Harmony Fine Arts and I've used Artistic Pursuits in the past. All three of my kids did the lesson. My then 2 year old did every ArtPursuit lesson. Basically a very very abstract watercolor while the boys focused on the specific lesson! But she has learned quite a bit about artists from HFA. 

 

Nature study is a great family activity too. 

 

I tend to read aloud the same chapter book to every one, but I do read simpler picture books to the younger ones throughout the day. 

 

Bravewriter can be a family curriculum as well.

 

As for keeping your sanity about keeping your house neat and caught up with chores....let me know when you find the solution to that one. :)