Is there a maximum number of kids you can homeschool well at one time?

[umsami]

Do you think there's a maximum number of kids you can do well?

 

Do they have to be closely spaced/similar levels so you can combine grades so you can do it well?

 

 

[8filltheheart]

The answer to the first question is as simple as as many as you can personally manage.

 

And the answer to the second is no. I prefer not to combine my children. I do occasionally, but it is not essential and definitely not my preference.

[73349]

I think you'd have to take into account any special needs and whether there are littles to manage as well. I can teach far more kids than I could parent.

[krisperry]

I have 8.  Most days it feels like too many esp when I consider my ideal programs.  I think I do ok but I could do more with less kids.

[Junie]

Thanks for the topic.

 

I have been homeschooling 5 for the past few years and I am about at my limit.

 

I just realized yesterday that the next two homeschooling years *should * be my hardest.  It will be my first time teaching anything other than English to grades 11 and 12; and I will be homeschooling all 6 of my dc.

 

 

[KrissiK]

I think it depends on the kids. Last year I had three I had to seriously homeschool and then one in kinder, so I wasn't too serious about her yet. But my oldest required/demanded so much of my time (because of laziness, bad attitude, etc.) that I started getting worried that when #4 coming up got to first grade and I really needed to start being serious about her, she wouldn't get much of my time and she would need it being so young and having some struggles as it is. So, for that reason, as well as myriad others, we decided that oldest DS would be going to b&m school starting in the fall. So, I'm not sure it's really the amount, but rather the needs of the child.

 

ETA: I did combine some subjects - Bible, Science, fine arts, Greek

[8filltheheart]

I think it equally depends on the managerial skills of the teacher.  

[FO4UR]

If I had a full-time housekeeper, a personal cook, and a nanny for the littles, I could homeschool about a dozen.

 

Since I don't have a full-time housekeeper, a personal cook, or a nanny...and I've got some learning quirks to work with...I'm at my personal limit right now.  I've been playing around with schedules for the fall, and that is only confirmation.  Each child needs at least an hour of my undivided attention every.single.school.day, and that is a bare minimum....I shoot for more. 

 

I do combine some things.  This fall, my 10yo and 12yo will be doing essentially the same work in all but math, but they will do it independently.  So they are combined, but not really together.  It makes the prep work easier on me.  The 12yo is dyslexic and the 10yo is advanced in LA, so we've found a happy medium where they both fit. (And there will be no grades to compare.) The 10yo will combine with the 9yo in some mathy things. They will do their own arithmetic practice, but come together for some paper sloyd, geometry by Van Cleave, and TOPS Lentil activities.

 

I combine all kids in Bible, Shakespeare, Plutarch, Picture Study, Composer Study, some literature, and Latin.  (We ARE getting back into Latin this year.  Ugh!  Having a little one makes this hard, but we will do Latin while she naps.)

 

Individual work with kids = 4-6 hours.

Combined Circle Time work = 1-2 hours

 

 

That is 5-8 hours a day for me on a school day.  That is a full time job.  If I could come home to a clean house and a delicious meal at the end of that day...ahhh....

 

 

 

 

Do I think they HAVE to be similar ages/abilities and combine in order to make it work? No.  It helps greatly if they can read and write independently.  If they can do those two things well, homeschooling can be a simple as assigning great books to read, discussing, writing.  If they cannot read and write independently, then you have to prioritize those things until they can.

 

 

 

 

[PeterPan]

One.

 

And yes, I have two.  But I'm just saying, in reality one.  Two is crazy.  I don't know how people do it with more.  But ds has a bunch of SLDs and things that make it really complicated to work with.  I suppose if you predicated that all the kids were NT, that number might be different.  

 

I'd go up to three if a third child came, but I'm now just about to the point of welcoming menopause with welcome arms, something I never thought would happen.

[momacacia]

And consider the curriculum choices and students involved.

[Reefgazer]

I have two kids and I think my personal limit would be 3 (with no special issues).  But how many kids a person could homeschool well would depend upon the homeschool parent, their curricula, the special needs status of the kids, the age of the kids, the ability to work independently, the enthusiasm of the kids, the outside commitments, and oh, my, so many factors.

[lllll]

nm

[SilverMoon]

Do you think there's a maximum number of kids you can do well?

 

Do they have to be closely spaced/similar levels so you can combine grades so you can do it well?

 

1) To most of us that probably feels like exactly one more than we're currently teaching. LOL None of us were born with the patience, organizational skills, or managerial skills needed for this job. We learn it as we go.

 

2) No.

 

 

My six will range from K to 11th this year. The hands down most challenging time was when a precocious little one jumped headfirst into the next youngest's lessons and I essentially had two completely mom-led students added at one time, while the oldest kids still needed to be at or near elbow (one with serious ADHD). The others were all added one at a time and it was more fluid. Except for that pair, when a new one starts kindy the previously youngest student is reading well and able to sit down near me and get a fair amount done on their own.

[MinivanMom]

Do you think there's a maximum number of kids you can do well?

 

I'm currently teaching 4, and I have a preschooler who is not officially homeschooling, but is welcome to join us if he wishes. I feel like I'm doing 4 plus the preschooler really well, and I have confidence that I could do all 5 really well. My answer might be different if I was dealing with special needs or had a baby thrown into the mix.

 

Do they have to be closely spaced/similar levels so you can combine grades so you can do it well?

 

Even though my kids are relatively closely spaced (about 2 yrs gap between each child), I do not combine except for reading aloud. Their academic needs are so different that I would always feel like I was shortchanging them if I tried to combine. I do combine my two grammar age kids (currently #3 & #4) for reading aloud literature, history, and science, and that works well. I have different expectations for output, though. Generally the younger one retells aloud, while the older one does written narrations.

 

If I had to say what helps *me* to teach a lot of children, it would be:

-Limiting outside activities, classes, appointments, and errands during the school day (8-3). We stay home and do school.

-Carefully planning and staggering my time, so that I can give one-on-one time to each child during the day.

-Putting in the time to prepare daily checklists for my oldest two, so they can work independently when the younger children need me.

-Being willing to spend time in the evening, on weekends, and in the summer researching and planning. It helps that I am interested in learning and education and that I really enjoy teaching and planning.

 

Homeschooling is a full-time job for me.

[SnMomof7]

I think it's 2 for me. :/

 

I'm doing 4 this year and have 3 more coming up through the ranks. At least. LOL!

 

Ah well. Methods adjust, even if I can't do what I'd 'ideally' like to do. I haven't found combining children in many things to be particularly fruitful. Most of our work is independently levelled.

 

We're doing all right. I guess. ;)

[Amy Jo]

(1) Number of kids: Two for me as well. I realize I have four, but what is working really well is having the big boys do independent work first while I work with the younger two (DS9, then a couple things with DD5, then finish with DS9). The the littles can do independent things (or just play) while I work with the older boys (one at a time).

 

(2) Combining: Actually combining doesn't work well for me, the older two are opposites academically, the middle two are opposites personality-wise, and the last two are too far apart. Really the middle two just don't combine well in any direction. But with the above focuses, I'm only bouncing between two kids at a time, so I don't feel frazzled.

[HS Mom in NC]

I suspect how many I could homeschool successfully would depend on my willingness to adapt my curriculum, approach, lifestyle and goals. The more I'd be willing to adapt the higher the number of children I could homeschool. I've done 3. It was fine. I think other factors like family dynamics, health, personalities and such would be huge factors too.  I wouldn't venture a guess on a specific number.

[maize]

Also depends on the personalities of the children. I could homeschool 20 children like my first, but just 2 of my third child would do me in. 

 

That's not a condemnation of the second child mentioned, she just got more of my personality than her sister did. Not good at sitting still and following directions.  :tongue_smilie:

[Arcadia]

One :lol:

Which was why when I was earning money tutoring, I only accept one to one tutoring assignments. So if tutoring siblings, I only tutor one at a time. I find it mentally draining.

 

My kids are used to taking turns if they need my help.

[LLMom]

I homeschooled 6 for 2 years (along with a preschooler) and it was nuts mostly because I had a high schooler and a special needs child in those 6.  I did 5 for many years and that was hard too.  For me, I think I did well with 4 or less. 

[BooksandBoys]

One. Or three? It's just as challenging to teach my one school-aged child as it is to teach my one child and his two friends. This is due to my child's LD's and other issues and his friends' lack of them.

 

DS2 has quite his own share of other issues, as well as a very intense personality. By the time he's school-aged, I'm sure I'll say with conviction that I can only homeschool one child well. Not sure how I'll have anything left to give when it's time for DS3 to join us. I'll figure it out.

[EKT]

I have two children; this coming year will be my first year formally schooling both, since my youngest is still little and just about to enter kindergarten. I am so excited about schooling them both and I feel great about my ability to handle and orchestrate it well! I used to be a high school teacher, so I'm super passionate about education in general and I really love all the planning and prep and organization and record keeping that comes with homeschooling. I think I, personally, would be overwhelmed with more children precisely because I am very Type A and I really thrive on order and organization. With just two children, I can keep the house reasonably clean the majority of the time, keep up on all the laundry and chores, etc., and still have some energy and little bit of time here and there to do things for myself, like exercise and work on personal projects that bring me a lot of fulfillment, like sewing and reading. I feel like I still have a little time to myself with just two (that is, now that everyone is fully potty trained, weaned, and past the toddler stage, lol.) 

 

On the other hand, sometimes I think homeschooling three children would be perfect, because when I'm working one-on-one with one child, the other often wants my attention, too (naturally), and it can lead to a bit of frustration on everyone's part. (Though, the more one-on-one school time with each child becomes routine and just a matter-of-course in our day, the less conflict that arises. So, I think any conflict will calm down over the years as my girls mature and we really establish our school day patterns with both girls.) But, like I said, I sometimes fantasize that if I had a third child, that third child would happily play with the child I'm not working with at that moment. I imagine to myself, "Three would be great because the children would then continue on in this way and rotate into and out of happy playtime pairs throughout the day, enabling me to give copious individual attention to all my children!" ::sarcasm:: (I'm guessing moms of 3 or more can shatter that homeschool fantasy pretty quickly.) ;-) 

 

Anyway, as others have said, I think it strongly depends on the temperament of the mother/parents and the temperament and special needs (if any) of the children. Some ladies on this board appear to homeschool more than a half-dozen kids at once without breaking a sweat, thriving in the chaos of it all, whereas I am most happy and comfortable managing just my two. :-) There is no right or wrong; it's just a very personal family decision. 

[abba12]

How many depends on many factors. Firstly, the mothers personality for one thing. I personally can juggle two children doing K-ish level work at the same time quite easily by sitting between them and staggering their subjects so one is half-independent while the other is being directly taught, while supervising the baby playing in her high chair. In fact I enjoy it. But I am completely aware that others would go insane and can only handle one child who is not independent at a time, sending others to play while they focus on one. Secondly there is the curriculum to consider, there's a big difference between parent-heavy curricula like, say, AAS or Rightstart math, and independent ones like R&S spelling and MUS or TT or others like those.

 

Thirdly there is how much they value/push/teach independent learning. Many on this board do not agree with too much independent work and continue to actively supervise/teach their students through middle school and high school. On the other hand, my mother while homeschooling expected even the 2nd and 4th graders to have finished their math worksheets aside from new content (they would do the last half of yesterdays lesson and the first half of todays lesson, so new content, if it happened that day, came after their revision/practice sheets) in the morning before she even sat down with them to start school for the day. Not saying either is right or wrong, but the level of independence expected and taught makes a huge difference. Homeschooling a high-schooler who needs an hour or two of attention a day is very different to homeschooling a high schooler who you may have a 'meeting' with to review work completed and problems encountered once or twice a week.

 

Then there is learning disabilities or giftedness to consider. A child who is reading will always be easier to manage time-wise than one who doesn't, so someone who's children read at 4 has an advantage in teaching to someone who's children don't read until 8. Behaviour plays a factor, a child who has learned that if they knuckle down and get their work done in the morning, they can play all afternoon will be much more independent and easier than a child who stalls, gets distracted, dilly dallies, complains, etc. Plus, what is your definition of well? For some people, homeschooling well means an indepth history rotation, and art appreciation. For me personally, those subjects wont even be covered formally until middle school. (we do have books and other resources which I use in a very unschooly/charlotte masony kind of way before then)

 

As for combining grades, actually I think further apart can be easier because it'll mean having older students who can be more independent or help with younger ones. For me personally, despite having children less than two years apart each, I have no intention of combining any subjects, for a number of reasons including academic differences, the inability to make combined subjects independent work, since they rely on the other student also being present, and competition/comparison between siblings. ?So the ability to combine or not is irrelevant to me. (and I am rather encouraged by this thread! So often I feel like I'm a bit crazy for choosing not to combine when I constantly read topics about it on this forum, but it seems I'm not the only one)

 

So, to your original question, how many students could I homeschool well? Well I only have 2 right now, and they're young. But I was one of 5, my husband one of 8, so I'm familiar with large family homeschool dynamics. I strongly believe I can handle as many children to school, as I can handle to parent, which for me personally, will likely be a large number. I love kids, i love education, i am a good organizer and planner and I can multitask well. My ideas of homeschooling 'well' include teaching my children to learn independently to some extent, and do not include time consuming things like using history as a spine (we do have some time consuming things though, such as a rigorous math course made up of multiple curriculums, and a lot of discussion time for biblical/literature study). All these things work to my favour in handling more students. But I have plenty of flaws in other areas. Some people who do well in the areas I have flaws in may struggle with the overwhelming nature of juggling multiple young students at the same time.

 

But I have seen people who cannot even homeschool one student well. I know people who homeschool two students well but are extremely overwhelmed at the idea of adding a third to the mix. I've seen larger families who do well up until 3 or 4 then begin to hit a wall. How many you can homeschool has nothing to do with how many I can. 

[JanetC]

And consider the curriculum choices and students involved.

 

Yes. My personal limit with two kids is a maximum of four parent-planned and -taught courses. After four subjects, the rest have to be homeschool curricula with things already planned out, outsourced, or (now that they're older) independent study with minimal involvement from me.

[frogger]

I love the thought of my younger two happily playing while I work with my older children but it is often fighting and then they are listening or sneaking peaks out the window at their sibling playing when it is their turn to do schoolwork.

[IsabelC]

Depends on any disabilities, special needs and learning challenges the kids have.

Depends on the additional demands on the parent/teacher's time (babies, elderly parents, paid or voluntary work, etc)

Depends on how structured the learning style is.

Depends on how thoroughly things are done and what standards are expected.

Depends on how much formal learning is happening (mostly just the 3Rs vs extensive languages, sports, musical instruments etc)

Depends on the overall parenting style and how strict or relaxed the parents are.

Depends on the amount of support the parent/teacher has (financial, practical, mental, spiritual, etc)
Depends on the parent/teacher's skills, experience, level of confidence, physical and mental health status

Depends on how much supervision/teaching is done by people other than the primary responsible adult (grandparents, co-op, older siblings teaching younger, etc)

...and those are just a few variables that popped into my mind in the first minute!

 

I honestly don't think you can compare. I have my hands full with three children, but others might have very large families and manage fine, for all kinds of reasons. It is up to each home educating parent or couple to judge what they can and can't do, and plan accordingly. Of course there are going to be limits. You clearly can't have a dozen kids and spend 5 hours a day with each of them individually. But I'd never make some arbitrary pronouncement, such as "7 kids is OK but if you're educating 8 kids you can't be doing it properly".

 

[8filltheheart]

I honestly don't think you can compare. I have my hands full with three children, but others might have very large families and manage fine, for all kinds of reasons. It is up to each home educating parent or couple to judge what they can and can't do, and plan accordingly. Of course there are going to be limits. You clearly can't have a dozen kids and spend 5 hours a day with each of them individually. But I'd never make some arbitrary pronouncement, such as "7 kids is OK but if you're educating 8 kids you can't be doing it properly".

My thoughts exactly. I deleted the rest of my post. But I have homeschooled a large number of children in the midst of incredibly trying circumstances, including disabilities and SN. My kids were very well-educated and my household functioned. Who should pronounce that simply # of children is a determining factor?

[Mimm]

Depends. Kids like my oldest? None. Kids like my second? I could probably manage four or five of her, even at different levels.

 

I know someone who has seven kids. She commented that they get up before her and get math and a couple other subject done on their own before she's up. They're very self motivated. The oldest is in seventh grade. With kids like that, homeschooling is easy! ;)

[ondreeuh]

My style is more like tutoring, in that I am actively involved in my 8th grader's work. I read what he reads, discuss with him, do my own review and reinforcement to make sure he understands the key concepts. I correct his work, and I reteach & reinforce with him. I could not do all of that if I had a third kid to homeschool. As it is, I have a full day teaching him and my 2nd grader.

 

It takes time, but I feel I would be doing a poor job of homeschooling if I just set him free with a textbook and asked him to correct his own work.

[sassenach]

Like others have said, I think this is so teacher and child dependent. The most I've taught was 3, and that was a struggle. Mostly because it my oldest was a nightmare at that age. And we did send her to school the next year. My current 2 are really easy to teach. I feel like I could probably handle more, but alas, I'm out of kids.

[rebcoola]

It really depends on the kids and the Mom and the curriculum choices and their support level.  I feel like I could easily do more I have 2 and our day is an absolute breeze and we are done in no time.  My BFF has 5 kids but even when she was homeschooling only 2 her day took all day because of what she chose to do and because of her daughters personalities.

[Jennifer132]

I feel like I could homeschool several children just fine if I didn't have preschoolers and babies to contend with. That's really the part that makes homeschooling so difficult for me, to be honest.

[Caclcoca]

I feel like I totally rock homeschooling three.  I am homeschooling four though.  We do have some changes planned for this school year, so I can get to the point where I feel like educating four (the way I want to) is too hard.

 

[Mom22ns]

I don't think there is a set number. My mom taught in a one room school house when she first started teaching. She had more kids in a wider age range than anyone I've seen on these boards. I think a homeschool parent can do just as well. 

 

I had a 2e child who required a lot of time and attention. I couldn't have homeschooled a large number of kids at the same time and done well at it. The ideal number varies for every family and the maximum is not necessarily the same as the optimum.

[Maplecat]

I feel like I could homeschool several children just fine if I didn't have preschoolers and babies to contend with. That's really the part that makes homeschooling so difficult for me, to be honest.

I couldn't like this enough times. The actual teaching I do is not very complicated. Teaching while nursing, keeping the toddler from drawing on the walls, supervising potty training, changing diapers, keeping up with the laundry, monitoring what the kid I'm not actively teaching is doing, and getting out of the house regularly so my big guys can play with others is what makes homeschooling hard for me. Working in schools was much easier for me because there were no tiny people dependent on me while I was also teaching. Homeschooling really stretches my ability to multitask.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

For myself only, four (learning levels, not kids) is the limit.

 

I taught a teen, distance-tutoring style, for one calendar year and that was too much. Totally not her fault -- she was awesome and did everything I ever asked of her with a great attitude -- but the household came to a screeching halt while I met with her online each day. It couldn't be helped.

 

If she could have just moved in with us and been folded in, I probably still wouldn't know that I have a limit.

[Squawky Acres]

I am currently homeschooling Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd, with a 3-year-old who also wants to "do school" and often listens in, and a toddler.  It is a little overwhelming at times, and I am not able to do as much as I would like; but by outside standards (test scores), they are doing exceptionally well.  I realized a few years ago that early reading is critical, and I work to have fluent readers prior to Kindergarten so that we can spend the early elementary years on other language arts.  They all work on their own writing, language arts, math, spelling, etc. -- and we do Latin, science, history, geography, logic, read alouds and art together (with different expectations for different ages).

 

Honestly, I am a little bit apprehensive about adding the 3-year-old and toddler to the formal lessons, but realize that once I add them I will not have a 3-year-old and toddler to wrangle, so maybe I will still be ahead.