Homeschooling large familie

[visitor]

Dear all, how many children do you have? And what are your best organization advises? How does your homeschoolday look like . I have 3 children and I am pregnant , sometimes I feel overwhelmed :)

Edited April 20, 2016 by visitor

[maize]

It can certainly be overwhelming!

 

My children are 12, 10, 8, 5, 3, and 1. 

 

We've tried different things organizationally, I think sometimes you just have to try something to see if it works for you--and then when it stops working try something else! At your children's ages, there isn't much independent studying they can do, so you might look into doing as much as you can together. Do you have very strict homeschool regulations? With my own young children I focus on teaching them to read, then once they can read well I start working on math. I don't worry much about content subjects like history and science, other than reading library books to them. If you need to cover a whole list of subjects in order to meet government requirements you could look into doing a loop schedule. The way I do this is to schedule the things I want to do every day first--so maybe reading, handwriting, and math; then I make a list of everything else--history, art, science, grammar, nature study, whatever needs to be on there or you want to have in the schedule. On Monday, we do reading, handwriting, and math (short lessons) then start on the loop schedule; if we get to history and art, the next day when it is loop schedule time (after our basics are done) we start with science. This way everything gets done somewhat regularly and it doesn't make a big difference if we only do the basic subjects one day, or only get to one loop subject. We'll get to everything eventually.

 

Good luck! Are you homeschooling bilingually? 

[Slache]

I always follow these threads and have taken a lot of notes because I want many children. I have lots of good advice but none of it is mine. ;)

 

When they are young focused solely on reading to get that squared away.

 

Bible, Science, History, and art can all be done together. You want non teacher intensive curricula for the skill subjects such as math and writing because you will have so many.

 

The older kids can get up earlier and you can do math (or whatever) with them before the rest of the kids get up.

 

Do breakfast, then chores, then school. This way you start your school day out with a clean house.

[visitor]

@ thanks maiza, yes we do : Arabic , Dutch and English

[Holly]

Large Family Logistics is a great book!  I'd recommend it for even families with one or two DC.  It has tons of practical advice for structuring your day.  

 

We often do chores until 10:00 or so...today we did chores until lunch time since we haven't been home much lately.  I try to start a load of laundry while cooking or after each meal since our washer is close to the kitchen.  If I do this consistently, that's 3 loads of laundry by the end of the day.  We try to fold & put it away after school and before dinner.  I have 2 DC clean the kitchen and 2 DC pick up the house after each meal.  When we are doing this consistently, our house doesn't look too bad.  Unfortunately, we haven't been doing this consistently lately.   :blush:

 

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by Holly

[jennyof11]

I agree with the posters above.

 

I have ten, soon to be eleven in May. My oldest is graduated, rest are stair-step 12th grade down to 2yo. 

 

We do breakfast then chores before school:

Sometimes it means starting later, but everyone is more calm and content, things being in order. Your children are pretty young yet, but encourage the habit now and add chores as they get older. The most important thing is to get your house JUST to the point that YOU feel relaxed and feel YOU can leave off cleaning now, and focus on schooling for awhile.

 

My biggest suggestions:

1. Take care of you. Get your house the way you require to be content and calm. Rest as needed. Eat well and take supplements. Get outside at least 10 min a day. Teach your children to mind your calmly spoken words, and have a general routine they can count on. This is investment for your future health, sanity, relationships, and joy. Without these, even the best curriculum and methods won't matter.

 

2. I would not schedule this child's day full of school subjects, organized activities, and curriculum, not even until lunchtime. I know the temptation to cover subjects, add electives, do tangible activities, etc is very strong. But you need to condition yourself to see all these as options, NOT what must be done to give your child a well rounded education. Keep it simple, less is almost always more.

 

As for the actual schooling with a 6yo, 5yo, toddler, and new baby:

Your children are very young, and only your DS6 might be ready to start any formal schooling at all. Your DS5 may be too, only you would know. I do not know you or your personality, or your circumstances, so I truly hope you can take my 2 cents for whatever its worth to you. My suggestions are based on how I got through it at various stages as my children came along. I do not mean to be offensive in discounting unusual circumstances you may have.

 

_________________________

 

Here are my suggestions for DS6 school. Again, your 5yo may be ready to do some school with his big brother, only you would know. But don't push him to if he's not. There's plenty of time. Also, I am assuming here that you have not started school with DS6 yet, and are just starting out:

 

Teach your DS6 to read. Spend 15-20 minutes once or twice a day. 

 

Use the reading instruction to provide penmanship/copywork for him, 10 minutes a day. Just words at first, moving into one or two sentences or a short rhyme.

 

Work with math manipulatives and basic concepts for 30 minutes a day or 15 min twice a day. Don't start a math text/workbook until he knows basic addition and subtraction facts rotely to 10 or 12, and you know he's ready to write problems and fill in blanks.

 

Get one history book and one science book from library once a week and read those to him 1-3 times through the week as convenient. He can just listen, or draw a picture, or make something if that is his thing, but there is no reason to feel you must have curriculum at this age, or do anything other than just simply read it to him. You could discuss it in a very brief, natural way, but at 6, don't worry. Don't make him hate it by making each book a test of memory. Just enjoy reading it, then put it away, and when you see something later related to it, say, "Hey, look! That's just like what we read in our ___ book yesterday..."   You are planting fun little first grade seeds that will make his and your education and life easier, more fun and interesting in the future. That's all it is for now. I wouldn't bother with History or Science curriculum until 5th grade. 

 

_________________________

 

Doing these things, you have just covered Reading, Language Arts, Math, History and Science in 1 1/2 to 2 hrs per day at the very most. That's plenty. And it does not need to be consecutive, or all in the morning, etc.

 

With all the little people, you only get 10-15 minutes at a time to do something if you're lucky. That's okay because that's all a 6yo needs. Lots of little bites throughout the day. You both get lots of breaks this way to tend to youngers, other duties, or just to play/rest.

 

At this point, you can arrange these snippets around anything you've got to do. Use this to your advantage. For 2nd grade, I would maybe add 10 min in each subject area, maybe 2 history and science books per week, etc. Increase the time and complexity of his work very naturally, as your son shows ease with what he's currently doing, not what anybody else says he ought to be doing by a certain age/grade.

 

I know because you are overwhelmed, you are thinking about it already, so here are some ideas for when your DS5 starts next year.

 

1. Have your oldest son work (just for instance) on his Math alone but nearby for 15 min while you teach your 2nd son his reading lesson. Then break and deal with the baby & toddler & house.

 

2. Next school snippet, your older son does Copywork alone but nearby while you teach your 2nd son his penmanship/copywork.

 

3. Later on, have your oldest son play with the youngest 2 while you teach your 2nd son his Math. Remember, these are 15-20 blocks of time. No biggie, squeeze them in when it works.

 

4. During a meal, at bedtime, read the history and science books to all of them together. 

 

By the time your 3rd child starts school, your oldest 2 sons will be well established in how it all works, barring any problems, they will be reading and writing somewhat independently, and old enough to be great helps around the house. This is how the magic happens, though it will always remain somewhat inexplicable.  :thumbup:

 

I hope this is helpful, doesn't sound preachy, and with you being in Belgium, I have no idea what your requirements may be. If I stuck my foot in my mouth, you have questions, or if I left something unaddressed please reply or pm me. All the best to you.

 

(Edited for clarity)

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2016 by jennyof11

[visitor]

Thanks Jenny I love your answers ! I feel thats this can work :-)

[2_girls_mommy]

I have 3 children, 8th grade, 6th grade, and a 2 yr old. There were years I also kept and homeschooled a niece in the mix (now 7.) I use Flylady for home upkeep.  It's a great blog for organizing housework and creating easy doable routines.   I won't post my whole routine, but I have certain things I do every day.  The goal is right when I wake up, but it doesn't always happen.  But it gets done as part of my day every day.  Then there are things I do before bed every day like pack the diaper bag, start a load of laundry, make sure all dishes are done, lay out clothes for me and the baby tomorrow, etc. If I want to lose weight and start exercising, I have to be realistic about where that will fit into my schedule. But I do it.

 

I keep a family calendar.  I put all schedules for the year in a notebook and add all dates at the beginning of the year for the entire school year from everything we are in: church, scouts, co-op, dance classes, etc.  I use places on the calendar to mark expenses I am expecting that month (recital fees or co-op fees, etc.) I also put general school goals for the month on there.  What topic we will be studying or big projects that month like science fairs or cookie selling time for girl scouts, etc. I put all new dates on calendars whenever I get a schedule from somewhere that I will need, and I file the original in the same binder.  I sit at the beginning of each month to figure out what's going on so that I can make more specific plans like currently I need to buy DD13 a pair of khaki's for a ceremony next week.  The only place that will fit in is sat. morning.  I have a brief window there.  If I didn't put all of this in my calendar, it wouldn't get done and we would be scrounging the night before staying up really late looking for an all night Walmart or something. yuck.

 

I schedule our days.  I have a timed schedule for school.  It's flexible, and what we do in that hour might change.  But in general, the girls know to do science between 8-9.  If they don't get up or get started late, we still switch subjects at 9, and they are responsible for any unfinished work that night as homework.  We came to this system several years ago and it works for us.  There are times the girls don't mind having homework, and there are times they work hard to finish something because they want to watch a TV show that night or something.  It gives them some responsibility with their work.

 

 

 

when I had the niece, I started the day with her preschool stuff that all the kids would participate in.  They loved it, and she loved it.  Then she could free play and help me around the house while I flitted between the bigger kids.  When the baby was born, she loved helping do baby care and baths and such with me.  Then we had a certain reading time for everyone.  She colored pictures, did memorywork with us, and then could play with toys as we moved into bigger kids books.  Then I took her in for a nap and read specifically preschool books to her.  She rested, I nursed and held the baby while working the big kids through more detailed together work (writing and such,) before we all headed out for the day to the afternoon activities. 

 

  Currently my 2 yr old is too little for planned activities. So she eats breakfast and play her sweet little activities and follows and helps me around the house while the girls do their morning work.  I switch activities often for her so I can work with them on teacher intensive days. This summer we'll start some potty training.  That will be an interesting change to our day. :)

 

So for me, a schedule is key for schooling.  I've already got all of our summer camps and dates and such on the calendar ready to go.  I will post a flexible working schedule for the house for summer break soon. I'll put our pool days, library days, and camp days on it, and we'll have a routine for at home days and for those days. I can't function without routine.  It goes downhill fast the days I am lax about my routines. (I say as I am looking at the dust on my bookshelves and at the messy bookshelves which need a bit of attention after a year of school days putting them off and on...)

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

As an aside, we have several interesting threads going over in the bilingual education board about dealing with multiple language learning.  Feel free to try that board for more tips!

[visitor]

As an aside, we have several interesting threads going over in the bilingual education board about dealing with multiple language learning.  Feel free to try that board for more tips!

Thanks I will 

[....]

Hi, my kids are 14, 13, 11, 8 and 1.  I'm really worn down, too.  Ugh!   :glare:   

 

Some things that work for us:

 

1.  I don't use multiple programs for one subject.  I used to be "let's do parts of 6 different math programs plus all these enrichment things!".  Yeah, not anymore.  1 math program and be done.  In fact, I'm transitioning them all to the same math program just to really simplify things.  

 

2.  I don't usually combine kids together when teaching, but there have been several years when I did.  It does help if you can swing it.  Unit studies go well with that.

 

3.  Over the weekend, I write out a daily assignment sheet for each older kid covering the week.  They have 2 columns: Work with Me and Work on Your Own.  I list all of their page numbers/titles for readings, writing assignments, workbook pages, etc on their Work on Your Own column.  Anything I need to do with them goes in the Work with Me column.  So, on Monday, I just set the sheet at the dinner table and the older kids magically start working through their list.   :tongue_smilie:  This makes a huge difference in time management.  By the time I am finished with the younger kids, the older kids have done a lot of their work, too.  I check everyone's work at the end of the day.  I also call them in to do narrations from their reading when I'm cooking dinner, etc.

 

4.  Another thing I did one year that worked well was I bought each kid a small bin.  The younger ones decorated them with stickers (Avengers stickers - Lol).  I filled it with math, spelling, handwriting, grammar + all the books I wanted them to read for the year.  So, every day, we did the math/language arts stuff and then I let them pick a book to read.  Some of the books were science, some were literature...some were history.  We would do copywork and note booking with the books we read.  That actually worked out really well for my 2nd grader.  I should do that again.

 

5.  I always work with the youngest kids first.  We always do math first also.  

 

 

I have enough schoolwork to get us through December, so I'm not sure what we're doing after that.  Anyway, the oldest (14) is working on AO's House of Education Online and she is doing probably 90% of it independently.  13 year-old is also doing a Charlotte Mason year and he's pretty independent - except math.  I have to sit with him the entire time he does math.  11 year-old is using Volume 2 and 3 of Beyond Five in a Row - they're literature-based unit studies.  She is maybe 50% independent.  8 year-old is about a third of the way through Five in a Row Volume 4.  I have to sit and work with her the entire time.  

 

As far as time...8 year-old probably spends 2 hours on school.  11 year-old maybe 2-3 hours.  The teenagers work on school off-and-on until late afternoon and then they usually have a little bit of homework over the weekend.  We might do a science lab or something over the weekend.  We take a lot of educational field trips, too. 

 

I hope something out of my post is helpful!  

[LMD]

I do the weekly list for my oldest, and a daily list for my next oldest. It has really made a difference here.

 

I also make up a term's worth of daily packets, so we just grab the next one and it has all the worksheets that we need. Helps keep me on track too. Only for my 3rd & k kids though, the oldest has more actual books than worksheets.

[fdrinca]

FWIW, the breakfast ---> chores ---> school schedule doesn't work for our family. There's so much herding of cats if I let them escape from the breakfast table. We jump right in. 

 

My older two have responded so well to a daily assignment list. If I put everything on it - down to brushing teeth, vitamins, chores, what to remember to pack up, in addition to school tasks - they will accomplish everything ***WITHOUT ME NAGGING.***  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[maize]

My kids also respond well to daily task lists, as long as I keep them fairly simple. Put too much stuff in there and they become overwhelmed; they need to be able to see that the end is in sight when they start the first task.

[maize]

For non-readers or emerging readers I include pictures on the lists :)

[visitor]

Thanks all with all your recommendations it went very smooth this week .I am a happy homeschool mom now :-)

[BlsdMama]

I agree with the posters above.

 

I have ten, soon to be eleven in May. My oldest is graduated, rest are stair-step 12th grade down to 2yo. 

 

We do breakfast then chores before school:

Sometimes it means starting later, but everyone is more calm and content, things being in order. Your children are pretty young yet, but encourage the habit now and add chores as they get older. The most important thing is to get your house JUST to the point that YOU feel relaxed and feel YOU can leave off cleaning now, and focus on schooling for awhile.

 

My biggest suggestions:

1. Take care of you. Get your house the way you require to be content and calm. Rest as needed. Eat well and take supplements. Get outside at least 10 min a day. Teach your children to mind your calmly spoken words, and have a general routine they can count on. This is investment for your future health, sanity, relationships, and joy. Without these, even the best curriculum and methods won't matter.

 

2. I would not schedule this child's day full of school subjects, organized activities, and curriculum, not even until lunchtime. I know the temptation to cover subjects, add electives, do tangible activities, etc is very strong. But you need to condition yourself to see all these as options, NOT what must be done to give your child a well rounded education. Keep it simple, less is almost always more.

 

As for the actual schooling with a 6yo, 5yo, toddler, and new baby:

Your children are very young, and only your DS6 might be ready to start any formal schooling at all. Your DS5 may be too, only you would know. I do not know you or your personality, or your circumstances, so I truly hope you can take my 2 cents for whatever its worth to you. My suggestions are based on how I got through it at various stages as my children came along. I do not mean to be offensive in discounting unusual circumstances you may have.

 

_________________________

 

Here are my suggestions for DS6 school. Again, your 5yo may be ready to do some school with his big brother, only you would know. But don't push him to if he's not. There's plenty of time. Also, I am assuming here that you have not started school with DS6 yet, and are just starting out:

 

Teach your DS6 to read. Spend 15-20 minutes once or twice a day. 

 

Use the reading instruction to provide penmanship/copywork for him, 10 minutes a day. Just words at first, moving into one or two sentences or a short rhyme.

 

Work with math manipulatives and basic concepts for 30 minutes a day or 15 min twice a day. Don't start a math text/workbook until he knows basic addition and subtraction facts rotely to 10 or 12, and you know he's ready to write problems and fill in blanks.

 

Get one history book and one science book from library once a week and read those to him 1-3 times through the week as convenient. He can just listen, or draw a picture, or make something if that is his thing, but there is no reason to feel you must have curriculum at this age, or do anything other than just simply read it to him. You could discuss it in a very brief, natural way, but at 6, don't worry. Don't make him hate it by making each book a test of memory. Just enjoy reading it, then put it away, and when you see something later related to it, say, "Hey, look! That's just like what we read in our ___ book yesterday..."   You are planting fun little first grade seeds that will make his and your education and life easier, more fun and interesting in the future. That's all it is for now. I wouldn't bother with History or Science curriculum until 5th grade. 

 

_________________________

 

Doing these things, you have just covered Reading, Language Arts, Math, History and Science in 1 1/2 to 2 hrs per day at the very most. That's plenty. And it does not need to be consecutive, or all in the morning, etc.

 

With all the little people, you only get 10-15 minutes at a time to do something if you're lucky. That's okay because that's all a 6yo needs. Lots of little bites throughout the day. You both get lots of breaks this way to tend to youngers, other duties, or just to play/rest.

 

At this point, you can arrange these snippets around anything you've got to do. Use this to your advantage. For 2nd grade, I would maybe add 10 min in each subject area, maybe 2 history and science books per week, etc. Increase the time and complexity of his work very naturally, as your son shows ease with what he's currently doing, not what anybody else says he ought to be doing by a certain age/grade.

 

I know because you are overwhelmed, you are thinking about it already, so here are some ideas for when your DS5 starts next year.

 

1. Have your oldest son work (just for instance) on his Math alone but nearby for 15 min while you teach your 2nd son his reading lesson. Then break and deal with the baby & toddler & house.

 

2. Next school snippet, your older son does Copywork alone but nearby while you teach your 2nd son his penmanship/copywork.

 

3. Later on, have your oldest son play with the youngest 2 while you teach your 2nd son his Math. Remember, these are 15-20 blocks of time. No biggie, squeeze them in when it works.

 

4. During a meal, at bedtime, read the history and science books to all of them together. 

 

By the time your 3rd child starts school, your oldest 2 sons will be well established in how it all works, barring any problems, they will be reading and writing somewhat independently, and old enough to be great helps around the house. This is how the magic happens, though it will always remain somewhat inexplicable.  :thumbup:

 

I hope this is helpful, doesn't sound preachy, and with you being in Belgium, I have no idea what your requirements may be. If I stuck my foot in my mouth, you have questions, or if I left something unaddressed please reply or pm me. All the best to you.

 

(Edited for clarity)

 

 

Yes.

 

Also

 

I have no idea what your curriculum options are, however, don't get caught in trends.  Don't get on the merry-go-'round of switching up.   Make your main subjects your focus.  It is absolutely vital that your kids read WELL.  It is more important to have a child that is a strong reader than to have a child cover 10 subjects.  Reading is the foundation.