Homeschooling Different Ages: Mistakes & Tips

Homeschooling different aged kids at the same time...with an 18 month old in the mix...
I wish I had a post that would magically fix any stress for any momma that is schooling more than one at a time.
I don't.
 I can share my mistakes and what I'm doing now...which is working the best but I'm sure will be improved upon later.

Mistake One: doing separate curriculum for each child and every subject. 

Mistake Two: doing too many different subjects. 

Mistake Three: doing too many different subjects that require my assistance. 

My mistakes may not be anyone else's. I've learned over time that each family is different, each mom schools differently, each one of our precious children are unique. That's why we love homeschooling- because we can tailor it.
So why do we stress about all that we're doing when we can tailor to each of our children? I don't know about you but my answer is 1) I fall into the trap of comparing myself to other homeschooling mommas and the lie from Satan that I'm not good enough. And 2) I've tried too hard to tailor each and every moment for each and every child.
 

So I'll explain my mistakes a little bit... When we first came home full time (we had attended a part-time private school/homeschool that I had also taught art at in order to pay my three children's tuition- great fit for a time but long story short, we decided {best decision ever} to make life easier and full on homeschool.) I just recreated the school "experience" and did the subjects, at the same level, as what they had there. Minus the couple of subjects I was more then happy to ditch...ahem...Wordly Wise being one. My oldest wanted to burn his book. That could be an entire post on its own. We usually fall under the Classical Homeschooling style...although I hate categorizing myself, it's my rebellious nature. We do a lot of "Unit Study" learning, some might consider some of my subjects taught the "Unschooling" method...don't put me in a box, ok?! But we do history in chronological order and when we came home- I kept each kid in their "time period" -Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece & Rome, Modern 1850-Present. That was frustrating and impossible. I was also attempting to teach any and all subjects: we did three separate Latin levels, Music History, Art History, along with Art class, separate vocab.... I could go on... "attempted" is the key word. I was pulling my hair out. Plus, I was "lesson planning" and "prepping" ahead of time. Onto the third mistake- each one of those subjects was very teacher led. Regarding this particular topic, curriculum can be categorized in two ways 1) Parent led or 2) Student led. What I mean by that is, can the student take the book and go work and learn on their own? Or, do you as the parent have to teach the concept or take the child step by step through the lesson? 

Well, almost all of my subjects/curriculum were teacher led. There was not enough of me to go around three times through 15 subjects for each one! I crazily attempted it that first year. Well, first semester really, I ditched some things and simplified by Christmas break. And each year after, I've simplified even more. 

So that brings me to what has worked for me.
 

Tip One: Do as many subjects TOGETHER as you can. Be logical here though, people! You can't teach an 11, 9, and 6 year old the same math. You can, however, teach the same history, bible, music, art, science, foreign language...you get my point. Whatever you can combine, do it! This will be different for each family on what you can combine- based on ages, levels of learning, and the curriculum you choose. Some are totally set up for multi-level learning. Now we do history together (ages 13, 11, and 8) using History Revealed: Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries. So far, it's working great! I love it! We also do our bible together, then they have quiet time to reflect and journal by themselves. We do art together. Or on their own. Whatever we feel like...if I want to teach them a specific art concept and we've got time, we do it all together. The last two years, we combined science together by doing Apologia's Astronomy and Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, and *some Botany. This year though, my 13 year old is doing Apologia's General Science so I have the 11 & 8 year old doing something different. 

Tip Two: Do only the subjects you REALLY want/need to accomplish and your child is PASSIONATE about. Ok, math isn't really my passion, nor any of my children's, but it's gotta be done. Art is something I'm passionate about, so are my kids, so we fit it in. I can spend all day on History and never get to Science- but I know it's important and my kids love science. So we fit it in. This is where the beauty of homeschooling comes in- tailor it! It can also be where the frustration comes in- because it won't look like anyone else's, it's hard to follow other's advice and 'to dos' with homeschooling. We ended up ditching Music History, Latin, Vocab... Really evaluate each subject and ask yourself and your kids- Is this necessary/required? Can this concept/subject be incorporated into subjects we're already doing? (Like, instead of a separate vocab curriculum, does your grammar book have it in there {Shurley English has 8 vocab words each week.} or can you get new vocab words to look up and write down in a vocab journal they make with words from their reading, or Science, or History, etc). My son is passionate about writing and Photoshop/art. We allow a lot of time for those things. My 8 year old loves to read now and has really excelled in learning how to read this past year so we allow a lot of time for that. My 11 year old loves to do a lot independently- typing, art, anything related to horses, baking- so we allow a lot of time for that. Do things you are passionate about and create a passion for the things you have to do. 

Tip Three: Balance subjects that require YOU with subjects that THEY can do with minimal teaching. Maybe think of it as a ratio thing: 3 kids=1/3 of each of their subjects (or daily hours) teacher led. For example, my kids can "log" about 6 hours daily but I'm only sitting with each individual child for 2 of those hours. AND as they get older, the ratio of parent led=student led goes down. (Remember the flip side though, when they're young, the ratio is higher.) Here's another example for this tip: I was originally using Spelling Power for each one of kids. Which is very parent led. I was pretesting, helping with learning activities, then testing again. Out of my three olders, I have one very poor speller. I mean bad. No natural ability to spell, sound it out, remember how it looks, nothing. I've tried everything. It's just not happening. We've had tears over it. Both of us.  My only hope is spellcheck. But my other two are naturals. They could do any book, just about any list, look at it and remember it, hear it and sound it out. So it didn't matter what curriculum I did. I started using Spelling Workout books and let the go at their pace. And they can test each other. I'm barely involved in their Spelling whatsoever. It's great! That was a subject I could change from parent led to student led.
 

Generally speaking.....

The subjects in my house which are parent led: Grammar, Math. 

The subjects which are almost totally student led: Geography, Spelling, Handwriting, Typing, Science. 

The subjects I start and they run with: History, Art, Bible. 

The subjects I take the lead from our study group of a few families: Writing, Logic. 

So that sums up my mistakes and what I've tried instead. Throwing in the 18 month old in the mix spices it up big time. We're muddling our way through that one. She's a busy little girl. We're trying 'busy boxes' out so once I get that fine tuned, I'm sure I'll create a post. What works best with her now though? We call it "Juju Duty"...her nickname for Juliet being 'Juju' and 'duty' meaning they're rotating playing with her. One is on independent work, one on mom-subjects, one on Juju Duty. It's working so far. Makes for a long day so praying she becomes more independent (or naps get longer) so I can have two on independent work at the same time. But it is what it is and we make the best of it. Because we're all together and wouldn't have it any other way.
So if you're homeschooling different age kids and my tips don't help because your kids are different, at different ages, or different learners, don't lose heart-  just remember why you homeschool in the first place. Keep that in the forefront of your mind and heart. Whatever the reason may be. Maybe even write it someplace as a daily reminder of your end goal and motivation. 

For Gregg and I, it's these:

We want to be our children's teacher. 

We want to teach them of Christ's love and to show that love to others. 

We want to teach them as we sit at the home, walk along the road, get up, and lie down. 

What's your motivation?