A very popular Google search is about how to homeschool multiple ages. It makes sense that so many seek information in this area. It can be crazy and complicated trying to juggle school with teens and tots. Or maybe you’re wrangling a boat load of littles. There are times in which you may feel like your goal for the day is just to survive! I say you don’t just need to survive. You can sur-thrive homeschooling multiple ages.
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What do you mean by “sur-thrive?”
Okay, sounds catchy, right? What do I mean by sur-thrive? First off, I did not make up that term. It means to thrive while you are achieving something that is difficult. It’s overcoming obstacles when you are faced with a challenge.
Nice idea, Julie, you may say. There are some days in which I feel like I’m treading water, with my face just above the surface. I say, sure, I get it, I’ve been there. You may be treading water, but you can still do it well.
How would you know what it’s like homeschooling multiple ages?
I started homeschooling when my oldest was four years old. At that time, he had a two-year-old brother. In another six months, he would have a baby sister. Five years later, he’d have another baby brother. A year later, he would have a two-year-old sister (this one was made in China). The year after that came a two-and-a-half-year-old brother (also from China). Just to make things really interesting, two more sisters from China came home two years after that.
If you have done your math correctly, you’ll see that I have eight kids. When our last two girls came home, I had five kids aged five-years-old and younger, along with my three older kids. When I mentioned feeling like you’re treading water with your face above the surface, I understand that experientially. I’ve been there, done that, and am doing that still. I had a one-way ticket on the crazy train.
Did you “sur-thrive” homeschooling multiple ages?
I’d like to say I did, However, I’ve learned a whole lot on the way to where I am now that I wish I had known then. Hope that made sense. Trust me, I am still a work in progress! Still, I’ll share some tips that might help you in your journey.
1. Make a plan
It does not have to be elaborate. I have two posts in my “Super Simple Homeschooling” series (so far). One is “Make a Super Simple Lesson Planner” the other is “Super Simple Homeschool Calendar Planning.” In the lesson planning post, I have free planning pages you can use to plan your week. There are four different styles for both 4 day weeks and 5 day weeks.
However, you don’t even need something that formal. If you have littles, you may want to just school three days a week. You can jot down in a notebook what you plan to do on those days.
Why is it so important to make a plan? In my opinion, having a plan sets you up for success. You of course can be flexible with your plan, but at least you have a framework on which to build. If you try to wing it every day, you’ll feel scattered and unprepared.
2. Cover as many subjects together as you can
I know everyone says that. There’s a reason why. The more subjects you can cover together, the fewer subjects you’ll need to cover with each child individually.
Many curriculums are designed to be used with multiple grade levels. Subjects such as Bible, history, science, art, and music can be done with all of your kids together. When my oldest was a senior in high school, I had all eight kids doing history together. Obviously they were not doing the same level of work, but they were all listening to the same read alouds for history. Notebooking was a fabulous tool for all the kids to use together.
Let me give you an example of this. We were studying Egypt and pyramids. Using the Evan Moor Egypt History Pockets book, we kept notebooks (I just bought composition notebooks from the dollar store). I would copy pages from the Evan Moor book which the kids then glued into their notebooks.
I copied a page for my youngest to color and then glue into their notebooks. My slightly older ones had a coloring page with simple copywork I would write on a whiteboard. They would glue their picture in their notebooks and then write their copywork directly into their books. Older ones had a coloring page with more copywork, or they had to write a sentence or two based on the reading, The oldest made a pyramid in Minecraft or LEGOs along with a writing assignment such as “Write a diary entry as a Pharaoh.” By the way, Homeschool Giveaways has a FREE Newspaper Writing Prompts About Ancient Egypt download you can use. My younger ones enjoyed using DUPLOs to make pyramids.
To give a little plug for Evan Moor (full disclosure, I am an affiliate), I have used all but one of their History Pocket books:
Don’t worry about the grade range given on the books. All the books, when used for notebooking, are adaptable for all ages.
You might want to try unit studies as well as they are designed to be used with multiple ages. I don’t use them a lot, but for holidays and special events I will.
3. Include your littles as much as possible
My youngest ones always wanted to “do school” like their older siblings. Put your littles in their high chairs and let them color, or play with manipulatives, or use stickers, or whatever will keep them relatively quiet and busy. True, they won’t last as long as your older kids, but you are training them to sit and work “independently” while you are reading or working with other kids. They can also sit on older siblings’ laps as long as they aren’t too disruptive.
If you have wiggle worms who you don’t think will sit still, then have them play nearby. The next point may help you with this.
4. Give your wee ones busy bags/busy boxes
These were a game changer for me. I used busy bags mostly for restaurant outings, but definitely took them out for school as well. What are busy bags? They are bags or boxes with self-contained activities inside. You put one activity per bag or box. I have a busy bag Pinterest board if you need some ideas.
In my opinion, the queen of busy bags and other activities for littles is Christina from My Purple Alphabet. Her YouTube channel is filled with amazing ideas for kits, bins, and bags to keep young ones busy while learning. The huge advantage that you ladies have now that I didn’t have is the dollar store. So many dollar store products can be used to make the bags inexpensively. Check out this video on toddler sensory bins made with Dollar Tree products.
5. Use meal times to your advantage
I know this is not for everyone, but I make my kids a hot breakfast every morning. They all sit down to eat together (except my college kids, as they often sleep in longer). While they eat, I read the Bible and whatever read aloud they have for the day. As soon as they are done eating, we launch into the subjects we do together. I find that the kids are already in the mindset to sit and listen, so it’s an easy transition to schoolwork.
If breakfast doesn’t work for that, choose another meal. The huge advantage to this is that their mouths and hands are busy! Since we are all together all day, they have plenty of time to chat. Plus we don’t school at every meal.
6. Schedule individual work to be done at your littles’ nap times or quiet times
Working with older kids at nap times or quiet times gives you a chunk of (mostly) uninterrupted time. If you are in a season in which you need to rest when your littles are resting, then please do that. Or perhaps you can take just a chunk of that time, 30 minutes or so, to give individual assistance to bigger kids.
By the way, if you don’t know what I mean by a quiet time, let me explain. When my kids grew out of their need for naps (sad, lamentable day), I still had them take a quiet time for an hour. They would go into their rooms and read books, or play quietly. The point of quiet time is to give mom a break, and to teach the kids how to play independently. True, you may have so many kids that they are not really playing independently, but playing quietly in pairs is still good for everyone.
7. Get involved in or start a co-op
I’ll devote a whole post on this at some point. I’ve been running a co-op for the last 17 years or so. My kids absolutely love their time at co-op as they experience learning at their own grade level from different teachers (parents). Of course, they also love seeing friends. The parents love co-op because in it we cover those subjects that are much more suited for group learning (like science).
Different co-ops have different philosophies. Our co-op meets every other week. We consider what we do there as enrichment, at least in the younger grades. Parents always have the option of supplementing subjects at home.
Can’t find a co-op? Form your own. Don’t think you can? I will argue that, yes, you absolutely can. Like I said, I’ll get a post up for that.
8. Use online or self-paced courses for your older ones
You are not cheating if you do not do every single subject individually with every single child. As my oldest ones got older, I took advantage of other methods for their learning. There are expensive ways to do this and not so expensive (and even free) ways to do this.
Many curriculum providers offer live or online classes for homeschoolers. Many of these are quite expensive, but if they are doing all the grading and lectures, it might be worth your while in order to sur-thrive homeschooling multiple ages.
I used Teaching Textbooks online for my oldest daughter, and it was wonderful (and really reasonably priced). The instruction and testing, and even grading was all done online. She enjoyed it and I was freed up to help the others. I noticed that they even offer a discount for large families! They offer courses from Math 3 and up, Once my kids hit algebra, I’ll switch them over to Teaching Textbooks. This will actually make me sad, because I love algebra. It’s just not helpful for my kids when they are struggling for me to say that.
Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool has a ton of free online courses for all ages. They even have a sister site dedicated to high school.
9. Use family movies and field trips in your homeschooling day
Scheduling family friendly movies and field trips will make homeschooling multiple ages easy. Watch the “Sound of Music” when you are learning about World War II. Little ones will simply enjoy the music while the older ones learn about the Nazi takeover of Austria prior to the war.
“Valiant” was a fun animated movie about a carrier pigeon during WWII. Use Google or Pinterest to find family friendly historical or science based movies.
Field trips are a great way for all ages to learn experientially. My college aged kids still enjoy going to the aquarium or to the zoo.
With life still shut down during the pandemic, you can go on virtual field trips. You can click on the picture below to see my post on “Must See Virtual Field Trips.”
I also have posts on:
360° Must-See Virtual Field Trips
Super fun 360° Virtual Factory Tours
10. Enlist help wherever you can get it
If Dad works away from home, maybe he can give some assistance when he arrives home. My husband starts work at noon, so he tries to help correct some kids’ work before he leaves. Trust me, even that little bit helps! My oldest kids also pitch in if they are available. The younger ones know that they can go to an available older sibling for help. I don’t rely on my older kids though, because they have their own work to do (two are in college and one is a senior in high school). Still, I love it when they can lend a hand.
Do you have parents or other family members that can read aloud to your kids? Or perhaps they can take one subject off your plate? Maybe they can simply be an extra adult to field questions. Now that we are all proficient at online meetings, they can be Zoom tutors or teachers. Get creative and think strategically
Embrace the chaos and take care of yourself, mama
You are in a season, mom. Life will be crazy for a while, but you will be on the other side of it…mostly. My oldest is 21 and getting married this year. My youngest is nine. Life is still very busy, but it’s a different kind of busy.
Be flexible and give yourself grace. Do not look at other families and wish you could be like that. (Read my “Homeschool Mom’s ‘To Don’t’ List” for more “don’ts”). You will find what fits best for your family and for you.
Please be sure to take care of yourself. No one is going to function well if Mom is not well. Give yourself mental breaks and remember you are more than your “job” as a homeschool mom. Take time to refresh yourself. I have some ideas on my 10 Ways to Lift Your Spirits for Busy Moms
Feel free to leave any comment or question below, or you can email me at Julie@hislifelearner.com for suggestions for future posts.
Lots of great tips and ideas! Thank you!