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Homeschooling multi-age children together can be a great experience if done right. These 7 tips for homeschooling multiple-age children will help you find a balance when trying to teach multiple curriculums.
Are you overwhelmed trying to homeschool your multi-age children?
Learn how to make homeschooling multi-age children a positive experience for everyone involved by using these tips.
7 Tips For Homeschooling Multiple-Age Children
Homeschooling multi-age children can be a rewarding and enriching experience for the entire family, but it can also be stressful and challenging. Juggling different learning styles, interests, needs, and curriculum expectations among multiple children in the same household can be overwhelming at times. Fortunately, there are many tips and tricks to make homeschooling multi-age children easier and more effective.
Tip 1: Create an inclusive environment
When homeschooling different ages at the same time, it is important to create an environment that allows each child to learn at their own pace. Parents should provide materials that all children regardless of age can easily have access to. So if your older child needs a scientific calculator have one available in the class next to the basic calculators that your other children need. Ensuring that you have all the materials that your children will need helps ensure that individual learning styles and interests are being met.
Tip 2: Lesson Planning
It is important to plan in advance what you will teach each child. Especially if you have multiple ages and abilities. When planning for your children use their strengths to help them learn new skills or concepts. What I find effective is that while children are practicing the concept that has been taught I work with one of my kids teaching them a new concept. When I am done teaching the first child then I move to the next one. I know what you are thinking. What happens if they need help while you are teaching the new concept? I have my older children help the younger ones so that the teaching and learning aren’t interrupted. Giving older children leadership responsibilities teaches them valuable skills that they can later use in real-world experiences.
Tip 3: Flexible Schedule
Setting up a flexible schedule is an advantage when it comes to homeschooling. Don’t waste a lot of time focusing on a structured schedule. This will only result in your kids sitting around waiting for you. A flexible schedule means that the youngest child works on phonics skills while you work with the older children teaching math. Once the older child’s math lesson is complete then the younger kids can put their phonics lessons away and learn their math. There will be opportunities when you will be able to teach a topic such as plants or a reading comprehension strategy that can be taught all together, or in a small group.
When planning your homeschool schedule though be sure to first identify the core subjects that you want your child to learn. This will help divide these core subjects into smaller tasks or activities so each child can work on them independently. What I also have found to help is creating a daily to-do routine for each student. This helps your child see what needs to be completed for the day and they are not getting distracted.
If you are looking for sample schedules be sure to check out this blog post.
Tip 4: Use Technology To Support Learning:
My eldest son is in grade 6 now and his math lessons are different from the kids that are working on grade 2, or 3 math. We balance the math with alternating days. One day I focus on the younger kids and the other days I focus on the older child. When I am focusing on the older child, the younger kids are practicing or completing math challenges. Sometimes, they all require my attention at once and on those days I use Youtube, Homeschool Pop, and Mathletics. If the topic is not one I am comfortable teaching I use outschool.com to help get the answers they are looking for.
Tip 5: Making Learning Fun:
Setting up a classroom doesn’t mean that learning only happens there. Diversify your teaching and learning. Take the classroom learning to different places such as the art museum, the forest, or the science center. The sky is the limit. You have that flexibility to take learning anywhere, a classroom teacher doesn’t.
These fun learning explorations can be adapted to meet all your children’s academic needs. The assignment can be the same but the task can be different based on academic difficulty. For example, if you are heading to the forest, the younger kids can look for different plants and learn what those plants are. The older child can look at if the plants are edible or if the plant can be used to cure an infection.
Tip 6: If Your Plans Get Changed Don’t Fret:
There are days that your lesson plans will need to change because chaos has hit between all the kids. It is okay to shelf that lesson and teach something else or have the kids play educational games while you compose yourself. Be kind to yourself on these days. It happens. Your kids will not fall behind because of one bad day. Instead, take that time to reorganize the schedule.
Tip 7: Organizing
It is important to have your children help keep classroom materials organized and ready for the next day. Having them be part of organizing their learning space helps them to respect the space they use. If you clean up after them they will expect it all the time. They will also take advantage by making more of a mess. So teach them to keep their space clutter-free and everything back in the baskets or bins they got it from.
The journey of homeschooling multiple-aged children can be a very rewarding experience. It takes patience, commitment, and organization to navigate the unique challenges and rewards that come with teaching more than one student at home. Rather than focusing on reaching certain academic milestones or goals within a certain timeframe, you should prioritize learning in an atmosphere of growth and exploration. These 7 tips for homeschooling multiple-age children allow students to take ownership of their education while gaining confidence in their abilities and having fun along the way.
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