Recently I was asked by Lauren over at Chickie&Roo to contribute a piece on multi-grade homeschooling for Kindred Learning Collection (KLC) homeschool magazine. At first I was honored but worried I might not be able to come up with enough to write about because this year has been quite challenging for me as a multi-grade homeschool mama! I asked Lauren how many words she needed and when she said only around 200 to 300 I figured that shouldn’t be too hard. The next morning I started writing, one thing led to another and the title of my article went from 5, to 10 and eventually after an hour I had NOT just 10 great tips to make multi-grade homeschooling easier, but 20 tips to make multi-grade homeschooling easier and had sailed past 2,000 words!
Since Lauren had asked for an article (not a novel) I decided to divide the article since 2,000 and beyond words seemed like a bit much! I thought that dividing my writing would also be a great way to share the news of KLC with all of you too!
What Is Kindred Learning Collection
Friends, if you’ve not heard of Kindred Learning Collection yet I’m delighted to share a little bit about it with you. It’s a magazine put together by Lauren Giordano and features wisdom from a variety of homeschoolers on various homeschool topics each month. A subscription is only $7.99 per month, and I’m confident it will be worth every penny for you! The magazine is beautifully done, and packed with so many wonderful and encouraging tips for homeschooling! Here’s the write up from the website of what it’s all about;
“Each month, a variety of home educators will gather ’round to openly and honestly discuss a new topic. If you’re feeling alone, you’ll find companionship and kinship. If you’re feeling burnt out, you’ll find inspiration. If you’re feeling doubts, you’ll find encouragement. Each of the guest authors pour their heart into their words through sharing a raw and relatable peek into their lives.”
Kindred Learning Collection
10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier
This month KLC is dedicated to multi-grade homeschool families with a collection of not only 10 tips from me that are not included below, but it’s also filled with tangible and tested tips from several other mama’s that have all pulled together and given their best hacks that make multi-grade homeschooling possible, rich, and beautiful. You don’t want to miss this edition of you are homeschooling multiples!
10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier
Okay, so today I’m sharing the 10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier that are not in the magazine with you.
As a homeschool mama to six who has been homeschooling since 2009 I can honestly say it’s been quite a learning curve! Before I began this journey I only had a partial idea for what I was in for. It’s now been 11 years since I began homeschooling, but for the last 16 years I’ve been either pregnant/nursing or with babies/toddlers, and this is how it’s been for my entire homeschooling journey. There have been wonderful times as well as times so hard they’ve temporarily broken me, but the good thing is that God is good at putting the pieces back together and making us so much stronger than we previously were if we let Him!
So here are 10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier I’ve learned through the years that definitely make this whole, crazy multi-grade homeschool journey easier and richer!
- Assign older children to read aloud time with the younger-it’s good practice and review for the older kids so no need to feel guilty! The best part of this is often times older children get excited to share more about a topic they themselves learned in previous years and both your older and younger child end up learning more than they would had you done all the reading!
- Pay attention to when your kids brains work best for the hard subjects-if you don’t then those subjects will take longer and be harder. For example, all but one of my kids do better with math and language arts in the morning before lunch. This tip works for small homeschool families too but is super important in a large homeschool family with limited time.
- Work with smaller children first thing in the day while the older are doing independent work-if you work with them first they are likely to be much easier the rest of the day.
- Always look for teachable moments where you can teach something to everybody. When issues arise have family meetings when possible so that you can get everyone on the same page (instead of going around and talking to each child individually-although some topics and children you might have to break this rule with).
- Invest in toys that have open ended play as these will help keep your small children busy for longer while you work with the older kids. Since these are toys you’re going to be using for a long time they are going to be seeing a lot of wear, so I suggest wooden toys that are sturdy and attractive since they are practically going to be a part of your décor for years! I have some great suggestions HERE.
- Begin teaching small children while they are very young to pick up after themselves, and take a couple “power pickup times” throughout the day where everyone pitches in to pick up the messes created by homeschooling or little ones.
- Plan a teacher day or two a month to organize your homeschool space-and make it an enjoyable place to be! There’s nothing that shoots a homeschool day and the momentum down like lost books, erasers and items that you have to pause and search for, or like a space that you really hate being in
- Don’t let bad moments ruin the whole day. It’s tempting-but sometimes all you and your child need are a break. A splash of water on the face, a cup of tea or coffee, a snack, and some deep breathing (outside if possible). I’ve found that for us, a break around 10 to 15 minutes is perfect. Much longer and it becomes harder to get back to school work.
- In a multi-grade homeschool there are going to be inside distractions and interruptions that you cannot help, so be sure to guard against the outside distractions you can do something about. I consistently let me friends and family know that I do not generally answer my phone until 3 p.m., and that even at that texting is best for me. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries and limitations if there is a source that is hijacking your homeschool days. For more about this read The Best Time Management Secret and How To Deal With People Who Don’t Value Your Time As A SAH & WAH Mom.
- Impromptu lessons during teachable moments can be phenomenal and are a critical skill to utilize. But I have found I personally cannot rely on them alone. If you are not using an open and go curriculum, and sometimes even if you are it’s a good idea to plan-either the night before or morning of if you can-preferably in the quiet time. I’ve found that if I don’t have a plan outlined on paper then the day runs away and I feel like I’m herding scattered cats all day.
If you enjoyed 10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier be sure to check out How To Homeschool With a Baby/Toddler and 10 Reasons You Hate Homeschooling.
Don’t forget, if you are homeschooling multiple grades you definitely do not want to forget to get October’s edition of Kindred Learning Collection. At this time you cannot purchase back issues so don’t hesitate to hop over and snag your copy today to read my other 10 Great Tips to make Multi-Grade Homeschooling Easier and hear other mama’s share what they’ve found works for their family.