10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby

Shayla

6 years ago

10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby

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Did you think homeschooling with a baby was going to be different than it is? Easier? Have you been trying to homeschool with a newborn, baby or toddler around and are you starting to wonder what you got yourself into? If so, don’t feel bad. You are FAR from alone. Homeschooling with a baby around is one of those things that most people take on without realizing how truly difficult it’s going to be, which is why I’m very excited to share with you 10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby!

By the way, for some raw and real peeks into our homeschool be sure to check out my YouTube channel when you are done here! I’ll link to it at the end of this article.

Introduction

When I started homeschooling around 2009 I only had two children. The oldest child was in preschool and the youngest was still pretty easy. Those day’s were perfectly manageable. But by the next year our third child was born, and my second child had officially reached the “vandalizing toddler phase”. I remember thinking on more than one occasion, “Is this some kind of joke? How in God’s good name do people homeschool with a baby and small child around!?!??”

As the weeks went on I was convinced the concept was a joke. I remember feeling very overwhelmed and so alone. I now have six children, all spaced approximately 2.5 years apart, I’ve got kids in all levels from high, middle, elementary, and preschool! It took some time but eventually I discovered the following tips and resources for how to homeschool with a baby and toddler and I can honestly say that what I’m sharing today is tried and tested! Homeschooling with babies around has been my life and I guess you could say I don’t actually know what it’s like to homeschool without them around!

10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby

Here are 10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby for you whether you are homeschooling long or short term.

Involve the babies. I made an entire play room for our small kids, but found that when we start the homeschool day they usually want non of that. Small children often just want to be in on the action and close to what’s “happening”. I’ve found that making our home a place of learning and incorporating them into the first part of the homeschool day makes a big difference. I like to plan easy lessons for them to be a part of first thing. During this time I have my oldest kids do independent work while I work with the little ones. After about 1 to 1.5 hours they often go off and do their own thing.
Give the older babies something to do (for toddlers). We bought THIS LOVELY CURRICULUM by teacher and 19 year homeschool veteran, Jen Merckling, and I love how she’s included manipulative materials (most little ones start out kinesthetic or hands on learners so manipulative’s are a must). You might not need to buy a curriculum for preschool. There are many free resources out there, but some children starting at around 3 want papers to work with-and they can tell if it’s just a coloring page! They want their work to look like the bigger kids!
Give the older kids an opportunity to “run the show” (while you supervise). This is more or less called “narration” in the homeschool world. Essentially what I mean by this is have the older kids give an oral report to not only you, but call the elementary kids in to hear and teach them to listen to the report as well. This tip will not apply to all families, but if you have multiple kids you can always allow your older children to narrate their lesson (teach what they are learning) to a sibling for a moment while you change a diaper, grab the baby a snack, feed, or soothe a little teether. Don’t feel bad about doing this either! It’s proven we learn 90% of what we teach and most kids love sharing what they learned when they think they are sharing it with someone that doesn’t know as much as them. I recently saw a piece of teaching advice about allowing and encouraging kids to teach their lesson (once they’ve taken it themselves) because in teaching back what we’ve learned we learn even more than when we are the recipients of the lesson! So with this tip you’ll actually be doing all your kids a favor! If your kids are like most they will LOVE doing this tip! I will mention this doesn’t work in large doses-only for 5 to 10 minute increments.
If this is your first year homeschooling experts recommend that you refrain from seriously evaluating how well or badly things are going for the first months. It can take awhile to get the swing of things so in order to get a more accurate evaluation wait until you have finished the year. This is especially true if you have a baby in the mix!!!
Make easy meal plans for the first year after you have a baby and plan easy dinners and lunches during school days. It will make a huge difference in your home school because one of the biggest challenges for homeschool parents with babies is figuring out meals on top of taking care of lessons and babies. Check out Jamerrill’s Large Family Table for FREEZER RECIPES! Also, on weekends make extra food to eat through the week.
Set your mind to accept that there will be breaks and this is okay. This is homeschool, your baby and toddlers are in school and learning too! If this is your first year one of the most critical things to remember is that it may take awhile for your kids to get used to the idea they have to do school. There may be attitude problems. You’ll have to break for those too. Read First Year Homeschooling? Avoid These Five Mistakes.
Invest in a good baby carrier. I love this one by Peanut Shell, but I’m getting ready to get a baby K-Tan because I’m ending up with more back issues as I age and K-Tan supports the entire back.
Unless you are against any screen time for your toddler, invest in Reading Eggs!
Little Einsteins, World World, Super Why, and Justin Time are educational shows to keep the 2 to 6 year olds busy (and learning) while it frees you up to teach a 20 to 30 minute lesson to the older kids. And the little ones learn so much from these shows. They can watch these on a Kids Kindle.
Auto Responder (App for Phone)-When you are a homeschooling mom with small babies and kids you are going to have interruptions. The last thing you need are outside interruptions. There was a period of time where if I did not have Auto Responder on my phone I would not have gotten any schooling done at least three days a week. There are days I’ve had multiple calls during school hours. Had I taken the calls we would have lost the school day. For this reason I do not answer my phone during school hours (from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Instead I let Auto Responder reply to texts and calls during school hours with a simple text that says;

“Automated MSG; So sorry, we’re currently preparing or doing lessons. Pls text me & I’ll get back to you after school (3pm). If this is an emergency text “Emergency”, and I’ll get back to you asap.”

BONUS TIP

If you don’t have a chore system for your family, you need one. Not only do age appropriate chores teach children essential life skills and foster a spirit of teamwork, they are a critical piece to having a successful multi grade homeschool-unless you are part of the very small percentage of people fortunate enough to be able to hire people to do the cooking, cleaning, laundry and shopping.

The fact is that one parent cannot run a home with babies + children occupying it 24-7 AND effectively homeschool too. Once your children are old enough for age appropriate chores start teaching them teamwork by assigning a few chores.

CHECK OUT MY CHORE CHART SYSTEM HERE

Conclusion

It can be easy to get tripped up on the obvious disadvantages of homeschooling older kids when you have a baby, but it’s not impossible and the advantages are MANY. Somedays don’t feel as productive as others, but the good news is that when you are homeschooling, one good day can provide more education than can be accomplished in a public school over a couple days.

Another hidden benefit to homeschooling with a baby is that older siblings are constantly and naturally sharing (and consequently reviewing + solidifying) what they are learning with siblings without any prompting from parents. There is nothing sweeter than walking into a room and finding an older sibling voluntarily sharing something they know with their baby sibling!

Last advantage of having a multi grade homeschool is the beautiful relationships and bonds that have an opportunity to thrive and last a lifetime.

I hope 10 Ultimate Tips For How To Homeschool With A Baby has given you some encouragement and idea’s for how to homeschool with a baby around! If you have additional suggestions for mama’s that I’ve not included here please share! Leave them for other mom’s in the comments below!

Be sure to read my post on How I Teach Kids With Various Learning Styles HERE. Also, if you are schooling multiple grades you might want to check out my (un-sponsored and honest) review on our FAVORITE HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM HERE because this curriculum includes children in multiple grades making lessons easier and more effective.

CHECK OUT MY HOMESCHOOL PLAYLIST ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE