Not too long ago, I was homeschooling three kids at three different levels. At my most frazzled point, I had one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school.
As my oldest got older, I found myself completely overwhelmed. We actually had to take a little bit of time off so that I could regroup and restart. I had to do a lot of redirecting and rescheduling in order to find some balance in my day. I was able to find some balance at last, and my days went a bit smoother.
Let me share with you some things I did that helped me find some balance in my day. It didn’t solve all of my problems – life does happen, after all – but, I was able to accomplish a lot more than before.
What can I teach in a group setting?
My kids are 4-5 years apart. So, it has always been difficult trying to group them together. I always did a family read-aloud at the start of each homeschool day. I tried to find books that hit a little above my middle kid without being too baby for my oldest. I also taught our Apologia worldview in a group setting. I read it aloud, the boys did the journals, and Emma worked in the coloring book.
One year, my boys {middle and high school at the time} did geography together. My youngest two {when they were both in the elementary grades} did science together for a few years. Again, we were working with the Apologia series, and they lapbooked at their levels.
We did art and music appreciation as a group, as well. We could listen to our composer selections together, and then the kids would read and complete notebooking pages at their own levels. The same with our artists. We could all study the same painting, and then complete an artist study at multiple levels.
By grouping them together as much as I could, I made my job a little more manageable.
Start planning with your oldest in mind.
Once I settled on what we could do as a group, it was time to start planning everything else on an individual level. I started planning our school year focusing on my oldest first. As he got older and moved closer to his high school years, I had to focus on what he needed to do to be prepared for high school. So, I planned his subjects and schedule accordingly. From there, I worked my way down through my younger two. In the younger years, I worked with Emma {the youngest} while the boys worked independently. When they needed me, I had her work on independent work – handwriting, busy bins, reading, or even playing an educational game on the computer.
Find a common theme, if possible.
When possible, I tried to find a common theme in their subjects so that my brain wasn’t being pulled in multiple directions. If my oldest was studying American History, we all were. If he was doing Biology in science, we all were. Even if they weren’t studying the same specific topic at the same time {though I tried to plan it that way as often as possible}, it was easier to do American History with all three of them rather than doing Ancient History with some and American History with the rest. If my oldest was reading A Tale of Two Cities for literature, I would assign it to my middle in an abridged version so we were all on the same page when we were having literature discussions.
The key to finding balance when teaching multiple levels
For me, the key to finding balance was to combine as much as possible into a group setting. In addition to that, I had to purposely train my older ones to work independently as soon as they were ready. I would get them independent in one subject and gradually add in more and more. Sometimes, I needed to go back and retrain in an area or two, but it didn’t take long to get back on track. The more they could do on their own, the more time I had to focus on the youngest of the bunch.
What advice do you have for moms who are trying to homeschool multiple ages? What has worked or didn’t work for you?
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