top of page
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Homeschooling Multiple Levels at Once

Writer's picture: Niki LavinNiki Lavin

Could you imagine being a teacher in a one room schoolhouse? I used to think that that sound like a pretty great job. Now that I've been homeschooling multi children of varying ages/abilities, I'm rethinking my original thought.


Homeschooling multiple kiddos over a range of levels has its challenges. It is hard as one parent to be in so many places at one time. But don't worry, I have a few tips that can help reduce the time you are spending homeschooling multiple children.



Tip 1: Group Your Students


Group your children as much as possible! If you can cover a subject family style where everyone is working together, even better. Working with more than one child at a time is going to save you lots of time. You even get the added benefit of the children being able to learn from each other as well.


If you can't do something family, consider group children that are closer in age/grade into subgroups and work with them together. Then switch to another subgroup and working with them. I utilize this for some subjects. But even when my children are working on their independent subjects that can't be grouped together, I will have them work at the same table at the same time. I will bounce back and forth help the students but having them working at the same time keeps me from having to spend so much time at the table myself.


For us, I work with my 5th and 9th graders first. While one of them is working on something they can do mostly on their own, I work with the other on something that they need me for. Then we switch and I work with the other one while the first does something independently. We switch back and forth until they are done with all of their lessons. Then when my oldest are done with everything, I bring in my younger two and work with them. They are doing most of their items together for the most part, but I will switch back and forth as needed with them as well.


For an example of how this works, check out this video where we filmed a week of homeschool to show you guys what that looks like for us:



Tip 2: Build Independence


Building independence in your students as early as possible is going to be a big help to you as you add more and more students to your homeschool. The more your children can work on without you the more time you have to work with other students make your day go more quickly. Choosing a few subject that your students can either use student directed curriculum or workbooks for will have take those items off of the parent's plate on onto the students.


We aim to have as many independent assignments as possible for each of our kiddos. Obviously, age is going to be a factor her. My kindergartener is not going to be able to do as much independent work as my highschooler. But the more independent work my highschooler does the more time I have to work with my kindergartener.



Tip 3: Lower You Expectations - You Can't "Do It All"


Here is the hard truth... you can't do it all. No matter how hard you try to put on your best Rosie attitude, it's just not possible to fit "all the things" into every day. You are going to have to pick and choose what your focus is. For us that means that we do math and language arts every day and then we rotate all of our other subjects.


There are two ways this can look for us. Some years we rotate days of the week. So, Tuesdays and Thursdays are Science and Wednesdays and Fridays are History. Some years we do a rotating schedule. That means we do History for 6 weeks, then Science for 6 weeks.


We do this for many of our subjects and works books. Not only does it help us "fit it all in", but it also allows for some variety to our days while still keeping a consistent routine/schedule. The best of both worlds for this house full of neurodivergence! LOL



Tip 4: Outsource


More hard truth... you can't do it all on your own. Especially if you have more than two kiddos. You are simply one person with so many hours in your day. It's okay to pull in outside help. Now that doesn't mean you need any actual person (although if you can make that happen, even better). But this means that you find resources with the instruction is done for you.


For us that means that we use math curriculum the includes video lessons. As well as other video resources such as The OER Project (The Big History Project), Crash Course, documentaries, and more. This frees me up so I can work on other things while the kids are still learning. It is the most effect way to give the parent more time without taking away from the students learning.


If you would like to hear more about how we utilize these tips in our homeschool, check out this video:


Do you use any of these tips to help you with homeschooling multiple levels in your homeschool? Do you have any other tips that I have not included? Please share down below in the comments!

3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page