Our One Room Schoolhouse

This week’s question for the TOS Blog Cruise is “How do you handle multiple  ages?/How do you homeschool with a baby or toddler?”

I feel very strongly about the benefits homeschooling has on a family. Schooling together helps us grow in ways we might not otherwise. I’ve been able to witness friendships blossom between my children. Don’t be fooled, they have sibling rivalry issues too, but that’s part of being a family. The time they spend together is precious, and it makes my heart warm when I see them doing things together, as friends. The learning that takes place as a family is wonderful too, especially when mom and dad can both get in on the learning right alongside them.

This is one of my favorite photos, taken in our 2nd year of homeschooling, all 3 of my children working together at the kitchen table.

With 3 children, I do have a very busy homeschooling day. However, since we began homeschooling 5 years ago, I’ve done things a certain way to make things easier on myself as their teacher. School needs to run smoothly, as it’s taking place in our home. We still have to live here, together, and since we are together most of the time, I need all the help I can get.

First, and foremost, I pray for my children daily. I pray for their hearts and their minds. I pray for our school day to go well, and even though it isn’t always peaches ‘n cream over here at our home, we are still here, on this journey together, and I am learning as much as they are. We have our good days and bad, but I rely on the strength of the Lord to get us through them. I rely on one of my favorite verses.. "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31. I live by this verse daily.

Here’s a sampling of what we do to make our “One Room Schoolhouse” work for our family. My children are now 13, 10, and 8 years old. When we began homeschooling, they were 9, 5, and 3.

I teach my children together whenever possible. The benefits of teaching them together are tremendous. Being able to share the same books and materials saves me time as well as money. Sharing information and ideas together gives us great opportunities for discussion and further learning.

I combine my children in as many subjects as possible. The subjects we do together are: Bible, History, Science, Read Alouds, Art and Music. Now, my oldest is at the point where she does her own Bible, History, and Science independently. Before this year, however, all 3 of my children did these subjects together. When combining with my children’s ages, I teach “from the middle”, and supplement up or down as needed. I’ll add in picture books, coloring pages, activity sheets for the younger children; and assign more reading, writing, and research assignments for my older child. Everyone learns, everyone benefits, and everyone gets an education appropriate for their age and grade level. There are many different types of curricula available for teaching children together. A few that we have used are: Sonlight, Apologia Science, Story of the World, Literature Unit Studies, Amanda Bennett Unit Studies, as well as various Bible Curriculum and Devotionals, such as Grapevine Studies, Step Into the Bible: 100 Bible Stories for Family Devotions, and Leading Little Ones to God. Anything that covers a wide range of ages can be used with children of multiple ages. Unit Studies, especially, are an excellent way of teaching multiple ages the same material. Children will typically need grade appropriate math and language arts, as well as books at their reading level.

Fostering independence is very important in the early years, and makes it much easier to teach multiple ages when children learn to be independent. Because I did this with my oldest when we first started homeschooling, she is now able to complete most of her schoolwork independently. I still help her on occasion as needed, but she is very self-sufficient and self-reliant, which frees up my time to school the younger children, who tend to need more instruction from me at their age. This will also benefit her in high school, as well as college, and in life in general. I’m raising my children to be productive, responsible adults one day.

Some ideas for fostering independence include:

Workboxes, as they provide organization, and promote independence. All of their work is readily available to them in their “boxes”.  To see how we adapted workboxes in our home, read this post.

Assignment Sheets, that they can check off each subject as it’s completed, or a folder with their assignments, worksheets, etc.

Stick with a simple routine that is followed daily, so that your children know what to expect as well as what is expected of them each day.

When we first started homeschooling, my youngest was almost 4 years old. She wanted to “do school” too. Actually, she wanted to “go to Princess school”, but that’s a different story. Although, I didn’t do anything extremely formal with her, I let her participate whenever she wanted to. I involved her in our read-alouds whenever possible. I remember one time we were reading a book about the Revolutionary War, she was about 5 years old at the time, listening in, and I mentioned something about the British Army, and she exclaimed “…the Redcoats!”. How many 5 year olds would have known something like that? And, all because she listened in whenever I read aloud to her siblings. Here, I had no idea how much she was actually learning. More than I ever expected! You’d be surprised at how much little ones can glean from just being in the same room while the older ones are being taught.

I’d like to share some ideas to keep little ones busy while schooling. These ideas can also be used for children that need to do something independently while waiting for mom to finish teaching another child.
I like to keep a bookshelf or a book basket filled with books on subjects that we are studying. Picture books can be found easily at the local library.

Puzzles, games, videos, and educational CDs for the computer are all great helpers. I let my children use the computer at an early age, as they help with hand-eye coordination, and it has also made them very comfortable and computer savvy early on.

Coloring pages can be helpful when reading aloud, or to occupy a younger child for a few minutes. I’ve also given mine word-searches or crosswords. I try to find them on the subjects we are studying.
There are many benefits of teaching all of my children at home. But, the one I am most grateful for is the relationship that I have with them, and the friendship they have with one another. Teaching and learning, and growing together has blessed our family beyond my wildest imagination, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

If you’d like to leave a comment, idea, or suggestion on this topic, please do! I love hearing from you!

To read my Crewmates thoughts on this week’s question, just click on the banner at the top of this post!

Be sure to check back next week, when my crewmates and I answer the question, “What do you think about co-ops?”.

**All original text and photos belong to The Homeschool Desk**