It is challenging, to say the least, to get school accomplished with multiple children of young ages. This year I have one in second grade and one in preschool. So, I know it’s only going to get more difficult from here for the next couple of years as my youngest ramps up but my oldest still needs lots of hands-on help.
We are four weeks into our school year so far. And I am very happy to say we have established a good routine. It doesn’t take all day to get through lessons, and meltdowns and distractions have been minimized. We have a routine, not a schedule, because that just works better for our lives right now. The goal is to start by 9:00. Then we just take things, one at a time, until we’re done.
This is what our homeschool routine with young children looks like:
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Our Morning Basket (Hint: There isn’t one . . . for now.)
Last year, I started school time with a variety of reading. But I found that, for us, it seemed to be a slow start. I have ditched this entirely. My daughter does her independent reading during “homework”.
*I laugh just typing that since it’s ALL “homework”. But my daughter loves to call it that. It’s her independent work time.*
And we work reading into various places throughout the day.
Instead, we have a morning fun-silly-get-out-the-wiggles-time. We do yoga, ride bikes, have a nature walk, play Go Noodle, etc. I think it really helps them focus to run and play before sitting down to school. AND since it’s 10-million degrees by noon here right now, we get our outdoor time done early.
Down to Business Juggling Two Littles
Then it’s down to the nitty-gritty. I usually set my preschooler up to play for a while while I get my big girl started. But the little one just begs me to do her “morning binder” anyway because she wants to start school, too.
SIDE NOTE: These binders were the biggest hit with my oldest in preschool/kindergarten. Now, I think my youngest loves it even more! They have learned SO much from them. Learn how to assemble yours for free here.
In the beginning, THIS was the hard part. My little one had no idea what to do with the binder. And my big girl needed lots of hand-holding at the same time. And NOBODY wanted to wait for Mom’s attention.
But the great thing about these binders is that it doesn’t take long before the little one can work independently. Four weeks in and I can sit next to my little one teaching my second grader and occasionally point or quickly say something to help out my little one. It keeps her happy and busy.
When she is done with her binder, she can do:
- coloring,
- watercolors,
- Play-Doh,
- puzzles,
- sorting,
- bead stringing.
The possibilities are endless to keep them quietly engaged.
Read more articles on Homeschooling 101 here.
Now for My Second Grade Routine Hacks
Here are my tricks for getting through a rather ambitious curriculum in a short amount of time:
- I start with the trickiest or more technical subjects first and work my way to easier or more fun ones.
- We work on new math concepts together and I save already mastered ones for her “homework” time and she does those independently. (We use Horizons math. A lesson is usually one page, front and back, with a mix of new concepts and mastered ones. This typically means we work the first half of the worksheet together and then move on. She does the other half in the afternoon, only asking me for help where necessary.)
- Same with penmanship. She has one page of work that we carefully go over together, focusing on form. Then she has practice pages that I set aside for her to do later on her own. BOOM. Done. Next subject, please.
- I also set aside any coloring pages that accompany lessons and any extra reading for science or history that I know she can read on her own.
- I save larger art projects, science demonstrations, etc. for Fridays. We do “full school” four days a week only. Fridays are our day for those bigger projects or any catch-up that needs to be done. This way, we don’t get bogged down during the week and we keep schooling to a reasonable timeframe.
Using these tips, we finish school by lunchtime! (At least the part I’m really involved in.)
Our core work covers:
- Memory work (Daily)
- Geography (Mon/Wed)
- Math (Daily)
- Grammar (Tues/Thurs)
- Spelling (Daily)
- Reading & Narration (Daily)
- Penmanship (Daily)
- Science (Mon/Wed)
- History (Tues/Thurs)
“But wait,” you say. “What about that preschooler during all this?”
In addition to the morning binder, I am going through Easy Peasy Getting Ready 1 with my preschooler. We work in the videos while my second grader completes a task or has a short break. She works on the coloring pages at the table with us after her morning binder. And we do the crafts together in the afternoon or on Fridays.
Wrapping Up the Day with Independent Work
After some lunch and playtime, my daughter is ready to grab her homework folder and get those few items done on her own. It’s only about another 30 minutes of work—pending distractions—ifyaknowwhatImean. This is what she calls “homework”, and she really loves having things to do all by herself.
The math work really does benefit her. So does any independent reading I’ve assigned. But the extra penmanship practice and coloring pages or extras are just that—extras. If we have a busy afternoon I ditch them entirely or simply reschedule some of this work to Friday.
But I notice that this time REALLY benefits her in character traits and study skills far more than academics. It is a good challenge for her to stay focused and disciplined when working by herself. And I have seen big improvements in just these four weeks. She has also practiced checking her own math and self-assessment of her penmanship.
This time is when I sit down to read to my little one.
So how do you juggle homeschooling with multiple littles? Comment below to let me know! I know there are so many of you out there who have way more thrown into the mix than just two. And I NEED to know YOUR tips and tricks to get through school with everyone still alive and the house not on fire.
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I have four (7, 5, nearly 3, nearly 2), two officially homeschooling and the almost 3 year old who likes to tag along. I have found that for this stage of life, it is actually far better for us to breakfast and play in the morning, start chores at 10 (only takes 1/2 hour if they stay focused), have lunch, and then start school as soon as the two little ones go down for their naps (right after lunch). Often the almost 3 year old wakes before his little sister, so if that happens he comes and joins us and does either his speech therapy work or a coloring page. It still is a little difficult to balance the 7 year old and 5 year old, but I get 5 year old started on independent work and then work together with the 7 year old, and then get the 7 year old started on independent work and then go work together with the 5 year old. After this we do our read aloud for the day, and stop whenever the littles wake usually. We like to go for a nature walk after we all have a snack, but book work is done when the littles are up.
This is a great way to balance everything! I am increasing looking at the benefits that would come with after lunch school time. Right now, we use that for independent work time. But I am considering, more and more, moving all of school to after lunch and see how it works. Do your ever have issues with your 5 year old being a little tired out by that time of day? That is my only concern about trying this schedule.
I don’t, but he is quite introverted and happily plays by himself with Legos all morning, so that may contribute to his energy still being available for afternoon school. It’s been great for us!
That is great! I love those days we do afternoon school. (Which will be today since we are getting a very late start. LOL)
Read this with interest! I homeschool 6 – 11th, 9th, 7th, 4th, 1st and preK. This isn’t the houseful-of-littles scenario you asked about, but I have found that actually, they all still need some time with me — even the older ones. While my 3 bigs are largely independent for most of their “homework” 🙂 , their coursework requires me to be involved in other ways: history discussions, literature discussions, writing ‘workshop’ time, etc. I have tried to get everything done in the morning, but I have found that big-teaching time has to be in the afternoon, while the smalls play outside. Otherwise, I just can’t get through the smalls’ basics with them. As for smalls-teaching time, I lump them together whenever I can (history! singing! nature/science! most memory work!) but obviously grammar and math, phonics and reading practice will have to be separate. I can usually toggle between the 4th and 1st or between the preK and 1st, but all three at once is not workable, so we’re still trying to figure that part out. A carefully crafted schedule at the start of this school year has helped, but it doesn’t allow for much flexibility…but maybe during this season we’ll sacrifice some flexibility. One thing I loved was your wiggles comment because that is so true! Our tiny tweak: for us, getting up early and having tea and math first thing works well. Then we break for breakfast, milking, and all other outside/farm chores. It ends up being about an hour of physical outside time and it seems to be a good break heading into the rest of the school day.
I love this so much! Props to you because it definitely sounds like you have a lot to work into a day – PLUS farming! (I would so love to milk a cow one day LOL) You know as soon as I wrote this post my youngest has seemed to throw a wrench in all of it with a severely messed up sleep schedule. She is waffling between no nap and decent bedtime, or really, really late nap and then awfully late bedtime – so I’m considering moving some teaching to the afternoon. It sounds like you have one at just about every stage of the homeschooling journey. That sounds like so much fun. Thank you for visiting! XO Vida
I love your ideas, especially about the wiggles 🙂
Thank you, Lisa. Yep. Got to get those wiggles out! 🙂
oh I like! I have 3 little ones. Kinder, 3 year old, and a 10 month old. Life is busy! This is my first year homeschooling and just trying to figure it all out! Because my 2 oldest are in very similar learning (still learning alphabet and counting) they are basically doing the same thing except I am not having my 3 year old do any writing yet (he likes tagging along and feeling like a big kid doing school). I may adapt some things and add a busy binder if not this year maybe next year as my middle child is still learning his alphabet, how to write, and school gets a little more complicated. Great ideas! Thank you!
You do sound busy, Morgan! It is great that your two oldest can do a lot of things together. That definitely helps. These preschool/kinder years are a great way to test drive homeschooling and find your grove. Thanks for visiting!