I have only one home this year but next year I'll be homeschooling a 6th grader and 2 kindergartners with 3 different learning styles. What are your daily strategies to contain the chaos? Do you split them up so they're not distracting each other? Work with all 3 sitting together? What works for you? Work with one in the morning and the others in the afternoon? Just trying to get ideas as how this is going to work. Any tips?
I only have two, 1st and 3rd. I had initially intended to do 'school' between certain hours, and with both at the table. It was a nightmare. They were constantly fighting over space, constantly interrupting each other, and just generally not getting anything done at all. I tried having one at the table and one somewhere else, but that didn't work either. What works MUCH better is to do each child individually. Sometimes that means doing the same thing twice, which seems ridiculous to me. But there is no fighting, and things get done in a timely manner. With my two, it ends up taking almost the same amount of time that it did when I had them together, anyway, so it all evens out. PLUS they each get alone time with me which is a huge benefit. I'm not sure what'll happen in the future, but for now this is what is working. Adding.. ds is in the morning, dd in the afternoon.
Hi like Meghan I have two one in grade 3 and one in grade 1. I only had the one child to teach last year so I worked on him to being able to do his work more independently. I had several sit downs with him to explain Mom won't be able to give undivided attention to him and what I expected of him because he is two years older. He is a wonderful reader so I knew I could count on him to work independently for a lot of subjects. My Dd is taking more time to work this year as she learns what is expected and just learns in general I find some days are really smooth and some are hair raising :] I take the times when Ds is doing math to send my son to a quieter area because I know he can think better and focus more. But most other subjects are completed in our school room. They can be at the desk, whiteboard or where ever they are most comfortable so long as they are getting to the work. I do stay with them for the days workload. If it goes well we can be done in a hour and a half if it goes poorly it can take four and half hours. We don't break it up because it makes the rest of our homelife unproductive. We work straight through and then we're done. Because we do it this way DS has realized that accomplishing his school work= free time. So he knows to buckle down now. It was a rough few months in the beginning as there was a huge amount of pulling Mom in both directions. But it feels like its leveling off and we are hitting our stride finally. Also we do our school right after lunch I have tried mornings but find the kids have too much energy so it's best to let them wear it off.
I'm doing K and 3rd next year. There are a few things they'll do together (like science and history), but for the most part, they'll be separate. It's just easier that way. I think you could do the 6th grader alone and keep the K'ers together most of the time. You might have to split them up a little, but I would try to let them learn from each other as much as possible, even with different learning styles and/or abilites.
I used to start the day with my early morning learner and work with the other two in the afternoon. Lately I have decided that I needed to change things up because if the first one took forever to get things done it would delay the others. So now we do Religion, Latin, History, Science, Story Time etc together first thing in the morning. Then in the afternoon they each work on their independent work and I bounce around between them helping them out. It has been working very well for us so far. My fingers are crossed!
Mine are 6,7 and 11 and I try to most together that I can. Their handwriting, math drills, outloud reading, geography and science are done together. Then I get my oldest ready for her work and off she goes while I work with the younger two who are on two different levels of math and reading/phonics. Then I go back to oldest and see her progress. I am currently having some problems with oldest and the work she does on her own. She's going to have to probably hang out with me while I teach the younger two and then let them go off and play while she works on her independant in the same room as me.
I would also work on getting the older one comfortable working independently as much as possible. I am working on this with my 4th grader so that when I have all 3 home in the fall, she'll be used to it and know how to attack it. So far, so good. We'll see when I'm dealing with all of them how it works I guess
I currently have a 4th, 3rd, and 1st grades. We all work at the table or 1 or 2 will sit at the counter if they need more room. Each day is different in that area. I usually get the older two started and they mostly work independently. I am right here if they have any questions or don't understand a concept. I am pretty much right on top of my 1st grader. She likes to disappear if I leave her for more than a couple minutes. I would suggest sitting in between the k's and be available to the 6th grader for questions or further explanation. The k's can be working on something while you explain concepts to the 6th. I usually do History, Science, and Bible as a group. Dividing them up so they a change of pace. Reading my older two do on their own and when they finish a book they tell me about it. I will usually thumb through and ask them a few questions as well. My younger on I read with one on one because she is just learning to read. So far this setup has worked and we are usually finished in 3-4 hours sometimes sooner. Totally depends on them and how many times I have to reel them back in. PS. I started with one last year (oldest) and this is my first year with all three.
Can I suggest workboxes ? They help them work more independently. I do most of what I can together and then everything else is workboxed.
Thanks ladies! I may have to separate them all. One of my K's always answers for the other. What is a Workbox and how does it work?
When I had one in K and one in third, I put my third grader at the kitchen table, and the K student at a little table in our family room. That worked well when I working with one, the other could do their independent work. DS, who was in K, followed along with DD for history and science.
