Effective Strategies for Homeschooling Multiple Grades Simultaneously

We are nearing the end of our third year of homeschool in the next few weeks and I feel so proud of my little learners, and so confident in my homeschooling, where I never thought I would. When we started on this journey our twins were newly two and our fifth was just a tiny little newborn. Thankfully my oldest was kinder aged and we lived on read alouds, audible and lots and lots of yoto radio (IYKYK). I remember being so scared that my kids were never going to learn because how could I ever find the time to teach them all one day? Well fast forward to now and I have one son ripping through Narania at about a book a week, and my oldest daughter is reading Little Women at seven. If you are overwhelmed because you feel like you can’t have that one on one time with any of your kids then hear me now, they will get there, if you don’t quit, they will get there. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to look like well structured twenty minute lessons at a quiet table. If it is important to you and you are consistent, it will happen. Remember that your babies live with you, you are with them all of the time, and learning can happen anywhere. Read alog for some homeschool tips for various ages working together.

Right now my twins are 5 and they are at that fun age where they are on the verge of reading, and every new skill mastered is such a joy to them. We are huge fans of Logic of English for learning to read (we also really like all about reading). Sometimes my daughter (7) will be in the kitchen helping to make lunch and we play a round of phonemic “I spy” with the twins. We use skills like finding a letter sound, segmenting words, and isolating sounds all without leaving the kitchen, killing a few birds with one stone. I also want to point out that a nice element of logic of english is the way the program builds on itself. It scaffolds more or less the same concepts at more advanced levels in each “grade”. This makes it a bit more natural to try and work together.

If people were able to look beyond the overwhelm of having multiple grades in homeschool, I think a lot of them would see the beauty each child offers the other in terms or practice and mastery. Being able to show what you know, and “teach” your younger sibling, or show that you’re a big kid too like your older sibling, its something special. Though its hard, it comes with a blessing not seen in a public school setting where everyone knows and is doing the same thing.

We love using the math curriculum Math With Confidence for this reason. I tried to set it up where I was doing full lessons with K, 1, and 3 each day and I was so overwhelmed. This curriculum has a lot of hands on games to reinforce what is learned and practice until mastered. I love this, but I don’t have the time to play three separate math games with three groups of kids each day, and then move on to other subjects, not a chance! Instead I do a lesson starting with the oldsest, and do the game with them- although sometimes we skip that altogether, and then as I go to do the lessons with each younger, the game is to be played with an older sibling. Finding ways to weave in this “all together” style helps give me more time to help another kiddo with a different lesson, or get some housekeeping work done, or believe it or not, enjoy a cup of coffee while it’s still hot. Other ways we help pair things up are to have “gameschool days”. maybe we did lessons for the week or we will be running an errand or seeing a friend later, I like to use those days to make learning more fun and less structured. Using the amazing Sarah Mackenzie’s spiral notebook method, I’ll put as “tasks” to be completed that day : Choose a math game to do with one sibling, Choose a language arts game etc.

Another favorite way I like to teach multiple grades at home is by using read aloud time to get some fluency practice in for my two oldest. Each of my independent readers is required to choose 1-2 picture books to read aloud to their younger siblings in this time. Our young ones love it because big brother and big sister are their heroes, and our Bigs get their practice in. Again, this makes a gap for me to get anything done, maybe pull a child aside for a one on one lesson as needed, or sit and enjoy an incredibly sweet dynamic that comes with all the hard work of so many ages at once.

I think it goes without saying that when it comes to schooling multi-level homeschool strategies the most important factor is time. If we had more time we could do it all. I share all that I did becasue of this. My biggest success this year was finding ways to structure our day to make creative blocks of time, and that does not have to look screen time for the ones you arent teaching. I do not mean that in a shameful way, we have watched our fair share of magic schooolbus or generation genius as “science” for the day. I say that because I know that like me, your homeschool day probably goes off the rails the moment a show is thrown into the mix during “school time”.

One way we created these pockets of time while I homeschool multiple grades was to let our kids lean into their interests. If you need to find some time with one or two kids for a specific lesson (usually in language and math as these are more difficult to line up among other grades) then its a great to let your jr. baker make a batch of cookies in the kitchen (yes on their ow, mess and all– helping with the oven of course). Or maybe your engineer in training gets a stem challenge and has twenty minutes of lego time. These may not be considered “homeschool” to some, but they can absolutely be “elective” blocks, and lots of learning is happening in these moments. Some other electives we have tried out are beginner sewing kits, mini guitar lessons (we like Loog), art tutorials on youtube that correlate with a specific topic we are learning about– maybe a plant or animal from a nature study, or character from a novel.

Lets not forget about the cardinal sin as a homeschooler, busy work– and yes I mean worksheets. I know homeschoolers can throw so much shade about worksheets, and yes if that is all you are doing then that is boring, of course, but sometimes I just need to bust out our handy dandy explode the code books, throw on a podcast, or our favorite Spotify playlist that transports us straight to the Shire, and do the next thing in front of me. I’ve found that often times in our large family, where the kids are so accustomed to being with each other and playing non stop, having a reset button helps to bring a bit of peace into the room. Maybe I’ll set the timer for 30 minutes, give clear (and kind) expectations for while the timer is running, and each kid gets their own corner and their own work. Maybe some are reading, some are doing explode the code, some are writing, or playing magnatiles, either way they need a break from each other, and its my job to help them regulate that because we all know they will not on their own.

Silent reading: I know I already mentioned this before, but lets be honest this is a staple of the homeschool family. Please don’t feel like this is irrelevant to you if you do not have readers. We have an almost daily time where we silent read on our own as a family. II set out the visual timer and everyone knows the drill. It’s a delight and not a chore, but this has taken patience, and of course filling our home with quality books. Even our nearly two year old is sat in her own little corner of the couch with a basket of her favorite board books and she will sit and look through them. We worked hard to make this is normal part of our day, in part becasue we want to nurture a love for reading, and in part because we love how it helps harness independence, interest and learner led research, discovery and learning. Timers are your best friend. We use a visual timer every day, it helps us transition, set limits, and keep us on track to get done what we need to, so we can can do what we want to.

My last and maybe most obvious tip I will leave you with is this: do as many subjects together as you can. For us that looks like science and social studies. We are all so close in age that it’s not a huge deal to do these as one. This is one reason I love sonlight for both of these subjects. They are literature based, so the picture books will keep the younger ones engaged while the questons will help to see where your olders are at, and the hands on projects are a little bit for everyone. We will keep things like honest history magazines, and various nature books around the house for some learner led deep dives as the older ones get interest, but for now doing our main science and social studies as one helps to keep things flowing smoothly.

Homeschooling many, like parenting many is going to be messy, and feel like too much at times, but there will also be grace for it. I think the biggest thing is accepting it in the messy and uncomfortable, not just when you have those dreamy days when the stars align and you had a picturesque tea time in the yard where everyone listened to read aloud and then you went on a family nature walk. Both are part of the call, and both lend to our own personal sanctification, and the glory we have to offer up to the Lord. As I type this my seven year old is making cookies in the kitchen and our two year old is covered in flour. I might regret using this time to type out this post, but this is our life and we are in control of how we spend our time. We can do the hard impossible things, don’t give up!

Blessings on your homeschool — rooting for you!
Toni

Do you have multiple grades under one household? What are your favorite tips and curriculums to use across the board? Let me know down below 🙂