5 Time-Saving Tips for Homeschooling Multiple Children

5 Time-Saving Tips for Homeschooling Multiple Children

Let’s say you have a couple of children paired in a high school guide, a couple more paired in a middle year guide, and one more solo in kindergarten. You are loving Heart of Dakota, and you feel great about these placements. Your only question? How do you balance your time? Here are 5 time-saving tips for homeschooling multiple children with multiple guides!

Tip #1: Pair Your Olders with Your Little One

Olders need a break or their day looms long ahead of them. Littles need a plan or their day looms long ahead of them. Solution? Pair your olders with your little one for playtimes. Even better? Have your olders teach part of your younger’s guide. Each ‘older’ can take a 20 to 30 minute break and teach your little one a ‘box’ or two of plans they most enjoy.

Putting Time-Saving Tip #1 into Practice

My oldest son loved math, so he often taught my little one’s kindergarten math. They both loved the hands-on lessons – probably because they often involved using treats as counters. Subtraction was always a favorite! Start with 10 chocolate chips, eat 4, and how many do you have left? They still have fond memories of this! My middle son was always on the move. He loved doing the Rhymes and Motion, the Science Exploration, and the Dramatic Play boxes of plans with my little guy. They had a blast!

Maybe one of your middle years’ kiddos loves music and loves the Bible. Give that student a break by having her do the Corresponding Music and the Bible Study boxes of plans with your kindergartener. Maybe still another of your middle years’ kiddos loves reading. Have him read aloud your little one’s Storytime and Reading About History boxes of plans. Directions in HOD’s guides are easy to follow.

Keep the boxes of plans you care the most about for yourself! Phonics instruction was always important to me. I also loved the Reading About History read-aloud and the Bible Study. So, I kept those! Just set specific times, pairings, and boxes to do (i.e. Wyatt does Math and Music with Emmett from 10 – 10:30). The olders can check off the boxes after they’ve taught them in their entirety. On their free fifth day, the olders can still each teach their boxes, and your 5-day-a-week little one will be done the same time as your 4-day-a-week olders! AND, you actually get a break too! Voila!

Tip #2: Set a Meeting Time or Two with Your Olders

Olders are more independent, but we still need to correct their work, discuss their questions, hear their oral narrations, correct their written narrations, make sure they did their scripture memorization, and so on. Rather than piling up the correcting to be done later, which sometimes never comes, set a daily meeting time with your olders. Your meeting time should be mid-morning, or after they’ve completed a fair share of their work.

Putting Time-Saving Tip #2 into Practice

I just met with my 11th grader today. We met at 10:30 AM minutes and went through the boxes he’d completed in his USI History guide. I listened to his opinion oral narration and checked his map work. Next, he read aloud to me his Living Library double-entry journal, his Government quiz answers, and his Spanish answers. As he read his answers, I had the answer keys in hand. If he missed something, I had him fix it.

We had a great Devotional Bible Study discussion with Everyday Battles, as he shared the answers he wrote to the questions. He showed me his Common Place Book entry for Bible and flashed me his prayer journal, which I think is good to keep private. He read aloud his answers to The Most Important Thing You’ll Every Study, as well as his answers to his science worksheet. I had the answer keys in hand and had him fix anything he missed. We then did his Algebra II lesson together. One more very short meeting time (for American Lit and Comp/Grammar) later, and we were done!

Meeting times should move quickly. I make a point to stay on task and not add work. This works so much better for me than piling his work for me to correct later! Students can easily fix mistakes, give oral narrations, edit written narrations, etc. when they just finished reading the material. Returning to fix things days later is tough – tough on them and tough on me! Try setting one meeting time or two shorter meeting times with your olders! And presto – you’ll have touched base and corrected everything each day!

Tip #3: Time Savers for R & S English

R & S English is outstanding! I honestly think it is the best grammar program available. BUT, it can be time consuming to teach multiple levels. To save time, you can have students who are able to do so read the lesson themselves independently. Then, to move through a lesson quickly, you can start by orally asking the 5 oral questions in the teacher’s guide. Next, you can move on to quickly do most of the entire lesson orally. You can do the “Written Exercises” orally too, and just choose one small section in each lesson to have students write. To do the written exercises orally, students can say the answers instead of writing them. You can read the sentences aloud in the exercises, and then have your children quickly say the answers right after you. Reading parts aloud to them keeps their attention and keeps the lesson moving quickly.

Putting Time-Saving Tip #3 into Practice

To save time diagramming, you can draw the diagram lines on a marker board and have students point and say where the various words will go. I have found this procedure keeps R & S English very manageable. Even at the upper levels like English 6-8, we have been able to very quickly move through the lesson and not exceed 30-40 minutes total on most days for both oral and written work. Review lessons and writing days take longer. To keep things moving in a timely fashion on writing days, I don’t have kiddos rewrite the entire assignment unless the directions say to do so.

Sometimes – around about English 4 – students might have not really cemented their English skills yet, so they don’t answer as quickly. They are having to think harder to remember, and English is not naturally a part of their skill-base yet. So, for some kiddos it may take longer at the English 4 and 5 level until they become more familiar with what is being asked of them. Don’t despair! If your lessons are running long, you could do evens or odds for awhile to keep things moving along in a timely fashion. However, in the long haul I’d try not to make skipping a practice. If you see you are coming close to 30 minutes and are not done for the day, omit any written work and just do it all orally. This is another time saver I use when running behind.

Tip #4: Alternate Who You Are With and Put It on Paper

Constant interruptions to your teaching time can cause your day to go long. To avoid this, alternate who your are with and put it on paper so everyone knows the plan. When children know the times you have set aside to teach them, they can usually wait until that time to ask you their questions. This cuts down on interruptions, and gives you time to focus on each child’s teacher-directed portions of the guide. Setting a purpose for your teaching time also helps. That way, you can maximize your teaching time because children come prepared. I always alternated teaching my sons when I taught 3 guides.

Putting Time-Saving Tip #4 into Practice

Here is a simple example of this:

8 to 9 – with Emmett

Purpose: I teach Phonics, Reading About History, Rotating History Box, and Picture the Past. Send off to listen to Corresponding Music independently.

9:30 to 10:30 – with Riley

Purpose: Go through his already completed work and do any follow-ups I have for Bible Quiet Time, Reading About History, Independent History. I teach Bible Study and Storytime. We go through History Project and Poetry directions. Send off to do History Project and Poetry independently.

11 to noon – with Wyatt

Purpose: Go through his already completed work and do any follow-ups I have for Bible, World Geography, Geography Activities, Living Library, Logic, and World Religions and Cultures. I teach my Math part. Send off to finish math and do Science.

One more round of alternating who I was with after lunch, and we’d be done! This cut down on interruptions, and each son knew what to have done by the time we met. Putting this on paper and giving each son a copy kept everyone on track and saved time. Ending each time with directions for an “S” semi-independent activity worked well. It gave them a chance to ask me any questions about the assignment, and it set a purpose for them after our time together. For older children, this time is their “Meeting Time” with me.

Tip #5: Blue Bead, Red Bead 

What do you do for oral narrations if you have 2 children using the same guide? Charlotte Mason thought of that and had an excellent plan – as always! Blue bead, red bead. 

Putting Time-Saving Tip #5 into Practice

Put one blue bead and one red bead in your pocket. Designate which bead stand for which child (i.e. blue bead – Johnny, red bead – Mary). Both children should be prepared to orally narrate. After the reading, pull one bead out of your pocket. If it is the blue bead, Johnny narrates. If it is the red bead, Mary narrates. Use this idea anytime you have two children using one guide and you want one child to be called upon. Blue bead, red bead works well for poetry reading, Bible memory verse recitation, oral discussion questions, Storytime follow-ups, etc.

I hope these “5 Time-Saving Tips for Homeschooling Multiple Children” work together to save you time and make your day flow smoothly! They certainly worked wonders for me these past 20+ years! I hope they do for you as well.

In Christ,

Julie