Homeschool with Me!: Teaching Multiple Kids

Family Life

If you’ve recently decided to homeschool, or you’re thinking about it but feel unsure because you don’t know what a homeschool day is supposed to look like, this one’s for you. I have four kids, ages eight down to one, and I’m walking you through a normal school day with a second grader, a kindergartner, a three-year-old and a one-year-old.

What you’ll get from this post

  • Encouragement if you feel unqualified to teach your kids
  • Our morning routine and the subjects we do together
  • How I keep the little ones busy while I teach the big kids
  • Math, language arts and piano with a second grader and kindergartner
  • The curriculum we use and where to find it

Watch on YouTube

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You don’t have to be a teacher

I never wanted to be a teacher, and I’ve definitely felt insecure about my own teaching abilities. But the great thing is that the curriculum really does the heavy lifting. You don’t have to study up on every subject. And if there’s something you don’t know, YouTube is your best friend. There’s a video about virtually everything.

You are not in this alone, even if it feels that way. You can always use a lifeline: Google it, call a friend or find a video. No one is watching or grading you as a teacher, and your kids are going to have loads of grace for you. Set aside those fears of inadequacy and be proud of yourself for being willing to face them head on.

It’s honestly not hard for your kids to learn what they need to learn during the year. The hardest part is juggling teaching them and having them home all day, on top of work or whatever else is on your plate. It takes trial and error to find a schedule that works, so hang in there if the first couple of weeks are rough. Tweak a few things until you figure it out.

And don’t try to make your day look like a public school day. Don’t even try to copy exactly what another homeschool family does. It really comes down to what works for your family and your kids.

Our morning routine

Before school, we do our morning routine:

  1. Unload the dishwasher.
  2. Eat breakfast, with Bible time during breakfast.
  3. Clean up breakfast.

By then it’s about 9:30, and we head upstairs to the school room with the goal of being done by lunchtime. Right now we do school four days a week.

Weekly lesson plans on one sheet

I write out the lesson plans for the week in a Google Sheet, with our list of subjects and what we’ll do on day one, two, three and four. Then I print it and set it on my second grader’s desk so he knows what we’re doing each day. He checks things off as he goes, and it’s nice for him to have that sense of accomplishment.

If you want a starting point, here are my lesson plans for Pre-K through 2nd grade, plus our daily schedule.

Together subjects first: Bible, science and history

We knock out the subjects we do together first. My two oldest are only two years apart, so we do Bible, science and history all together, and that saves us a lot of time. Bible is already done at breakfast, and I really love starting our day that way.

For all three we use My Father’s World. It has one big book of lesson plans with most of what you’re supposed to say for each subject written out, and then a set of resource books you pull from throughout the year.

  • Science: That day we used a book about science with air and did experiments to find out how sound is made and how it travels through the air.
  • History: We learned about the state of Washington. My kindergartner found the state flag, we looked at the state bird (the willow goldfinch) and the state flower (the coast rhododendron), found Washington on the map and talked about how far it is from us in Georgia. Then we read fun facts, like how it’s named after our first president and is home to a huge Boeing aviation factory.

Individual subjects: math

Next we move to individual subjects, starting with math. I get my second grader started first. Once he moves to independent work, I can start with my kindergartner.

Second grade: Math-U-See

He’s using Math-U-See, and he’s already started Gamma, the third grade level, because he finished the second grade level early. On a new unit, we watch the DVD lesson together. That day it was about moving from skip counting by threes to multiplying by three. Then he did a two-page worksheet on his own.

Kindergarten: a workbook and an app

While he worked, I started with my daughter. I don’t make lesson plans for kindergarten. She does science, history and Bible with her brother, and then:

She only has to do school three days a week, so it’s pretty easy.

Keeping the little ones busy

With a three-year-old and a baby in the room, this is the juggling part:

  • I take short breaks to switch out toys for the baby to keep him happy. A race car track bought me some time.
  • My kindergartner helped my three-year-old with number sense. I wrote numbers on note cards, and he put tiny counters next to each one. Ours came from the Dollar Tree, but any little thing you have around the house works as a counter.
  • My three-year-old also got a gingerbread house to decorate while we talked about the letter B.

Language arts: The Good and the Beautiful

Once the little ones were happy, my second grader and I did language arts with The Good and the Beautiful. They offer the complete lesson online as a free PDF download. I just print the independent worksheet part for him.

What I really love is that it tells you exactly what to say. “Read to the child” is right there in the lesson. It’s all laid out, and then it moves into independent practice, which gives me time to work with my kindergartner.

That day we started with sight word ladders. The book says to practice one or two ladders whenever the lesson calls for it and review them for three to four minutes. He spelled words out loud, then read sentences and circled the one that matched each picture.

Piano: Hoffman Academy on the TV

To finish, I hooked my computer up to the TV with an HDMI cord and turned the TV toward the piano so my son could do his piano lesson from Hoffman Academy, which we love.

And that’s what a typical homeschool day looks like for us.

Key takeaways

  • The curriculum does the heavy lifting, and YouTube fills in the gaps.
  • Expect trial and error with your schedule, and don’t copy a public school day.
  • Do shared subjects together to save time when kids are close in age.
  • Start the older child on independent work, then teach the younger one.
  • Rotate toys and simple activities to keep toddlers and babies busy.

What viewers say

I love seeing how other homeschoolers organize their day! Your kiddos are precious. I have 3 boys: 9, 6, and 2!

@MommaonMission on YouTube

I have 4 kids too! I love being able to combine subjects when we can…so much fun to learn together!

@ourthriftyhomeschool on YouTube

So helpful to see everything in action!

@jaimesaunders7668 on YouTube

Things we mentioned

Have homeschool questions? Leave them in the comments, and come hang out with our crew on YouTube. Subscribe to The Johnson Crew on YouTube.

FAQ

How many days a week do you homeschool?

At the time, four days a week for my second grader and three days a week for my kindergartner, with the goal of finishing by lunch.

How do you teach multiple kids at once?

We do Bible, science and history together, then I start my oldest on math and switch to my kindergartner while he works independently.

What do you do with toddlers during school?

I rotate toys, use simple activities like counting with little counters, and have my kindergartner help her little brother.

Do I need teaching experience to homeschool?

No. I never wanted to be a teacher. Good curriculum does the heavy lifting, and YouTube can fill in anything you don’t know.

More from our crew

Full transcript

Hi guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is Sarah and I have four kids from the ages of eight to one and today I'm bringing you a video about what it looks like to do homeschool um I know it's summer but I figured that this would be a helpful video for anyone who's recently decided to homeschool or who's considering homeschooling this fall but is feeling unsure about it because you just don't know what it's supposed to look like or how you're supposed to do it

And maybe you feel unsure about your own capabilities so I want to just start by saying that I never wanted to be a teacher and have definitely felt insecure in my own teaching abilities but what's great is that the curriculum really does the heavy lifting for us so it's not like we're having to study up on each subject and if there is something that we don't know youtube is our best friend there is a video about virtually everything out there so rest easy in the fact that you are not in this alone even though it may feel that way you can always use a lifeline to fill in where you might lack there's google you can call friend or find a video no one's

Watching or grading you as a teacher and your kids are going to have loads of grace for you so try to set aside those fears of inadequacy and instead be proud of yourself for the willingness to face those fears head on and take care of your sweet babes this year has already been one for the book so why not add homeschooling for the first time to it it's really not hard to have your kids learn what they need to learn throughout the year juggling teaching them

And having them home all day amidst working or whatever else you have on your plate is the hardest part and it's going to take some trial and error to figure out a schedule that works best for you so just hang in there if those first couple of weeks are rough tweak a few things until you figure out what kind of schedule works best for your family don't try to make your day look like a public school day don't even try to emulate exactly what another homeschool family is doing because really it's going to be down to figuring out what works best for your family

And your kids okay let's get into our school day so we just finished our morning routine which consists of unloading the dishwasher having breakfast we do our bible time during breakfast and then we clean up breakfast and so now it's about 9 30 so we're going to head upstairs to our school room and get some school work done with the goal of being done by lunch time okay so we're ready to get started with school this morning I have a second grader kindergartener three-year-old and one-year-old

And everybody's gonna be leveling up next month right now we do school four days a week we're just going to show you what a normal school day looks like for us so I'm going to show you what our week's worth of lessons plans look like and then we'll get into our lesson for today all right so I like to go into a google sheet and write out the lesson plans for the week that we're going to be following and then print it out and set it on his school desk

So that he knows what we're going to be doing every day and then he can check it off as we go along it's nice to have that sense of accomplishment okay so we go through and we have our list of subjects and what we're gonna do day one day two day three day four and this is an example from earlier in the year it is summer time obviously so going to show you just what we're gonna do today the subjects that we knock out first are the ones that we do together since my oldest kids are just two years apart we do bible science

And history all together and that just saves us a lot of time so we already got our bible time done during breakfast I really love to start our day that way and now we're going to move into science okay so we use my father's world for bible science and history and the way that my father's world works is it has one big book of lesson plans and it has most of what you're supposed to say for each subject written out in that book and then you get a bunch of other books to pull together like for instance this is called science with air

And they use a bunch of different resource books for you to teach the material throughout the year so today we're doing science with air let's look page 20 through 21. sound and air try these experiments to find out how sound is made and how it travels through the air so that's what we're gonna make um so now we're going to do history so today we're learning about the state of washington I'm going to pull this out here no no don't do that I'll get the baby sit down you can stay all right maggie you want to find the washington state flag on here we've got the washington state flag here the washington state bird is the willow gold finch their state flower is the

Coast rhododendron and take a look at the map here you see the dark colored state that is washington point out for me there you go look at that look how far away it is from where we live super far where do we live in georgia let's read some fun facts about washington for me yes listen the state of washington was named after the first president of the united states what's his name deutsch that's right good job maggie did you know that bill gates the creator of microsoft which is a very popular computer program was born in seattle washington in 1955. at the age of 13 he began to write computer programs that's amazing great job oh everett washington is home to a very large

Building the boeing aviation factory I would love for us to go see that one day the building is so big that it can contain nearly 100 football fields okay so now we're moving on to our individual subject so we're going to start with math so I'm going to have titus get started and then when he moves on to his independent work then I can start working with maggie so I'm going to give her a little break right now I'm going to play with theo all right

Okay titus for you we're going to start a new unit today so we're going to watch the dvd for that lesson okay titus go ahead and open up your math book while I'm good job I'm getting okay so this is the math you see dvd lesson index just a side note we have already started gamma which is like the third grade level of math because he finished up the second grade level pretty early now that you can skip count by three the question is are you ready to multiply by three skip counting it just gets us from fast adding to multiplying right

So it's good if you can so let's do skip county ready 3 6 9 12. any questions titus all right so now you're going to do your worksheet 12a which is just a two-page worksheet all right let's go ahead and get that started so now while titus is working on his worksheet I'm going to get started with maggie's math work and we're using this book which I'll link below on amazon for her kindergarten year now I don't actually make any lesson plans for kindergarten she does all of the science history

And bible along with my oldest and then for math we just do four pages out of this book each day and then we do the hooked on phonics app on the ipad and so we just do one of those lessons each day so it's pretty easy and she actually only has to do school three days a week okay we're starting on this page today and what's nice about this book is it has the directions right here at the bottom so it says you're gonna write how many animals there are in each group

And circle the two groups to join them so how many are over here yeah that's right and another way to say and is with the plus that's right the plus sign all right how many lines are over here three that's right go ahead and trace that now I want you to tell me how many there are and all so say the whole thing that's right but say the whole thing two plus three equals five that's right very good all right so we're going to work on the letter b

Okay ready I'm going to draw it for you because line down and then check this out bump bump whoa what do you think of that what does the b say no no what does the b say every letter makes the sound the b says all right you wanna show me three plus three is six two plus one is three all right let's go over your work and make sure it's all right I'm gonna go ahead and say it to me three times four equals 12. oh taking a small break to switch out toys for the baby to keep him happy all right

So maggie is now going to help finn learn some number sense we'll be taking a little card I've just written on little note cards that we have here numbers and she's gonna put them here and he is going to put those little these came from like a little gun from the dollar tree but any little teeny thing that you have in the house honestly they can use as a counter so he'll put those over here to show the number seven all right theo's happy for

Now with the race car track so titus and I can work on language arts okay so we are doing the good and the beautiful which actually has their complete lesson online for free sorry I know you can hear meg in the background um as their lesson online for free as a pdf download so that's what we're looking at right here and I've just printed out for him uh the independent worksheet part what I really love about the good and the beautiful is that it tells you what to say look at this read to the child

And it tells you exactly what to say makes it super easy it's all laid out and then it moves into independent practice and so this is stuff that he's gonna work on on his own which gives me time to then go work with my kindergartner okay buddy today we are learning it has us starting with practicing our sight word ladders they've got what they call sight word ladders and it even tells you this is right in the beginning of the book have the child practice one to two ladders each time the lesson indicates to work on sight word ladders

And it tells you to review them for three to four minutes when a lesson indicates so here's sight word ladder okay so I'm going to turn my screen around so titus can see beautiful because spell the following words aloud so you're just going to say how to spell these words out loud you ready light like that kind of liked okay yes very good all right ty just go ahead and read each sentence out loud and then you're going to circle the one that makes sense with the picture what did you get oh

Okay you ready maggie all right let's go ahead and click on the first game here words that start with sc and sk what do you think that sounds like that's right whoa crazy sk that's right very good you made it all right finn I want you to decorate this gingerbread house can you do that did you know that bread starts with the letter b well ginger doesn't start with b but bread does bread bread mommy and if you will make that all right go ahead

And decorate it yay on a whole minute and okay so I hooked up my computer to hdmi cord to the tv turn the tv a little bit towards titus where he's sitting at the piano for his piano lesson from hoffman academy which we love all right go ahead buddy we just yay theo and that's what our typical homeschool day looks like thanks so much for joining along with us today don't forget to hit the button below and subscribe so you don't miss another video and I hope you guys have an awesome day catch you next time

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