Homeschooling with 4 or more children....

[Kindermama]

My DH is finally on board....literally, he's been buying homeschool titles I don't have on Amazon. So he supports homeschooling but basically says "I'm all for it...but worried about you being able to handle everything with a new baby". The same thing was said last year but he didn't really agree with HS then. Now, of course, a year later and we're expecting again (Aug) and part of me is scared.....

If I hs my oldest dd, I wouldn't use a rigid curriculum. I would kinda pull stuff from here and there. I don't think I would necessarily unschool, even though I love the idea of it. I would try to follow her lead as much as possible.

That said, my house will be full of 4 kids under 7 every day of the week. Right now, my dd & dss going to private school. She is gone 5 days a week and he is gone 3. My DH suggests keeping dss in school next year until I get a rhythm down with the 2 babies at home and homeschooling DD. I don't really know how I feel about that.....part of the reason I'm for homeschooling is the demands of school....waking, feeding, making lunches, rushing them out the door, yelling for them to hurry etc, kiss them goodbye and get in the car and feel disconnected from them.

I'm rambling now...I would love to hear success stories if they exist....from mamas with 4 or more YOUNG children.

[jessielove]

Well, hi! My children are 7, 4 1/2, nearly 3 {her birthday is on Saturday} and 5 months old. We homeschool using an eclectic approach ~ closest to unschooling, but we take little bits and pieces from many different methods and allow the kids to learn at their own pace in the direction that their interests take them.

I have found that, for us, homeschooling has been *easier* than it was when our oldest was in public school. He went to a public kindergarten last year and then to the same school for first grade for less than two weeks before we decided that it just was not working for him. We made the plunge and have been forever grateful for it. I don't have to wake up early and drag him kicking and crying out of bed, prod him to get dressed, hover over him watching the clock while he eats breakfast, then wake up the younger kids to take them with us to the bus stop so that he can make it to school on time. We get to start our mornings in the calm, slow manner that we naturally prefer. There is no more waiting all day for the phone to ring, for the principal to call and tell us to come pick up our son *again* for causing disruptions in class. Oh there are a million things that have been just so much easier and more to our nature since we began homeschooling full time.

Our youngest was born after we began homeschooling officially. I've found that the younger kids love to join in learning right along side of our official "student". We don't do formal lessons or any set cirricula, but we do talk a lot with the kids and when their interest is sparked in a subject we help them find all of the information they can about it, and help them to understand it better.

It can be scary to think about taking it all on all at once, but things seem to fall in to place much faster than you would think. I have never for a second regretted my decision to withdraw Nate from the public school and officially begin homeschooling. If anything I regret not doing it sooner.

Even on the bad days I think it's one of the best decisions we ever made.

Right now things are a touch more stressful, as Dh is working out of town from Sunday through Friday and is only home on Saturdays, Friday evenings and Sunday mornings. Going it all alone 6 days a week is a bit hard, but honestly the anticipation of it was worse than the reality. You fall in to a rhythym and you adjust.

When Nate was in the public first grade, the class was covering two and three word books. Books with a single word on each page and only three or four pages total. Nate had read the first two Harry Potter books, Wizard of Oz and several others over the previous summer. The class was adding single digits ~ Nate was already adding and subtracting double and higher. School was holding him back. He was bored stiff; and then they wondered why he was disruptive and labelled him learning disabled because he didn't fit *their* standards. He *is* special needs ~ he has since been dx'ed with bipolar disorder comorbid with severe ADHD ~ but not in the way they assumed. He was being "dumbed down" by the school and naturally resisted it. This was not a good environment for him at all and he has blossomed in so many ways since we withdrew him. It's a good school, but it's a one size fits all education, and my child is not a one size kid.

If there are any specific areas you have questions about please feel free to ask.

[saintmom]

When I started 16 years ago my kids were 9th,5th,k,and new baby.Every 3- 4 years seemed like we had another one.It is doable and it is crazy.
We use an electic approach.Mornings we spent on the 3 r's and afternoons were for science history and art projects.I kept play dough and small "school toys" for the little ones to try and keep them at least in the same room most of the time.I've learned to get up early to have a little time to myself and get organized for the day.I learned to clean house on sat. mornings with the kids helping.Pretty much learned to treat hs as my "job" more or less from 9-3.Meaning I put on the answering machine,rotate laundry before,at lunch or after school,and enjoy my weekends.
I have a dry erase board in the dining room that comes in handy for schedualing subjects or chores if we're getting slack.Sometimes we just put up interesting quotes or confounding math problems.
I've found it mentally rewarding and exhausting.What I have seen is my children grow into thoughtful,intelligent caring young adults that i'm proud to call mine

[AuntLavender]

Me too! LOL! When my fourth was born almost 3 years ago I put my oldest 2 in public school for 11 days. My 1st grader was bringing home a *book* hea was reading and I think it was all of 4 sentences long!?! My son had read the "Harry Potter" series books too and books like "The Phantom Tollbooth" so the reading portion of class was boring for him.

My children are now 9, 8, 6, and almost 3. My fourth is special needs. His needs couldn't be met in a public school setting so we are glad to be homeschoolers! We use the Five in a Row books and Spelling Workout books and books from the library for math and science.

This year we used Scholastic's Literature Guides for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (it was fun to see the movie on it's first day in an uncrowded theater! It was at 12:10pm on a Fri - the children are too young for a midnight viewing!) We also are using "Roar" which is a guide for reading "The Chronicles of Narnia". My oldest 2 were in their first class this year, a drama class at our local community college and my thirdborn was in an art class at our local art school.

My Dh is a CPA so he's gone from Jan to April from 7am to 10pm or so. You can do it! Take your time and if some days you get more done than on others know you are not alone! LOL!

Sincerely,
Debra

Congrats to the OP on her upcoming blessed event!!!