Homeschooling Large Families
In the past, what has worked well for our family of having had 9 children, is to have a 30 - 45 minute time slot where an older child helps with the younger ones. This teaches them responsibility, love and patience with their younger siblings, as well as giving you time to spend one-on-one with another child, hopefully for the most part uninterrupted. However, certain circumstances must be noticed, such as a nursing baby, or sick child. Also, set a timer so that the older child knows when their time slot is up. It eliminates the checking of the clock every few minutes. Older children also sometimes need suggestions to do with their younger siblings, so here are a few:
1.Do a small amount of "school work" with them. Little ones want to be part of your schooling experience too, and many times older ones can teach younger ones much more than you would realize. We buy "school books" from Wal-Mart or Target for this use.
2.Read them a story. Have good books for little ones on hand that can only be used during this time. (Ex. "What Would Jesus Do?")
3.Help them put together a puzzle.
4.Keep all of your empty shampoo bottles, dish soap bottles, etc. Once you have collected a variety of them, wash them out, and put the lids and bottles (not attached) in a bag or tub, and let them sit and find the right lids for the right bottles. It builds hand eye coordination.
5.Take them outside to play. Play with them. (Ex. Roll balls back and forth, push them on a swing, run races with them, help them ride a bike, etc.) You can also play Simon Says, Red light - Green light, Duck-Duck-Goose.
6.Color with them. We keep colored pencils, crayons and water paints on hand for the children to be creative with.
7.Show them step by step, and with patience, how to clean up their room. Don't give them a list, but show them while they help you, one step at a time.
8.Pull out some plastic cups and other dishes (even if they are already clean) and let the little ones wash them for you by hand.
9. Help them, or let them, stack blocks, plastic cups, etc.
on a short, quality video for them. A movie that you, the parent, have pre-approved of first. We only allow one per day.
11.Suggest a game of playing cars on a car mat, or house with their "babies".
a bag of white rice and let the little ones pretend to "cook". Sweep up any that lands on the floor and put it back in to a bag for the next time. Dry rice makes for no mess.
the little ones play in the bathtub, maybe even in a bubble bath.
it's snowing, wrap them up well and have the older ones help the little ones build snowmen.
the little ones have a water fight on warm days. What works well are empty dish soap bottles to fill and squirt out of if you don't like squirt guns.
thin foams shapes (we get ours at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 that are called Creative Hands Assorted Foam Shapes, that come in clear plastic tubs.) Punch holes in the center of them with a one-hole punch, and give the kids pipe cleaners to put them on to make necklaces, bracelets, foam animals, etc. Once they have been made and the child is done with them, then they can be unstrung and made in to different things, therefore reusing, and reusing them.
In the past, what has worked well for our family of having had 9 children, is to have a 30 - 45 minute time slot where an older child helps with the younger ones. This teaches them responsibility, love and patience with their younger siblings, as well as giving you time to spend one-on-one with another child, hopefully for the most part uninterrupted. However, certain circumstances must be noticed, such as a nursing baby, or sick child. Also, set a timer so that the older child knows when their time slot is up. It eliminates the checking of the clock every few minutes. Older children also sometimes need suggestions to do with their younger siblings, so here are a few:
1.Do a small amount of "school work" with them. Little ones want to be part of your schooling experience too, and many times older ones can teach younger ones much more than you would realize. We buy "school books" from Wal-Mart or Target for this use.
2.Read them a story. Have good books for little ones on hand that can only be used during this time. (Ex. "What Would Jesus Do?")
3.Help them put together a puzzle.
4.Keep all of your empty shampoo bottles, dish soap bottles, etc. Once you have collected a variety of them, wash them out, and put the lids and bottles (not attached) in a bag or tub, and let them sit and find the right lids for the right bottles. It builds hand eye coordination.
5.Take them outside to play. Play with them. (Ex. Roll balls back and forth, push them on a swing, run races with them, help them ride a bike, etc.) You can also play Simon Says, Red light - Green light, Duck-Duck-Goose.
6.Color with them. We keep colored pencils, crayons and water paints on hand for the children to be creative with.
7.Show them step by step, and with patience, how to clean up their room. Don't give them a list, but show them while they help you, one step at a time.
8.Pull out some plastic cups and other dishes (even if they are already clean) and let the little ones wash them for you by hand.
9. Help them, or let them, stack blocks, plastic cups, etc.
on a short, quality video for them. A movie that you, the parent, have pre-approved of first. We only allow one per day.
11.Suggest a game of playing cars on a car mat, or house with their "babies".
a bag of white rice and let the little ones pretend to "cook". Sweep up any that lands on the floor and put it back in to a bag for the next time. Dry rice makes for no mess.
the little ones play in the bathtub, maybe even in a bubble bath.
it's snowing, wrap them up well and have the older ones help the little ones build snowmen.
the little ones have a water fight on warm days. What works well are empty dish soap bottles to fill and squirt out of if you don't like squirt guns.
thin foams shapes (we get ours at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 that are called Creative Hands Assorted Foam Shapes, that come in clear plastic tubs.) Punch holes in the center of them with a one-hole punch, and give the kids pipe cleaners to put them on to make necklaces, bracelets, foam animals, etc. Once they have been made and the child is done with them, then they can be unstrung and made in to different things, therefore reusing, and reusing them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment